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Dedications
Dedicated in loving memory of my wonderful parents:-
Konstantinos (Dino) Christopoulos who took me to see my very first science fiction film in the early 1960s, The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (1963)
Rosemary Christopoulos who sat with me after school as I watched on TV episodes the first two doctors of the Doctor Who series and insisted on asking me interminable questions about who was who and what was going on!
Thanks mum and dad!
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The SCI-FI FILM FIESTA eBook series is intended as a salute to the pioneering work of science fiction film makers. May future generations have the privilege of enjoying your work and never stop wondering....What if?
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Dedicated also to you, the reader who appreciates these classic gems from the golden age of sci-fi film-making. It is you who help to keep such films alive for future generations to enjoy
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Other eBooks in the Sci-Fi Film Fiesta series:
Volume 1: “Here Be Monsters”
Volume 2: “Into Space”
Sci-Fi Film Fiesta
VOLUME 3:
“OTHER WORLDS”
©Chris Christopoulos 2022
CONTENTS
Introduction
The poem that follows was inspired by the film that really opened the classic age of sci-fi films of the 1950s, George Pal’s somewhat eerily prescient, Destination Moon (1950). I also had in mind former President Trump’s directive to NASA to have Americans return to the moon supposedly as a stepping stone to Mars and beyond. NASA has had its sights firmly set on missions to Mars and I wonder what impact this directive will have on NASA and the future course of space exploration. A lot will depend on finding the right answer to the questions posed in the last stanza of the poem I suppose. That may have been an important factor in the early manned missions to the moon….finding the right answer.
Once more unto the Moon, dear friends, once more!
We chose to go to the moon…..
In a George Pal sci-fi spectacular
Just a mere five years after The War,
When Truman was President of these here United States
And H-bomb production pushed up the stakes.
We chose to go to the moon….
In glorious Technicolor and mono sound
As Korea became yet another battleground,
While industry grew fatter with profit,
And a baby boom got set to sky-rocket.
We chose to go to the moon….
Committed and depicted up on the screen,
Beating them Commies so evil and mean!
While winds of a Cold War made us shake and shiver,
And we warmed up with sessions of duck and cover.
We chose to go to the moon….
Believing that we were in a race,
In which we had to set the pace,
To be first to put a man on the moon,
And get it done and done real soon.
We chose to go to the moon…..
With faith in our industry and enterprise
Asking: What’s the payoff? What’s our prize?
Knowing: the race is on and we’d better win it;
Control the moon and all others will submit!
We chose to go to the moon…..
Not yet ready to catch and match the fiction,
Of a Woody Woodpecker demonstration,
Filled with optimism and basic principles,
And all kinds of kids’ cute cartoon visuals.
We chose to go to the moon….
When Kennedy set out a nation’s challenge,
One that would not be easy to manage
And one that would be hard to achieve
But one in which all could believe.
We chose to go to the moon…..
Having once lost a race into space,
Now a new race began to help us save face
Where the goal was to win and claim first prize:
Global preeminence and all that it belies.
We chose to go to the moon…
And did we rush in headlong haste -
To land a man on the moon and be the first
To safely return him to earth! Ah, there’s the rub!
Dangers abounded while Time stood poised to drub.
We chose to go to the moon….
With men who had the right stuff,
But would all this prove to be enough,
With the aim just to win a sprint,
To plant a flag and leave a footprint?
We chose to go to the moon….
And by Mercury, Gemini and Apollo we did!
Ethereal images both ghostly and splendid
Hailed us from another world with words well-timed
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
We had chosen to go to the moon….
And for a moment we stood there as if in a trance,
Struck dumb by the stark desolation and silence,
In awe at a blue marble suspended in a velvet black sky,
And then we began to fiddle and fidget and wonder WHY?
We then chose to leave the moon…..
When Cynicism set in as adventure turned routine,
And the latest sitcom was the thing to be seen.
A blanket of boredom spread over a fickle world
Chilled by millions and billions at the moon that were hurled.
We choose now to return to the moon…..
When what had once been revered and respected;
When what held our world balanced and protected;
And of our imagination sparked and illuminated,
Had for too long been ignored and taken for granted.
Do we now choose to go to the moon…
Because others are there for reasons suspect?
To corporatize a chunk of space unchecked?
To have a stepping stone to Mars and yonder?
Or to help us understand, know and wonder?
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Prior to the mid-1990s we could only speculate about the existence of planets beyond our own solar system. Since then we are virtually up to our armpits in the ever increasing number of planets throughout the universe we are being made aware of. As we incrementally inch our way along the Drake Equation, will we discover proof of Earth-type planets that harbor life? Will we then manage to stumble upon the existence of what we understand to be ‘intelligent’ life?
So far, we have only managed to set foot on one world beyond our own – our satellite, the moon. That was half a century ago! It appears that the new space craft, Artemis is poised to take us back to the moon with a view to establishing a presence on the lunar surface prior to setting our sights on a human presence on Mars and beyond. If we manage to overcome the almost insurmountable (but often down-played) obstacles to achieving such an objective, will we be on the road to becoming the ones who are deemed to be alien invaders? That would be rather ironic considering what is traditionally portrayed in science fiction films.
As our knowledge of other worlds beyond our solar system increases, we can be sure that our long held beliefs surrounding what constitutes planetary formation, what is essential to the creation of life and what is considered to be ‘intelligent’ life will need to be revised.
This volume of the “Sci-Fi Film Fiesta” series: VOLUME 3: OTHER WORLDS feature classic science fiction films from the 1950s that present imaginative scenarios involving humanity’s exploration of alien worlds.
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Destination Moon (1950)
Above Average
Film Title: Destination Moon
Release date: June 27, 1950
Producer: George Pal
Director: Irving Pichel
Running time: 92 minutes
Screenplay: Robert A. Heinlein, James O'Hanlon, Rip Van Ronkel
Budget: $500.000 approx.
Winner of an Academy Award for Visual Effects.
1950: A Taste Of The Times
President of the United States: Harry Truman.
Truman approves production of the hydrogen bomb and sends US air force and navy to Korea in June.
The end of World War II only five years previous to making of “Destination Moon.”
Thousands of young servicemen have returned to America to start new families and lives.
American industry expands to meet the new peacetime needs with Americans buying newly available goods.
Industrial expansion and jobs growth a result of all this activity.
The baby boom had begun.
The Cold War between the countries of the “Iron Curtain” and democratic “Free World” was up and running. Fear and paranoia was soon to be the order of the day.
Synopsis
(Spoiler Alert)
Dr. Charles Cargraves and retired General Thayer approach Jim Barnes who heads his own aviation construction firm (Barnes Aircraft Corporation) to help them build a rocket that will launch them to the moon. They, together with various industrialists agree to support the enterprise of having the United States be the first nation to put a man on the moon. After all, it is felt that they would have a “disunited world” if the US is not in space first. The rocket is constructed and successfully lands on the moon. However, there has been a miscalculation over their fuel consumption! After stripping down the ship, they discover that they are still 100 lbs overweight. One of them, therefore, will have to stay behind……..
Points of Interest
Since the days of NASA we have seen moves being made to rely less on governments and their organizations and greater emphasis being placed on having private enterprise assume a more prominent role in space exploration. In the film it is actually “combined American industry” that initiates the moon landing venture by manufacturing the space craft and financing its successful launching to and very first landing on the Moon. Take note of the following comments from the film;
“Government always turns to private industry when it’s in a jam.”“Only American industry can do this job…Just like we did in the last war.”
Of course, there’s profit to be made in that it is expected that the US government will purchase or lease this new technology in order to keep ahead of the Soviet Union. In the film, the question is asked, “What’s the payoff?” The answer is that they have to build the rocket to “stay in business.”
Both industry and the US have to stay in business, as even a decade before President Kennedy’s vow to have America be the first land a man on the moon and safely return him to earth, it was declared in the film;
“The race is on and we better win it…Whoever controls the moon…..”
Twenty years before the first actual moon landing, the film draws the audience’s attention to the dangers involved with manned space exploration, as well as with the technical difficulties with traveling to, landing on and safely returning from literally another world. First, there are initial disasters and failures as seen with the destruction of the V2 style rocket (a result possibly of sabotage.) Then there’s the dangers faced by astronauts such as finding themselves cut adrift in space. Of course technical problems can occur as was the case with the radar malfunctioning due to (what else?) human error. As we know, similar difficult aspects of space flight have had to be faced by both the former Soviet Union and the US.
Although with 70+ years hindsight we can pick apart the technical aspects of the film and its degree of accuracy, there are many things it got fairly (uncannily?) right. For instance;
The understanding of the basic principles of space flight as shown in the Woody Woodpecker cartoon.
The depiction of the take-off, weightlessness, the moon landing (compare with films of Apollo 11 moon landing) and some parts of the moon walk.
The almost panoramic view of the moon: its starkness and its “barren desolation,” “silence,” and “velvet black sky.”
The view and impression of the earth as being “vulnerable and exposed.
The use of jet packs being foreshadowed, with the oxygen tank being adapted for this purpose in order to retrieve their crew mate.
How the astronauts in the film had to struggle to find a suitable landing site with a critical fuel situation to contend with. Very similar to what Armstrong and Aldrin had to face in Apollo11 in 1969!
With both the film and the Apollo 11 mission, each crew came to the moon representing the US. In Armstrong’s case it was “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” For the crew in the film, they came to the moon for the “Benefit of all mankind.”
Notice also how the crew in the film had to make crucial fuel consumption calculations in order to return to Earth. I couldn’t help but think of what the crew of Apollo 13 had to face with only a radio link to earth to help them.
Attitudes & impressions:
Manned moon landing as being “Too fantastic!” Well, clearly not….
Atomic power as being a viable and unlimited source of power. However, there is a need to contend with negative public opinion which is dismissed in the film and put down to being a result of manipulation.
Government as being an impediment to getting things done with all of its red tape. I guess various sections of American politics would be nodding their heads very vigorously at this….even 70 years later!
Women….where were they? No role for them? Only a few years earlier they were performing crucial roles in industry and elsewhere while the man were at war. So when the war ended, were they expected to go back to being wives, mothers and homemakers? I guess according to this film, they were expected to.
So, for now…..
”This is the end of the beginning!”
(End of Destination Moon)
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Rocketship XM (1950)
A quite average film
Director: Kurt Neumann
Starring: Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, John Emery, Noah Beery Jr, Hugh O’Brian, Morris Ankrum
Screenplay: Kurt Neumann, Orville H. Hampton (uncredited) and Dalton Trumbo (uncredited)
Budget: $94,000 (Compare to Destination Moon!)
1950: A Taste Of The Times
Families in the US begin moving out to the suburbs.
8 million homes in the US own Televisions, many of which were 12 inch black and white TV sets.
Median family income in the US was $3,300 p/a.
Credit Cards and the transistor have made their appearance.
Communist China provides additional military forces to Communist North Korea. North Korea invades South Korea capturing Seoul. US leads UN in the Korean War.
The US “witch-hunt” begins when the persecution of Communists is initiated by Senator Joe McCarthy.
China invades Tibet.
Formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for the defense of the United States and Europe. Warsaw Pact formed in response to NATO.
Albert Einstein warns that nuclear war could lead to mutual destruction.
Synopsis
(Some spoilers follow…..)
