Top-5 Thursday: 1950s Sci-fi Movies

Some were ridiculous. Some were hokey. Some were over-the-top. And some were classics. The 1950s was the decade in which science fiction took over the cinema. Although the first science fiction film was technically released in 1902, it wasn’t until the 1950s that technology and public interest intersected so that science fiction could become a film genre as well as a literary genre. The films that came from the 50s pioneered and inspired concepts which continue to shape science fiction to this day.

Here are 5 of the classics that revolutionized the genre and the industry.

5. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)-

In the 1950s, Walt Disney decided to make his first foray into live action film, with an adaptation of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The studio spared no expense to make the film as visually stunning as possible, and it ended up being one of the most expensive films made up to that date. However, Disney more than made up for their lavish costs, as the colorful, steampunk adventure was an incredible success. It holds the distinction not only of being the first live-action Disney film, but also of being the first science fiction movie filmed with CinemaScope technology.

4. Forbidden Planet (1956)-

If you are a fan of Star Trek, or Star Wars, and you watch Forbidden Planet for the first time, it may seem a little familiar. That is because Forbidden Planet had a great impact on both Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas. (When I first watched the film, I felt like I was watching a prologue to Star Trek: The Original Series pilot, “The Cage”). Based off Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Forbidden Planet peeks into the depths of the human soul through the technicolor lense of science fiction film. Forbidden Planet is also the debut film for Robbie the Robot, an iconic machine who would go on to have a fascinating carreer of his own in television and movies.

3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)-

Invasion of the Body Snatchers successfully encapsulated the fears of the American public at the time of its release. With communism on the outside and mccarthyism on the inside, it seemed to some individual identity was being suppressed at every turn. The special effects of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is minimal, but that only serves to make the aliens portrayed in the film all the more terrifying. Though it was not well-received by critics at first, it has since been hailed as an important landmark in science fiction, film, and cultural history.

2. The War of the Worlds (1953)-

It seems like it’s hard to go wrong with The War of The Worlds. First, H.G. Wells published it as the quintessential alien invasion story in 1898. Next, Orson Welles crafted it into the frighteningly realistic radio drama that had listeners watching the stars in 1938. Then, in 1953, director Byron Haskin adapted into the most popular science fiction film of the year. The special effects and sound effects of the film stand the test of time, and have made a definite impact on popular culture. Each adaptation of The War of the Worlds has appealed to the time and culture of its audience, and the 1953 version does so masterfully, seamlessly weaving nuclear themes into the premise of the story.

1. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)-

The Day the Earth Stood still is a surprising film. It begins with the same basic plot as many alien invasion stories, where a flying saucer lands, and people panic. This time, however, the alien is not the threat- the humans are. Told in a thoughtful and sympathetic manner, this Cold War morality tale is perhaps one of the most unique films of the decade, and of the alien-invasion sub genre. Its well-deserved status as a classic has turned peaceful invader Klaatu, and his robot assistant Gort into icons referenced throughout science fiction and pop culture.

What movies would you have added to this list? What are your favorite 1950s science fiction films, and why? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Visions of the Future: The 1910s- The World on Fire

In spite of the turmoil that marked the turn of the 19th century to the 20th, this time period showcased the most advanced technology and the highest standard of living of any time in recorded history to that point. The future indeed looked bright. However, the underlying tension in the world would come to a head, and force people to look at the dark side of the prosperity and scientific advancement of the time. The events of the years from 1910-1919 would change humanity’s visions of the future forever.

History:

The reign of technology had as of yet been unchallenged when the builders of the passenger liner RMS Titanic declared their craft unsinkable. However, their hastiness proved to be tragic as the liner was wrecked on an iceberg on April 15, 1912.

Sparked by the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and fueled by the increasing militarization of Europe, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on the Serbians on July 28, 1914. Allies on both sides were dragged into a conflict the likes of which had never been seen before. The scope of the battlefield, and the new military technologies, such as tanks, airplanes, chemical warfare, and advanced weaponry earned this war names such as “The Great War”, or “The World War”. The generations that lived through the war were shaped by the inhumanity and violence they had witnessed, and their worldview was shaped by it.

In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution overturned the power in Russia, and resulted in the Soviet Union becoming the first official communist state in the world.

Science:

[The Metropolitan Opera House]

Aside from military technologies, transportation and communication continued to be developed in the 1910s.

On January 13th, 1910, the first radio transmission was broadcast from a performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein continued to turn scientific theory upside down, and published his general theory of relativity in 1915.

