ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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As I stated in my post above, this movie displays a lot more intelligence than I realize when I first saw it in 1962. Important elements of the plot sailed right over my young head, and it wasn't until my recent viewing that it dawned on me that the story was really pretty good!

Today I reread my post from December 2017 and wondered if I could come up with a TOtP question for you guys.

And by gum, I did!

The story is about an alien who can survive in the subzero environment on Uranus by using its mental powers to alter the conditions around it. It even creates an Earth-like environment over a large area so the astronauts can survive without wearing spacesuits.

Furthermore it can create objects — and even living humans — as part of its plan to deceive the astronauts.

In short; the alien is kind of a living Krell machine!

I wondered briefly if I could make a case for the idea that the alien was actually a Krell survivor!

But I've always argued against the mistaken notion that the Krell themselves could "wish" objects into existence without the Krell machine — so I quickly gave up that idea.

The "Being", as it's called in the movie, has a physical body (a sort of spongy mass with one big eye), and the astronauts kill it by spraying it with liquid oxygen to freeze it, and then shooting it with their weapons.

The Being's fabricated environment begins to deteriorate, and the astronauts flee back to their ship.

Despite the fact that the alien has a physical form, it tells the humans (in an earlier scene) that it will inhabit one of their bodies and travel back to Earth, where it will "destroy man, and bring a new race into being".

Frankly, I can't make that work with any concepts I've come up with. The idea that the alien can just leave it's big old spongy brain on Uranus and hitch a ride back to earth in an "inhabited body" doesn't really work!

But how about this instead.

~ A Question for the Members: If the alien could create living humans with its mental powers, could it create replicas of all the crewmen (and then destroy the originals), after which it would pilot the rocket back to Earth and use these "surrogates" as it's eyes and ears while it took over the minds of mankind and bring its "new race into being"?

~ My Theory: Assuming the alien could do that, eventually it would direct its "new race" to send a ship to Uranus and bring the alien's physical body back to Earth.

What do you think, guys!

I wish the fine copy of this movie was still on YouTube so you folks could watch it and refresh your memories. I'm certainly glad that I downloaded it back when I had the chance! )
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)