The film revolves around the first manned spaceflight, "Rocketship eXpedition Moon". It’s crew consists of space scientist, Dr. Karl Eckstrom (who with Dr. Ralph Fleming conceived the idea of this space flight), Eckstrom’s brilliant protegé Dr. Lisa Van Horn, astronomer Harry Chamberlain, engineer Major William Corrigan and pilot, Captain Floyd Graham.
The launch is successful. However, things go wrong and the crew hurtle across space beyond the moon due to a rocket malfunction.
The RX-M's engines have shut down but the problem is finally resolved after a nifty bit of recalculating. However when the engines are reignited, the RX-M goes out-of-control and heads into deep space. During the acceleration, the crew becomes unconscious due to a drop in oxygen pressure.
Instead of landing on the moon, they wind up landing on the planet Mars!
While exploring Mars, they find the remains of a human-like civilization that had been destroyed by nuclear warfare.
The crew soon find themselves being attacked by a group of primitive, savage human-like creatures who have been mutated by nuclear radiation. As a result, both Corrigan and Eckstrom lose their lives.
Will the three survivors escape back into space and return to Earth with their lives and their precious information?
Or will they try and establish some kind of communication with the inhabitants of Mars?
Perhaps they too will perish on Mars …
Points Of Interest
Rocketship X-M became the first post-WWII sci-fi outer space film only due to the delayed release of George Pal's Destination Moon.
Unlike Destination Moon, Rocketship X-M was a black-and-white feature from Lippert Pictures shot in just 18 days.
Rocketship X-M was rushed into movie theaters 25 days before Destination Moon thereby taking full advantage of the high-profile national publicity of Pal’s film.
In R X-M we have the first use of the theremin in a sci-fi movie. Also known as the etherphone, this early electronic musical instrument could be controlled without the player actually making physical contact with it. The sound adds an eerie, haunting and spine-chilling atmosphere to a film. For instance, consider the effect in a film like, “The Day The Earth Stood Still.”
The film deals with some very interesting concepts surrounding the human exploration of space such as;
Space Travel:
The mission of Rocketship X-M is seen to be a “first step toward practical interplanetary travel” as well as the establishment of a base to “maintain peace.” We have in recent times heard the notion of the moon being one day used as a stepping off point to other planets in our solar system. Space itself has often been seen as a possible platform to maintain world peace.
The explanation to the press prior to lift-off shows that the principle of the multistage rocket and using a planet’s gravity to assist a rocket’s acceleration seems to have been known quite some time before it was put into practice by NASA.
Space being a vacuum and the concept of weightlessness in space were known and referred to. Unfortunately, the weightless environment depicted in the film was rather delayed and selective (The men’s ties and Van Horn’s hair stayed stubbornly put whereas the harmonica took off!). To show it realistically in films took time, knowledge, technology and money to solve.
Space as being a dangerous place was not a foreign concept. In fact, it was a vital ingredient in sci-fi film-making. In R X-M we had the first meteor (o.k. not “meteorites”) shower on film and yes, it was noisy despite the vacuum of space. Would you rather an accurate silent brush with death? Very entertaining that would be! To this day, satellites and manned spacecraft face the constant threat of being struck by micro meteors.
Mars:
It’s important not to forget that at the time of filming R X-M there was a belief in many people’s minds that there were little green from Mars and that Martians had constructed canals to carry water from the Martian Polar Regions. In fact, in the film, the annoying Texan engineer’s concept of Martians is that they would have “pale faces,” “pin heads and “fishy eyes.”
The impression the audience has of Mars from the film is that it is barren, rocky and sandy with occasional storms and rain! Well, according to discoveries made on the planet’s surface it apparently doesn’t rain on Mars but evidence for the presence of water has been detected. It was also the seemingly very barren and desolate nature of the planet that almost discouraged early investigation of the planet.
Due to the high levels of radiation (no, not from nuclear bombs!), freezing temperatures and an extremely thin atmosphere, one would need much more than oxygen masks and army surplus attire to get around on the Martian surface, as was the case in the film. Perhaps with a bit of terra-forming…?
In the absence of colour, it was probably a good idea to switch to sepia to depict the Martian scenes. At least it provided an ‘other worldly’ feel, but not a very realistic one.
Space Exploration:
It appears from the film that Mars contains vast deposits of resources such as manganese just waiting there to be exploited. Apart from purely scientific research, there have been many proposals to explore the feasibility of exploiting the resources of such places as the moon or the asteroids.
The film R X-M clearly shows that things can go wrong in space. When they do, we shouldn’t see them in terms of “failure” and just give up because it’s too risky. Ultimately, space exploration could prove to be the “salvation of our world.” R X-M 2 was being completed and readied for launch while the crew of R X-M 1 were going through trials and tribulations in space. As we know, there were a lot more Apollo’s after the tragic fire that killed Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee, crew of Apollo 1. Nor did the Shuttle program suddenly come to a complete end with the deaths of the Columbia and Challenger shuttle’s brave astronauts.
Humanity’s Position in the Universe:
Whether a person believes in a concept of a God or not, one cannot help but consider whether there is something more to our existence when confronted with the immensity of the universe. Our lives and our planet are given a new perspective once we have left the safe haven of our own little world.
For the crew of R X-M, it is as if the meteor swarm was like “heavenly flak” indicating that something was trying to stop them going to where were intending to go. Their
change of course to Mars “couldn’t be mere chance’ and that it was a case where “something infinitely greater assumes control.”
“The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it cut him like a knife,” With this quote from Kipling’s Tomlinson, Captain Floyd Graham highlights their own dilemma and perhaps the kind of predicament faced by humanity: Suspended in the void, not being able to enter heaven or hell… Recall how some of the astronauts from our own modern era of space exploration underwent deep personal spiritual changes as a result of their experiences.
Life on other worlds:
Statistically it would be hard to argue against the possibility of life, even ‘intelligent’ life elsewhere in the universe. Think of the billions of suns contained in one galaxy and add to that the billions of galaxies in our universe and the odds would be in favor of our eventually finding an artifact (or signal) that would demonstrate the existence of a complex and organized society. In R X-M they found such evidence of intelligence on Mars. We may only wind up finding evidence of microbial life on the red planet though.
Humanity’s Fate:
Just before Dr. Eckstrom dies, he says to the others, “Tell them what we found. Maybe this will…….” He never finished his sentence, but we can be sure he was referring to humanity learning (“lesson for our world”) from the mistakes of the Martian civilization and averting a similar fate for ourselves.
The film R X-M poses the question for its audience: Are we, too, destined to divert our intellect to pursuits that will ultimately lead to our self-destruction? If so, then we will suffer a similar fate to that of the Martian civilization that blew itself from the “Atomic Age to the Stone Age.” That was the “terrible truth” that had to be passed on to our planet.
Gender Roles:
Now we come to the one feature of this film that receives a great deal of finger wagging and tsk-tsking: The role of and attitude toward women. A lot of the observations that have been made about this have been influenced by decades of change that has seen women striving for and obtaining far greater levels of equality and respect than was the case in 1950. Yet, in the 21st. century we still have the existence of glass ceilings for women in the workforce, unequal rates of pay, misogynistic attitudes and so on.
I feel that R X-M showed the beginnings of a glimmer of change in attitudes towards women at a time that was not ready for such a change. To our sensibilities such attitudes and comments that were expressed in the film tend to make us cringe;
1. Van Horn objecting to Eckstrom’s arbitrary decision to proceed using his numbers, but submitting, and being forgiven for "momentarily being a woman." However, the “woman” was proved to have been correct!
2. Floyd’s comment to Van Horn, “How does a girl like you get mixed up in a thing like this?” Well, she has by virtue of her intellect and is the sole female crew member-something unheard of at the time as exemplified in Pal’s ‘Destination Moon’ which didn’t feature one significant female.
3. Floyd’s retort, “Isn’t that enough?” to Van Horn’s challenge, “I suppose you think women should only cook, and sew, and bear children?” It clearly is not enough as she has broken through this stereotype by obtaining a doctorate in advanced organic chemistry, inventing a synthetic fuel that makes such a mission as theirs possible, being a part for the space program and becoming a crew member of the first ‘manned’ mission to the moon!
4. Lisa’s objections to Eckstrom being dismissed as being a product of “Woman’s intuition?” Certainly she quells her protests and Eckstrom as the authority figure gets his way with the RXM being fueled according to his calculations. Still, events prove her to have been correct. There have been many films where the junior colleague (male or female) has tried to voice what they believe to be correct, only to be talked down to and overruled by their senior respected ‘superior.’ It happens in real life to this very day! At least in R X-M we see the first stirrings of a challenge to established authority which in some aspects of life the post-war 1950’s ushered in.
5. Floyd’s “weaker sex,” comment is rendered foolish when we see that Lisa is the only crew member whose blood pressure is normal prior to take-off. Notice too that she is the first to recover consciousness when they are later rendered unconscious as they race headlong toward Mars.
6. Lisa does at first present aspects of the conventional cold, almost emotionless facade that successful women of science were expected to display. She does suggest that her drive to be where she is now has had an impact on her ability to enjoy the pleasures of growing into adulthood. Far from being a one dimensional character though, she does display many interesting aspects to her character. Notice how the seemingly professional scientist draws the crew’s attention to an appreciation of the view from the ship’s viewing port. By the end of the film Lisa actually has this Floyd character with his ‘potent moonlight’ lines actually admitting to her, “Maybe I changed.”
And so, dear reader, maybe we have all changed in our collective and individual journeys onward and outward while wondering all the time….What if?…….
(End of Rocketship XM)
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Flight To Mars (1951)
A moderately interesting film
Director: Lesley Selander
Producer: Walter Mirisch
Written by Arthur Strawn
Music: Marlin Skiles
Cinematography: Harry Neumann
Editing: Richard V. Heermance
Distributor: Monogram Pictures
Release date: November 11, 1951
Running time: 72 minutes
Cast
Marguerite Chapman as Alita
Cameron Mitchell as Steve Abbott
Arthur Franz as Dr. Jim Barker
Virginia Huston as Carol Stafford
John Litel as Dr. Lane
Morris Ankrum as Ikron
Richard Gaines as Prof. Jackson
Lucille Barkley as Terris
Robert Barrat as Tillamar
Wilbur Back as Councilman
William Bailey as Councilman
Trevor Bardette as Alzar
Stanley Blystone as Councilman
David Bond as Ramay
Raymond Bond as Astronomer No.2
Synopsis:
(Some spoilers follow......)
Pre-Mission
The first mission to Mars, will be manned by Dr. Lane (physicist and project leader); Jim Barker (engineer); Carol Stadwick (Jim’s assistant); Professor Jackson, and Steve (newspaper columnist covering the expedition).
The mission itself is described as being “terrifying” and that there is probably “an outside chance of getting there,” not to mention metaphorical references to climbing a mountain and trying to get back down. The realization that there is a negligible chance of returning to Earth is exemplified by Jackson wanting to do a television interview, the profits from which he intends to leave to his ailing wife and two grandchildren, in the event that he does not return.
In Space
After forty-eight hours in space the moon's gravitational pull requires the crew to change course. Contact with Earth is eventually lost causing some concern.