Another earth-shattering discovery occurred in 1919, when Ernest Rutherford successfully transmutation of an atom for the first time.

Stories:

[Frankenstein- 1910]

The 1910s saw many great science fiction classics on the silver screen for the first time. In 1910- nearly 100 years after its initial publication, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was adapted into a silent film. It was followed by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1913, and Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1916.

Film had not displaced the written word, however, and several influential stories were released by new and beloved authors.

In 1911 Hugo Gernsback published his story “Ralph 124C41+” in serialized form in the magazine, Modern Electrics. It told the story of the protagonist, Ralph, saving the heroine from disaster using technological marvels. It was highly predictive of coming technologies. Some of the most notable predictions Gernsback made are the video phone, television, transcontinental air travel, solar energy, sound movies, synthetic food and materials, space flight, and radar.

In  1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, who would become known for his pulp adventure science fiction stories, published the first of his Mars based stories, Under the Moons of Mars, (later known as A Princess of Mars), which introduced the iconic space traveler John Carter.

The same year, Arthur Conan Doyle, most notable for his Sherlock Holmes mysteries, published The Lost World. This is one of the last novels in the subgenre that has since been named after Doyle’s story. The Lost World tells the tale of an expedition to a forsaken plateau in the Amazon basin where prehistoric creatures such as dinosaurs still roam.

Always innovative and predictive, H.G. Wells published The World Set Free in 1914, in which he predicted nuclear weapons, and their potential effects on the world.

“The City of Endless Night” by Milo Hastings was an early tale of the dystopian genre, first appearing in serialized form in 1919. In the spirit of the post- Great War world, it described a revitalized Germany, and predicted the rise of fascism.

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Top-5 Thursday- New Mediums for a New Century

Until this point, every piece of  science fiction we have seen has been in the form of either a novel, a short story, or a serialized story. The written word was the medium that science fiction was born into, and it continues to be important to the genre to this day. However, after the turn of the century, many new forms of entertainment exploded onto the scene, and science fiction was often at the forefront of their popularity. Here are five new mediums that were monumental for the growth of science fiction in the twentieth century. This list is in chronological order based on the development of the medium.

5. The Motion Picture (1893)-

[A Trip to the Moon, 1902]

The kinetoscope, or motion picture device, was invented in Edison’s labs, mainly by an employee of Mr. Edison’s, William Dickson. The first ‘film’ shown publicly, was the brief Blacksmith Scene, released in 1893. The medium quickly became very popular,  with one of the earliest movie theatres, The Electric Theatre, opening in Los Angeles in 1902.

Science fiction creators were quick to utilize the genre as a way to project their visions of the future onto other people's’ imaginations. What is widely recognized as the first science fiction film, A Trip to the Moon, was released by French director Georges Méliès in 1902. The first two-hour, or ‘feature length’, sci-fi film was the revolutionary tale of the broken utopia Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang and released in 1927. Science fiction has continued to be on the cutting edge of the motion picture industry ever since.

4. Radio (1910)-

On January 13, 1910, the first radio transmission was broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House. The technology quickly became a popular means of telling stories, and science fiction stories constituted a great deal of these.

[Orson Welles]

One of the earliest radio programs of science fiction was the serialized Buck Rogers in the Twenty-Fifth Century which premiered in 1932. It told the story of a time-lost war veteran and his adventures in the future. Another notable accomplishment of sci-fi radio is the adaptation of The War of the Worlds, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Released as a sort of prank on Halloween night of 1938, this broadcast had some listeners believing Martians really were invading the planet.

3. Television (1926)-

The 1920s saw the success of early motion picture broadcast technologies. The first  television broadcast was a picture of a moving human face on January 26, 1926. Television soon became an important method of communication and storytelling, especially for serialized stories.

[Rod Serling on The Twilight Zone]

Captain Video was one of the first science fiction television show is in America, lasting from 1949-1955. Perhaps one of the most influential speculative fiction shows ever was The Twilight Zone, created by Rod Serling. It’s anthology of strange and twisted tales has been pillaged by sci-fi writers of all sorts ever since its inception. Two other incredibly influential and long lasting tv series of the genre are the British-made Dr. Who (1963), and American Star Trek (1966).

2. Comic Books (1933)-

The first publication in the modern strain of comics was Famous Funnies, a comedic magazine first released in 1933. The medium of comic books became the birthplace of the superhero story. The quintessential superhero, Superman, made his debut in the June 1938 issue of Action Comics, in the story “A Champion of the Oppressed”.

