Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

mark.waltz 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.

Hitchcoc 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.

Robert Langer 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.

keith-moyes As a pilot for an unmade TV series this decent, if dull, little effort shouldn't be judged too harshly. I am glad it has survived.The special effects are slightly above average for the period - as they should be, since they all seem to come from The Conquest of Space. The action scenes at the beginning and end are quite well staged and reasonably tense, but the middle section is just establishing characters and situations that would have been developed later in the series, so it is inevitable that it does not have the momentum of a stand-alone movie. The acting is 'so so'.This is just an oddity of mild historical interest only, but I feel it is worth acknowledging its existence, because it is actually the most convincing depiction of the dawning of the space age to appear at any time in the Fifties. It is certainly more convincing than the Pal movie it pillaged for its special effects.It is the first time that space travel was shown in a plausible political context. The first time it was ever suggested that space travel was not just a technological triumph and a great adventure: that cost and financial justification was part of the equation as well.These are small merits in what is, in truth, a fairly tedious fifty minutes, but I am glad to have seen it and have a slight regret that there was not at least one season of the show.Check it out if, like me, you have a particular fondness for Fifties' SF and a stamp collector's desire to see everything that was made in this era.Just don't expect an undiscovered minor classic.