Destination Space (1959)

The colorful footage of that 1955 George Pal sci-fi classic has been made black and white here for a TV pilot that has some moments of intelligence but can't hold a candle to its source. A cast mixed with veteran actors and obscure newcomers offer a look into man's desire to explore space in spite of the dangers that are present and the debate over what is best for the world as far as space exploration is concerned. The film is actually at its best with a court hearing, where some of the dialog for and against the journey into the unknown, which follows a sequence that mixes new footage of a meteor shower and footage of the giant circular space station from "Conquest of Space". Of the veteran actors, Cecil Kellaway and Edward Platt stand out, with John Agar commanding as one of the military leaders. It's rather short and quickly forgettable, made rather cheaply for pilot season, although the inserted footage looks seamless. Ironically, the best sequences are not the newly filmed outer space scenes, but the hearing itself where what is usually overfilled with scientific assumptions and dull exposition is actually made to be quite amusing. I ironically got a copy of this along with "Conquest of Space" where the two films together show as to why the follow-up didn't quite make it onto TV.

A teacher once told me that the first rule of writing was to never be dull. This may be the dullest science fiction film I've seen. A n astronaut spends more time in a Senate hearing than in a space station that is being maligned for nearly biting the bullet during a meteor shower. He has the usually adversarial Senator who is looking out for the taxpayer's pocketbooks. He, of course, is presented as a bit of a buffoon. The return message (one that is certainly valid) is that we must know; we must explore. Danger is part of the equation. So they send an independent observer, a scientist, to take his business suit and tie to the space station and observe them at work. Anyway, they don't simplify things (which is a strength), but the dialogue and interaction are about as vanilla as you can get. There is also a love story going on that doesn't' really get resolved. The predecessor, "Conquest of Space," is even more idiotic and it's fortunate that at some point the space program went on.

This is a brilliant pilot that foreshadowed much of the actual historic progress in the United States in their effort to get to the Moon. The science. Unlike most science fiction series of the late '50's, the science is sound. The visual effects reflect the contemporary designs for spacecraft and space stations. The characterization and acting are top notch. The plot itself also has a realism that is rarely seen in science fiction.It is a great shame that this series never made it off the ground.The are quite a few elements of this pilot that were reflected by historic events.<< SPOILERS AHEAD >>* Extensive checklists prior to launch. This is very similar to the process that NASA used. * 3 person lunar orbit craft. The Apollo space craft were crewed by 3 people. * Accident before the launch of the lunar orbit craft causes delays. This is similar to the Apollo 1 tragedy in that the actual accident caused a significant delay in the program. * Senate hearings to investigate the viability of the space program. After the Apollo 1 accident, there was a similar witch hunt. * Space station for staging. NASA did consider the use of a space station for staging lunar exploration. However, in favor of short term cost savings and shorter development time, the three stage Saturn V was used. * Nuclear powered space craft. Many of the unmanned space craft do rely on nuclear fission as a power source.There are a few elements that we haven't yet developed as well. The biggest example is wheel like space station for generating artificial gravity. Sure, we aren't currently using this type of technology in our own space exploration, but it is based on sound physics principles.This was a surprisingly intelligent show that I'm thrilled to have seen.

I'm a hard core 1950s science fiction fan, and this movie baffles me. It uses footage from Conquest of Space, specifically "The Wheel" and the spaceship. It's a black and white film, so it was weird to see that footage which I know to exist in color displayed in black and white. To be honest, I fast-forwarded through 3/4s of the movie, it's THAT bad. Way too much yakking and virtually no action. The climax involves one of the spacemen working to free a valve after crawling down a tube which reminded me a lot of the "Jeffries Tube" on the original Star Trek series. Another small bright spot is Ed Platt's role. He was "Chief" on "Get Smart" in the 1960s. Overall, even if you are a hard core collector, this is just a deadly boring movie.