The masked detective who would later become Superman’s ally and foil, Batman, first appeared in Detective Comics in May 1939.

1. Video Games (1948)-

[Spacewar!]

The earliest known interactive video device was a missile simulator, based off radar displays from World War II. It was patented by Thomas Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann in 1948. Early video games certainly seemed like something out of sci-fi. As the visual aspect of video games became more prominent, science fiction often served as a basis for the mood and setting. One of the first examples of this is Spacewar! released on the PDP-1 in 1961.

Eventually, as story became more important to games, sci-fi was a dominant genre. Many fascinating science fiction stories have been told through video games, such as the haunting science-gone-awry tale of the Portal series (2007, 2011).

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Top-5 Thursday-Early Space Adventures

Science fiction seems to have a fixation with the final frontier. Even before the Space Race, Star Trek, and Star Wars, enterprising authors sent their characters to the stars. (Yes, enterprising. There’s another Star Trek pun I can...Chekov my list. Not even sorry).

Here is a list of some of the most interesting, and influential space stories from the early days of the genre.

5. “The Brick Moon” by Edward Everett Hale (1869)-

This short story written in the form of a journal was the first to describe an inhabited, artificial satellite. It accounts the marvelous journey of people accidentally launched into space with the brick sphere they constructed as a navigational tool.

4. “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” by Edgar Allan Poe (1835)-

Intended by Poe to be released as a true account, and later revealed as a hoax, this satirical piece of fiction describes the journey of the titular Hans Pfaall to the moon in a balloon that converted the vacuum of space into breathable air.

3. Lumen by Camille Flammarion (1872)-

A dialogue framed in a work of highly philosophical fiction, Lumen speculates about the existence and nature of extraterrestrial life, and makes rather accurate assumptions about the speed of light.

2. A Voyage to the Moon by George Tucker (1827)-

Not only the earliest space adventure on this list, but also one of America’s oldest works of science fiction, George Tucker’s A Voyage to the Moon, described a Lunarian civilization that satirized the politicians and scientists of its time.

1. From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne (1865)-

It had to be Verne, didn’t it? Yes, it did. Not only was this novel one of the most influential space adventures of its time, it also described the process of getting to the moon in a nearly realistic way… As I’ve already described on this blog multiple times.

So, there are some precursors to the inspiring space age stories we know and love. Have you read any of them? Are you inspired to? I’d love to hear any thoughts in the comments!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

A One-Year, Fifty-Post Special List!

It’s April 16th. Somehow, by some miracle, this blog has lasted for a whole year! Not only that, but it’s also managed to make it to fifty posts! I’m very grateful to be able to write about these things that I love in light of God’s truth, and share my thoughts with other people. It has been a great privilege and a great blessing. If you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning, or if this is the first post of mine you’ve ever read, I’m grateful for you!

Since it’s sort of a special occasion, I thought I’d write a special sort of post. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and I might do some more of them later on. However, never fear, your regularly scheduled sci-fi history posts will resume after this week. For now, thanks for reading, and supporting me in this crazy blogging venture, and I hope you enjoy this Star Trek “starter kit”.

If you are a geek, you probably want to share the objects of your geeky affections with your friends. However, asking your friends to watch 1960s television, or read 1930s literature with you may attract strange stairs. Suppose for a minute, though, that someone finally caves in to your constant nagging, or perhaps you meet a fellow geek who wants to understand the thing you enjoy better. How do you introduce them to your favorite TV series, book subgenre, or set of movies? That’s what this list is for.

As you’ve all figured out by now, I am a huge fan of Star Trek: The Original Series. Oftentimes, I reference the show, then have to explain myself.  Occasionally, someone will offer to watch it with me, in order to attempt to understand my particular brand of weird. If they follow through with this decision, I have to decide which episode/episodes to show them. So, finally, I compiled a list of what I believe to be the ten most “user-friendly” episodes of Star Trek, that give people a good feel for what the series is. All in good fun, of course.

So, whether you are new to the series yourself, are trying to educate a reboot fan, or just want to do a mini-marathon with your nerdy friends for the fiftieth anniversary next year, I hope you enjoy this list.

1. “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” (S03-E15)-

I wanted my first episode on this list to include the entire main crew that continues to appear throughout the movies and reboot stuff. So yes, I was doing a lot of nitpicking concerning the helm for this spot on the list. “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” has everyone: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu. Aside from characters, this episode also gives a good feel for the bold, no-nonsense way The Original Series addresses the issues of its day. The endless struggle between the two different groups of aliens on Cheron makes a poignant statement about race relations. Plus, Captain Kirk gives some great speeches, and almost self-destructs the entire Enterprise.

