Monday 2 February 2015

Destination Moon Spacesuits - Originals and Copies (1950 to 1964)

Promotional event to promote ......
 
Destination Moon - (1950)

Space Patrol - (1950 to 1955) TV

Flight to Mars - (1951)
 
Radar Men from the Moon (1952)
 
Abbott and Costello go to Mars  (1953)

Project Moonbase - (1953)
 
Cat-Women on the Moon - (1953)

Gog - (1954)
 
King Dinosaur - (1955)
 
Three Stooges: Have Rocket Will Travel - (1959)

Twilight Zone: Elegy - (1960)

 Conquistador de la luna - (1960)
 
Time Tunnel - (1961)
 

Robinson Crusoe on Mars - (1964)
 
There are probably more than this and I'll add them as and when.
 
In regard to when are they original and when are they copies; well I would say its all about the angle of the collar zip and about counting the rings round the neck, knees and arms.  I would also watch out for the shoulder ring because when that's gone, I reckon you're looking at a inspired-by copy.  Let me know what you think. 
 
 
Steve

8 comments:

  1. Awesome post especially the close ups of the slavers from Robinson crusoe on mars,another one I would add to the copies is from Conquistador de la luna (1960).I`ve always wondered what the helmets from Radar Men from the Moon/Flight to mars were made of,it looks suspiciously like paper mache to me

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  2. Oh good call. Quickly robs image from own post and updates links back to include; Conquistador de la luna.
    It looks a lot like Paper mache and after a few weeks filming for Radar Men it looks positively knackered. (2nd image on my recent Radar men gallery)

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    1. One of those helmets survived into 1953 and pops up in the classic Robot Monster
      http://gallery.mailchimp.com/d701c8562f6479cdb78a74cdc/images/3634c509-d5f1-42d5-aea9-dd5f766d93bb.jpg
      The Conquistador de la luna helmets also have a similar paper mache type look to them,nonetheless I do quite like the Radar Men from the Moon/Flight to mars helmets I think they look better than most of the helmets these suits were paired with.The slavers from Robinson crusoe on mars suits look like they could be the King dinosaur ones

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  3. Amazon women on the moon. 1980s comedy

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  4. I just saw the version with the big plastic fishbowl helmets in "GOG" (1954). The film takes place on Earth but some scientists are testing human tolerances for future spaceflight and stick a couple of subjects in these suits on a g-force simulator.

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  5. Theses suits are also in one scene of "GOG" (1954), using the clear plastic fishbowl helments. It's an Earth-bound test with a couple of human subjects on a g-force simulator, presaging a similar scene in "Moonraker" where the villains try to kill James Bond by making the simulator spin too fast.

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    Replies
    1. cheers Brad, I'll go check that out. I had heard of the film but don't think I've
      ever seen it

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  6. Great collection! Flight to Mars in 1951 looks like it originated the Star Trek color coding (whereby the red shirts are off'ed quickly). A fav moon movie is "Countdown," (1967) where Robert Altman showed the US-USSR moon race ending in essentially a tie. He had to hustle to get that movie out before either nation actually got there, so he was in a 3-way race.

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