The Doomsday Machine

This is another of those quilt-like film projects, revived from the dead. It was begun in 1967 with a tentative title of "Doomsday +7", but it was never finished. It sat on a shelf until 1972 when producer/director Harry Hope bought it. He added some footage to finish the story (sort of) and titled it Doomsday Machine (DM). The original footage starred Bobby Van, Ruta Lee, Mala Powers and Grant Williams. These were all well-known television actors who still had some market value in the early 70s. Grant Williams was The Incredible Shrinking Man ('57). Mala Powers played in a few 50s sci-fi films too. The eventual title, too, harkens to 1967, when it was the title of one of the episodes of Star Trek's second season. (though the two stories are completely unrelated, except that the two doomsday devices had a similar purpose (the ultimate Cold War threat weapon, and that both end up getting used and wiping out both sides.)

Quick Plot Synopsis
A chinese female spy sneaks into a secret facility. Far beneath the earth is a 'doomsday' device -- a nuclear weapon that Mao's China intends to use as the ultimate Cold War leverage tool. Her pictures are studied in Washington. Experts say that if the Chinese use their device, it will crack the earth and make it explode. The seven astronauts of Project Astra prepare for their upcoming mission to Venus. The launch date is moved up suddenly, and three of the male crew are replaced by three attractive female astronauts. The usual battle of the sexes lines ensue. They blast off. Aboard ship, there are tensions. They see the earth destroyed and realize they were sent as Adams and Eves in a Noah's Ark to save mankind. The destruction of earth and their new roles does not sit well. Kurt, in particular, turns into a jerk, trying to dominate Katie. Georgianna has a soft spot for Danny as the "boy" of the crew. Tough Marion and Tough Ron (the skipper) butt heads, but come to like each other. Old Doc is wise and sage. Dodging hunks of the blown up earth has reduced their fuel supply. Increased radiation means they must land sooner than planned. All this means that only three of them can land. But which? Doc programs the computer to make the most logical selections. Meanwhile, Kurt attempts to rape Katie. While fending him off, she accidentally opens the air lock. They are both sucked out into space and killed. The computer chose Doc, Marion and Georgianna. Danny wonders why people let computers run their lives. All agree, they'll all try a landing despite the risks. However, the spent booster stage won't disengage. Danny volunteers to pry it free, knowing he'll be left behind. He can't do it alone, so Georgianna joins him. The landing stage is free, so Doc, Don and Marion fly down. Danny and Georgianna spot a derelict Soviet spacecraft and 'fly' over to it. Aboard (they never take their helmets off and no longer sound like Van and Powers), they find a dead cosmonaut. Danny charges up the batteries and there is enough fuel to land. They lose contact with the others in Astra. A disembodied voice saying it is the collective voice of the Venusians tells Danny and Georgianna that they will not be permitted to land. They (humans) blew up their home. Instead: "Your journey will continue. Something very strange and very great awaits you beyond the rim of the universe. An now, last of man, your journey will begin." Stock footage of a second stage booster fires. There is a long look at some model planets in front of a star field. The End. Fade out.

Why is this movie fun?
The basic premise, the story and the execution are so thoroughly 50s, it's hard not to enjoy them. The original concept was very much in the ethos of 50s B sci-fi. In fact, if viewed in black and white, it would virtually indistinguishable. On that note, the very "mod" vibrant 60s colors used in the rocket interior sets, have a nostalgia value too.

Cold War Angle
As a product of the mid-60s, Cold War themes were much more in vogue. The commie Chinese are behind it all. Their nuke takes on the symbolic power of all nukes. Yet, by the early 70s, dystopia was more in vogue, so a "doomsday" spin was still marketable. Nukes would reduce mankind back to an Adam and Eve state -- a theme explored since the early 50s, (q.v. Arch Obelor's Five, '51).

Notes
Patchwork Project -- The movie project started with a story outline by Stuart J. Byme with a working title of "Deadmen in Space." According to a post on imdb, two men, Fred Long and a Henry Blum acquired the rights to the screenplay and began producing the work in 1967 as an Allied Artists production. Originally retitled as "Armageddon 1975", it was re-retitled as "Doomsday + 7". Herbert J. Leder was the director of the '67 footage. Cost overruns, mismanagement, and perhaps some other intrigue apparently killed the project before it was finished. Little of the film's ending had been shot yet. Five years later, producer Harry Hope acquired the rights and the shelved footage. None of the original actors were available (or interested) in completing the film, so Hope had to improvise. Harry and a Lee Sholem directed the new footage, but with very little skill (or care).

Saving White Bread -- A friend of mine, with a particularly sensitive eye regarding ethnic diversity, would probably have kittens at the premise in DM. The all-white crew aboard the space ark in When Worlds Collide ('51) caused him to label WWC as "racist" film. DM would get the same tarred brush, no doubt. The saving of the human race comes down to white Americans. Granted, it was a NASA project that was hastily reconfigured as Eden 2, but still. Only the presence of Major Bronski keeps it from being an all USA Eden.

New Via Hope? -- Some of the "new" 1972 footage is obvious. There is a clear break between when Danny and Georgianna spot the derelict Isvestia 2 and when they board Isvestia 2. Once aboard, they never take their helmets off and the voice-overs are not Bobby Van's or Mala Powers' voices. One might also suspect that the Mission Control footage with Casey Kasem was also shot in 1972. Kasem was a frequent voice talent for TV shows in the 60s, but his first film appearance was in 1967 in a tiny bit role. By the early 70s, however, Kasem had done some more prominent roles (in less prominent films). Thus, it seems the mission control footage was probably "new" via Harry Hope.

Non-Ending -- The film, as Hope finished, stops without any resolution. The collective Venusian voice monologues about how Danny and Georgianna aren't allowed to land on Venus, but that they'll have some other amazing fate "beyond the rim of the universe." Then it ends, or at least stops. This non-ending does not fit with all the build-up and character development by Byrne and Long. Everything up to the point where Long's production ends suggests that the five remaining people were to have a happier ending on Venus. Danny has Georgianna, Marion has Don and the wise old Dr. Perry as their Moses-figure. Imagining Venus as a prehistoric earth would have been par for the course in the mid-60s. Compare with Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet ('65) and Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women ('68). Having our two Adams and two Eves land on a "prehistoric" planet smacks of Eden. This would have been a very logical conclusion for Byrne's story.

Four Rockets In One -- An amusing detail to watch for is how the Astra ship is shown as four different ships. One of them is the JX-1 rocket from Gorath ('64). Other clips were re-used from Gorath too. There are two different hub-and-ring craft (yet to be identified), and the rocket from Wizard of Mars ('65). Other clips, especially the whole avoid-the-meteorite segment were also lifted from WoM. This last is not too surprising, as David Hewitt was the "special effects" man on WoM as well as DM. Perhaps he got some rights to the material in lieu of payment.

Bottom line? Don't watch DM as a single entertainment item. Instead, watch it as a frankenfilm, brought back from the dead with a few spare parts. In its 1972 completion, it is a mediocre film that can be confusing if one expects smooth continuity. Bobby Van is as annoying as he usually was, but the ladies are rather nice mid-60s ladies. The film, in its 1967 trajectory, would have been a bit banal, but not too bad. The non-ending (see above) drains out what little B-grade power the '67 project had created.

Supersonic Saucer

Before launching into sci-fi films of 1972, we'll start the year off with a bit of digression. This week's digression is back to 1956 and a very obscure British sci-fi for the children's film market. Supersonic Saucer (SS) was the last film produced by Gaumont-British Productions. No theatrical poster was readily available, hence the screen capture of the title. GBP was much more active in the 30s and 40s, though in decline in the 50s. The writer of the story was Frank Wells, younger son of H.G. Wells. One of the curious things about SS is how little has been written about it on the internet already. What there is, seems to mostly include one questionable review, picked up and repeated on other sites. More on that below.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A group of students is on a field trip at an observatory. While Rodney is taking his turn looking through the telescope at Venus, he sees a flying saucer spin off towards Earth. No one believes him, of course. Later that day, most all the children depart the boarding school for the holiday break. All, except Sumac and Greta, who haven't the money to travel to their far-away parents. Rodney and his little brother Adolphus, are the sons of the schoolmaster. After all the parents left, the schoolmaster's family are putting all the school's silver trophies back into the safe. The shifty janitor sees this. He goes to tell his boss, #1, about it. Meanwhile, Sumac and Greta play outside. They hear a whirring, and see a little white saucer land in a tree. This morphs into a little white puppet creature with big eyes. They can understand it, telepathically. They take it back to show Rodney. They decide to name it Meba. The girls telepathically "read" more backstory that Meba is a young Venusian who just learned to turn into a flying saucer and flew too high (i.e. to Earth). He wants to learn more about earthlings. The children are hungry so Meba flies off to town and brings a load of sweets from a bakery. The kids say, no, they can't eat what's not theirs, so Meba takes it all back. Rodney wishes they had a proper fire (in the fireplace), so Meba causes the drapes and furniture to burst into flames. No, not like that. Meba puts out the fires. While the girls are chatting in bed, they lament not having a million Pounds to go visit their families. Meba flies off and brings a million Pounds from the bank. In the morning, the kids discover the loot. Meba can't take it back in broad daylight, so they put it in the safe. The janitor sees this too. He tells #1, who then plans a burglary with his gang. That night, Meba takes the money back, but the burglars steal the trophies. The janitor kidnaps Meba as a potentially useful burglary tool. (He got in and out of the bank with a million pounds, after all.) While captive in a box at the gang's hideout, Meba sends out distress thought that the children pick up. They each arrive at the abandoned house. The gang try to capture the kids, but are too inept. Greta frees Meba, who sets a fire to bring the firemen. They come, with a policeman who arrest the inept bad guys. The kids get a hefty reward for capturing the notorious gang. The girls get to go see their parents. Meba is free to return to Venus. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Well, it's a kids' movie. It's supposed to be fun. The little alien, Meba, is so benign and naive, compared to contemporary mid-50s aliens, that it's a refreshing change. The stairway gag is mildly amusing.