A somber mood descends on the crew as Jackson believes he will never see his family again. In fact, he believes that “this rocket is (his) coffin.” Meanwhile, Carol longs both for Jim's attention and for a family (“wife, home, grandchildren”) of her own. Steve (the cad!) then takes the opportunity to flirt with Carol.
The Mars mission’s rationale becomes apparent when Lane reminds the crew that their “flight to Mars” is essential to humanity's understanding of the universe and their place in it. There is a great deal of talk concerning the theory of endless universes extending both outward and beyond as well as inward and within. In addition, after a (noisy, inevitable and required!) meteor storm damages their landing gear, the crew must then decide whether to crash-land on Mars or turn back. Jackson is for continuing and fulfilling their primary mission of data collection. The decision is made to crash-land on Mars.
Surface of Mars
On on the surface of Mars, they discover that there exists an advanced underground Martian civilization populated by human-like beings who have learned Earth languages from studying Earth's radio broadcasts. Their own attempts to contact Earth have only been registered as "faint signals coming from Mars."
The wonders of the Martian civilization become apparent when the crew learn that the Martians life-support and other systems rely on a mineral called corium and that they possess automated systems for preparing and delivering meals which are made from hydroponically grown food. (This begs the question of why they are unable to adequately transmit signals to Earth as well as develop interplanetary space flight!)
Deception
Soon the crew seek the help of the council to salvage and repair their ship. However, as the Martians have almost exhausted their supply of corium, the planetary leader Ikron suggests that they help the human crew repair the ship, seize them before take-off and construct a fleet of duplicate ships to evacuate their own people to Earth. Even though such an invasion plan will require warfare with Earth, the council votes in favor of Ikron's devious scheme. As we have already learned, the inhabitants of the red planet represent a dying civilization of Martians.
Counter-Deception
A crew of workmen is assigned to the humans to “assist” with repairs to the ship. Unknown to them they are also being monitored and reported on to the council by Terris who is assigned to spy on their progress.
After discovering the deception, the humans (together with Alita who was earlier assigned to assist them) concoct a plan to rig an explosion inside the ship. This is designed to create the impression that the take-off will have to be postponed. In actual fact, they plan to take off much sooner than the Martian’s have been led to believe! An important outcome of the counter-deception plan is for Tillamar to transmit a series of radio broadcasts from Earth calling on the Martians to overthrow Ikron.
Will Jim and Alita’s relationship blossom into something more?
Will Carol (“what I want to see is the kitchen!”) realize that she is just wasting time on Jim?
Will Carol (“No dishwashing! I love Mars!”) stop crying long enough for Steve one day to eventually “collaborate?” with her?
Will Terris uncover the humans’ plan and report to Ikron, thereby preventing the take-off?
Will the take-off plan actually succeed?
Will Tillamar and Alita be able to join them?
Points of Interest
First we went to the moon with “Destination Moon.” Then we side-stepped the moon and inadvertently wound up on Mars in “Rocket ship X-M.” And now we are deliberately setting our sights on the red planet Mars with “Flight To Mars.” (Yes, I know about the eventual film release order!)
Recycling was obviously a concept popular way back in the early 1950s as you might have noticed that “Flight To Mars” reuses much of the rocket ship cabin interior from Rocketship X-M. The rocket itself was reused in at least three other 1950s movies: `Queen of Outer Space', `World Without End', and `It ! The Terror from Outer Space'. And haven’t we seen the spacesuits / costumes from Rocketsahip X-M and Destination Moon?
Unlike “Rocketship X-M,” with its regressed primitive and barbaric civilization being a result of an ancient global nuclear holocaust, this film depicts a Martian civilization which is superior (and a menace) to human civilization.
You can’t help but love the outfits worn by the female Martians. Lashings of gorgeous long legs cascading out of micro-mini skirts rivaled even the original Star Trek series! They certainly helped to take attention away from the more ordinary and banal aspects of the film. But I digress….
Amazingly, “Flight To Mars” was shot in just a few days which in other circumstances could have led to the production of a totally dreadful film. The end result was a comic- book style fantasy film shot using the Cinecolor process and was the first color film featuring a mission to Mars. It must be remembered that a film like this in the context of the times was instrumental at taking audiences from the world of Flash Gordon serials and movies and introducing them to the brave new world of film SCIENCE FICTION.
Morris Ankrum (from `Rocketship X-M') plays a Martian leader who comes up with the plan to invade the Earth. We know him from his frequent roles as a general defending Earth’s interests in other 1950s sci-fi films that will be featured in this ebook.
Space travel is depicted as being a run-of-mill quaint affair as seen from the way the crew saunters on to the rocket before lift-off with a “good-bye” and “good luck” to send them off. I love their casual work wear with their hats and jackets and skirt for Carol. The equipment is comforting with big dials to read, switches to flick and knobs to turn accompanied by determined clunking sounds. You can almost hear the vacuum tubes humming and buzzing! All very far removed from the whiz-bang gadgetry we are familiar with in modern science fiction. But we do have the grand solution to the absence of gravity: a device to “equalize gravitational pull!” Take that “Rocketship X-M!”
Earth is depicted a being a dirty brown ball in space which is far removed from the precious blue jewel we are familiar with. Mars is shown as being covered in snow and as being a planet that one can get around on just by wearing an oxygen mask and pilot gear. A lot different to the arid, freezing, radiation-bombarded red planet with the ultra-thin carbon dioxide atmosphere we have discovered it to be. However, the idea of Mars having cooled off and losing much of its atmosphere is essentially correct. Also correct is the prospect of failure discouraging future flights to Mars. This indeed almost happened in relation to Mars with the frequent mission failures as well as with the slim prospects of finding evidence of life on the red planet that seemed to be the case from early Mariner orbital flybys and the Viking landers. By the way, those robotic explorers which have failed, presumably by crashing into the planet obviously didn’t fare as well as the rocket ship in the film which crash-landed on Mars by smacking into the side of a mountain, causing an avalanche! And the crew survived! Thank goodness this didn’t happen to Spirit, Opportunity or Curiosity!
Parallel universes, alternate realities, String Theory and so on. Such theories have become the staple of modern Science Fiction. The crew in the film “Flight To Mars,” devote some time discussing the possibility of endless universes which on the surface seems to diminish the significance of what they are trying to achieve and of all human endeavors. Whatever one might believe or however much one’s head tends to hurt contemplating such things, one thing we can be sure of: they are worth contemplating with a view to finding some of the answers to the questions they raise and hopefully by doing so, finding out something about ourselves and our place in the scheme of things.
Overall, “Flight To Mars” is a moderately interesting story that tends to lack real originality, with rather ordinary action sequences and few characters for audiences to really identify with. Cartoon animations, matte work and a model pulled by strings in front of matte shots and transparencies comprise the bulk of visual effects, and it looks like it too! Worth a look, but don’t get too distracted by the legs!
(End of Flight to Mars)
********************
Cat-Women of the Moon (1953)
A strangely entertaining film with little more than one hour to endure its many flaws
Director: Arthur Hilton
Producer: Jack Rabin, Al Zimbalist
Writer: Roy Hamilton
Music: Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography: William P. Whitley
Editor: John A. Bushelman
Distributor: Astor Pictures
Running time 64 minutes
Cast
Sonny Tufts (Laird Grainger)
Victor Jory (Kip Reissner)
Marie Windsor (Helen Salinger)
William Phipps (Doug Smith)
Douglas Fowley (Walt Walters)
Carol Brewster (Alpha)
Suzanne Alexander (Beta)
Susan Morrow (Lambda)
Bette Arlen (Cat-Woman)
Roxann Delman (Cat-Woman)
Ellye Marshall (Cat-Woman)
Judy Walsh (Cat-Woman)
(Some spoilers may follow)
Plot
A race of "Cat-Women" consists of less than a dozen survivors of a 2-million-year-old civilization who live deep within a cave on the moon.
Within the cave the surviving Lunar Cat-Women have managed to maintain the remnants of a breathable atmosphere that once covered the moon. They are the end product of a program of “planned genocide” to reduce oxygen consumption.
The remaining air will soon be exhausted and the last of the Cat-Women species must escape if they are to survive.
The Cat-Women plan to steal a human lunar expedition’s spaceship and return to Earth where, with their superior powers, they will assume control.
In order to fulfil their plan, the Cat-Women have used their telepathic ability to subliminally control Helen Salinger, enabling her to then gain the position of navigator on a scientific expedition that will consist of five astronauts who are to travel aboard Moon rocket 4 to the dark side of the moon. It is intended that Helen lead the expedition right to the Cat-Women’s location.
While in space, the ship is hit by something which Grainger believes to be a meteor that has lodged itself in the rocket tubes. (“Something’s embedded in our rear section!” Spoken with a straight face!) In order to dislodge the meteor, the crew decides to manoeuvre the ship wildly. This succeeds but they discover some damage to the ship’s engines. (“SECTION 5” indicating problems with the atom chamber with one of the tubes damaged and an obstruction in the water line.) After some efforts at making repairs, the emergency situation is finally brought under control.
QUESTIONS ARISE:
Who was Helen talking to on the radio when she said, “Alpha, we are on the way?”
Why was she vague in her response when questioned about this?
Was she merely suffering “a touch of space madness?”
Why does she act as if she recalls nothing?
Why has she already chosen a site “the perfect landing place”; a choice that does not fit the mission profile since it is located on the dark side of the moon?
Why is she so insistent about her choice of landing site but can’t explain why?
Once on the moon, the Cat-Women take complete control of Helen’s mind but are unable to control the men's minds. With Helen's help, along with their own powers, abilities and feminine talents, they hope to discover the men’s “weak points," and then “take care of the rest."
MORE QUESTIONS ARISE:
How could Helen have seen the cave during the landing as she claimed when she suggested that they head towards it?
How convenient is it that according to Helen the walls of the cave look exactly as it did in a dream she supposedly had and that she can now take the lead and navigate her way through the various passages right to the very door-step of “another world in the bowels of the moon?”
Another power that the Cat-Women possess is their ability to transport themselves unseen from place to place within the cave which they put to good use to steal the crew's spacesuits.
After an earlier attack on the crew by large lunar arachnids, as well as from hidden cat-women attempting to take the men down individually, the Cat-Women deal directly with the human visitors and a party is put together in their subterranean city with tempting offerings of food, drink and entertainment.
A suspicious and constantly glowering Kip confronts the Cat-Women's leader, Alpha after discovering the spacesuits are missing and promises are soon made to return the suits in the morning.
Meanwhile the Cat-Women continue to exploit the "weak points" of the expedition’s male crew members. For example, Walt is easily charmed by Beta who feeds him stories about caverns filled with gold, so much gold in fact that no one bothers to mine it. She promises to let Walt have the gold if he agrees to take her back to Earth with him.
Will the Cat-Women learn how to operate the spaceship and succeed in their mission to reach Earth?
Will LOVE play a part in the success or failure of the Cat-Women’s plot?
Or will the expedition manage to escape the clutches of the Cat-Women and return safely to Earth?
Points Of Interest
“Cat-Women of the Moon” is simply a movie anyone could spend time picking to pieces, but despite its many faults you can’t help but enjoy watching it. It can also be appreciated as being the first film of its kind, followed by such films as “Invasion of the Star Creatures,” “Fire Maidens from Outer Space,” “Queen of Outer Space” and its clone / remake, “Missile to the Moon.”
