ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

In the 1950s, Americans were inspired by the Walt Disney Science Fact episodes that dealt with the future of automobiles, weather satellites, and space exploration. We became convinced that our lives would be better and brighter in the years ahead.

In many ways, this was true — although things like the war in Viet Nam and the horrible conditions of Civil Rights spoiled that bright future.

In 1961, President Kennedy did something equally noble when he inspired this country to accept the challenge of putting a man on the Moon. American leapt at this challenge . . . even after President Kennedy was brutally murdered.

And yet, his inspiration carried us through two decades of advancements in space exploration — challenging our scientists to solve seemingly insurmountable problems, and encouraging the youth of our nation to focus on
personal goals in higher education which focused on science.

Advancements in electronics produced many wonderful new devices, like cell phones, big screen TVs, DVD players, and video games. Unfortunately, these technological marvels were so good at keeping our minds occupied that we became satisfied with the world we had . . . and disinterested in making it better by doing great things which require intelligent thinking and creative efforts.

Today, young people are dazzled by the idea of advancements in the future, they hi-tecj they deal with ever day is far more advanced than the things we older folks saw in the the movies and on television!

As far as the dream of conquering space is concerned, we’ve actually done a certain amount of that, but unfortunately we’ve completely dispelled any notion of llfe on other planets — other than alien microbes, and those don’t even interest ME, a life-long fan of science fiction!

By comparision, the Disney short film Disney's Man and the Moon included a brief but amazing scene near the end, when the astronauts circle the Moon and spot the ruins of an ancient alien outpost which was emitting high levels of radiation!

The first of the two YouTube videos below ends just before the ruins are spotted, so I included the second part, which begins with that wonderful scene.

My point, of course, is that back then we even got excited about mysteries being discovered on the Moon!

________ Disney's 1956 Man and the Moon 3 of 4





________ Disney's 1956 Man and the Moon 4 of 4






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In the 1950s and 1960s, reports of UFOs were fascinating.

But now (sixty years later) we’ve yet to get a single really impressive video of a UFO, even though a Google search reveals that 85% of the 8 billion global population currently owns cell phones which could be whipped out to easily document the sighting of an undeniable alien spacecraft.

To illustrate my point, watch this video and see if you’re impressed by the “Top 5 UFO Sightings” — here in the techno-rich, cell phone crazy 21st Century!


_____ TOP 5 UFO SIGHTINGS | The Proof is Out There


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I apologize, gentlemen, for sounding so pessimistic. I wish the prospect of a bright and exciting future didn’t seem so unlikely these days. But I can’t help thinking that the 1950s somehow created special set circumstance which encouraged young folks to dream big.

Sadly, we live in a very different world now . . .
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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One of the wonderful Disney Science Fact productions in the 1950s which was NOT originally presented on the Disneyland television series was Eyes in Outer Space.

This amazing combination of live action and Disney animation depicted advanced hi-tech methods which would someday be used to alter weather around the world, for the benefit of mankind.

I remember seeing this incredible 26 minutes video — which was first shown as a "short" in theaters, and later presented as the second half of a 1962 episode of Wonderful World of Color.

Here's how IMDB describes it.
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Walt Disney, with the cooperation of the U.S. Department of Defense, uses music and animation to speculate on the use of space satellite technology (with a coordinated defense network) as a means to modify weather.
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Gentlemen, this is a fine example of how Walt Disney encouraged us to dream big in the 1950!

WALT DISNEY COLD WAR WEATHER CONTROL FILM "EYES IN OUTER SPACE"


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

In the later part of the 1950s, Detroit teased the whole nation with amazing concept cars which were designed as the "cars of the future".




Ford X-1000

We were delighted to learn that the automobiles we'd be driving in a few decades would look like these.










In 1956 the GM Motorama Exhibit included a highly imaginative 8 minute movie about a present-day family who finds themselves transported to the future, where they drive along a hi-tech expressway.

The film is a wonderful pitch for the "future according to the 1950s."


_________________GM Motorama Exhibit 1956


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The 1958 Disneyland episode called Magic Highway U.S.A. concludes with a 9 minute segment which takes these futuristic concepts much further. YouTube has a clip of the segment, but the video of the full episode below has a slightly better image.

The "future" part of program begins at the 49:00 minute mark.

________________ Magic Highway, U.S.A. 1958


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Fortunately, good old Youtube has all of these cool and fascinating videos, and I've viewed 'em all with delight.

The visual FX achieved by Disney was quite impressive for its time with its various scientific videos.

The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure was very entertaining as we watch the Hardy Boys solve a case involving pirates and a creepy old mansion.

The follow up to this adventure with Frank & Joe was the Mystery of the Ghost Farm. It was an intriguing title but a disappointing sequel. Disney did not produce anymore Hardy Boys segments for the Mickey Mouse Club, which was a shame as Tim Considine & Tommy Kirk were so good in the roles. It was a shame that Disney never attempted to produce some Nancy Drew segments, they had some fine young actresses in the Mickey Mouse Club that could have been cast as Nancy. Tom Swift would have also been a fun segment for them, but since Tom is a technological genius, such stories would have necessitated futuristic looking sets, props, and visual effects that would have been very expensive.

I also liked the Spin & Mary series. I was a camper at the YMCA summer camps Cory & Gorham. Later I was a camp counselor at Camp Bristol, so summer camp based films and TV series always peak my interest. And being a horseback ridder made their adventures at the Triple R Ranch very appealing to me.