Cold War Angle
There is none. The moral of this story is "Be careful what you wish for." and that crime doesn't pay -- especially for bumbling oafs.

Notes
Spielberg Rip-off? -- As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, someone had posted they thought Spielberg plagiarized SS to make his 1982 film E.T. That one short review appears to have been copied, translated and recopied across various internet sites. There are some general similarities between E.T. and SS, but almost as many differences. E.T. is not an updated copy of SS. The two films do have a lone alien (who is not menacing), and a group of kids as protagonists. The little alien has some amazing powers. There are a group of adults "after" the alien -- but for different reasons. The original reviewer said that SS had a scene in which the kids take Meba for a bike ride and that this scene was proof of Spielberg's plagiarism. The copy I watched did not have any such scene. Perhaps it was cut. (My copy ran 49 minutes. Imdb says 50 minutes) Did it happen in the "missing" minute? Even if such a scene existed in SS, it was hardly the pivotal plot scene it was in E.T. In the older film, the alien came to earth alone (not left behind) and could leave anytime. The case for plagiarism seems weak.

If anyone has actually SEEN this Meba-on-bike scene, (not just read about it) feel free to let me know via the Comments feature.

No Growing Up -- All four child actors in SS did only a few movies as child actors, but none of them went on to adult acting careers.

Cheap Puppet Success -- As befitting a kids movie, the alien is very obviously a simple puppet with movable eyes. No serious attempt was made for "realism" (whatever that might mean for an alien) Even in the mid-50s, no adult movie could get away with such a cheap puppet. (The Giant Claw as an example of such failure) The Meba puppet has no mouth, does not speak and does not move except for a bit of turning left or right, or hunkering down to turn into a cheaply animated flying saucer-critter. The kids tote Meba about like a doll. While adult viewers could not stretch their imaginations to allow such a puppet to "be" an alien from Venus, kids obviously could. Puppets in kids shows were common. (Howdy Doody, anyone?) Kids had little trouble letting their imaginations allow puppets to "live." The work of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, in such programs as Stingray and The Thunderbirds was probably on the tail end of this age of innocence. By the late 60s, puppets just couldn't cut it anymore.

GB's Quiet End -- Gaumont-British Pictures Corporation was a big name in British cinema in the 30s. It started as a subsidiary of the French Gaumont company, but by 1927 was wholly independent. GB produced some famous early Alfred Hitchcock films, such as The 39 Steps and The Man Who Knew Too Much. It also produced pre-nuclear sci-fi films: The Tunnel and The Man Who Lived Again (starring Boris Karloff). Through the early 40s, war and spy films were common. After the war, GB shifted quietly into purely educational or documentary films. Supersonic Saucer appears to be one of the last films in their list before GB was acquired by the Rank Corporation.

Bottom line? While quite obscure, there are a few movie sites on the internet which will sell copies of SS. Whether the price is worth it, depends on the viewer. As a kids film, it is predictable and repetitive for adults. Still, the film has nostalgic innocent-age entertainment value.
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The Illustrated Man

1969's sci-fi season started off with a film adaptation of Ray Bradury's 1951 book The Illustrated Man (TIM). The book was more of a collection of short stories with vaguely common theme. Warner Brothers' movie used just three of the stories. The three chosen and developed by writer Harold Kreitsek have a dystopic air in common, which fits neatly into the psyche of many 50s and 60s sci-fi. Kreitsek also developed more of a "glue" story for the illustrated man himself, to better bind the three separate tales. Rod Steiger stars as Carl. Claire Bloom plays Felicia. Robert Drivas plays Willie.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Willie is a young man hitchhiking and working odd jobs to get to California where the thinks he'll find a job. He stops for the night beside a rural lake. Carl comes upon Willie's modest camp. Carl has tattoos all over his entire body, from the neck down, except for his left shoulder blade. Carl is testy about them being called tattoos. "They're skin illustrations. Don't you ever call them tattoos." He says he's looking for a particular house and woman who lives in it. She gave him the skin illustrations. He wants to kill her for it. Carl has been an outcast ever since. When people look too long at one of the illustrations, they start to move. They see things. They get angry at Carl. Willie stares at the lion tattoo. The first story begins. Carl and Felicia are a worried mom and dad in the moderne future. Their kids are using the "play room" simulator (like Star Trek NG's holodeck) for grim games with lions eating things. They tell the defiant kids that they're going to remove the play room. The kids protest. That night, mom and dad are awakened to calls from their kids. They go into the play room and are eaten by the lions. Back to hobo Carl and Willie for some banter. Story two takes place on Venus. Four astronauts crashed and are looking for one of the many "sun domes" to take shelter from the incessant rain. They wander around behind Carl's authoritarian leadership. Two end up committing suicide to escape the rain. One is killed. Finally, Carl makes it to a sun dome where a virtual Felicia greets him. Back to hobo Carl and Willie and a bit more back story about Carl getting tattooed. Finally, Willie (unable to resist looking) stares into a tattoo of lips. Story three takes place in an idyllic future. Husband Carl returns to wife Felicia with news that everyone in the world council had the same dream that this would be the last night of earth. Nothing could be done about it, except to give all the children of earth pills so they die in their sleep. This is to spare them any possible agony, should the world end in fire or something. Felicia can't do it. She and Carl have a romantic evening, then fall asleep. Felicia wakes up. The world didn't end. She finds Carl at the children's beds. He wakes up, but the kids are dead. Scream! Back to hobo Carl and Willie. Willie is horrified that Carl would kill his children. Carl dismisses his horror and lies down for sleep. He tells how the lady and the house disappeared after he was all tattooed. "She went back to the future." Willie stares at the blank patch on Carl's should and sees Carl strangling him. So, Willie picks up a big rock and pounds Carl's head. He runs away, but Carl isn't dead, just bloody. He chases Willie. Felcia's voiceover says "Each person who tries to see beyond his own time, must face questions to which there cannot be absolute answers." The End.

Why is this movie fun?
TIM isn't so much "fun" as thought provoking. Ray Bradbury penned some great stories. His imagination shines through even a major studio's adaptation of his work.

Cold War Angle
The undercurrent of dystopia and doom in Bradbury's three short stories are of that Cold War angst mood.

Notes
Prophetess of Doom -- As written by Kreitsek, the tattoo artist Felicia becomes a prophetess from the future who traveled back to the 1930s to leave a sort of message in a bottle (all over Carl's skin) about the bad things that mankind will experience in the future. Were they hints and warnings so mankind would (maybe) avoid the missteps? Some viewers criticize Steiger's portrayal of hobo Carl as being too gruff and hard to sympathize with. Yet, this fits too. He did not much like being the message in a bottle about how bad the future could be. People blame the messenger.

Pictures Without Pain? -- The tattoos on Carl seems quick and painless. No bleeding, no weeks of bandages, etc. While it could be a concession to keeping the plot moving, (no time for distracting details) it could also be that Felicia, from the future, had techniques beyond 20th century methods. She was able to imbue them with prophetic message ability. Thus, they're not your average 1930s tattoo.

Forever Carl -- It seems odd, at first, that all three of the visions Willie sees in Carl's tattoos feature Carl as the primary male character and Felicia as the woman. Rather than just being a shortcut on casting costs, it could represent the vision as Willie sees it. Carl and Felicia are the two people most intimately involved in the prophetic visions, so it's not that far fetched that Willie would use their likenesses in his seeing of the visions.

The Veldt -- The first tale is from one of Bradbury's short stories. He was amazingly percent about technology (in the future) being able to serve up virtual realities. It was even a fitting analogy for the battle between children and parents over television. Bradbury also casts an indictment against the modern "enlightenment" in childrearing. Expression, like any other tool in the hands of humans, can have a sinister dark side.

The Long Rain -- The second tale is similarly dark. All four of the astronauts are stressed to the breaking point by the unrelenting rain of Venus. Three of the four reach their limit and die. One exposes himself to lethal radiation. The second drowns himself in the rain. The third shoots himself with his laser to end it all. Only Commander Carl presses on to find the haven of a sun dome. Inside is yet another play on virtual reality -- a projected Felicia to welcome him.

The Last Night of the World -- The third tale is very much akin to atomic angst movies about the end of the world. This was a prevalent theme in Cold War era writing. Here, the story is focused down onto just one family. The means of the end is never explained, but Cold War audiences didn't need it explained. Similar to On The Beach ('59) people are given poison pills to avoid the actual (and terrible?) end. Similar to The Last War ('61), the family quietly awaits their fate. After all the prior movies about doom, the twist ending is excellent. The prophets of doom were wrong about the end of the world. There was a morning after. They killed their own hope (symbolized by the children) for naught.

Bottom line? TIM is not an easy movie to watch. In a distracting environment it could easily seem like it made no sense whatsoever. This quality it shares with Kubrik's 2001. People who prefer a simple action plot with clear good guys and villains will probably not like TIM. Yet, for 50s sci-fi fans, the three Bradbury vignettes are worth the tangle.

Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women

A curiosity, as a derivative work of prior derivative works, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (VPPW) is yet another story cobbled out of cuttings from two earlier films, themselves created out of prior Russian films. Details on that in the Notes section. Added to all the recycled footage was new footage of Mamie van Doren and a bevy of young beauties, playing the women of Venus.This expounds on things hinted at in the original. Peter Bogdonovich directed the new footage and provided the voice of "Andre" as narrator. VPPW was likely aimed the small screen only, (hence the DVD cover art in lieu of a proper poster) but is included here because of its theatrical roots.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The main body of the story comes from the english-dubbed version of Planeta Bur: Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet ('65). A synopsis of the original base story can be read here. VPPW is told as a narrated flashback of V2PP by the astronaut Andre. Instead of there being three Venus-bound ships traveling together, they travel one at a time. Cappella is lost to a meteorite. Kern and Sherman (and robot John) follow, but crash-land in the Vega. Lockhart, Hans and Andre are the third rocket as rescue mission. They land and explore, looking for Kern and Sherman. Interspersed with the PB footage is new footage of the venusian women alluded to in the original. Roughly a dozen platinum blondes with seashell bras live the life of harbor seals. They bask on coastal rocks, swim to catch and eat raw fish. Unlike harbor seals, they communicate telepathically, and worship a pterosaur they've named Tera. The astronauts and the babes never really meet, though two babes see the astronauts. Angry that the men killed their pterosaur, the queen blonde (Van Doren) invokes the god of fire mountain to erupt and kill the invaders. This doesn't work. She then invokes the sky god to rain and flood them. This almost works, but the astronauts depart anyhow. This second failure of local gods prompts the ladies to knock down their old pterosaur idol and prop up the lava-scorched hulk of the robot John as their newer "stronger god." Astronaut Andre voiceovers his desire to return and find "her." The End.

Why is this movie fun?
A third appearance of original footage could be as dull as recycled cardboard, but the new footage actually fits. Sure, it's campy and exploitive, but for all that, not so badly done for a B-grade made-for-late-night-TV movie. The additional footage from Nebo Zovyot was fun to see too.

Cold War Angle
There is none. VPPW is mostly an example of the Space Women sub-genre.

Notes
Copy of Copies -- Roger Corman (the uncredited real producer of the work) cobbled together footage from two of his prior adaptations of soviet sci-fi. Corman used footage of the rocket launches, spaceflight and space stations from his Battle Beyond the Sun ('63). BBS was Nebo Zovyot ('59) dubbed into english, telling a roughly similar story but without the soviet gloating over foolish capitalists. He used footage from his Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet ('65) for the astronauts in their rockets and on Venus. VPP was his english dubbed version of Planeta Bur ('62). The premise of VPPW is VPP retold as flashback, but revealing the unseen women.

Space Got Babes -- VPPW keeps alive the old mythos of there being out in space somewhere, a society of pretty young women (with no men). Like several others in the sub-genre, there is no explanation for why there are no men. There just aren't. These particular space babes are all 20-something platinum blondes (except for one redhead), led by Mamie Van Doren (who fit the role of buxom kitten better 10 years earlier). They live the primitive life of harbor seals in a semi-mermaid idiom. Only one of the venusian babes (beside Van Doren) had any acting experience, or did anything afterward.

Telling the Untold Story -- What the original movie (Planeta Bur) left as teasingly unexplored, with the haunting presence of at least one pretty venusian woman with some telepathic powers. She "sings" unseen. She rescues Andre with calls for help. She warns them of danger with her songs. Eventually, Andre finds her likeness carved in ivory. Her reflection is seen in a puddle at the end -- arms raised, beckoning. Writer Henry Ney filled in the untold story. He created a bevy of beauties, not just one. He played up the telepathy part. Ney also had the women be the cause of the two "natural" disasters in the original film -- the volcano erupting and the torrential rains. As campy as it was, Ney managed to fill in the implied story in the original.

Fading Marsha -- An interesting detail to watch for is the fading of Marsha. She goes from a Russian cosmonaut to a fairly useless American astronaut to a mere acronym. In the original film, Masha (no R) was a fellow female cosmonaut (and love interest for Ivan). She stayed in orbit in the Sirius while the three men go down looking for Kern and Ivan. In Corman's 1965 dub, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, most of the scenes plain looking Masha are replaced with new footage by not-quite-hot-anymore Faith Domergue as Marsha (with the R) but in a less useful role. In VPPW, we're told that "Marsha" is the acronym for earth mission control. That seems thin, but plausible enough, if it weren't for lines like "Marsha says she saw something on radar." Or, when Sherman/Ivan is despairing in the cave and moans about "Marsha, O Marsha." (A bit too attached mission control, are we?)

Fond of Older Women -- Audiences seemed to like prehistoric (or primative) women. VPPW is another member of the primitive women sub-genre. A partial list includes: One Million B.C., ('40), Prehistoric Women ('50), Bowanga Bowanga ('51), Viking Women and the Sea Serpent ('57), Wild Women of Wongo ('58), Women of the Prehistoric Planet ('67), Prehistoric Women ('67) and Rachel Welch in the remake One Million Years B.C. ('66). Perhaps primitive/prehistoric women (all young, pretty, shapely and scantily clad) were appealing on the presumption that civilization hadn't (yet) curbed their wilder "appetites". For whatever reason, the sub-genre proved popular. Corman knew some prehistoric girls could spice up his old soviet sci-fi footage.

Bottom line? VPPW is passably viewable as a B-grade sci-fi on its own. It has some archeological value. A tribe-of-women tale it has some value. For the average viewer, however, VPPW will likely seem too obtuse, or dated. (After all, most of the source footage was from 1959 and '62)

Zontar, The Thing From Venus

American International commissioned Larry Buchanan to remake several of their older movies as part of a TV movie package. The first was The Eye Creatures ('65) which was a remake of Invasion of the Saucer Men ('57). Zontar: The Thing from Venus was a similarly close remade of It Conquered the World ('56). As a purely TV movies (no theatrical posters), it would fall outside the scope of this survey, but Zontar is grandfathered in. It's like a "10th Anniversary Edition" of a 50s icon, updated to have mid-60s styles and cars.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Note: What follows is nearly identical to that for It Conquered the World, but with mostly just name changes.
A special laser communication satellite is about to be launced. Keith, a scientist who has become discredited for having too many wild theories, tries to warn the authorities not to launch a satellite. They do anyway. It is lost, but returns mysteriously. Keith reveals to his friend Curt (a rocket scientist) that he has been communicating with a being from Venus, who is coming to earth in the errant satellite. Curt does not believe him. After the satellite comes down, the venusian takes up residence in a steamy cave. It somehow manages to stop all power sources. Electricity, steam, hydro, even mechanical watches stop. It releases eight lobster-like flying creatures who 'bite' their intended target person in the back of the neck, implanting an electronic control device. The alien then directs them to do its bidding. The Army General of the rocket base is bitten, and so is the police chief of the town. They become emotionless tools of the alien. Curt's wife Ann is also bitten, but Curt eludes and kills his lobster-bat. When he realizes that his wife has been taken over by the alien, he shoots her. Keith feels much inner turmoil. He believed that the alien was coming to earth to improve mankind, but events have caused him to doubt. The alien, Zontar, orders him to kill Curt, but he can't. His doubts have grown. Keith's wife, Martha takes matters into her own hands, drives to the cave and tires to shoot the alien. Bullets are useless. The alien kills Martha, which Keith hears over his radio. This is the turning point for Keith. He drives to the cave. A squad of soldiers tried to shoot the alien, also to no avail. Keith uses a special plutonium laser wand to stab Zontar. It grabs Keith in its claws. They die together. Curt (John Agar) gives a longish epilogue speech about imperfect man needing to find his own answers. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It is amusing to see how closely Buchanan copied the original screenplay. Sometimes it's a more general scene-for-scene copy. Other times even specific lines are copied. It is a curious thing to watch.

Cold War Angle
Whatever there is of this, was inherent in the original. The most blatant line (also in the original) comes when the possessed-general tells the lab folks that the power is out due to a "communist uprising."

Notes
Compare and Contrast -- Larry Buchanan's remake is not an exact line-for-line copy of Lou Russof's original screenplay. Buchanan and Hillman Taylor tweaked the script a bit -- in places. For instance, when Keith is letting Curt listen to a transmission from Zontar, Curt guesses that he's listening to "progressive jazz?" In ICW, Paul says, "the London Philharmonic?" Yet, many times, they kept lines completely intact, such as the general worrying about recovering the satellite, then relaxing a bit, "What am I worried about? I'm not paying for it." Even Martha's final speech is the same as Claire's. Aside from such tweaks (or not), a notable change is that in the original, Tom takes an old-tech pump style blow torch to the monster's eye to kill it. Keith stabs Zontar with his plutonium laser and turns it on, frying them both.

Monster Mash -- The original movie suffered some scorn for having its monster be too silly looking. Paul Blaisdell's foam creation would have worked better in moody dark cuts, but Roger Corman had far too exposed. Blaisdell's monster looked like a mutant carrot. Buchanan at least touched on deeper cultural iconography. His monster, Zontar, played off the more classic villain, Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost. In this one small way, Buchanan's Zontar improved on the original.

Saucer Redux -- Fans of the low-B genre will probably note that the "Laser Communication Satellite" which returns to earth is the same saucer model used in Buchanan's first A.I.P. remake, The Eye Creatures. In fact, the footage is the same. It's just recycled.

Bottom line? Zontar is almost exactly the same as its predecessor. If you liked the original, you'll be amused by the remake. If ICW annoyed you, it might be best to give Zontar a pass. John Agar fans might still want to take it in, as he is the star.

Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet

Roger Corman was again working behind the scenes to create another example of the dub/edit sub-genre. His dub/edit Battle Beyond the Sun brought the soviet film Nebo Zovyot to American audiences. This time, he brought the 1962 Soviet film Planeta Bur to American viewers as Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (V2PP). The title is actually a fair (if uninspired) descriptor for the film and the writing/dubbing follows the original story pretty closely. Corman added some bits of new footage with a couple stars that would have box office value in America, but otherwise left the story unchanged. The dubbing gives V2PP an inevitably B quality, but the sets and costumes still look big budget. The lack of a theater poster for V2PP suggests that American International Pictures may have aimed it at the direct-to-TV market. (hence the DVD cover art in lieu of a poster)

Quick Plot Synopsis
After a bit of new footage of some moon colony models and narrated intro about colonizing the moon, the Planeta Bur footage begins. Read the original synopsis for the overall story. Planeta Bur. Basically, a three-ship mission to Venus becomes a two-ship mission. The men land anyhow and explore, finding dinosaurs and hints of a hidden ancient civilization. The one woman crew member stays in orbit. They all eventually regroup and blast off, just as one of them finds proof of humanoids on Venus. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The original movie was fun, (hover car, robot, etc.) so this version maintains some of that fun. The edits do tighten up the pacing a bit.

Cold War Angle
As with the original, there is less of the usual Cold War analogies. There is no mention of nukes or some shadowy "other side".

Notes
Fading Stars -- Corman shot some new footage, using two English speaking "stars", Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue. Both had some marquee value, but more so for fans of 50s movies.They didn't get new roles, but replace existing roles in the original. Basil plays Professor Harding on the moon base, as a sort of mission control voice. He replaces the disembodied speaker voice of mission control from the original. His function in the story is the same. Faith replaces the somewhat plain looking Russian actress who played Masha in the original. All the footage with Masha is cut. Some of the vital ones were reshot with Faith as Marsha (note the added R in the name). Ostensibly, she is supposed to have been a crew member with Kern and Sherman, but they are (naturally) never seen together. Both Faith and Basil are a looking a bit long in the tooth and really add little life over what the soviet actors had. In fact, without the romantic angle that Ivan & Masha had, Faith's Marsha becomes rather flat. Do, however, note her very 60s sculpted hair.

Cheap Inserts -- Viewers will note how the sets used for Faith and Basil's parts look noticeably cheap compared to the soviet originals. These cheap sets and rudimentary props give the dub/edit a distinctly 50s B-grade feel -- almost a 50s TV sets feel, ala Rocky Jones: Space Ranger.

Bottom line? If the original Plenta Bur (with subtitles) is unavailable, V2PP is a passable way to get the film. The original is a bit longer, slower, and prone to talky scenes, but plays more sincerely. For a study in film recycling, it can interesting to watch the original, then V2PP, then its "sequel" Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women ('68) This latter film also merges in some of Nebo Zovyot footage too.

Planeta Bur

It is not normally within the scope of this study to review foreign sci-fi flims when released in their native country. Typically, I've waited until the english-dubbed version was released in America. However, since Planeta Bur (PB) which translates to "Planet of Storms" became the basis for two later American re-edit releases, so a benchmark seemed appropriate. This was exactly the same process by which Nebo Zovyot ('59) became Battle Beyond the Sun ('62) and would happen to more foreign sci-fi in the 60s. It almost forms a sub-genre of its own. PB is interesting in its own right, for how the sober "hard" sci-fi of Nebo Zovyot had given way to a much more western flavor of sci-fi with monsters, aliens and alien civilizations.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Three ships are on their way from earth to Venus. The Cappella is struck by the obligatory meteorite and destroyed. The remaining two ships, the Sirius and Vega continue on, but the planned mission required three ships. The Arktur is being sent from Earth, but won't arrive for 2 months. The cosmonauts aboard Sirius and Vega decide that some sort of landing and exploration is better than waiting. Ivan and Kern go down from Vega in the glider, leaving Masha in orbit. They must land in a swamp, then all contact is lost. The Sirius lands somewhat nearby and the three-man crew set out in a Jetson's-ike hovercar to find them. During their travels they hear an eerie woman's song in the distance, and encounter prehistoric beasts both benign and threatening. Ivan and Kern, meanwhile, have fought off some man-sized t-rex beasts and are headed to meet the men of Sirius. Ivan and Kern become weak with fever. Their robot, John, stands watch. The Sirius crew had to submerge the hovercar to escape a pterodactyl. In doing so, they discover what might have been an ancient city, submerged like Atlantis. Once on dry land, the Sirius crew contact John and tell him to administer an anti-fever drug. Ivan and Kern recover just as a volcano sends down rivers of lava. They order John to carry them across, but he malfunctions half way there. The hovercar shows up just in time to rescue them. John is lost to the lava. All five return to Sirius, but worry that Masha had landed the Vega somewhere, stranding them all. An earthquake and flood from rain undermine the Sirius, so they must take off immediately. Alexey discovers that his odd triangular rock is really a sculpture of a woman's face. There was humanoid life on Venus after all. They blast off and find that Masha remained in orbit. They're headed home. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The big budget meant some pretty impressive props for 1962. The story line is pretty vast with ample unexplored tangents. The result makes PB something like the soviet Forbidden Planet.

Cold War Angle
There is little of the usual Cold War elements in PB. It amounts to more a space adventure with some wide-eyed anticipation of what space might hold in store. There is little of the soviet chest thumping that Nebo Zovyot had.

Notes
Old-Think: Planetary Evolution -- PB builds upon the old (and since abandoned) notion that the solar system evolved from outer to inner. Planets further out from the sun were presumed to have formed and developed sooner, and therefore been hospitable for life earlier. Planets further in would be at "younger" stages of evolution. By this old theory, Mars cooled and developed first, so was more ancient. It had life and civilization before earth did. By the time earth's civilization "evolved," Mars was dying out (even H.G. Wells presumed this order of things back in the late 1800s, as the premise for why the Martians wanted to invae earth.) Earth was in its prime. Venus was therefore presumed to be at some early stage of evolution, like earth had been millions of years ago. Hence the dinosaurs. It was a pretty theory, but like many evolution theories, made a better mental model than it did real science.

Emancipated Machines -- An intriguing little bit within PB, is that the robot John is not a mere servant, as robots often are in film. He must be spoken to politely, or will refuse to hear the commands. When Roman asks John where his "masters" are, John snips back that slavery is outlawed by the constitution. He has no masters, he is a free-thinking robot. Roman has rephrase his question before he gets an answer. In the lava stream, John's self-preservation programing has him trying to toss Kern off his back so he (John) can escape the lava. Unlike Asimov's 3-rules types of robots, John was quite willing to kill one of his crew-mates in order to survive -- an interestingly cold-hearted view of mechanical man.

Robby-ski -- Not since Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet ('56) and Invisible Boy ('58) ) had a robot been a more-or-less equal member of the cast. (The robot in Colossus of New York ('58) had a human brain). John is very much made in the Robby mold. If he hadn't melted in the lava, he had enough charm to go into sequels too, as the Soviet Robby. But alas...

Car of the Future -- A fascinating bit of eye candy is the cosmonauts' hover car. With its bubble canopy, fins and jet-like scoops, it is a terrific example of what people of the late 50s, early 60s thought the car of the future would look like. In the photos, "A" is the hover car from Planeta Bur. "B" is the Ford Atmos, 1955. "C" is unnamed, but looks like the inspiration for the '59 Cadillac. "D" is the Firebird III, 1958. This is what people in the late 50s, very early 60s thought we'd all be driving in the year 1985.

The hover car looked very cool, but unfortunately, much of its "hovering" travel did not work as well. Cantilevered on a hidden arm, that traveled along a concealed track, the car tended to wobble and bounce awkwardly. There are a few scenes in which the car's travel better matches it's looks, such as racing through the burning forest, and near the end when a cushion of smoke hides the supports. The producers got as much mileage as they could (pun intended) from that expensive prop. It has almost as much screen time as the actors.

Torn In Space -- A curious subplot involves the female crewmember: Masha. She and Ivan are romantically involved, but she is ordered to remain in orbit. During some protracted loss of contact, Masha agonizes about what to do. Folow orders, or follow her heart? Remain in orbit as ordered? Land the Vega in an attempt to help poor Ivan out of whatever trouble he's in. Her inner struggle with duty vs. desire seems like a sort of commentary on the fitness of women for exploration. The men eagerly face dangers and decide quickly. They are motivated by bravery, patriotism and science. She is motivated by emotion, incapable of making a big decision and worried about being subordinate. A curious snapshot.