Was it just me, or did the opening to “Cat-Women of the Moon” really remind us of the “Twilight Zone” series narrator? “Why must we wait (for the barrier to be pierced)? Why not now?” I half-expected the theme tune to “Twilight Zone” to start up.
A large part of the film’s entertainment value lies with its nonsensical elements such as the notion that astronauts would bring cigarettes with them to the moon. This is followed by a demonstration of the temperature difference between shaded and sunny parts of moon's surface by having a cigarette thrown into a sunny part where it instantly bursts into flame! Try not to shake your head and smile! Still, the temperature differentiations are quite extreme on the moon’s surface.
Apart from the suspect science, we have equally suspect set designs with mundane office chairs complete with seat belts in a spaceship. The spaceship interior itself is remarkably like the one in the film “Project Moon Base” made in the same year as “Cat women of the Moon.”
It gets better with the “special effects” where far from being horrified by the giant puppet spiders, we would run the risk of expiring from spasms of laughter. Still, we feel the need to keep on watching despite (for the want of a better word), the “acting” of Sonny Tufts! And then there’s the wonderfully politically incorrect dialogue with great lines like Walt’s, "You're too smart for me, baby, I like ‘em stupid."
Sure, we might cringe at watching movies like this, but we should be sophisticated enough to view them as being a part of sci-fi film history and a window through which to see the attitudes of a largely by-gone era. It’s both fascinating and funny at the same time.
Perhaps part of the appeal of this and similar movies lie with the notion of being a male traveler who encounters a lost civilization consisting solely of beautiful young women clad in tight body hugging black outfits or leotards. Unfortunately the fantasy is somewhat spoiled when the male discovers it would be more than just the TV remote control and credit card that would be appropriated by his newfound female companions-his very mind would be under their control! The ultimate male fear! The horror!
Can anyone explain to me why three of the astronauts were wearing goldfish bowls for helmets while two others were wearing the steel helmet variety? As these helmets have featured in other sci-fi films of the time, I can only imagine that they ran out of the goldfish helmets and had to scrounge around for other helmets, make do with two odd ones.
Can anyone also tell me why when they were in the cave, the space-suited astronauts felt the need to yell and shout at one another to be heard. I can only assume that they could communicate via their radios and would be able to converse normally over some distance. It took them a while to realise that there was a breathable atmosphere in the cave. Up until then they would think they were in a vacuum and therefore yelling to be heard would have been of no use.
The “weak points” that the Cat-Women are intent on exploiting, could be considered a kind of test that we as human individuals “pass” or “fail” at various times throughout our lives. For example, Walt is tempted with the promise of having more gold than he can imagine in return for providing information. Will he succumb to greed? Kip is cautious and sensible, but can suspicion and “spoiling for a fight” damage the prospects for forming meaningful personal relationships? For Laird Grainger, his sense of duty is tested and his intentions are good but does everything in life have to be “done by the book?” The biggest test being faced is the one involving Doug and Lambda. Can their genuine affection for each other overcome the vices of temptation, fear, avarice, suspicion and manipulation?
As the Cat Women have no power of control over the male crew members’ minds, it the decisions they each will make that will ultimately determine their individual and collective fate. It is certainly a dilemma for men in the modern world as we try to redefine our roles and find our purpose in a constantly changing world. With advances in science & technology, including reproductive research, it has even proposed that in the future the time may come when there will be no need for male human beings.
The evil nature of the Cat-Women’s civilization is clearly laid bare for the audience with the reference to “Eugenics.” Lambda is told in no uncertain terms that any choice of “husband” for her, along with any children she may have will be determined by the process of eugenics. There will be “no room for love.” With only eight years since the ending of the Second World War, the association in people’s minds with the medical practices of the Nazis in Germany would’ve been powerful.
Finally, if anyone further doubts the credentials of “Cat Women of the Moon,” the music is by none other than Elmer Bernstein from `The Ten Commandments' fame-so there! A touch of class!
If you haven’t watched “Cat-Women of the Moon,” do it now…Come on….
“EVERY MAN A TIGER….LET’S GO!”
(End of Cat Women of the Moon)
***************************
Forbidden Planet (1956)
A 1950s SF Film Masterpiece
1956: A Taste of the Times
Dwight Eisenhower is re-elected President of USA.
Soviet leader Khrushchev publicly denounces Stalin, ushering in the process of "de-Stalinization."
Soviet troops suppress a popular uprising against the communist regime in Hungary. Russian troops and tanks attacked Budapest and crushed the Hungarian revolt. Martial law was proclaimed and mass arrests followed. 25,000 people were killed.
Fidel Castro begins a revolution in Cuba. He and 81 rebel exiles departed Mexico to liberate Cuba from the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
After the French withdrew from Vietnam, the US installed and financially supported the political puppet regime of South Viet Nam. South Vietnam was essentially a creation of the US. Later on there were US advisers and support staff and then full-scale involvement.
US Congress approves the Highway Act, which allows for construction of the U.S. interstate highway system.
Atomic Energy Commission approves development of commercial nuclear power plants.
The US Federal Hourly Minimum Wage was set at $1.00 an hour
Directed by Fred M. Wilcox
Produced by Nicholas Nayfack
Screenplay by Cyril Hume
Story by Irving Block, Allen Adler
Narrated by Les Tremayne
Music by Louis and Bebe Barron
Cinematography: George J. Folsey
Edited by Ferris Webster
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Running time: 98 minutes
Budget: $1,968,000
Box office: $2,765,000
Cast:
Walter Pidgeon: Dr. Morbius
Anne Francis: Altaira Morbius
Leslie Nielsen: Commander Adams
Warren Stevens: Lt. 'Doc' Ostrow
Jack Kelly: Lt. Farman
Richard Anderson: Chief Quinn
Earl Holliman: Cook
Robby the Robot
George Wallace: Bosun
Robert Dix: Crewman Grey
Jimmy Thompson: Crewman Youngerford
James Drury: Crewman Strong
Harry Harvey Jr.: Crewman Randall
Roger McGee: Crewman Lindstrom
Peter Miller: Crewman Moran
Commander Adams and his crew investigate a planet thought to be inhabited by scientists: survivors from the Bellerophon expedition 20 years earlier.
They soon discover that….
A hideous creature roams the planet.
All but two of the survivors have been killed by the creature!
A mystery waits to be solved…..
How is it that Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira have survived?
What discovery has Morbius made?
Why won’t Morbius share his discovery - or his daughter - with anyone?
(Spoilers follow)
“O brave new world, That has such people in't!”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
From the opening credits we are transported to a future time as our ears are assailed by futuristic electronic music and our vision is filled with a star-spangled vista.
The narrator informs us that by the late 22nd Century the human race has reached the outer planets and has developed the hyper drive. It appears to be the best of all possible times, ushering in the “the conquest and colonization of deep space.”
Symbolizing this age of technological optimism, we have United Planet cruiser C57D just a year out from Earth base on the way to the planet Altair 4 on a special mission: to look for survivors from the Bellerophon expedition 20 years earlier.
Instead of fearfully peering over their shoulders and upward for flying saucers, hostile aliens, bug-eyed monsters and communists, it is human beings in flying saucers of their own making who are venturing out beyond the confines of their own immediate stellar neighborhood.
Interstellar space flight is portrayed as merely another aspect of life in the future where we have the sense that this crew has explored many of the far reaches of deep space. Instead of the usual rockets being used for space travel, we instead see a flying saucer complete with artificial gravity and hyper-drive technology being used by human beings who appear to be military professionals instead of the usual space adventurer-scientists.
Commander J.J Adams orders the crew to the deceleration booths (DC stations) as the ship drops from light speed to “.3896 of light speed.” While watching this scene, one cannot help but marvel at the fact that this film was made a good ten years before “Star Trek” (with its Federation) and two decades before “Star Wars!”
The scene involving the approach to and orbit of Altair 4 encompasses the varied views concerning the value of humanity’s presence in space. Firstly, we know that Altair 4 is an “earth-type planet.” Locating earth-type planets is one of the prime objectives of current exo-planetary investigation and research.
On approach to the planet, a comment is made by one of the crew that the “Lord sure makes some beautiful worlds.” Surely such wonder and marvel at the infinite variety and combinations of worlds, star systems, matter, elements, forms of energy and eventually life forms would have to be a motivating force behind humanity’s presence in and exploration of space.
Of course, as one of the film’s frequent comic tension lifters, we have the grounding comment of the ship’s cook who is more concerned about there being “no beer, no women (and) no pool parlors.” What might be considered to be of importance to certain intellectual, scientific, political and other leaders may not be high on the list of priorities of ordinary citizens who may feel that there are enough problems here on Earth to contend and occupy ourselves with. Besides, why trade what do have and appreciate already for a life “out there” and all its uncertainties. Candidates for one-way trips to Mars-be warned!
The mystery for the crew of United Planets cruiser C57D begins as they orbit the planet Altair 4 looking for signs of life. Suddenly their ship is scanned by radar emanating from an area some 20 miles square. Morbius contacts the ship and relays to the crew some quite unfriendly-sounding comments;
“Your best procedure is to turn back at once.”
“I’ll not be answerable for your safety or your crew.”
It is little wonder then that one of the crew observes that there’s “something funny down there, skipper.” This film will not just be a piece of sci-fi eye candy. It will involve us in a mystery that needs to be solved!
“Be not afeared; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
After Morbius reluctantly gives the pilot landing coordinates, the ship lands and soon a high speed dust cloud approaches the ship. It turns out to be a vehicle, being driven by a robot called Robby. This robot is not your crush, kill and destroy variety of robot we have come to expect. Instead, Robby represents that aspect of technology that fits seamlessly and usefully into people’s lives.
Robby is non-threatening and is rather user-friendly. He welcomes the crew to Altair 4 and invites them to Morbius’ residence. In reference to the oxygen content of the planet, he humorously responds with, “I rarely use it myself, Sir. It promotes rust.”
“Now I will believe that there are unicorns”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
At the residence Adams, Farman and Doc Ostrow are greeted by Morbius and sit down to a meal prepared by Robby’s food synthesizer which can reproduce identical molecules. This sounds like the food replicators used later in Star Trek. How much of our food and other resource problems could be solved if we could replicate and arrange organic and inorganic molecules in whatever way we wished! If it can be imagined, it can be done.
Adams, Farman and Doc Ostrow are then given a demonstration of Robby’s “selfless obedience” when “he” is ordered by Morbius to place his arm in the disposal unit. Morbius uses this demonstration to highlight the fact that Robby is merely a technological “tool” that is under total human control.
Morbius next shows the three visitors Robby’s “built in safety factor.” He gives Robby a blaster with orders to shoot Adams. Robby cannot carry out the command and goes into a mechanical mind lock, whereby he is “locked in a sub-electronic dilemma” unable to resolve the conflict between the order he has been given and his programming. Robby will remain disabled or be destroyed until the order is changed. This is the robot’s version of a human being’s moral and ethical dilemma and will be something that will need to be considered as we develop more artificial and self-aware forms of intelligence.
When questioned about Robby, Morbius evasively answers that he simply “tinkered him together” in his spare time, a feat beyond even the combined sciences of Earth! Another layer is added to the mystery….
As Morbius shows the men the defense system of the house which involves a series of sensor-activated steel shutters, one cannot help think about how more and more of us tend to live lives behind shutters either for security, noise reduction or climate control reasons. There always seems to be something “out there” we wish ourselves to be shielded from.
A similar desire appears to be held by Morbius who admits that the Belleraphon crew is dead and that he and his wife were the only original survivors left alive. Morbius explains that many of the crew succumbed to a “dark terrible force” and were “torn literally limb from limb.” The Belleraphon was also vaporized when the final three surviving members tried to take off for Earth. Morbius's wife tragically died months after the others but from natural causes.
Rather ominously and ironically, Morbius admits that he feels that the “creature is lurking close at hand.”
“How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
Suddenly, a vision of beauty in the form of a young woman appears. It is Altaira, Morbius’ daughter. Her social isolation and innocence soon become evident through the directness of her comments such as when she addresses Doc and states, “You’re lovely doctor.” It is obvious that she has indeed “never known anyone except her father.”
Farman begins to flirt with Altaira and as he humorously downplays the qualities of both Doc and the commander, Altaira comments to Jerry that “I’m glad you don’t have any fire in your eyes,” totally oblivious to the humor surrounding her observation.
After Altaira shows the men her ability to control wild animals such as deer and a wild tiger, Adams explains that he will need to check in with Earth for further orders. In order to send a signal much power will be needed resulting in the ship being disabled for up to 10 days. Highlighting both Morbius’ character and the impending danger to the crew, Morbius offers Robby's services in building the communication facility, not due to any altruistic motive, but more from having “no wish to repeat that (digging of graves) experience.”
Cookie is used several times to lighten the tension such as when on the next day the commander instructs the crane operator to pick Cookie up using the magnetic grappler and move him out of the way. Soon after, Cookie goes in search of Robby in order to get the robot to synthesize bourbon for him. After downing the remaining contents of Cookie’s bottle, much to Cookie’s consternation, Robby states, “Quiet please. I’m analyzing.” This is followed by a burping sound and Robby’s matter of fact statement that he will have 60 gallons ready for him the next morning. Yes, technology does indeed have its uses!
Farman meanwhile shows what it’s like for a fella who has been cooped up for months in a space ship and is suddenly face-to-face with a beautiful young lady wearing a gossamer-like outfit the fabric of which gently caresses the contours of a rather small percentage of her body! What else can he do but roll up his sleeves and launch into a lesson or two on how to kiss and its obvious benefits? The nature of the situation is not exactly appreciated by Altaira due to her naiveté and innocence. It is definitely appreciated by Adams who stomps onto the scene - and is that possibly jealousy we see being brandished about? After gibbering incoherently about “super perfect” specimens and Altair’s inappropriate attire, Adams orders Altair to leave the area. Now he’s done it!
When Altair explains to her father what took place, the scene is set for the manifestation of something ominous and sinister….
“….this thing of darkness”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
Later on that very ominous and sinister something slowly advances on the ship, but we know not what it is as it has no form. We can only surmise that it is related to the destruction of the Belleraphon’s crew and therefore we know it only based on what it is capable of doing. Using a combination of rhythmic electronic sound effects and an elevated perspective camera angle, we are taken slowly past the lookout crew toward the ship. Seen from this perspective, the creature appears to be huge and stealthy. The sound of heavy breathing adds to the tension as inside the ship, we see the inner hatch open and some equipment being moved around.
The next morning it is determined that most of the missing and damaged equipment can be replaced except for the Clystron monitor. Adams, accompanied by Doc, go back to Morbius to confront him about what has occurred.
“They are both in either's powers”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
Morbius appears to be unavailable, so while waiting for him Adams spends some time outside with Altair and their feelings for each other become apparent. As they kiss, the tiger emerges and launches itself in an attack on Altair, but Adams manages to shoot it. Altair’s unnatural and unhealthy social and developmental upbringing is starkly revealed when she can't understand why the tiger acted as if she was an enemy.
“Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
Doc and Commander Adams manage to gain access to Morbius’ office where they discover not Morbius, but instead some strange incomprehensible drawings. At that point Morbius enters through a secret door and voices his displeasure at the men’s uninvited presence in his office. After Adams’ suggestion that Morbius might’ve been behind the attack, Morbius is more forthcoming with his explanations as what has been going on.
“The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
According to Morbius, an “all but divine” race of beings called the Krell inhabited the planet. They were a million years ahead of human kind and had even visited Earth in the past, bringing back various species of Earth’s animals, hence the tiger, deer and other creatures the men saw earlier on. Morbius believes the Krell civilization “disappeared in one night” just as they were about to make their greatest discovery. Now, after 2000 centuries, “absolutely nothing remains above ground.” It’s sobering to think that everything in the universe, no matter how powerful and awe-inspiring, eventually succumbs to the process of entropy!
Morbius takes the men on a tour of the Krell underground installation. He begins by inserting a small capsule-like object into a device which plays a recording made by Krell musicians. Remind you of something similar to our use of cds (remember them?) usb drives and memory cards?
The men are then introduced to Krell metal consisting of densely interlocked molecules that “drink up energy like a sponge.” It would be interesting to know what our friends in the corporate, scientific and military establishments have come up with in terms of new super hard and stress resistant polycrystalline and nanostructured substances!
This is followed by a viewing of a table-top screen which is able to display the “total scientific knowledge of the Krell.” This technology is similar to the smart touch screen table top displays of today that can have business and education applications.
Just as Commander Adams is about to state that what he has seen so far is “too big to evaluate” and therefore should be made available to the appropriate authorities, Doc strategically interrupts him and draws attention to the other equipment.
Morbius next proceeds to show them an education device that can project images formed in the user’s mind. The image that is projected for Morbius is of his daughter, Altaira. This 3D image is much like the holographic images we are familiar with today. Two decades before "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
Doc and then Adams try out the intelligence tester but neither man registers as high as Morbius. Morbius (quite accurately?) observes that a “commanding officer doesn’t need brains, just a loud voice.” Morbius explains that the machine can also boost intelligence, as he found out himself the hard way when he was once badly injured but discovered that his IQ had doubled when he recovered.
Mobius further explains that the Krell had the ultimate aim of freeing themselves from dependence on any form of instrumentation. The instruments and equipment they do see around them has no direct wiring (what we would recognize today as being akin to wireless communication technology) and that they can draw on a power supply that is in the order of the “number 10 raised almost to the power of infinity!” Tesla would be salivating at the prospect! With that kind of power and capability and a million year head start, how can one not conceive of a civilization that can achieve whatever it wants to achieve and go when and wherever it wishes? And in a cosmic blink of an eye, all trace of them is suddenly gone and how would we know they were ever there?
Adams and Doc learn that all the machines on the planet are self-repairing, but a far more mind-blowing and humbling “new scale of scientific values” is about to slap them in the face: a giant 20 mile-in-either-direction ventilation shaft that leads right to the core of the planet. Not only that, but there are also 400 other such shafts, each consisting of 7800 levels. Added to this mind-numbing statistic, there are also 9200 thermal reactors spread throughout the facility’s 8000 cubic miles. The immensity of scale of such a self-maintaining machine would be almost too much for the human psyche to grapple with.
Commander Adam’s, however, does ask Morbius the single most important question: “What’s it all for?” For now his question remains unanswered…..
Despite our presumed intelligence and technological advancements, it is one question few of us ever bother to ask as we construct more and more terabyte and teraflop layers of virtual reality.
Back at the ship, the security arrangements have been completed and a force field fence has been erected around the landing area. Soon after, something shorts out the fence but nothing is seen or found by the security team. Suddenly a series of foot prints begin forming and slowly head toward the ship. The metal steps leading up into craft bend and warp under an obviously immense weight as some unseen entity enters the ship. A scream rends the very fabric of the air around the compound as the Chief meets a fate too horrible even to imagine.
Meanwhile back at Morbius’ residence, an argument ensues between Morbius and Adams as to what should be done with the Krell technology and discoveries obtained from it. Morbius contends that only he should be allowed to control the flow of Krell technology back to Earth as he believes that “man isn’t fit yet to receive such power.” Commander Adams, on the other hand, argues that “no one man can be allowed to monopolize it.” Knowing what we know about human beings, it seems that both men have a valid point.
Adams learns that Chief Quinn has been murdered and returns to the ship where he is later shown by Doc a 37 inch X 19 inch plaster cast of one of the footprints. The mystery deepens when it is realized that the foot that made the imprint “runs counter to every known law of adaptive evolution.” After questioning Cookie, who was with the robot when the Chief was murdered, Adams concludes that the robot was not responsible.
The next day after the funeral for the Chief, and in response to Morbius’ cryptic warning of impending doom for the ship and its crew, Adams strengthens the defenses around the ship and tests the weapons. Suddenly the radar station reports some movement in the distance heading slowly toward the ship.
The entity remains unseen despite being fired on by energy weapons that hit “dead on target.” Still the entity continues to move inexorably towards the ship. Suddenly, like a huge red demon expelled from the bowels of Hell. a huge monstrous apparition is outlined in the fence’s force field. The crew continue firing but to no avail and several of their number are quickly dispatched by the monster. What kind of creature is it that “cannot be disintegrated by atomic fission?”
"This is strange. Your father's in some passion
That works him strangely."
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
Morbius is awoken from his “passion” upon hearing the screams of Altair who has had a nightmare of the attack on the ship and its crew. More dots are joined in this mystery as we realize that the creature in the force field disappeared right at the moment when Morbius woke up.
Adams and Doc return to Morbius’ residence, intending to evacuate him and his daughter from the planet, as well as break into Morbius’ office and take the brain booster test. Unknown to Adams, Doc manages to sneak into Morbius’ office to take the test.
Robby appears later carrying the injured Doc. Just before he succumbs to his injuries, Doc informs Adams that the Krell succeeded in their great experiment involving a machine with no instrumentality. However they “forgot one thing: monsters from the ID.” In other words, the sub-conscious monsters they would release.
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality
The id is the primitive personality component that is present at birth and is made up of unconscious psychic energy that works to satisfy basic urges, needs, and desires.
"I have done nothing but in care of thee,
thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter,"
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
Morbius sees the dead body of Doc, and callously comments, “let him be buried with the victims of greed and folly.” His daughter reminds him that Doc is dead and refers to him not as “Father” but instead as, ”Morbius” which shows how taken aback she is by Morbius’ inhuman lack of care. Altair feels that she is better off going with Adams and tells her father, “You wanted me to make a choice. You made it for me.”
Morbius is now forced to realize that he is the source of the entity that killed members of his previous expedition and several of Adams’ crew. The Krell machine enabled Morbius to release the beast of his sub-conscious. Creation by mere thought…..
“Hell is empty
And all the devils are here"
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
As if on cue, Robby suddenly reports that something is approaching the house. The defensive shields of the house prove to be useless against the creature’s advance. Robby cannot carry out Morbius’ command to destroy the creature since the robot knows as does Adams when he declares to Morbius, “that thing out there is you!”
Adams, Altair and Morbius’ last line of defence is the Krell lab where they seal themselves in behind an indestructible door made of Krell metal. Adams convinces Morbius “we’re all just monsters of our subconscious” and that he is in fact the monster, and that he is unable to control his subconscious desires.
