DESTINATION MOON in '50s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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DESTINATION MOON

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specterman	DESTINATION MOON	Lead	[-]
Jun 11 04 3:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I picked up George Pals 50th anniversary of DM for about 5 bucks the other day. It's put out by Image entertainment and although reviews said the transfer wasn't too good I was very pleased with it. This is one interesting movie as far as "the shape of things to come" goes. They were pretty darn close to hitting the nail on the head considering when it was done, and the moon scenes alone are worth the whole movie. What a terrific set they had for that. (Edited title -- All Caps: G Prange)
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GaryP11111	Reposts	#1	[-]
Nov 2 05 10:10 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	bosko52 Member (6/6/05 4:32 pm) 64.12.116.10 Reply \| Edit \| Del All DESTINATION MOON -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yesterday I attended a screening of George Pal's prophetic if uneventful cold war classic at the '40s-era Aero Theatre in Santa Monica CA, which was introduced in person by a guy who actually went to the moon, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin. He credited science-fiction writers as instrumental in helping initiate the space program and seemed familiar with the movie. The movie, in a beat-up but otherwise watchable original Technicolor release print, is as earnest and talky as ever, but what surprised me was the reaction of the many kids in the audience--they actually loved it! The kid behind me, who asked his dad "what are they doing THAT for?" every few minutes, proclaimed "that was great!" at the end title card ("THE END ..of The Beginning"). Obviously the presence of Woody Woodpecker did a lot to jolly the kids thru the verbose first half, where American Industry is expected to take up the slack now that the peacetime US government isn't funding rocketry like they did during the war. And of course Dick Wesson's cowardly "comic relief" whiner is every bit as charmless as he was when this was new. But I hadn't seen it on the big screen since I was a kid and I'm pleased to report that the pioneering FX hold up surprisingly well for a movie made in 1950. I had never noticed there's quite a bit of puppetoonish stop motion on view (whenever the space travellers are seen in wide shot in space or on the moon). Overall the whole experience was uncannily like an old-time Saturday Matinee, and lots of fun. I'm more of a ROCKETSHIP X-M man myself, but it was kinda sweet to see this old chestnut working its magic on another bunch of kids almost 60 years after its debut. oldmanster Member (6/6/05 4:11 pm) 24.1.28.3 Reply \| Edit \| Del Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Y'know, it's heartening to hear that (some) kids still have that sensawunda some of us had back in the 50s while living under threat of atomic war. Given the anemic state of our space program these days, I wonder what sort of interstellar/intergalactic/intra-solar system expectations they might develop. Mars has turned from a place of mystery to a place of arid desolation; Venus is now too hot for those Lucky Starr oceans. Maybe, just maybe, there's some alien race cautiously seeding one of the moons of Jupiter -- just our luck that it will be some of Vonnegut's Sirens of Titans rebuilding their intergalactic garbage scow. Science fiction has turned terribly inward in the past 20-30 years. We need a scientific breakthrough -- matter transmission; near light-speed travel -- something to reinvigorate our culture and start it moving forward once more. ... Reed Bill Warren Member (6/6/05 5:12 pm) 207.200.116.9 Reply \| Edit \| Del Re: DESTINATION MOON -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had never noticed there's quite a bit of puppetoonish stop motion on view (whenever the space travellers are seen in wide shot in space or on the moon). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've never noticed that myself. Can you identify the shots more specifically? I'm surprised by this--not that Puppetoon maestro Pal used stop motion, but that it hasn't been pointed out before. I sent your comments on to a rocket scientist friend who works at JPL (currently on the Mars project), who was steered to his profession by loving DESTINATION MOON since childhood. He recently said that it might be worthwhile to remake DM just as it was: set in that period, about the first trip to the Moon, completely fictionalized, utterly unlike the real journey. Those Mars movies of a few years ago skipped right over the how-hard-it-is-to-get-there stuff, which may be what the kids at the Aero were responding to. Space travel as challenging exploration, dangerous and difficult, has absolutely vanished from all science fiction, written or filmed. The adventure in space-travel science fiction originally lay in the travel itself, and how the problems would be licked. Then, in movies at least, it became a matter of finding weird creatures on other planets. Now it's essentially Naval-warfare stories told in space. (For i-dotters and t-crossers, the name of my JPL friend is George Carlisle.) Edited by: Bill Warren at: 6/6/05 5:19 pm oldmanster Member (6/6/05 4:28 pm) 24.1.28.3 Reply \| Edit \| Del Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Warren talks of SF:"The adventure in space-travel science fiction originally lay in the travel itself, and how the problems would be licked. Then, in movies at least, it became a matter of finding weird creatures on other planets. Now it's essentially Naval-warfare stories told in space. (For i-dotters and t-crossers, the name of my JPL friend is George Carlisle.)" Spoken like a true acolyte of John Campbell and Astounding/Analog Science Fact/Fiction. Unfortunately, Bill, those generalizations are way too general. You credit the movies for introducing BEMs and alien worlds? Sorry, my friend, Golden Age/Silver Age sf was absolutely full of wonders, reflecting a serious amount of hope that the Red Button would never be pushed, or humanity would be off-planet by the time it was. Even your third sentence description is quite out of date -- the bulk of sf today is not outerspace military (although I concede that some of it is); most, I believe is dystopian, dealing with cyberspace rather than with outer space. ... Reed Bill Warren Member (6/6/05 5:33 pm) 207.200.116.9 Reply \| Edit \| Del Re: Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately, Bill, those generalizations are way too general. You credit the movies for introducing BEMs and alien worlds? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You misread what I said. I did NOT say that movies introduced alien worlds and aliens; I said that's what SF in movies >turned into<; I was making no comment at all about written science fiction, and certainly not claiming that it--written SF is all military stuff today. I was talking about >movies<. Big scale SF, that is, the kind set in space, IS mostly Naval war stories among the stars. That's certainly what STAR TREK, STAR WARS, CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, etc., are. I was, as you quoted, talking about space travel science fiction--and in that category, about MOVIE space travel science fiction. As far as written science fiction goes--it was the bulk of my reading from around age 9 (1952) until I was about 40. I read everything I could get my hands on; I literally read every science fiction book in the Oregon state library system. I bought tons of paperbacks, though I never really got into reading magazines very much. Somehow I formed the idea that anything in the magazines that was any good would turn up in book form sooner or later. Much of my social life has been spent among professional science fiction writers; I've known a few from when they were in high school. I have twice been a member of Science Fiction Writers of America, and wrote many annual reports on SF movies for their Nebula anthologies. I have a pretty good grasp on trends in written science fiction, at least during the period I was reading it. And I wasn't really talking about it. Edited by: Bill Warren at: 6/6/05 5:41 pm oldmanster Member (6/6/05 5:01 pm) 24.1.28.3 Reply \| Edit \| Del Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't think I misread much. Look at your direct quote. You seem to be moving from sf in general to movies and then back to sf "stories" without stating you were talking about film versions. No biggie, just lacked a bit of clarification. You and I had similar upbringing in terms of written sf. I can't claim early connection to SFWA or budding sf writers, but our reading habits were the same at virtually the same time. My parents were terrifically spotty in their support of my habit -- violently anti-EC comics while at the same time buying a complete run of Astounding, 1938-1956, for my tenth birthday. I tempered Campbell-ite sf with the Mag of F&SF, and as many pulps as I could afford. Again, this ain't a pissin' contest; one of my hot buttons, fortunately or otherwise, is the deterioration of the field (in my opinion) that has occurred over the past two or three decades. Has this deterioration translated into films -- yes, to the degree that most sf films today lack intelligence; some have heart and soul (Star Wars, Star Trek, even Riddick), but there isn't much out there that treats the genre with respect because the genre has pretty much abrogated its right to respect. ... Reed bosko52 Member (6/6/05 6:14 pm) 64.12.116.135 Reply \| Edit \| Del Re: Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, Bill, to be specific: any shot in the Space Walk sequence that shows most of (or the entire) ship features tiny, rather jerkily animated figures in space suits. This also goes for anything on the moon landing set wide enough to show anything more than the portion of the rocket that was built. The figures are often so small you really have to focus on them to notice they're stop-mo. Andrew Kidd Member (6/7/05 10:35 am) 172.155.64.95 Reply \| Edit \| Del Re: Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mars has turned from a place of mystery to a place of arid desolation; Venus is now too hot for those Lucky Starr oceans." A friend of mine who's a radio astronomer once told me of a tragicomic run-in he had with a fellow patron at the local library. When he told her that he was a scientist who had worked on the Magellan mission to Venus, she became irate, and accused him of "ruining" some of her favorite stories by revealing what the planet was really like. Personally, watching those Mars rover and Cassinni pictures fills me with even a greater sense of wonder than the best science fiction does. "We need a scientific breakthrough -- matter transmission; near light-speed travel" Those aren't going to happen any time soon, if at all. But there is still plenty of inspiring scientific research going on, even if doesn't instill "gosh-wow" reactions. Bill Warren Member (6/7/05 1:36 pm) 207.200.116.9 Reply \| Edit \| Del Re: Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- there is still plenty of inspiring scientific research going on, even if doesn't instill "gosh-wow" reactions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After all, space travel itself wasn't based on a big scientific breakthrough, but rather was the culmination of a long, slow buildup in several disciplines. Carl Eyesnheart Member (6/7/05 1:59 pm) 69.222.24.250 Reply \| Edit \| Del Re: Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We need a scientific breakthrough -- matter transmission; near light-speed travel" Those aren't going to happen any time soon, if at all. But there is still plenty of inspiring scientific research going on, even if doesn't instill "gosh-wow" reactions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Actually, I have met a guy not too long ago who's job is the study of teleportation. Not just studying it, but figuring out how to break it. I guess it is not such an unreachable dream. saurian man Member (6/7/05 2:14 pm) 24.247.38.74 Reply \| Edit \| Del Re: Destination Moon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Actually, I have met a guy not too long ago who's job is the study of teleportation. Not just studying it, but figuring out how to break it. I guess it is not such an unreachable dream. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I thought I heard a few months ago that a lab teleported something very minute, on a molecular level practically, but it was "teleported" nonetheless. It was basically destroyed and reconstructed during the process, so there were serious concerns if it would work for moving living organisms. If the process of moving matter does require such a disintegration / reintegration procedure, any person or animal would enter "non-existence" for an infinitesimally brief period if sent at light-speed (unless we are talking across galaxies or something, but it should still seem only instantaneous to those sent that way, I would think). Roy P. Webber author, The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen GARY L. PRANGE "Sic gorgiamus allos subjectos nunc."
skelton knaggs	Da da da Moon	#2	[-]
Aug 28 07 11:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hey all...Found this thread all the way in the back of the room here. Im kinda surprised this film has not come up for discussin' in a dogs day. I take it, theres a split in lovin', like'n, not like'n DESTINATION MOON. Personally I love this flick. For the nostalgia or whatever. Taken on it's own terms(Timing,release,subjet,actors,effects) this was just a great movie and pure PAL. With a big dash of Heinlein thrown in . Anyway I just felt so bad for this lonely thread, I really felt I had to speak up for it. Anybody got a problem with that ?
David Schecter	Re: Da da da Moon	#3	[-]
Aug 29 07 12:54 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes, I have a problem with it. I think everyone's energy should be focused exclusively on discussing GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN and MAN BEAST.
Zombie Dad	Re: Da da da Moon	#4	[-]
Aug 29 07 2:04 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Here's a grade school memory... Everyone in the school was summoned to the gymnasium/stage. We were herded up onto the bleachers. In the center of them, about half way up, was a 16mm movie projector. A portable screen had been opened and placed on the stage across the gym floor. Then the principal announced that we were about to see a full length movie entitled DESTINATION MOON. This was the first time I saw this movie. I did not yet know who George Pal was and never dreamed that I would someday have the good fortune to meet this gentleman at a movie convention. Dick Wesson made an impression on me. That may have been because I knew him from the tv comedy, "The People's Choice", which also starred Jackie Cooper, Patricia (HOMICIDAL) Breslin and a bassett hound named Cleo. But that may have come later. I remember being impressed with the moon set and the suspense of the ending. I guess we all enjoyed it, although most of the kids probably liked the Woody Woodpecker sequence the best. We were shown two other movies under similar circumstances at other times. I remember a science film about blood called HEMO THE MAGNIFICENT. I think that featured that rather goofy English prof from THE MOLE PEOPLE, Dr. Frank Baxter. The other movie was Walt Disney's THE LIVING DESERT. ZD
HalLane	Re: Da da da Moon	#5	[-]
Aug 29 07 6:50 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yer lucky, ZD. All we got was SOUND OF MUSIC and FLIPPER.
BijouBob8mm	Re: Da da da Moon	#6	[-]
Aug 29 07 10:28 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Here's a grade school memory...We were herded up onto the bleachers. In the center of them, about half way up, was a 16mm movie projector...Then the principal announced that we were about to see a full length movie entitled DESTINATION MOON. WOW! Got to see some Disney just before the holidays in grade school, but no George Pal (unless, maybe, there were some Puppetoons). And we did manage to see 20,000 LEAGUES in high school, in our Science Fiction in Literature class. (And, now that I think about it, I think we were also treated to a 16mm showing of FORBIDDEN PLANET during that course.) Everything's on video for the kids, these days but, darn it, there's a certain charm to the chatter of the 16mm projector for these kinds of things!
Professor Von X	Re: Da da da Moon	#7	[-]
Aug 29 07 11:12 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Someone sent me a link (which I can't find) for a 20-minute on-set visit to the set of Destination Moon. It's black and white from a TV show and features Irving Pichel among others. REALLY cool artifact if you're a fan of this picture, which I most certainly am. I still have the mpeg on my iPod, but no amount of searching has turned up the link. Maybe someone else will have better luck. IF people are really interested, I'll email the guy who sent it to me and see if he can re-send it. Professor Von X
TomWeaver999	Re: Da da da Moon	#8	[-]
Aug 29 07 11:32 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Too bad (for us Monster Kids) that so much early-TV is now lost (or was never recorded at all), because all sorts of fun, monster-movie-related stuff went on. Julie Adams did a bunch of TV appearances to promote CREATURE, Milicent Patrick was on THE TODAY SHOW and others for CREATURE, on and on. One recent surprise for me was finding out that a big cast-crew contingent from LOST CONTINENT (of all pictures) went the talk show route -- dozens of appearances in a four-week period! tom "Our next guest, Mr. Jack Greenhalgh, was the cameraman on the new motion picture LOST CONTINENT ...."
BijouBob8mm	Re: Da da da Moon	#9	[-]
Aug 29 07 11:59 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Someone sent me a link (which I can't find) for a 20-minute on-set visit to the set of Destination Moon. It's black and white from a TV show and features Irving Pichel I've got a portion of this on DVD, somewhere...maybe THE FANTASY FILM WORLDS OF GEORGE PAL?
Professor Von X	Re: Da da da Moon	#10	[-]
Aug 29 07 12:01 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've sent a query to the guy that gave me the link. I'll post it if he can find it. Professor Von X
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BijouBob8mm	Re: Da da da Moon	#11	[-]
Aug 29 07 12:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks in advance; it would be great to see the entire segment. All this talk about DESTINATION MOON makes me want to break out my old Super 8 copy of the feature. (Yes, I still use the projector...some things just need to be seen B-I-G! KING KONG is another.)
luisj40	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#12	[-]
Aug 29 07 1:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This film put me to sleep as a kid and when I bought a copy last year at a 99 Cents Only store I hung onto it for a few months without opening it and then I sold it online. Now I feel I should have watched it first.
skelton knaggs	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#13	[-]
Aug 29 07 1:32 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* this was just a great movie and pure PAL. Ya know I say this because, if I'm not mistaken this was Pal's first venture into feature films. The creation of his Puppetoons was a visual feast for kids, and grownups if they had half a brain in their heads. DESTINATION MOON was kinda like an extention of the "toons". a fairy tale for adults. Filled with animation, wonder, and that 50's pride in Americas accomplishments. Our hopes & dreams were riding high back then. Infusing all this with science/fact/fiction, this was a win win for George Pal. And the rest of us. So....What the hell happened ? Look at us now. We were supposed to have flying cars and colonies on the moon. Time for the dreamers to come back and show us the way.........
Professor Von X	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#14	[-]
Aug 29 07 2:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Here's a link to view/download the mpeg of the vintage on-set visit. thorogoodconcerts.com/Des...onMoon.mp4 Professor Von X
BijouBob8mm	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#15	[-]
Aug 29 07 2:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Our hopes & dreams were riding high back then. Very true. But even our science fiction, today, is often bleak and grim. Ray Harryhausen has often said he doesn't understand why people look down instead of looking up, or why they pay good money to see something depressing rather than uplifting or inspiring. Don't get me wrong, I love stuff like PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN, but genre offerings are pretty downbeat, these days. Even a lot of our music and comic books reflect that trend. I think that's maybe why I enjoyed SKY CAPTAIN so much, as it had that "return to yesteryear" feel to it. And certainly STAR WARS (1977) and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK took a page from those simpler, more optimistic times.
Professor Von X	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#16	[-]
Aug 29 07 2:43 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I just read in my paper today that there are 90 guns in the US for every 100 citizens. If I lived there, I'd be looking BEHIND me, not up or down. Professor Von X How's THAT for pessimistic?!!!
Bill Warren	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#17	[-]
Aug 29 07 2:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A genuine rocket scientist friend of mine got started on his career by falling in love with DESTINATION MOON when he was a kid. He saw it not long ago at the American Cinematheque, and was interested to see that it held the interest of people not yet born when we actually did land on the Moon. He thought it might be worth doing a remake of DESTINATION MOON--set in the early 1950s. He thought it might help revive public interest in real space travel.
BijouBob8mm	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#18	[-]
Aug 29 07 3:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I just read in my paper today that there are 90 guns in the US for every 100 citizens. If that's not an exaggeration, I would say the distribution isn't so much that 90% of our population is armed, but that you have a number of individuals with multiple firearms. I know a LOT of people, with very diverse backgrounds, but only a small fraction of them own "hardware." (I fall into that category, because a former profession required it.) And a number of those are old-timers who, back in the '40s and '50s, actually hunted to help put food on the table, so what they have were purchased for very practical purposes. (Although their number are dwindling these days, growing up I remember a number of people from my grandparents' generation who, during the Depression, really did have to live off the land to feed multiple mouths in their family.) *Quote:* He thought it might be worth doing a remake of DESTINATION MOON--set in the early 1950s. He thought it might help revive public interest in real space travel. Would love to see that, Bill. (Or, if there is concern about such a concept being dated, possibly substitute Mars...?)
TomWeaver999	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#19	[-]
Aug 29 07 5:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	<< at the American Cinematheque, and DESTINATION MOON held the interest of people not yet born when we did land on the Moon. << Probably their parents hadn't been born yet!
Bill Warren	Re: DESTINATION MOON	#20	[-]
Aug 29 07 7:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That's likely, Tom. But doing a trip-to-Mars movie this way would mean pretty much using variation on present-day technology, which somewhat flies in the face of what my friend intended. The idea was to show how we used to think of a trip to the Moon, how adventuresome it was.
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