Bottom line? The action is a bit thin and at times talky, so modern viewers accustomed to laser battles and frequent explosions, will find PB hokey However, the english-subtitled version of PB is well worth watching for fans of 50s sci-fi. It can make a great study in the recycled sub-genre as the first feature, followed by Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and then Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, both of which used much PB footage.

First Spaceship on Venus

Crown International released an english dubbed version of a 1960 East German/Polish sci-fi A-level production. Der Schweigende Stern (DSS: The Silent Star) was itself based on the novel "Astronauci" (Astronauts) by Stanslaw Lem. Crown dubbed the film and shortened it. While the original adventure story is fairly well maintained, the moral of the tale is muted. The First Spaceship on Venus (FSoV), as Crown retitled it, becomes a B film in America, but its landmark qualities are still evident. As Rocketship X-M and Destination Moon kicked off the 50s, Der Schweigende Stern is their counterpart that kicked off the 60s. An international crew set out to explore Venus.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A strange object is found in the Gobi dessert that is of alien origin. It is a recording "spool" whose message can only partially be deciphered. People connect the recordings with the huge meteor impact in Siberia in 1908. Scientists calculate that it was a space ship, not a meteor, and could only have come from Venus. All antennae train on Venus, transmitting greetings, but the morning star is silent. A manned rocket mission to Mars is reassigned to go to Venus. As they get close to Venus, interference blocks radio contact with earth. The two scientists decipher the remaining bit of the message. Venus planned to attack earth. Since the crew cannot get a word of warning to earth, they decide to land. They find traces of a civilization, but no Venusians. They follow a power cable to a big sphere. Others follow the other end to a ruined and melted city. Inside a chamber, a black ooze tries to get them. Durand shoots it with his laser rifle. The ooze retreats, but it triggers a defense mechanism. Gravity is increasing, but will snap into anti-gravity and throw the ship back into space and firing the mega weapon the Venusians planned to strike earth with. Everyone gets to the ship, along the way seeing the shadows of the frightened Vensuians burned onto a wall. Aboard the ship, one of them thinks he can stop the mega weapon from charging. The chinese man and african man go back to a control center to shut it off. The chinese man rips his suit. Brinkman rushes to him with more oxygen. The african shut off the weapon, but the gravity snap occurs anyhow. The ship is tossed into space, as is Brinkman. Chen Yu dies of a ripped suit. Talua is left behind. Back on earth, the surviving five give somber little speeches to the assembled crowds. Let it be a warning to us all, but let's keep exploring space. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The sets are impressive. Even the special effects, which by today's standards are crude, still have a certain polish. It is fun to see the advent of second-generation sci-fi getting underway.

Cold War Angle
Crown's edited version, FSoV, cut away much of the original's heavy nuclear warning moral, but some of it remains. The original film had a heavy nuclear caution message.

Notes
XM 2 -- The story line of FSoV merges the grand scale space epic like Conquest of Space ('55) with the cautionary discovery of Rocketship X-M ('50). With much techno-wonder, people travel to another planet. There, they discover that the alien civilization was destroyed by nuclear disaster. The traditional theme of the 1950s, also kicked off the 1960s.

Harmless Edits -- FSoV omits some tangental scenes which were not crucial for the action/adventure story. Much of the background about the death of Sumiko's husband is omitted. Non-essential character development scenes before the launch are dropped: Brinkman and his mother, Arsenyev's goodbyes with his wife, Talua missing Mona, etc. The romantic tension between Sumiko and Brinkman loses several little scenes.

Willful Omissions -- Noteworthy cuts include a longish scene where Sumiko rejects Brinkman's romantic advances, telling him that she cannot have children because of the radiation at Hiroshima. When the crew are traveling in the "crawlers" through the melted Venusian city, Brinkman asks Sumiko what she's thinking. (she looks stunned). In the original, she says "Hiroshima." In Crown's dubbing she says, barely audibly, "...all the damage..."

Shifty Characters -- The nationalities of some key characters shift from the original film to FSoV. The captain of the mission is a Russian in DSS, Professor Arsenyev. In FSoV, he becomes an American, Professor Harringway. Appropriately enough, the American in DSS, Dr. Hawling, becomes the Russian, Dr. Orloff. The Polish engineer, Soltyk becomes a Frenchman, Durand. Brinkman, the pilot, changes from being German to being American. The other four keep their nationality.

Doofus D'Jour -- In DSS, the American is portrayed as a bit of a doofus. He floats around helplessly weightless and frets that the robot Omega always beats him at chess. He suggests that the people of earth will panic. It is the Russian captain that is strong and assured. In FSoV, the roles are reversed. It is the Russian who is helpless, is beaten by a machine, and has to be assured by a steady American. The nationalist posturing is subtle, but interesting in both films.

Internationalism -- both DSS and FSoV feature an international crew. This trope began towards the end of the 50s, but became almost customary in the 60s. 12 To The Moon ('60) made a big point of this. Gene Rodenberry would institutionalize the idea with his Star Trek series later in the decade. From the 60s on, space travel was less of a nationalist endeavor.

Bottom line? FSoV is actually a fairly good english dubbing of DSS. Some of the human interest stuff is cut, but the action adventure story is almost entirely intact. The Hiroshima angle is expunged, neutralizing much of the moral of the story, yet even that is still there. Both versions are well worth a sci-fi fan's time to find, as it represents the advent of Sci-Fi II.

Queen of Outer Space

Here is a movie that is difficult to categorize. Queen of Outer Space (QOS) is clearly in the sub-genre of planet-of-beautiful-women. Yet, it is as if there were two screenwriters, or two directors, each with a distinctly different vision of the movie. One "vision" is of a typical 50s space adventure. The other vision borders on campy parody of the sci-fi genre. QOS manages to be both, co-mingled but not blended. The final result is a peculiar, but intriguing film. The fact that Allied Artists hired and promoted Zsa Zsa Gabor as the star, and a supporting cast of starletts, suggests outright exploitation. Having Ed Bernds direct (of Three Stooges fame) suggests parody. Yet, the actors deliver their lines seriously. There is no winking at the camera as Lou Costello often did. Even though QOS is shot in CinemaScope wide screen and lavish Color by DeLuxe, it doesn't play like a true big-budget "A" movie. It's "B" movie soul is unmistakable. Call it an A of the Bs.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A rocket is sent to bring Dr. Conrad to Space Station A. Before they arrive, laser-like beams zip around. One finally hits the station, destroying it. Another beam hits the rocket, sending it speeding out of control. The rocket crashes in snowy mountains. The air is breathable, so the four astronauts hike down to the tropical forest below. While dozing around their campfire, they're captured by several ray-gun toting beautiful young women in short skirts. Venus is a planet of young women. They're brought before the masked queen of the planet who accuses them of being spies. The lead venusian scientist, Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor), believes the men are not spies and asks their aid in overthrowing the evil queen. The queen summons the Captain, half to interrogate him more and half for male companionship. She tells of the beam weapon and plans to use it on Earth. He plays up to her, impertinently pulling off her mask. Her face is disfigured from radiation burns. He and others are sentenced to die. Talleah and two other women help the men escape the city. They hole up in a cave, where Larry is attacked by a giant spider. He's saved, but patrolling guards are too near. The Captain has Talleah and the others pretend to have captured them. In the city, the four men and three women stage a coup in the queen's chamber. Talleah disguised as queen and the other two women sent ahead to the beam weapon to round up collaborators. The queen disguise fails. Everyone is taken to the beam to witness Earth's demise. The queen pushes the button, but the beam fails. She goes inside to fuss with it. Outside, the loyal babes and the underground babes all fight. The weapon explodes and the queen burned to death. Talleah is made the new queen. She's keen on the Captain. The men planned to return to Earth in their repaired ship, but receive orders from Earth to stay (for a year) to await a relief mission. They happily agree. The women are happy too. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Another installment of planet-of-beautiful-women is amusing enough on its own. Seeing the screenplay, acting and directing vacillate between camp-parody and earnest sci-fi adventure is fun too -- like a "tween" who can't decide if he's still a boy or a young man, so acts like both. Seeing old prop friends is fun. Zsa Zsa Gabor's thick Hungarian accent is too fun to pass up.

Cold War Angle
Amid the abundant gender role sparring, is the cautionary tale of nuclear war gone bad. Venus won her war with planet Mordo, but the ruin was great. Evil queen Yilana began her reign of hate. Her Beta-Disintegrator is a world destroying super weapon. Cold War audiences needed no convincing of such things.

Notes
Planet of Women -- QOS uses the trope of the isolated civilization of only women, as have several movies before this. Sticking to the sci-fi group, there was Catwomen of the Moon ('53), Abbott and Costello Go to Mars ('53) and Fire Maidens From Outer Space ('56). Later in 1958 there will a remake of Catwomen, Missile to the Moon. They all share the quirky notion that somewhere "out there" is a group of 20-something beautiful women who have no men but want men badly. The hapless male protagonists just happen to wind up in their midst.

Good Girl / Bad Girl -- Another feature QOS shares with other all-girl-culture movies, is "bad" girl character who hates men and her "good" girl counterpart who wants men. In this, there is a repeat of the anti-feminist message that man-haters only make for a sad world. Zsa Zsa sums up the counter message when she tells the queen, "Vimmen cannot be happy visout men." For all her vitriol at men for causing the war that disfigured her, Queen Yilana is just as eager to make war on Earth without real provocation. Moral? A woman leader would be the same as men. Good girls don't want power. They just want men to kiss them.