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality:
If we cannot immediately satisfy a need, tension results. The id strives to temporarily relieve the tension by creating a mental image via daydreaming, fantasizing, hallucinating, or some other process.
As the creature begins to burn through the door, Morbius finally understands that it is he that could endanger the life of his own daughter.
“He that dies pays all debts”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
As the creature breaks through the barrier of the door, Morbius advances in its path and denies its existence causing the creature to disappear but leaving Morbius close to death. Before Morbius dies, he instructs Adams to shift a self-destruct lever that will trigger the reactors of the Krell machine to explode. Altair, Adams and his crew will only have 24 hours to get as far away from the planet as possible.
“Our revels now are ended”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
The next day on board the ship, Altair and Adams watch as the planet explodes and is destroyed. Adams assures Altair that even after a million years of tragedy and triumph, “Your father’s name will shine again like a beacon.”
In the meantime, however we all will just have to satisfy ourselves with the thought that…
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
(Shakespeare’s, The Tempest)
Points Of Interest
There are many reasons as to why “Forbidden Planet” stands out as an intelligent sci-fi film adventure. Among them is the way important themes and issues are dealt with. Far from acting merely as an allegory for the threat of communism, the film sends a powerful message about the destructive power of technology, particularly at a time when the threat of nuclear war and technology was uppermost in many people’s minds.
“Forbidden Planet” also explores in an intelligent manner the notion of regardless of how much humanity progresses in evolutionary terms and no matter how advanced our technology becomes, we can never really escape or ignore our darker inner primal instincts.
The film also conveys the message that advanced technology and knowledge cannot be pursued without responsibility and the necessary wisdom of how to use that advanced technology. The film uses the example of the Morbius character to remind us of what can happen when technology is allowed to increase unabated, to the point where human beings can no longer control it. Ironically, it was Dr. Morbius who understood the likely consequences of an unchecked advancement of technology by refusing to allow mankind unfettered access to the Krell's technology. Instead, he insisted that he would parcel out portions of that technology as he saw fit, in order to prevent humanity from destroying itself.
The real genius of “Forbidden Planet” is how it manages to combine elements of Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Freudian psychology within the framework of a sci-fi mystery.
Reference is made in the film to Jung's theory on the collective unconscious and it sets about intelligently exploring the idea of a destructive power within the subconscious.
“Collective unconscious” is a term coined by Carl Jung which according to him is a part of the unconscious mind, whereby “in addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature … there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited…..”
The plot, characters and setting of “Forbidden Planet” contain some significant story analogues to William Shakespeare's, The Tempest. However, the film’s plot does diverge significantly from that of the play.
Comparison of Shakespeare's “Tempest” and “Forbidden Planet”
Tempest
Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been isolated on an island for twelve years.
Prospero causes a "tempest" to wreck a passing ship.
Miranda is smitten with one of the surviving passengers.
The entry of outsiders (sailors) into this utopia causes upheaval and eventual destruction when the outsider’s leader falls in love with Prospero's daughter.
Ferdinand is the only man Miranda has seen besides her father and his servant.
Prospero seeks to control the elements through 'magic.'
Forbidden Planet
Morbius, the scientist in Forbidden Planet and his daughter are isolated on a planet.
The entry of a space crew on a routine mission into this utopia causes upheaval and eventual destruction when the outsider’s leader falls in love with Morbius' daughter.
Adams (and crew) are the only men Altaire has seen apart from her father.
Morbius seeks to control the world around him through (modern magic) advanced alien technology.
“Forbidden Planet’s” screenplay by Irving Block and Allen Adler, written in 1952, was originally titled “Fatal Planet.” The title, “Forbidden Planet,” was selected instead for its presumed greater box-office appeal.
The electric passenger vehicle driven between the ship and Morbius’ residence by Robby and the tractor-crane were both constructed especially for the film.
Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry has mentioned that “Forbidden Planet” was one of his inspirations for his Star Trek series. Both the B9 robot and the set of the spaceship Jupiter 2 in the TV series Lost in Space were inspired by Forbidden Planet and designed by Robert Kinoshita, creator of Robby the Robot.
“Forbidden Planet” was shot entirely indoors. Altair 4 exterior scenes were depicted using sets, visual effects and matte paintings. A full-size mock-up of ¾ of the C-57D starship was constructed to suggest its full width of 170 ft (51 m). The ship was surrounded by a huge, painted cyclorama depicting the desert landscape of Altair 4. Matte art was used brilliantly to create a sense of mind-numbing vastness of scale of the Krell scientific complex as the flea-sized characters make their way along the passageways, guided by Dr. Morbius. Similar scenes were shown in some episodes of the TV series Time Tunnel.
The film was an early pioneer in the use of electronic music and was the first to use a completely electronic musical score by Louis and Bebe Barron. Louis Barron constructed his own electronic circuits (a "ring modulator") that he used to generate the score's electronic sounds. The Barrons manipulated pre-recorded basic sounds by adding other effects, such as reverberation and delay, as well as reversing or changing the speeds of certain sounds. And yet it was not until 1964 that the Moog synthesizer was invented!
The film’s special effects were nominated for an Academy Award. Even today we can still be amazed at just how realistic the battle scenes with the unseen force seem to be. The animations involving the attack of the "Id Monster", were created by the veteran animator Joshua Meador who was lent out to MGM by Walt Disney Pictures.
The performances of the cast were very solid and they played characters we can relate to and care about:
Leslie Nielsen made his motion picture debut in “Forbidden Planet.” His strongest performance in the film featured him forcing Dr. Morbius to confront the evil within himself: "Here! Here is where your mind was artificially enlarged. Consciously it still lacked the power to operate the Great Machine. But your subconscious had been made strong enough!"
Walter Pigeon who plays Dr. Morbius gives a convincing performance as a character torn apart by and at war with the horrors of the recesses of his own mind.
Ann Francis who plays Altaira is the only female in the film but is able to effortlessly capture the attention of all males both on and off screen with her on-screen beauty, innocence and naiveté.
The cook played by Earl Holliman is a great comic character, providing the right touch of comic relief in an otherwise quite weighty and dark film.
Of course, Robby the Robot stands as a character in his own right and is more than just a stilted mechanical contraption with legs. Robby displays a definite personality and often seems more human than many of the other characters. Robbie has appeared in Twilight Zone and Lost In Space where he faced off with the B9 robot. The price tag for Robby stood at an expensive $125,000.
Filmed in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, “Forbidden Planet” departed from previous science fiction films by depicting humans traveling between the stars in an interstellar vehicle of their own making. We in fact have become the aliens traveling to other worlds in flying saucers! The film was also the first sci-fi genre film set entirely on another world. The threats that are in fact posed to the humans do not come from some external force (bug-eyed monsters and little green men bent on world domination) but instead originate closer to home, in this case from internal monsters from the Id.
Unlike previous sci-fi films and many since, the issue of extra-terrestrial life and intelligence is indirectly represented instead of being physically encountered. The only clue as to the Krell’s physical appearance is the shape of their doors which suggest to our minds beings that might not be humanoid at all. We witness remnants of an ancient, highly advanced civilization on Altair IV but no direct interaction with alien life-forms which are extinct. This serves to heighten the overall sense of mystery and wonder.
What we do have in terms of knowledge about the Krell comes from what Morbius tells us about them based on his research:
The Krell were a million years ahead of humans
They managed to suppress their "basic" instincts
They freed themselves from sickness, insanity and crime
They were working on a project to enable them to leave their physical bodies behind and cease relying on instrumentation
Their underground complex would provide them with the capability of using their mental power to manipulate physical reality
They succeeded in fusing themselves with their machine but their suppressed primal selves were amplified resulting in their own destruction.
Let’s hope as does Adams that unlike the Krell;
"…….. when the human race reaches the same level of development as the Krell, it will be better equipped to handle it."
(End of Forbidden Planet)
***********************
The Angry Red Planet (1959)
Low-budget sci-fi fun
Directed by Ib Melchior
Produced by Sidney W. Pink, Norman Maurer
Screenplay by Sidney W. Pink, Ib Melchior
Based on Original story by Sidney W. Pink
Music by Paul Dunlap
Cinematography: Stanley Cortez
Edited by Ivan J. Hoffman
Production company: Sino Productions
Distributed by: Sino Productions (originally), American International Pictures
Running time: 83-87 minutes
Budget: $200,000
Cast
Gerald Mohr as Colonel Thomas O’Bannion
Naura Hayden as Dr. Iris "Irish" Ryan
Les Tremayne as Professor Theodore Gettell
Jack Kruschen as Chief Warrant Officer Sam Jacob
Paul Hahn as Major General George Treegar
J. Edward McKinley as Professor Paul Weiner
Tom Daly as Dr. Frank Gordon
Don Lamond as TV Newscaster/Martian Voice
Edward Innes as Brigadier General Alan Prescott
Gordon Barnes as Major Lyman Ross
Jack Haddock a Lt. Colonel Davis
Brandy Bryan as Nurse Hayes
Joan Fitzpatrick as Nurse Dixon
Arline Hunter as Joan
Alean Hamilton as Joan's Friend
The first spaceship to Mars!
Presumed lost!
Now found in space and remotely returned to Earth!
Only two of the original crew of four are still alive!
One survivor remains unconscious!
An alien growth on his arm!
The other survivor has blocked out all memory of what happened!
The race is now on to...
Save the unconscious crewman
and….
Help the amnesiac crew-mate to remember what happened back on…..
The Angry Red Planet!
What If?…...
Imagine an alternate reality world of 1959 where humanity has made the necessary technological strides allowing it to probe beyond the confines of our planet’s atmosphere. The global war that occupied most of the first decade of their 20th Century ushered in many technological developments that have been incorporated into space exploration and rocketry, not to mention nuclear power and weaponry. There has been no space race as such and yet the moon has been firmly within mankind’s grasp for quite a few years now. Sights are now set for the next great adventure –
The first manned landing on the surface of Mars!
Their own President Roosevelt set the goal for landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1930s. It was later the turn of their president Eisenhower to set about realizing his predecessor, Truman’s wish to achieve a manned landing on the planet Mars by the end of the 1950s. Added to this was the assembly of an international space station in 1955 to aid with humanity’s conquest of space. Clear and decisive goals had been set for mankind’s exploration of space.
For years scientists on that alternate reality world have speculated about what would be found on the planet Mars. It had been conjectured for instance that there would be signs of liquid water on Mars either in the form of ice or even trickling or flowing water on crater walls and cliffs particularly during summertime. Mars, they believe may have once had flowing rivers, large bodies of water and even oceans, but that most of the water has been lost due to the planet’s thin atmosphere. Some hold out hope that large deposits of water lay just beneath the surface of Mars.
There was consensus among astronomers that Mars has the largest dust storms in the solar system that can last for months and cover the entire planet, and that the red color that Mars is known for and named after when referred to as the “Red Planet,” is most likely due to the rock and dust covering its surface being rich in iron.
Scientists are quite confident that surface temperatures would likely range from -153 to 20 °C. and that human beings would not be able to breathe without an oxygen tank due to the thin atmosphere composed primarily, it is believed, of carbon dioxide.
It was known that the Martian year as on our Earth’s neighbor is the equivalent of 687 Earth days - almost twice as long as an Earth year. Also like our own Mars, the days last just 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.
