ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Disneyland, the weekly program on ABC back in the 1950s, only gave us five actualy 'Science Fact" episode which presented predictions of scientific advancements in the future.

Man In Space

Man and the Moon

Mars and Beyond

Magic Highway USA

Our Friend the Atom

And a 25-minute short feature called Eyes in Outer Space was also released theatrically in 1959.
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Our first journey into the future was in March 9, 1955 when Disneyland inspired the nation with the amazing episode below.

________________ Walt Disney - Man In Space

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According to Wikipedia, 40 million people watched the episode. It was nominated for Best Documentary Short. A copy of the show was requested by United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower to show to the Pentagon rocket experts. The chair of the Soviet commission for spaceflight, Leonid I. Sedov, also requested a copy.

So, we have Walt Disney to thank for the Space Race which put the first men on the Moon!
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Seven months later, on December 28, 1955, we were treated to a remarkable episode which beautifully illustrated all the steps mankind needed to take so we could send the crew of a rocket on lunar mission which circled the Moon!

The episode concluded with a fourteen-minute short feature with stunning special effects. This segment of the Disneyland episode, directed by Ward Kimble (a Disney animator), and it surpasses all the 1950s space movies, such Destination Moon and Conquest of Space!

______________________ Man and the Moon


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All of us eager young space cadets had to wait for two years before Disney took as into deep space again. On December 4, 1957 we spent sixty minutes gazing at our b&w televisions when Disneyland present Mars and Beyond.

________________________ Mars and Beyond


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Most of the episode was an imaginative and humorous presentation of how the infamous Red Planet had influenced our culture and enhanced our literature.

But the climax of this remarkable film was a presentation of an imaginary trip to Mars in the most amazing fleet of space craft every conceived — complete with stunning animation, an inspiring narration, and a stirring musical score!
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In the year 1957, Americans were terrified by the threat of nuclear weapons falling from sky and turning our beloved nation into radioactive charcoal.

Walt Disney decided to education American buy showing us that nuclear energy was just like fire. Stick your hand in it and you'll suffer a painful burn!

But hold a nice ribeye steak over it and you'll cook up a delicious dinner!

With that in mind, Walt produced the episode below.


_______ Disneyland - Our Friend the Atom (1957)


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In 1958, a Disneyland episode called Magic Highway USA actually succeeded in making the history of America's road system seem fascinating!

But the icing on the cake was a trip in the future, when the Disney team showed us the destiny of our automotive travels!

Trips to the Moon are just fine for brave astronauts, but Mr. and Mrs. America needed a fast and safe way to do our daily traveling. And this Disneyland episode shows us how wonderful that could be in the years to come.

Please note: Fast forward to the 39-minute mark to experience mankind's future on our high-speed super highways!

_______________ Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)


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In 1959, Walt Disney release a 25-minute feature called Eyes in Outer Space which is described on Fandom.com this way.
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Walt Disney, with the cooperation of the United States 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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Naturally this Disney production is chock-full of dazzling animated sequences which dazzle us with amazing solutions to the life-threatening problems caused by hazardous weather.

This wonderful short feature convinced me that the miracle of science will eventually make us the masters of our environment!

_____________________ Eyes in Outer Space


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I have a vivid memory of this episode from when I saw it at the tender age of eleven. I was thrilled by the scenes of the futuristic control center and the people who wielded God-like powers over the weather!

This was the ultimate view of mankind's future, a day when we could combat the ravages of deadly weather events like hurricanes — and actually save lives and property by using the power of science!
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Gentlemen, it saddens me think that this is the dream mankind has lost. We no longer have the courage and ambition to ban together and achieve miracles like those we see in these Disney features.

If we don't find a way to change our current self-destructive nature and return to an age like we had 70 years ago, I fear that we might be doomed.

Am I wrong? Is it impossible? Is All Sci-Fi a just a Fantasyland as antiquated as the Mickey Mouse Club?

Damn . . . I sure hope not.

(Just for the record, I love the Mickey Mouse Club!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

These TOMOROWLAND episodes were required watching growing up! I absolutely loved them all!

These programs were also designed to scrub Werner Von Braun of his Nazi past history.

I remember that at the age I was at the time I knew nothing of his past and whenever I talked about him my father would just grunt and stay silent.

It was not until I was an adult and going through my Dads' old Army "stuff" I discovered that while he was stationed in Antwerp, Belgium during WW2 he was constantly having to "duck and cover" while Von Brauns' V2s were raining down on the city . . . especlialy the port area were my Father was working.
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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.

[Bud Brewster]

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One of Disney World's popular attractions in Tomorrowland was the Carousel of Progress. One hundred years of history — as told by robots!

My family and I visited it in 1986, and again in 1996.

The video below has a fairly good picture. Not only does the cameraman hold the camera steady (and he shot it in "horizontal mode", thank God), he even zoomed in smoothly for some scenes!

However, the audio is a bit flawed by the fact that any sound recorded by microphones inside a room always has a distinct "hollow" quality, as opposed to the way our ears hear it. None the less, the video is enjoyable.

But first, enjoy this "making of . . . " video, hosted by Walt Disney himself.