Plot Medley -- QOS starts out as an almost routine space adventure, but then parallels World Without End with the loss of control, crash in snow, descent to temperate woods. It then attempts a semi-serious remake of Abbott & Costello Go to Mars with the society of young love-starved beauties and a man-hating queen. There's also a bit of Flight to Mars in the earthlings finding themselves between an oppressive regime and a revolutionary underground.

Damn the Science. Full Speed Ahead -- Even the characters bemuse over how the movie's earth-like climate of Venus is contradictory to what was known. They don't explain the disparity, they just get on with the story. How handy.

Prop Watch -- QOS re-uses the star cruiser uniforms from Forbidden Planet ('56). Also look for Altaira's short gold-studded dress on Motiya. For the turbulent ride to Venus, QOS recycles the cave spider puppet and the jostled ship footage from World Without End ('56). As a reminder, WwoE used the rocket ship from Flight To Mars ('51). Recycled recycling. Some interior shots were also re-used from WwoE, as was the crashing in the snow scene (although reversed left-right).

Blatant Gender Roles -- Despite the flashy show of "strong" women, QOS positively oozes 50s male chauvinism. For one, even the guards are buxom long legged babes in miniskirts and heels. When the queen talks tough, Larry says, "Why don't you girls knock off this gestapo stuff and be a little friendly." Later, discussing the Beta-Disintegrator, they quip, "How could a bunch of women invent a gizmo like that?" says Mike. "How could they aim it?" adds Larry. "You know how women drivers are." Har har. Supporting all this chauvinism, of course, are the "good" girls who coo for male attention and just want to make out. There seems little doubt that the movie was geared to (panders to) young male ticket buyers who can think of little else beyond making out.

Bottom line? QOS is worth watching as two movies in one. Watch it for the laughably absurd sexism and sex-obsessed dialogue. Watch it as an adventure tale about hate-corrupted power and revolution. And of course, if you happen to like looking at 20-something buxom beauties "aliens" in miniskirts and heels, the producers give you plenty of that too.

20 Million Miles From Earth

Columbia Pictures didn't go out on any artistic limbs with 20 Million Miles to Earth (20Mil). They followed some pretty trodden paths and reused some tried-and-true formulae. Mix in some real artistic talent (Ray Harryhausen) and you get movie which can't miss -- in a safe way. At its heart, 20Mil amounts to King Kong retold. The story is given a sci-fi spin by having the beast come from Venus via an American space ship, rather than a mysterious island. After that, the Kong thread takes over with the notable exclusion of the beauty-and-the-beast element. A colorized copy was released in 2007, but the color adds nothing significant beyond the beast being green.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A typically 50s rocket crash lands off the coast of Sicily. A pair of fishermen row out to the sinking rocket. They rescue two injured astronauts before it sinks. A boy finds a strange tube amid the rocket flotsam on the beach. Inside the tube is gelatinous pod. Pepe sells it to a zoologist from Rome, working nearby. The zoologist's granddaughter, a medical student, is called in to help the two hurt astronauts. While she's away, the gelatinous 'egg' hatches. Marisa returns to find the foot-tall semihumanoid reptile on their table. Leonardo puts it into a cage in his truck. The next day, the creature has doubled in size. Leonardo and Marisa pack up to return to Rome. Pepe has since told the authorities about the egg, so they pursue Leonardo. The creature, now larger, escapes the cage and into the woods. Local officials want to hunt and kill it. The Americans succeed in capturing it, using an electrified net to stun it. They take the creature to the Rome Zoo for study. It is now 30 feet tall. They keep it sedated with a steady charge of 1800 volts. An equipment accident breaks the flow, so the creature wakes up. It breaks it's bonds. An elephant charges it. Their brawl spills out onto the streets. The reptile eventually wins, but flees the military. It seeks refuge in the Colosseum. It is resistant to bullets and bazookas. Eventually, at the top of the Colosseum, the hurt creatures is hanging over the edge by one hand. A tank shot breaks the stones. It falls to the street and dies. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The real star of 20Mil is Ray Harryhausen. He animates his creature very well. The movie follows the popular Harryhausen formula of a cool stop-motion animated monster trashing famous landmarks.

Cold War Angle
There isn't any Cold War in 20Mil. The story is King Kong recast.

Notes
Nice Monster -- Unusual for a 50s sci-fi, the creature is clearly cast in a sympathetic light. Marisa declares him ugly but softens to say that he looks frightened. Colonel Calder tells people that on Venus the creatures are "...not ferocious unless they're provoked." Sure enough, the creature only fights (a dog, a man, an elephant, etc.) after they've attacked it first. Harryhausen's earlier designs for Ymir (the creature is never called this in the film) were at first too animal like -- horns, one eye. It wasn't easy to sympathize with a pure beast, "so I made him more humanoid," said Harryhausen.

Star Watching -- The female lead, Joan Taylor, starred in an earlier Harryhausen film, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers ('56), which also featured Thomas Browne Henry the typical American military officer. John Zaremba plays the American Dr. Uhl, was also in E.vs FS.

Veneer of Science -- Most of 20Mil is pure monster-on-the-loose movie. The thin coating of science amid the fiction is that people wanted to study how the Ymir was able to filter out the toxins in Venus' atmosphere so that humans could live/work there. As it stood, the toxins killed all of the crew except Calder. They physiology of the creature is described as being very different too. It was said to have no lungs and no heart or circulatory system. That's why bullets didn't stop it.

Poster Propaganda -- The movie posters say outright that the beast "invades" the earth. This was the usual sci-fi plot element. Aliens come to US with good or bad intent. Here, though, the Ymir was taken from his home world and brought (kidnapped, you might say) to earth. Once here, he's hunted (mostly out of fear) and finally killed.

Primitive Planet -- Note the perpetuation of the (then) conventional wisdom of planetary evolution. Planets farther from the sun are older, closer younger. Mars is then cast as having had its day and now home to dying civilizations. Venus, is then the prehistoric planet in which life is just getting started. Hence, the Ymir is a dinosaur-man.

Minor Gaffs -- B-movies usually have little errors due to limited budgets. In 20Mil there are only a few. One comes where the creature is in the barn. Calder wants to trap the creature in a wooden cart, even though it had just escaped a steel cage by bending the bars. Second comes in the zoo lab. The sedated creature is clearly breathing -- its chest rising and falling. The biologist is explaining how the creature has no lungs.

Bottom line? 20Mil is definitely worth watching, if only for the fun of Harryhausen's animation. His strong, but misunderstood, creature is clearly the star of the film. Where else do you get to see a fight between a reptilian humanoid and an angry mother elephant? 20Mil is light on content, but strong on entertainment.

It Conquered the World

The final product of It Conquered the World (ICTW) is typical of low B-grade 50s sci-fi. It aspires to some lofty literary goals, but is hamstrung by a tiny budget. At its heart, ICTW could have been a somewhat thoughtful tale of a scheming invader playing on the bruised ego of a man, to turn him into an unwitting traitor. There could have been some eerie tension as people become "possessed" by the invader, etc. etc. Director Roger Corman does a fair job directing, with a few notable missteps. However, there is only so much one can do with a sow's-ear budget. The acting of Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef and especially Beverly Garland do a lot to keep ICTW from falling apart.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Tom, a scientist who has become discredited for having too many wild theories, tries to warn the authorities not to launch a satellite. They do anyway. It is lost, but returns mysteriously. Tom reveals to his friend Paul (a rocket scientist) that he has been communicating with a being from Venus, who is coming to earth in the errant satellite. Paul does not believe him. After the satellite comes down, the venusian takes up residence in a steamy cave. It somehow manages to stop all power sources. Electricity, steam, hydro, even mechanical watches stop. It releases eight manta-like flying creatures who 'bite' their intended target person in the back of the neck, implanting an electronic control device. The alien then directs them to do its bidding. The Army General of the rocket base is bitten, and so is the police chief of the town. They become emotionless tools of the alien. Paul's wife Joan is also bitten, but Paul eludes and kills his manta-bat. When he realizes that his wife has been taken over by the alien, he shoots her. Tom feels much inner turmoil. He believed that the alien was coming to earth to improve mankind, but events have caused him to doubt. The alien orders him to kill Paul, but he can't. The doubts have grown. Tom's wife, Claire, (Beverly Garland) takes matters into her own hands, drives to the cave and tires to shoot the alien. Bullets are useless. The alien kills Claire, which Tom hears over his radio. This is the turning point for Tom. He drives to the cave. A squad of soldiers tried to shoot the alien, also to no avail. Tom uses a kerosene torch on the alien's eyes. It grabs Tom in its claws. They die together. Paul (Peter Graves) gives a longish epilogue speech about imperfect man needing to find his own answers. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
By modern movie standards, ICTW could almost be annoyingly bad. However, its fun to see where it almost rises towards its lofty intentions. It tries to evoke the disconcerting mood of Invaders From Mars ('53) and the dark conspiracy of Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56), but just never quite makes it. There are many story threads, which could, if explored better, and with better funding, could have made good movies.

Cold War Angle
There is an undercurrent similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers in which a hostile force is taking over people, (especially authority figures) turning them into emotionless puppets of the future new world order. The cautionary moral of the story is how a man can be seduced by the pretty lies of an invader, and unintentionally doom his people. Beware of commie smooth talkers.