I remember seeing the Magic Highway, USA on the Disney TV series back in the 1960's even though it was produced in 1958. The show was fascinating with its futuristic predictions from not only the highways but to the vehicles & lifestyle as well. For years I could not recall where I saw this intriguing short and it was frustrating for me as I attempted to hunt it down. Thanks to Bruce & All Sci-Fi I was able to rediscover this cool video and view it again for the first time in decades on Youtube.

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, I can't thank you enough for your very gratifying post!

I'm still working The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure and I love it. Howvever, from a short preview I did of the "Ghost Farm" serial, I agree that it's not up to level of "Applegate".

I haven't started watching The Adventures of Spin and Marty yet, but I have fond memories of it from the 1950s. I remember the funny scene in which the guys "break in" a new pair of jeans!

Clever stuff!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I finished The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure today, and I really loved it! No wonder The Mickey Mouse Club was so popular with kids my age in the mid-1950s!

It had enjoyable musical numbers, animated sequences, exciting serials, and a whole lot more.

It was the ultimate "After School Special" during an age when kids were excited about the promise of an wonderful future, when science would transform our lives into exciting real-life adventures!

By the way, Mike, did you notice that scene in the last episode of the Hardy Boys (the one near the railroad tracks) when Tim Considine called his brother "Tom" instead of Joe — using Tommy Kirk's real name by mistake?

And yet the production crew didn't catch it, and the shot made it into the final print!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, I discovered that The Mystery of the Ghost Farm is fairly enjoyable, despite being inferior to The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Bruce, I cannot remember if at the conclusion of the Mystery of the Applegate Treasure if they mentioned just how much it all was worth? I like to believe that he shared it with Frank & Joe, after all, if not for them the gold doubloons would not have been successfully recovered.

[Bud Brewster]

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Good question, Mike, and a valid expectation on the part of the boys, in view of what they did.

However, no mention of any reward was made at the end of The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure.

Mr. Applegate did make a brief appearance in one chapter of The Mystery of the Ghost Farm when he encountered the boys' aunt one night on the sidewalk in front of his big house.

Aunt Gertrude reminded him that her nephews had recovered his fortune. The grouchy Mr. Applegate brightened considerably and praised Frank and Joe with great enthusiasm, saying that the ancient gold coins had provided him with so much money he was able to have his entire estate re-landscaped!

But apparently Mr. Applegate made no monetary effort to express his gratitude for the Hardy boys' successful investigation.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Morbius]

Great post. And another childhood favorite -

Andy's Gang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXAWx6tW58

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G5SwJXkuxI

[Bud Brewster]

I discovered a very interesting video which is devoted to the complete history of the original Tomorrowland which opened in 1955!





This is a very comprehensive and professionally produced half-hour documentary which uses a wealth of archival film footage and concept artwork to describe not only what attractions the original Tomorrowland included, but also many incredible attractions that were planned but never actually created.

Watch the video below to learn about several versions of Tomorrowland that were proposed, such as the ones shown in these wonderful concept drawings.












~ Click to view larger version.




You'll also learn about several amazing attractions that were considered but eventually rejected — such as an area called Adventures in Science, which included a "time travel adventure" where the guests would get to see dinosaurs.




~ Click to view larger version.




There was also a proposed ride called MicroWorld, in which the guests would be reduced in size so they could explore a drop of water!





Another major attraction was planned which featured both space travel and colonization!





These amazing plans prove that Walt Disney's true vision for Tomorrowland would have been much grander if he'd had the money and the time to accomplish everything he dreamed of doing.

__ Defunctland: The History of Tomorrowland 1955


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Walt Disney died in 1966 at the tender age of 65 — which is ten years younger than I am!

And although I only have a small fraction of Walt's intelligence and creative abilities, I definitively share his frustration with the way the human race now seems blind to the fact that we're marching towards oblivion while we pollute our environment and murder our fellow humans!

Somewhere between now and the end of World War II, we stopped expecting the world to become a bright, happy future. Everyone now seems to think mankind is on a downward spiral towards armageddon, a hell-on-Earth we made for ourselves!

These days we all hate our political leaders, and we give birth to children with whom we can barely communicate. And we fully expect things to get worse, because . . . that's the obvious destiny of mankind.

Well, maybe it its.

Or maybe it isn't.

With that in mind, the video below is what Walt Disney had in mind for mankind. Tragically, Walt died before he could talk a little sense into us.

However, All Sci-Fi is my very own message board, and that means I can give good ole' Walt one more chance. Please watch the video below and ponder how the world would be today if we'd simply listened to him.

_ Walt Disney's E.P.C.O.T film (1966) - The Project


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[Gord Green]

Walt folded a lot of his TOMORROWLAND dreams into his EPCOT vision.

As you, I found a lot of my concepts of history, past, and future from Disney.

I longed to go to the Triple R to hang out with Spin and Marty . . . to solve mysteries with the Hardy boys (Heck, I wanted to explore the universe with Tom Swift, Tom Corbett and the crew of Space Patrol with Commander Corry!)

I hope that at least some of our dreams trickled down to our future generations.

At least my two sons are pretty much carbon copy clones of myself. . . but still . . . I fear what their future will hold.

But I look at my father's life and that of his generation.

They truly were faced with saving the world from disaster!

And I look at how my generation tried to minimize their sacrifice. We were the "Times they are a'changing" generation, and I fear it was us who put this anti-government, anti-establishment movement into reality.

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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[tmlindsey]