Future astronauts to Mars were warned to be careful when jumping for joy because the Martian surface gravity would most likely be only 37% of the Earth’s. They would be able to leap nearly three times higher than on Earth!
As for life on Mars? Most of the scientific community agreed that there may have been life present on Mars in the planet’s past. Most likely it was in the form of microbial life-forms. It had been suggested that perhaps such life-forms still exist in niches on the planet’s surface.
As for advanced intelligent life-forms - Martians? The very idea has long been rejected outright by orthodox science. To suggest anything else would have been considered pure science fiction. That did not stop many people thinking that the ideas concerning Mars put forward by scientists and astronomers were merely fanciful or outright deception. Then again such people tended to proclaim that their earth was flat and was the center of the universe and that the moon landings of the 1930s and construction of a moon base in the ‘40s were part of an elaborate hoax!
The more ardent fans of science fiction and those pseudo-scientific extreme fringe-dwellers have held fast to the idea that the surface of Mars is crisscrossed by artificially constructed canals that are used by an advanced civilization to convey water from the poles to their cities.
Then there are the alternate Earth’s nut-jobs. According to them, their version of Mars is populated by monstrous aliens whose sole intent appears to be the launching of an invasion of earth due to their Mars becoming a dying inhospitable planet.
Strangely enough, the few robotic craft that were sent to the red planet failed to function properly. Communication with the craft ceased abruptly possibly due to them crashing onto the planet’s surface, missing the planet entirely or some kind of electrical component malfunction.
As far as Mars was concerned, there was only one way to find out. The manned Rocketship MR-1 mission would hopefully settle matters once and for all!
(Spoilers follow below...)
The Meeting
It is night time in this alternate world’s Washington, DC. as we see a limousine being escorted to the Pentagon by police motorcycles. Two military officers exit the vehicle and walk with brisk and efficient military fashion to a conference room where Major General George Treegar convenes a meeting.
Treegar reports that at 0.300 that morning, the expeditionary Rocket-ship MR-1 to Mars was detected drifting in orbit around the Earth “some 90.000 miles out in space” by Mount Palomar after being lost for 61 days. As “all attempts to establish communication have failed so far,” he proposes to retrieve the rocket and return it safely to Earth. Brig. General Alan Prescott responds by stating, "that's a tall order, George." It is not known if there is anyone alive on board and contact with the ship ceased two months earlier when it entered Mars orbit. It was assumed that the ship had crashed but obviously it hadn't.
Attention is drawn to the fact that “recording instruments on that ship contain priceless information covering the entire trip.” If the ship’s robot control systems can be remotely triggered from earth, they will be able to “send the ship homing for the Nevada base.”
Nevada Base: The Return Of the MR-1
Inside the control room, the ship is picked up on the radar telescope screen and is remotely returned to Earth. Its imminent landing in Nevada at 9.12 pm raises questions which are posed in newspaper headlines:
"Is Mars Rocket Crew Alive?"
TV News Broadcast
“The answers to this and the many other questions posed by anxious officials may come tonight, when an attempt will be made to land the Mars rocket ship at a remote air force base in Nevada.
“There is still the question of fuel: does the ship have enough fuel left for a safe deceleration? Or will it burn up in our atmosphere like a blazing meteor? The world waits with suspense to learn the fate of the ship's crew of 4, seen here in newsreel shots prior to the departure of the MR-1.
From (left) we have Colonel Tom O'Bannion, United States air force, the pilot navigator; (2nd from left) Dr. Iris Ryan, brilliant young authority on the sciences of biology and zoology, daughter of the late Professor Alfred Ryan; (far right) Professor Theodore Gettell, the designer of the rocket ship and the world's foremost authority on space and rocketry. And (2nd from right) chief warrant officer Sam Jacobs, electronics and radar expert.
The prayers of a grateful nation tonight will be offered in the hope that these four survived their history-making flight.”
“That thing up there - it's a flying coffin”
After the ship successfully lands, a radiation detection team is sent over first and when all counts are reported as being safe, a recovery squad is sent next. As jeeps and an ambulance rush to the scene, the door opens on the ship to reveal Dr. Ryan who is still alive. The only other survivor is O'Bannion who is is carried off on a stretcher.
When Prof. Weiner comforts Dr Ryan who is in a weakened and shocked state and tells her everything possible will be done for O'Bannion, she replies, "how can anyone cope with that?" Attached to O’Bannion’s arm is some kind of hideous fungal growth!
USAF Norwood Hospital
Shielded from view behind a screen, O'Bannion who is running a high temperature is undergoing treatment. Dr. Frank Gordon has administered a sedative to keep his patient quiet. The doctor admits that he is stumped as to what are they are up against. All that is known is that the infection is spreading rapidly but the disease cannot be combated until they learn “how or by what he was infected.” Until then the doctor declares,“we're working in the dark.”
Since all of the rocket’s taped logs have been erased by exposure to a powerful magnetic field, the only hope is for them to break through Dr. Ryan’s shock-induced amnesia and for her to tell them how O’Bannion contracted the disease in the first place.
As Dr. Ryan rests in a hospital bed, Treegar asks her to start telling her story from the beginning………
Journey To Mars
“The takeoff was as we expected. We reached escape velocity, and Tom cut in the steady 1-G acceleration rockets. We were all in high spirits as we finished our flight-check……...”
“We soon noticed that the radiation count was jumping which we attributed to an approaching radioactive meteor. “Both the radar scope pattern and the erratic gamma-count fit.” Visual examination by Sam and myself at the view window confirmed its approach. It did come close on an intersecting course, but managed to miss the ship with an adequate margin of safety.
“From the view window we could see the planet Mars in the distance. Sam performed a routine radio check while professor Gettell took notes. While Sam and the professor had a nap, Tom and I took the first watch.
Days 17 – 29
“Everything was pretty much routine. One might say “on course, on schedule. Condition A.” Meals, cleaning, checks and more checks. Chit chat and banter. For me there was a bit of apprehension though. Even the term, “The angry red planet” sounded “so foreboding” along with Mars being associated with the “ancient God of war.” I even began to “wonder if some things aren't better unknown.”
Day 47: The landing
"Well, should we go out and claim the planet in the name of Brooklyn?"
“On Day 47 Sam reported that we were orbiting Mars and we then began to make our descent onto the planet’s surface. After we safely landed, we opened the view plate and turned on the outside microphones. All that greeted our eyes and ears was an eerie stillness and silence as if everything seemed to be waiting….
“We soon shook off the feeling and continued with the work of the mission: micro counts, atmospheric composition analysis, temperature and so on. It was soon obvious that much of the immediate surface area consisted of lush vegetation tinged with a red color like everything else on the planet. We even anticipated seeing 5-armed Ongolas – the type of Martian monsters found in Sam’s trashy science fiction magazines! Sounds silly, I know…
“We discovered that we had landed near the Martian equator and determined that the atmosphere was thin but did contain oxygen, “not enough oxygen to sustain us, but undoubtedly enough for some kind of native animal life.” We supposed that the thin atmosphere accounted for the silence and lack of movement of the plants. We began to wonder if it could’ve been intentional. It just didn’t seem natural as if it were being controlled! If so, then by what?
We decided to suit up and explore outside. As we prepared to do so, I chanced to look outside through the port view-window and was horrified to see………”
Suddenly Ryan screams and we see her back in her hospital bed. Treegar asks her what happened but she can't remember. Treegar is worried that the alien infection could spread to all humans. Since time is of the essence, the only course of action to recover Ryan’s memory is to use an experimental memory-recovery drug which runs the risk of straining her already fragile nervous system. Gordon states that "her mind might snap if we forced her to remember the horror she has so carefully obliterated from her conscious level." With Tom’s condition worsening, Ryan insists that the doctors use the narcosynthesis method of memory recovery.
“Crazy Peepin' Tom”
“I woke up to find myself on the ship surrounded by the rest of the crew. They asked me about what I had seen and I said, “it was like a huge distorted face, with--with three bulging eyes. It was obvious they didn’t believe me as there was nothing there or anything moving at all.
A Day’s “Excitement and Swashbuckling”
“Tom and the professor decided to go outside and leave Sam and me back on the ship. No way that was going to happen. All four of us wound up venturing outside the ship. What we saw outside on the surface of Mars was like a weird hallucinogenic assault on our senses. We were confronted with a landscape of strange plants and it was as if everything-and I mean EVERYTHING-were tinted red! The whole effect was that of an eerily silent, blurry, distorted and above all ANGRY world.
“Sam brought along a new weapon, an ultrasonic freeze gun. In fact he seemed to have developed a rather disturbing fondness for and attachment to it! Anyway, he tested it by firing it at a plant. A piece of the plant was knocked off and the sound it made was like breaking glass.
“We then headed off into what I would describe as a jungle and set about taking some pictures and examining the plant life. It soon became obvious that the specimens had “all the characteristics of plant life, but hardly any chlorophyll” and that there seemed to be” indications of--of a nervous system!”
“My scientific and natural curiosity led me to pick up a vine and follow it to see from where it originated. Tom kept on acting in a protective manner as if he thought I was some kind of a hysterical female despite the fact that such silly gender notions had disappeared by the end of the 19th century. After all, women have been a part of the space program from the very beginning and as a female astronaut and specialist I was more than capable of looking after myself! Or so I thought…..
“The vine soon led me to what looked like a gigantic Venus fly-trap. As I set about examining the plant, one of its arms or tendrils wrapped itself around me and pulled me towards its mouth. Tom heard my screams for help and came and hacked at the plant with a machete. Once I was free, Sam fired at the plant with his ultrasonic freeze gun which he named "Cleopatra."
“After we composed ourselves, Professor Gettell explained that the plant which almost had me for its lunch was “more than just a plant.” It was "a low form of neuromuscular vegetal creature." It seems that species of Martian flora is plant-like in its cellular structure, possessing both rudimentary muscular and nervous systems that allow it to move and control its tendrils.
Sober Reflection
“We then decided to return to the ship and call it a day. Rather ominously, Professor Gettell suspected that we were being observed, that some kind of control was being exerted over the plants and causing the “quiet and lack of motion” and there was “some purpose behind it all.” We even inferred the existence of a “super-intelligent community mind” controlling all life on Mars, something “like the inexplicable, mysterious control which keeps a colony of ants functioning in perfect unity... on earth.”
“We soon noticed that our contact with earth was an hour late. All we kept getting was dead air but there was nothing wrong with our equipment. We then discovered to our dismay that our radio transmissions were being bounced back, leaving us out of contact with Earth. It turned out that it was “some ionized layer in the Martian atmosphere, keeping those radio waves from going through.”
“Despite our predicament we were determined to stay the full 5 days on Mars. Five days in a “nightmare of unending silence.” We all felt it!
“King Kong's Big Brother”
“The next morning we departed the ship on a second exploration mission. This time we exited the jungle and entered a more arid area. We then came across a group of peculiar trees that looked like nothing we had so far seen. Tom and I went over to them for a closer look and I used my machete to remove what appeared to be a dead branch.
“Well this “branch” was apparently attached to a “tree” that screeched and moved! What is it about me that seems to attract monsters? Well, this particular monster looked as if it was a cross between a rat, a bat and a spider! Not only that, it was 40 feet tall!