Notes
Getting All Emotional -- A familiar trope is that people "possessed" by the alien lose their emotions -- their ability to love and "dream". Instead they are passionless tools of the master. This appeared The Man From Planet X ('51) with zombi-fied towns folk. Again in It Came From Outer Space ('53), and of course Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56). A closer precedent to ICTW is in Invaders From Mars ('53) in which the alien implants a control device in the back of the victim's neck.

Ego: Achilles Heel -- The alien flattered Tom, praised his work, while his fellow humans derided him as a crackpot. With flattery, the alien got his foot (or claw) in the door. By promising to do good for mankind, the alien wooed Tom into helping him come to earth and begin the invasion. He persists in believing the pretty lie until Joan is killed and finally his wife, Claire, is killed by the alien. This is the real core of ICTW -- a man's well intended, but misguided trust.

Small World -- It must be inferred that the alien's power to stop all power applied to the entire world. That must be the "conquering" in the title, since the alien only takes over a few people in a small town before being killed.

Cheap Exploitation -- Notice that the poster for ICTW is very similar to others, especially The Beast With a Million Eyes in which an ugly monster face menaces a scantily clad damsel. This had become a stock formula for low-grade B-movies. Promise a menaced babe, and they will buy a ticket.

Killer Carrot -- The "lame" monster is a sore point for many viewers. Paul Blaisdell created the alien costume. This venusian, which resembles a demon-possessed giant carrot. It was a more ambitious costume than his mutant "Tommy" in Day the World Ended ('55) and the little critter alien in Beast With a Million Eyes ('55). Blaisdell was an illustrator. Many of his monsters come across as sculptures of illustrations, rather than plausible beings. . Corman erred in allowing audiences too long and good a look at the monster suit. It looked too absurd.

Safe Sax -- An absurd little touch can be seen when the crowd of townsfolk are fleeing in a mild panic, out of town. One of the men running at the camera is carrying a saxophone. If you had time to grab just one thing, would it be your saxophone?

Lame Comic Relief -- Corman includes comic relief with the hispanic soldier. Unfortunately, he uses it too much. Any spooky or poignant moment he had been building, is trashed by the comedic moment.

Secular Humanism Ascendant -- Previously, it was customary to include (somewhere) that God has a hand in the world (even a world with aliens). Peter Graves' epilogue speech shows an interesting shift, then underway in sci-fi. Man, all by himself, would solve his own problems. He (man) was the only answer. This is interesting, given Tom's earlier speech about how mankind has done nothing but screw things up since the dawn of mankind.

Bottom line? Don't watch ICTW with any expectations that it's in the same league as Body Snatchers or Forbidden Planet. It is a very low budget affair, with minimal sets, cheap effects, and mixed acting. Instead, watch it as a low-B-movie which has dreams of being something bigger.

Stranger from Venus

Somewhat unfairly, this movie is sometimes called a cheap knock-off of The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51). Actually, this low-budget British movie does have a little life of its own. It's more of an offshoot than simply a low-budget remake. There are many similarities, one of which is inescapable -- having Patricia Neal as the female lead. But there are several differences too. These are noted in the Notes section below, but overall, the basic plot premise is the same. A stranger comes from outer space, hoping to deliver a message to the leaders of earth. "Be very careful with this nuclear power thing you've just invented. You're about to become a menace to other planets." This remake was done with almost no special effects and barely anything that could pass for action. It would not be hard, at all, to imagine Stranger from Venus (SFV) as a stage play set mostly in the inn's lobby. Nonetheless, the result goes down a few alleys that The Day the Earth Stood Still did not.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Amid some reports of a UFO, a stranger arrives at a rural English inn. He has odd behavior, but otherwise looks normal. The ship that dropped him off caused a woman's car to crash (bright lights blinded her), but he has miraculous healing powers, so she survives unhurt. The stranger (who never does give a name) finally tells everyone (about six people) that he is there to prepare the way for messengers from the planet Venus. Everyone believes him, more or less. The woman, Susan, (played by Patricia Neal) has a fiancee who is a bureaucrat. The government cordons off the area so that no one can get in to find out more, or get out to tell what they've seen. This way, the rest of the country is kept ignorant. The government conspires to capture the returning Venusian ship when it comes to pick up the Stranger and deliver the official messengers. They hope to learn of the advanced technology for their own nationalist benefits. Meanwhile, the stranger and Susan begin to have feelings for each other. The meeting with British officials did not go well, as he can read minds and knows of their duplicity. They lay out a magnetic trap to disable the ship when it lands. The stranger warns them that any foul play will mean the mother ship will simply destroy all life on the earth. Susan's scheming fiancee redeems himself by returning the stranger's stolen communication device. The stranger warns off the ship just in time to prevent its capture, but this also strands him on the earth where he cannot stay alive much longer. The movie closes with him sitting alone by a pond, fingering Susan's scarf lovingly. The camera looks away, and then back. He's gone. (Venusians just vanish when they die). The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing a remake of TDESS is fun, if only to see what the writers kept from the original story, and what they changed. Patricia Neal's performance is not remarkable, but her playing the female lead (again) gives the remake a kinship to TDESS.

Cold War Angle
As in TDESS, the message is that nuclear arms are a huge threat. Mankind is being told to step back from the brink before it's too late. That feeling that the world was teetering on the edge was quite pervasive in the 50s. Movies which dealt with this brink had a resonance with audiences.

Notes
What's the Same? -- What did SFV have that TDESS did too? A stranger who comes to earth to deliver a warning about mankind's reckless nuclear ambitions. He's mild, kindly, though a bit stoic. He's a healer. He and the female lead develop a bond. The earth risks destruction if it misbehaves. Earth men are an untrustworthy bunch. The stranger cannot stay.

What's New? -- In SFV, there is no robot like Gort (or any robot at all). The stranger is not really the official messenger, but a mere landing coordinator. (He still delivers the message anyway, though) He doesn't die and come back to life. He actually develops a romantic interest in Patricia Neal (they kiss), rather than the purely platonic relationship between Klaatu and Neal. The stranger came from a specific place we've heard of. The stranger doesn't leave on the ship. The ship leaves him, stranded on a world in which he cannot survive for long.

Asteroids' Secret Revealed -- One interesting bit from SFV is that the Stranger says the asteroid belt is actually the debris from a planet whose civilization failed to heed the Venusian's warnings and continued to play fast and loose with weapons of mass destruction. SFV is clearly in the cautionary tale sub-genre. Planet Earth, don't let this happen to YOU!

Budding Conspiracy -- The cultural notion that governments were covering up the truth of UFOs was gaining traction. In SFV, the area around the stranger's landing site is sealed off by the British government. No info in, no info out. In the movies we've seen thus far, governments (usually through the military) will take charge of an alien landing situation, as in TDESS, or Invaders from Mars ('53), but there had been no attempt to cover it up. SFV may be one of the first movies to depict government as controlling and suppressing the truth about an alien landing. This is a notable shift for "government" from protector to conspirator.

Faint Christ -- Where Klaatu was a much stronger allegory for Jesus, (see notes on TDESS, 1951), the Stranger has only a few of those traits. This weakens the character noticeably. The addition of the understated romantic link moves the Stranger character further from Christ model (unless you subscribe to that Jesus and Mary theory). Unlike the Christ-like resurrection and departure to the heavens which Klaatu had at the end, the Stranger is left behind to die. The writers may have approached the Jesus analogy from the other side of the coin. The TDESS writers focused on the deity side. Christ rises from the dead and goes up into the heavens. In SFV, the writers may have focused on the humanity side of Jesus. Christ suffers death as a man to save others.

Bottom line? SFV is an extremely low-budget film with almost zero special effects. If you like lots of rockets or saucers or creepy aliens or explosions, SFV will frustrate or bore you. There is a LOT of standing around and talking. However, if you liked TDESS for its premise, SFV may interest you as an exploration of paths TDESS did not take.

Target Earth

Target Earth (TE) is not an innovative B-movie, but retains a little freshness in how it mixes a little of this and a touch of that from previous works. The final result is not too bad, despite its very evident small budget. The poster promises "Raw Panic," but doesn't quite deliver. There is, however, a generous helping of post-apocalyptic gloom, a big dose of pulp crime drama and some attempted dashes of robot alien sci-fi. Sprinkle in some non-wooden actors and you get a fairly watchable movie about a small group of people who find themselves alone in a big city, evacuated in advance of an alien invasion.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A woman (Nora) awakens from a failed suicide attempt (sleeping pills) to find the large city completely empty. All power and water off. Eventually she finds Frank (Richard Denning). The two of them explore the empty city together, eventually finding another couple, Jim and Vicki, living it up in the lounge of a luxury hotel. No one has any idea what happened. They were all asleep (or drunk or knocked out) when whatever happened happened. While making their way towards the edge of town, they're joined by a nervous little man named Otis. A robot appears, frightening them all into another hotel's lobby. A discarded newspaper tells of invasion by a mystery army. Otis gets spooked and runs outside. The robot zaps him dead. The others decide to hide in rooms upstairs to formulate a plan (if possible) for escape. Meanwhile, the army has captured a broken robot. (They've only taken the city, not the whole world) The army scientists experiment on it to see how stop them. The tests seem futile. The army will have to use nukes on the evacuated city if the robots can't be stopped.
That night, a shifty stranger intrudes and holds Frank, Nora, Jim and Vicki hostage, at gunpoint. His plan is to force the others out into the streets as a decoy so he can escape via the sewers under the aliens' lines. He's a wanted murderer, so his only hope to escape the authorities is to go under the aliens. Vicki challenges him, but he shoots her dead. In a rage, Jim fights with, then strangles the killer. The gunshots attract one of the robots, which pursues the three survivors up the stairs and onto the roof. It zaps Jim dead, but before it can get Frank and Nora, the army's loud-speaker jeeps come up the street. They're playing a special sound frequency which the scientists found out breaks the robots' "eye", incapacitating them. The robot falls over on its back. The world is safe. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
The first half of TE is intriguing. What happens if you wake up to find everyone else gone? Later movies would pick up on this eerie theme too. The second half morphs into a more pedestrian pulp drama, but the robot is actually amusing to watch, even though he's not supposed to be amusing. It's interesting to know that people who saw the film as children report "nightmares for years" because of the deadly relentless robot. He must have touched a nerve in young 50s folk.

