Category: Sci-Fi

Earthlings Prepared for Outer Space!

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My twinster Jean mentions here a bad 50’s sci-fi movie called “Queen of Outer Space.” Being the age that I am, I love 50’s sci-fi movies. A memorable screening I recall of one such movie, “This Island Earth,” from 1955, was in 1980, at a science fiction festival at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The scene I’ve posted here got big laughs out of the audience.

In April, 1986 I bought my first Laserdisc player, and “This Island Earth” was one of the first discs I owned. Today, I use that same player for capturing video on the computer. I pushed up the bit rate on this video to show that a 20-year-old disc on a 20-year-old player looks not too bad.

The technology was introduced in the U.S. in 1980 by Philips of Holland, which later sold the format to Pioneer in Japan. I had written a paper in the 11th grade about the development of video discs, and I was really taken with the superiority of LD over VHS. LD never caught on with the public at large, but Philips was able to apply its optical expertise to the creation of CD, with Sony handling the digital side of the format.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars — 2

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Part 1 of the fondly remembered, but rarely seen, movie Robinson Crusoe on Mars is at this link. Here is part 2. It’s 30 minutes long.

This is my favorite part of the movie, after Mona the monkey is found and before Friday is introduced. Animal characters are usually a turn-off for me, but Mona’s contribution to Draper’s survival makes her an integral part of the story.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars – 1

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A movie I remember well from childhood is Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). My brother Jeff and I were so taken with it that we created our own audio version on my tape recorder.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars was directed by Byron Haskin, who had directed War of the Worlds for George Pal ten years before that. Crusoe was sort of a test-run for the Paramount Studios special effects and production team that would soon begin work on the original Star Trek TV series.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars is not currently in official release. Many people remember it, but most haven’t seen it in decades, so I’m posting it here, probably in four parts. The image is very small, but it should be adequate.