“The giant creature strode over Tom and I and approached professor Gettell who managed to get himself wedged between two large rocks. Sammy fired his beloved Cleopatra at the creature, but it had no effect. It took a shot to the creature’s eyes to blind it, causing it to retreat screeching in agony.
“As we didn’t have much more time for exploring, we decided not to return to the ship and instead continue with our exploration of this alien world. We were curious to see what was on the other side of a ridge and we were soon rewarded by the discovery of a lake. It had, however, “that same feeling of deadness,” despite having “no abnormal radiation.” It seems that “there's water on Mars after all, besides the polar icecaps.” It felt kind of oily and seemed “heavier than ordinary water.” We speculated that “it probably has an entirely different mineral content” and most likely “couldn't sustain life, at least not life as we know it.”
“We agreed to return the next day with a boat. As we departed the area, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched, watched by…...something.
Mission Accomplished?
“Back inside the ship, we discussed the day's events and finally decided to abort the mission that night. Professor Gettell was quite convinced there was something dangerous observing us. The “orders from General Treegar were to take no unnecessary chances.” We had fulfilled our mission and landed on Mars. We had collected a lot of information, “plenty to prepare for the next expedition.” All that remained was for us to “prepare for blastoff.”
“We launched the rocket, but it soon became apparent that we were not going anywhere. We were being held “in some sort of a force field, tremendously powerful.”
“Whoever was responsible didn’t want us to leave. We were being held as prisoners on Mars!
“Reasoning suggested that whoever was holding us on Mars did not intend to harm us. “If they did, they could've destroyed us a long time ago.” We were being held by a gravitational pull so strong that it would have taken 100 times the thrust we had to break free.
“There was nothing left for us to do but to use the boat to see what lay across the lake we found earlier.
Deadly Pursuit
“Once out on the lake, we paddled until we spotted a huge city with skyscrapers half a mile high. We knew that “those buildings didn't just grow, they were made.” The lake which had appeared up until then completely dead, began to boil. Suddenly something rose up out of the water in front of us. Before us was a giant single-celled amoeba-like creature and it was making straight for us. We paddled furiously until we made land. When the creature did the same, Sam opened fire on it with Cleopatra but it had no effect. It then chased us through the jungle to the ship. As we ran into the ship, Sam made one last attempt to stop the creature but was pulled into its body and...and...absorbed!
“After the ship’s hatch was closed and the view ports were opened, we saw that the entire ship had been surrounded by the creature. To compound matters, Tom's arm was covered with a piece of the creature. It had burned through his suit and I had to treat his wound.
“This giant amoeba-like creature was able to digest by using a strong acid. From my previous experience, I knew that such creatures are “almost impossible to kill. Even if you cut them in half, both parts will live.” The creature withstood Sam’s gun by being able to “encyst..that is, secrete and form a sort protective envelope.” I remembered from earlier experiments that amoebas do respond to electricity. It was therefore planned to feed the ship’s radar power through the outer hull. By doing so we would be able to electrocute the creature with half a million volts of electricity.
“In the meantime, poor professor Gettell suffered a heart attack due to the stress and strain of everything that had happened. Gettell dismissed it as just a little pain due to a bit of exertion. Suddenly the radio activated and I turned on the recorder as we heard a message for us that began with, "Men of Earth, we of the planet Mars give you this warning. Listen carefully and remember……"
“I recall Gettell’s empty chair proclaiming the dear professor’s death….the ship’s acceleration….Tom, Tom in the cabin in his bunk, covered with a blanket. I pull back the blanket, and Tom's arm swings down. It is covered with a green and black substance running from his elbow to his fingers….. Me going below and looking out into space through the view plate and seeing the angry red planet planet Mars in the distance. The mess of wires and that vision of the three-eyed Martian creature in the view plate and…….I don’t know what else!”
The Here and Now
Iris is back in her hospital bed and calls to Tom. Treegar asks her about the warning, but she remembers that the contents of the last tape may have the answer. Gordon concludes from Tom’s condition that they are facing an enzymatic infection: “A minute part of the amoebic creature must have reached Tom's skin and it's growing, literally eating his tissues.”
Tom shows some improvement but the treatment he is receiving is only slowing the growth. Iris assists with the research. Eventually she announces that the solution may have been found. She tells her colleagues that they been “attacking the alien amoeba as if it were a disease. But it isn't. It's an animal, an animal with instincts, and most important of all, a will to act. It only makes it harder to destroy, and gives it a vulnerability we also have-- that of making a wrong choice.”
She goes on to outline the procedure in which they will prepare “a large tissue culture and place it next to the infected arm, then subject Tom to electric shocks, just short of being harmful to him.”
Later it becomes obvious that Tom’s condition has begun to improve. Treegar and Weiner come into Tom's hospital room with a tape recorder containing the last tape with the recorded warning:
“Men of earth, we of the planet Mars give you this warning. Listen carefully and remember.
“We have known your planet Earth since the first creature crawled out of the primeval slime of your seas to become man.
“For millennia, we have followed your progress. For centuries, we have watched you, listened to your radio signals and learned your speech and your culture. And now, you have invaded our home.
“Technological adults, but spiritual and emotional infants!
“We kept you here, deciding your fate. Had the lower forms of life of our planet destroyed you, we would not have interfered. But you survived.
“Your civilization has not progressed beyond destruction, war and violence against yourselves and others.
“Do as you will to your own and to your planet, but remember this warning
—DO NOT RETURN TO MARS!
“You will be permitted to leave for this sole purpose -- carry the warning to Earth. DO NOT COME HERE. We can and will destroy you, all life on your planet, if you do not heed us.
“You have seen us, been permitted to glimpse our world. Go now. Warn mankind--
NOT TO RETURN UNBIDDEN!”
The speech was indeed important. Humanity in that other reality had been judged and was found to be wanting as a species. In some respects, everyone was both right and wrong about the angry red planet: the scientists, the astronomers, the science-fiction writers, the nut-jobs. What everyone really missed was just how alien humanity was in relation to the rest of the universe. Contact with Earthlings was not required or desired and was downright discouraged on penalty of complete annihilation! Trespassers Prosecuted With Extreme Prejudice! Go Away, Or Else! (One for our own S.E.T.I. program to consider perhaps?)
The year 1960 began with the election of Republican President Richard Nixon. Future missions to Mars and beyond were quickly shelved and humanity’s presence in space was confined to low Earth orbit and the Luna base operations. The President tried to explain to the public about the shift in focus from Mars and back to moon by mumbling some nonsense about the moon being a part of Mars, but no-one was paying attention or cared that much.
Throughout the course of the ‘60s, the world was being slowly consumed by conflicts in the Middle-east and South-east Asia; trade wars between nations ruining the global economy; the steady decline and gradual irrelevance of a still militarily bristling USA; the rising super Nationalist Sino-Russian Federation alliance attempting to fill the vacuum left by a diminished US; increasing global fragmentation and descent into nationalism and tribalism; growing populism; civil unrest, dissent and disobedience in the face of the growing world-wide incidence of totalitarian and autocratic rule; race and migrant riots throughout Europe and North America; increasing incidences of xenophobia; global economic turmoil and decline together with energy shortages and disruption; assassinations of civil rights and democratic leaders, the most poignant being the assassination of Nixon’s political Democrat Party opponent, John F Kennedy in 1963; the South-China Sea missile-crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war but averted by the withdrawal of US nuclear missiles and warships from the disputed area; early indications of impending climate change and global warming…….
So who had the time, money or energy for space exploration and extending humanity’s frontiers out into the cosmos? The Martians had much more than just a glimpse of the world and nature of human beings and what they saw now taking place on that version of earth convinced them more than ever of the wisdom of their warning…….but, had they perhaps also unwittingly robbed humanity of a crucial major potential unifying endeavor?
Points of Interest
Director Melchior with an initial production budget of only $200,000 was given just nine days to film Angry Red Planet.
The film-processing technique, CineMagic involved filming through an orange filter, with the picture being solarized and which combined hand-drawn animations with live-action footage, or turning live-action footage directly into hand-drawn animation. The intention was to enable hand-drawn backgrounds to look as real as the live action footage. This process was used for all scenes depicting the surface of Mars. The psychedelic effect only really helped to disguise the cheap alien monsters and scenery. $54,000 or just over a quarter of the film's budget, was spent on the Cinemagic process.
The film employed extensive use of stock footage, such as rocket launches being run backwards to create the illusion of the rocket setting down in the desert, using its retros to slow its descent.
Well before the time of CGI and advanced computer-controlled animatronics which audiences of today are familiar with, special effects consisted of marionettes, back-projection techniques, and optical effects. I have to say the end result was pretty funky especially with that rat, bat, spider combo creature. This 40-foot alien monster was really a marionette about 15 inches high. Loved it!
(End of Angry Red Planet)
I hope you enjoyed this third volume of “Sci-Fi Film Fiesta.”
Keep an eye out for Volume 4, Journeys Within.
Useful Resources
Atkinson, Barry., Atomic Age Cinema The Offbeat, the Classic and the Obscure, Midnight Marquee Press, Inc.; 2013
Bliss, Michael., Invasions USA The Essential Science Fiction Films of the 1950s, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014.
Fischer, Dennis., Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998, McFarland, 2011
Geraghty, Lincoln., American Science Fiction Film and Television, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009
Heinlein, Robert A., Destination Moon, Kindle Edition, 1979 (Introduction by David G. Hartwell & contains, Destination Moon (1950) – novelette; Shooting "Destination Moon" (1950) & “Facts About Destination Moon" (1979))
Hendershot, Cyndy., Paranoia, The Bomb, And 1950s Science Fiction Films, University of Wisconsin Press, 1999
Koca, Gary., Good and Bad Sci-Fi/Horror Movies of the 1950s: And the Stars Who Were in Those Films, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017
Meehan, Paul., Space Exploration on Film, McFarland Incorporated, 2022
2022
Moore, Theresa M., & Carlyle, Patrick C., Science Fiction Films of The 20th Century 1950-1954, Antellus, 2019
Moore, Theresa M., Science Fiction Films of The 20th Century 1955-1956, Antellus, 2019
Moore, Theresa M., Science Fiction Films of The 20th Century 1958 Anrellus, 2019
Tumminia, Diana G. (editor) Alien Worlds: Social and Religious Dimensions of Extraterrestrial Contact, Syracuse University Press, 2007
Wade, John., The Golden Age of Science Fiction: A Journey into Space with 1950s Radio, TV, Films, Comics and Books, Pen and Sword, 2019.
Warren, Bill., Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties: McFarland; 21st Century Edition, 2016
Useful Links To On-Line Resources
1. Destination Moon
“Destination Moon (1950) – Review” by Mike Brooks at Manapop
“Destination Moon” by Janne Wass at Scifist 2.0
*****
2. Rocketship X-M
“Rocketship X-M (1950) – Review” by Mike Brooks at Manapop
*****
3. Flight to Mars
“Flight to Mars (1951) – Review” by Mike Brooks at Manapop
*****
4. Cat Women of the Moon
“Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) – Review” by Mike Brooks at Manapop
“Cat-Women of the Moon” by Janne Wass at Scifist 2.0
*****
5. Forbidden Planet
“Forbidden Planet (1956)” Filmsite Movie Review at Filmsite.org
6. The Angry Red Planet
*****
“Space Adventure Films of the 1950s” Manapop
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