Walt Disney Talks About Creating Carousel of Progress


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Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom - Full Show in 4K


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Down below is another version by a gentleman named Martin Smith, which he produced in 2015. It starts out with the full ride, shot on VHS tape, but it features skillful edits and closeups, along with very good sound quality.

However, the video starts with a 10-minute documentary made by Martin, all about the history of the attraction.

When the taped footage of the ride starts, you can tell that Mr. Smith rode the attraction several times and made multiple videos. This is shown by the fact that his edits include different shots of some scenes from different positions in the audience — some from the left side, some from the right, some from the first row, and some from the last!

And yet the audio is dubbed throughout, so it remains flawless no matter which "take" was used.

Clever, eh?

Surprisingly, the last "act" of the ride is presented mostly with still photos and an audio taken from a recording inside the ride itself.

I realized that Mr. Smith made this part of the video to show us how much the living "room set" for the "present day" scenes in the final act had changed since the attraction opened in the Disney World 1975, long before any video cameras were available.

This was confirmed by the way the video then offers a comparison of the various living room sets over the years. The difference is striking!

Ironically, the progressive updating of the living room set is sort of a "carousel of progress" unto itself, spanning all the years the ride has existed — and it's still going!

Here's what Martin Smith says on YouTube about his video project in general.
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Finally. Another HD edit I've always wanted to do.

Start with how and why Orlando got the attraction, where it might have gone and why it went where it did. Following a look at how it fitted into Tomorrowland's phase two, and experience the original 1975 version in multi angle video from a combination of 1980s and early 90s footage, a remade 1975 act IV with source 1985, and a clean live 1975 audio.

Next, see the changes made through the 80s and early 90s, then look at the major changes made in 1993.

And then, walk into 2015 Tomorrowland for a full look around the attraction in HD. Watch a reconstructed source quality full preshow video, then board the carousel for the full attraction, shot from multiple angles in full HD with a new stereo source quality audio mix.

Shot without a recording ban. 67 minutes long.
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The second half of the video is about the re-designed attraction that opened in 1993, and Martin Smith shot new footage with a digital camera. And he worked his editing magic again on the multiple videos he made during several rides.

Take note of the way he made at least one video from the very back of the theater to provide his "long shots" of the entire stage, using a wide-angle lens.

These were combined with videos apparently made from the front row so he could zoom in on the characters and selected parts of the stage — without the backs of any audience member's head in the way!

Martin did such an amazing job of shooting the close-ups and editing them together that this new video looks like it was filmed by the Disney people back in the 1970s to promote this Disney World attraction!

So sit back, folks, and enjoy The Carousel of Progress!


Carousel of Progress WDW - Martins Ultimate Tribute


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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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The Disneyland attraction called Rocket to the Moon (later reanamed Fight to the Moon) was something I remember vividly from the Disneyland vacation my family took in the late 1950s.

I can't find an videos of the actual ride except a few clips from old 8mm movies on YouTube. But here are several videos dedicated to the ride, and the last one is a sort of recreation of the experience to make it more realistic by today's standards.

The 1955 episode of Disneyland called Man and the Moon (which reran in 1959 under the title Tomorrow the Moon) includes an intro by Walt Disney which discusses the Disneyland attraction.

______________________ Man and the Moon


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A young Disney fan who wasn't born when the this Disney attraction still existeed, but he's put together a fine video which relates the history of this terrific Disneyland ride.

He's included a few high-quality clips from the ride and several good photographs from the spaceship's passenger compartment, as well a few pictures of the way Tomorrowland looked in the 1950s.

_______ Disneyland's Rocket to The Moon History!


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The video below starts with the audio of Walt's introduction to the Disneyland eisode, Man and the Moon, but with photos from the 1950s and a few pieces of concept art to portray the Tomorrowland ride.

The original narration of the entire ride accompanies the photos and artwork. You might notice that this version has sections of narration which are NOT included in the version below — even though the running time is about the same!

This because the one below (with less narration by the captain) includes something else from the original ride — the video and audio of a transmission from astronauts on the Moon. We get to see the original video from the 1955 ride, complete with actors in spacesuits, on a lunar set with the Moonbase in the background.

__________ 60-177 TWA ROCKET TO THE MOON


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Here's another treat from Disneyland's past, a wonderful video which uses the original audio for the Tomorrowland Rocket to the Moon attraction, and this one has a new interpretation of the ride's video component.

It starts with actual NASA "chatter" from the engineers in Mission Control. Then the original soundtrack from the Tomorrowland ride begins. The video is made up (in part) of visuals which have been redesigned (including awesome special effects) and original elements from the Disneyland attraction!

There's also some dynamic soundtrack music which includes clips from John Williams' Space Camp score, and Russel Garcia's 1959 album Fantastica Music From Outer Space.

All in all, this is a remarkable recreation/restoration of the amazing 1950s TWA Rocket to the Moon attraction.

Disneyland Rocket To The Moon Pony FINAL 1a MPEG 4


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

[mach7]

Nice video's!

I've met the rocket a few times.

Disneyland last month:



And walking around Kansas City a few years ago.