Cold War Angle
The premise of an invading army in a major American city pushes many Cold War buttons. For those born after the Cold War, TE provides a little opportunity to get into the heads of people at that time. There's the almost paralyzing fear of an unstoppable army. There are people trying to integrate the prospect of immanent death with daily life. The citizens in TE are a microcosm of Cold War citizenry. And don't overlook the ubiquitous moral -- Rest easy, the military will save us. Very Cold War.

Notes
Based on the Book -- The screenplay of TE follows the story line of Paul Fairman's short novel, "Deadly City," rather closely. Many of the movie's plot elements parallel the book. In some ways, though, the movie is better. The book differs in that, there are no robots. The book's aliens get little attention beyond other-worldly calls in the distance, so fear of them begins to seem unwarranted. The characters are more seedy. Jim's "girlfriend" (named Minna) is a milk-toast doormat, not the spunky "dame" of the movie. In the book, the army doesn't figure out how to stop the aliens. Borrowing from Wells, Fairman just has his feeble aliens expire in the streets from something in our atmosphere. A final difference is that Frank and Nora do not get together at the end. They just go back to being solitary seedy losers like they started out.

Essence of Humanity -- TE is like Five ('51) in following a small group of survivors in an empty land. It's a bit like Quiet Earth ('85) that way too. There's also a similarity to Invasion USA ('52) which follows a small group while America is invaded. It's inevitable that the few characters begin to represent segments of present society. Bill Raynor's screenplay is more optimistic than Fairman's rather misanthropic pulp novel.

An Army of One -- An obvious symptom of the low budget is that there is only one robot costume. Even though the dialog describes there being more, as many as hundreds, we see only the one at a time. The director used none of the usual low-budget tricks to imply lots of robots. (multiple shadows, mutli-shot quick cuts. Not even split screen) As such, the robot comes across as what he is -- the only one.

Leapin' Ludwigs! -- The background music is pretty well done, generally. It's atmospheric, enhancing, but not intruding. At one point, however, the music stands out. This comes when the robot crashes through the hotel lobby window after Davis shot Vicki. The robot busts through with a slightly discordant version of the theme from Beethoven's 5th Symphony. This is the very recognizable, da da da DUMMM theme.

Any City Will Do -- The evacuated city in Fairman's novel is clearly noted as Chicago. There's no significance to it. It just is. Other than naming a few streets, the location is very neutral. It could be anywhere. In TE, the screenwriters intentionally played up the "any city" angle. Even though TE was shot in Los Angeles (on Sunday mornings when no one was around), there is a noticeable avoidance of saying what city it is. No street names, no landmarks referred to. This helps TE be an everyman tale, relevant to whatever city the audience lives in.

Venus, the New Mars -- Unlike the writers' consensus, which saw Mars as the source of invaders, TE tags Venus as the source. The science is appallingly thin. Venus has clouds, therefore Venus has water, therefore Venus has life, therefore they came from Venus. The Venusians are never seen, nor even conjectured about. All we see is their robot, sent to do the invading by remote control. No theories are offered as to why the Venusians are trying to invade. They just are.

Stock Footage Spotting -- As a B-movie, it's almost mandatory to have several minutes of stock military footage. TE complies, but with nuggets of interest. There are some clips that are obviously from World War II, showing A-20 and B-25 bomber formations. There are even some squadron ready-room clips of pilots preparing for missions, but there are clearly maps of Germany on the walls. We'll save Los Angeles by bombing Germany! Bet the aliens weren't expecting that! Mixed within these war clips are the usual snippets of 50s jets. There are the customary P-80 Shooting Stars, and the usual B-47 taking off. There are some less common F9F Panthers and a fairly rare stock-footage star, a B-45 Tornado with an escort of P-80s. Watch for it. The B-45 was America's first operational jet bomber, but almost totally eclipsed a few years after its introduction by the more modern B-47.

Bottom line? TE is worth the watch for its apocalypse theme. The first half, especially, does quite a good job, even if the second half gets a bit pulpy. The robot is too lame to evoke anything beyond a chuckle from 21st century viewers. But, people who said they remember seeing TE as a youth (in the late 50s) report being quite spooked by them. That's worth watching, if only to try and understand the times.

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars

The comedy duo were hot in the 1940s, but were beginning to wane in popularity by the early 1950s, perhaps due more to over-staturation of the market than anything. Universal had them doing 2 movies a year since 1941. They did not add a lot of new material to their skits, so by 1953, audiences had seen their gags quite a few times already. Some A & C fans call Go to Mars one of their middling productions -- not their worst, but not all that great either. Many of their movies were spoofs on "serious" genre films, like westerns, horror or jungle adventure films.

That aside, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (GtM) is a fun spoof of the sci-fi genre, which was only just getting popular then. When they were producing GtM, in early 1953, audiences would have seen films like Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide and Flight to Mars -- all having curvy cigar-shaped rockets with pointy fins and stubby wings. So, it's little surprise that GtM has one too. With news of George Pal's impending War of the Words to be release in August, audiences were primed for just about anything with "Mars" in the title.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Orville (Costello) is a 38 year old orphan in a home for orphans. When his toy plane breaks a window, he hides from a policeman in Lester's (Abbott's) delivery truck. While loading supplies on an experimental rocket, Orville presses some buttons he shouldn't have, and the rocket takes off. It zooms around awhile, comically, before landing in a Louisiana bayou. The boys think they're on Mars, but it's just New Orleans at Mardi Gras (everyone has big-headed costumes on). While in New Orleans, a couple of escaped convicts see the rocket, swipe a couple space suits as disguises to rob a bank. A comic chase ensues. All four take off again, this time to land on Venus. Venus is populated only with beauty pageant winners. Men were banished 400 years prior for unfaithfulness. Orville sits in a chair beside queen Allura, a light goes on, and the girls all decide it's a sign that Orville should be their king. Only Allura remembers why men were banished. The rest of the beauties are fascinated with the new men. This idyll unravels quickly, naturally. All four men escape. The rocket is too heavy to take off, however, Only after Orville releases all the girls he had hidden in lockers. They return to a ticker tape parade.

Why is this movie fun?
GtM is nothing BUT fun. It's a spoof. The superimposed model-on-string rocket is hardly serious special effects. The gags are still funny, and the many innuendoes are subtly delivered with straight faces. Their mistaking the outskirts of New Orleans at Mardi Gras for a Mars is silly, but fun. Then their mistaking the planet Venus for Los Angeles, is a fun spoof on their own movie. Thinking that another planet is Hollywood is a neat dig too. The convicts, form a sort of criminal opposites duo to A & C (one the wise-talking straight man, the other the buffoon). Knowing what's gone before GtM in the sci-fi genre, it's easy to see what they're spoofing. Knowing what comes after GtM makes it even MORE fun. They managed to spoof films that hadn't even been made yet, like Missile to the Moon (1958) which has two convicts hide out on a rocket ship which lands on the moon, where there's a society of only beauty pageant winners. They also have a jet-car vehicle which prefigures the one in Forbidden Planet (1956). How did A & C know?

Cold War Angle?
None. This is pure silliness in a sci-fi setting. Enjoy the break.

Notes
It might be a subtle bit of humor that the high-tech rocket ship gets stocked with wooden crated supplies. In the spirit of B-film recycling, there's the obligatory stock military footage, but as part of the spoof, some of it is obviously older WWII footage. No mistake, I'm sure. The space suits are recycled from Destination Moon and all those others who reused them too, like Flight to Mars. Their helmets, the clear spheres, were not from those previous wardrobes, but will show up again very soon in Catwomen of the Moon.

Planet Women -- The planet full of nothing but beautiful young women (but not men), who meet a few earth MEN, was not (in 1953) a tired theme. A&C were actually ahead of their time. A few earlier movies featured all-women societies, but these were a few jungle flicks like Wild Women ('51) or Prehistoric Women ('50) stories. These women societies weren't found in space yet. Universal's Abbot and Costello machine isn't often thought of as a ground-breaker or trend innovator, but in this case, they were. GtM predates all the many Planet of Women flicks that were to come, like Catwomen of the Moon, Fire Maidens of Outer Space, Mission to the Moon, Queen of Outer Space, etc. etc. There are many more, but A&C scooped them all!