2. “Devil in the Dark” (S01-E25)-

The Original Series introduces so many iconic creatures that it was hard to decide which ones to put on this list, much less which ones to put first. Finally, I decided upon the scary but sympathetic, silicon-based Horta. The antagonist that ends up having sympathetic qualities is a recurring  plot device in Star Trek, and the Horta is a good example of it. Plus, Spock performs a harrowing mind-meld, Bones says some iconic lines, and lots of redshirts die.

3. “The Trouble With Tribbles” (S02-E15)-

Perhaps the most iconic Star Trek episode. Everyone loves tribbles, (except for Klingons). Delta airlines even has tribbles in their safety procedures video. Look it up! Aside from the lovable but prolific furballs, this episode is also notable as one of the few Original Series episodes featuring the Klingons. Plus, all the characters are over the top! Bones and Spock banter, Kirk yells at bureaucrats, Scotty punches the Klingons that insult his ship, Chekov says that everything was inwented in Russia. It’s just fun.

4. “Amok Time” (S02-E01)-

The first episode of the second season introduces a lot of the things people regularly associate with Star Trek- the Vulcan salute, the fight music, Chekov. Plus, it has the entire cast, develops the Vulcan race, and features Kirk and Spock fighting!

5. “City on the Edge of Forever” (S01-E28)-

I’ll freely admit that “City on the Edge” is the best episode of the original series. It presents a fascinating time-travel conundrum, and the characters react in a very realistic, human way. It is a great episode of science fiction television, and provides good character development for the characters. So, why didn’t I put it first? Because, I think the real heart of Star Trek- even when the stories aren’t as good as “City on the Edge”- is the characters. When you get to know the characters first, you’ll enjoy them even more in the very best episode, and you’ll still like them even in “The Way to Eden”- if you can make it through all the singing.

6. “Space Seed” (S01-E22)-

Because you want them to understand Wrath of Khan, right? This episode is a great story of the corrupting influence of power, betrayal, loyalty, genetic engineering and suspended animation starring a well-acted and intriguing villain on its own. But when you pair it with the Wrath of Khan, all sorts of themes, ideas, excitement, crying, screaming, and a little bit of confusion, (who was where what season, huh?) ensue.

7. “The Naked Time” (S01-E04)-

Once you get to know a set of characters, it’s fun to watch them act all out of sorts. Like Spock crying, everyone wants to see Spock crying, (it’s sad, though. I feel for the guy). I’m impressed that the writers were able to so develop the characters in the first three episodes, that the differences in this episode were notable. Also, they invent time warp. Plus, Sulu fences everyone he sees, Kirk dotes on the ship, Kevin Riley, and a lot more clothes than the title implies.

8. “Balance of Terror” (S01-E14)-

This is one of those great, thought-provoking episodes of Star Trek that makes you wonder things like: “are the people I hate really all that different from me?” It introduces the alien race, the Romulans, and their tumultuous relationship with the Federation- a conflict that continues to be an important plot point even into the reboot movies.

9. “Mirror, Mirror” (S02-E04)-

This is the quintessential alternate universe episode of science fiction television. You have probably heard or seen jokes about or references to Spock’s beard even if you haven’t seen this episode. It is an interesting look into the twisted “could-be” Star Trek universe, and brings the characters face to face with the darker side of their natures. Also, Uhura slaps Sulu in the face, Spock calls people illogical, Chekov screams (it happens a lot in the series and the movies, so get used to it), and everyone smiles creepily.

10. “By Any Other Name” (S02-E22)-

This is one of those episodes where you get to see all the characters in their element. Well, except for the ones who get turned into salt cubes. They are in their elements too, just those elements happen to be sodium chloride… Anyway, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty have to work together to stop some aliens from the Andromeda galaxy from taking over our galaxy. It’s good, old fashioned Star Trek fun. Also, they almost self-destruct the Enterprise, Kirk gets the girl and gets in a fight, and the only female redshirt to die in the entire series meets her demise.

Thanks for reading. I hope you had fun reading through this list, because I most certainly had fun writing it. Thanks for your support and encouragement over this past year. If you have any thoughts on great Star Trek episodes, or any ideas of things you want to see on the blog moving forward, let me know in the comments!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora