Studio:<\/strong> Sinister Cinema<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe opening scene features a small space taxi towing a trio of astronauts in space suits from a rocket ship to an orbital space station: “The Wheel” and my first thought was, “Oh, rats – we HAVE seen this before.”\u00a0 But I was wrong.\u00a0 Sort of.<\/p>\n
As it turns out, much of the exterior footage of the atomic powered rocket, The Wheel and astronauts going to and from were scenes taken from a movie in our collection, Conquest of Space<\/strong><\/em> (Paramount Pictures).\u00a0 Sets used for interior shots were identical, and even some of the interior action was re-used.\u00a0 It quickly became a contest to try to recognize which shots in Destination Space<\/strong><\/em> were re-purposed from Conquest of Space<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 This added a needed element of excitement since Destination Space<\/strong><\/em>, though fraught with tension, was lacking in action of any sort.\u00a0 A good portion of the movie was spent on the program director explaining to a congressional committee the value of a space program.\u00a0 One senator in particular seemed determined to shut the program down.<\/p>\nDestination Space<\/strong><\/em> is more a political statement than it is an action movie.\u00a0 But that does not mean it is without interest: some of the points made in 1959 are still valid today, especially concerning the vacillations of public opinion and commitments to funding.\u00a0 If you’re looking for a rollicking, shoot-em-up space western, this is not the film you want.\u00a0 If you’re in the mood for more cerebral challenge – and some decent special effects for the day – fix yourself a mug of hot chocolate and settle in with this one.<\/p>\nConquest of Space<\/strong><\/em> is more of a space adventure movie, but still has a strong intellectual challenge as it asks the question, “How far is too far?”<\/p>\n
![\"Destination](\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7008\/6745200209_4935f69175_o_d.jpg\" "\\"cover")
One of the Simple Pleasures of life that Marie and I enjoy is a standing “date night” where we set time aside specifically to spend it relaxing together doing something we both enjoy.\u00a0 One of our common interest is 1950’s Sci-Fi movies.\u00a0 What we call Schlocky Sci-Fi.\u00a0 We have quite a collection of our own, and we have discovered that we can “rent” others on-line and watch them on our television by patching my notebook computer into the TV with an HDMI cable.\u00a0 Those we particularly enjoy we will purchase for the collection.<\/p>\n