Gog (1954)

So I've been wrestling with Blogger like it was Hal from 2001 but I think I now have control back with out having to pull out it's memory chips....although it came close, I can tell you!

So on with the show. And finally some words to go with the pictures...

A security agent investigating possible sabotage at a secret underground research facility discovers that a chain of murders has occurred, apparently engineered via the supercomputer NOVAC which coordinates base operations and its robot minions, GOG and MAGOG.

I've never had the pleasure of this 1954 movie but have given it a quick viewing this evening online and its looks pretty good.

Obviously those spacesuits are familiar to regular followers as Destination Moon spacesuits with helmets from Cat-Women on the Moon, or some yet to be pinned down earlier film,

 

 Steve

 

Mister Ed - The Horsestronaut (1961)

I think this is a first for this site so lets just get in there and explore our very first Horsestronaut in the form of Mister Ed, season 2, episode 2.

 

 

Now for those of you that don't know, Mister Ed was an American television comedy show that ran from January 1961 to February 1966 and featured a talking horse as the titular star.  It lasted for 143 episodes.  I may have seen s couple of them back in my youth during the summer holiday schedule but for the most part I don't think it ran very often on this side of the pond, so I would never have discovered this one without the help of one of our long standing blog followers.

So, according to Wikipedia the episode synopsis is;

"In order to appease Mr. Mencken, a potential new client, Wilbur takes an office downtown. Ed now feels unwanted and attempts to become the first horse astronaut into space. Ed goes to the space center and passes the intelligence test. The day of the flight, Wilbur rushes to the space center, but the rocket is just taking off. Mr. Ed shows up and tells Wilbur they picked another horse at the last minute because Ed was too heavy."

Which is all very informative but what you really want to see is this rather splendid Destination Moon style spacesuit on that there horse

 

 

Its a cracking job isn't it and its fun to note that they've left a little grill in the horse shaped fishbowl (?) helmet so that the 'actor' can still breath with out steaming it up and obscuring his talent.

 

If we never see another horse shaped spacesuit again, I still think we've already seen the best.

 

Big thanks to Bill for this find. You are a good friend to the blog and its greatly appreciated.

 

 

Steve

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Here's an old chestnut from my misspent youth; the remake of The Magnificent Seven in space, also known as Battle Beyond the Stars.  I'm half way through a rewatch this very evening and have rediscovered a very forgettable spacesuit scene.

I had spotted a hint of a space helmet when Richard Thomas first enters the spaceship Nell but had assumed it was there as set dressing but no, about 30 minutes in and it actually gets a bit of airtime.

These are not the best images in the world but then its not the best space helmet either.  Still, that's another one added to the list that we didn't have before


Steve

Deliveroo TV Advert (2019)

 

 

I've had these images saved from when this advert first aired but was interested to just read that it ended up getting banned for false advertising in the UK.  i.e.; Deliveroo cant really get a food order to your orbiting space station!  I have mixed feelings about this because on the one hand its sort of important not to lie in adverts and make false promises but equally what happened to a sense of humour!

Adrian Chesterman - A gallery of book covers

 

I nearly bid on a copy of this the other day just because I liked the cover but then I heard the creak of my bookshelves and decided to hold back.  On the plus side it made me do a little investigation.

 

 

 

 

 

Well these are rather lovely, aren't they.  For obvious reasons I've selected the covers with spacesuits in them but if you go google image; Adrian Chesterman, you will find a lot of very beautiful icon book covers from the 70s and 80s. Enjoy, I know I did.


Steve

Airfix Astronauts (1971)

A classic set of 1:76 scale figures originally released in 1971 and still available to this day.  Its nice to see the box art remains almost the same.  As a kid I spent as long staring at that picture as I did painting and playing with the figures.

 

 I'll admit I'm tempted....

Steve

Seksmisja (aka Sexmission) (1984)

I've yet to read the article but this Polish film is featured in the latest copy of Infinity Magazine (#25) which is nice because it brought it to my attention.  Unfortunately I've not seen the actual movie so you lot are going to have to tell me if its any good or not.  Swanky spacesuits though!

Steve

Lost In Space - S3 E8 - Flight into the Future (1967)

We've looked at Lost in Space before, both the original series Robinsons' spacesuits as well as the movie and Netflix reboots.

For this post though we are returning to a specific episode of the original run - season three's Flight into the Future, the eighth episode that first aired in 1967.  This story features two Destination Moon style suits which may even be the originals or at least a very accurate reproduction.

What's particularly interesting about this spacesuit though is that's its an ensemble of very mixed origins because while the suit may be from 1950, the helmets are from 1966's Way...Way Out.  They have been modified to reflect the 50's aesthetic but that actually appears to have been done for an earlier Irwin Allen production; episode two of  The Time Tunnel.  There is lots more to be said about this but at the risk of repeating myself its perhaps best to follow the link and read all about here:

The Time Tunnel - Episode 2: One Way to the Moon (1966)

or go here:

A Suitography of the "Way... Way Out" Spacesuit (1966 and onwards)

Steve

The Time Tunnel - Episode 2: One Way to the Moon (1966)

The Time Tunnel was the third of Irwin Allen's four classic sci-fi serials following on from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–1968), Lost in Space (1965–1968) and preceding Land of the Giants (1968–1970).  The time travel themed adventure series ran for just one season of 30 episodes from 1966 to 1967 and in true Irwin Allen tradition, made good creative use of stock film footage to add cinematic value that far exceeded a normal television show's budget.

With that particular trait in mind we can easily deduce why the space suit costumes seen in episode 2; One Way to the Moon have more than a passing similarity to those seen in the1950's iconic Destination Moon as indeed, scenes from that movie are intercut into the TV episode to broaden the spectacle.

 The Time Tunnel

 

Destination Moon

I'm tempted to suggest, given the passage of time between the two productions, that the spacesuits seen on TV are reproductions but who knows they might indeed be the actual movie originals, they're certainly a very close match and other spacesuits have enjoyed equally long lives

The helmets on the other hand are not the movie ones getting a second outing but are, I now believe, far more interesting in their origin in that they are most probably the helmets from Way...Way Out (1966).

This theory was suggested to me by blog-follower Tim Armstrong who's spent a lot of time trying to solve the mystery, because neither of us believed that they were originals produced for that one episode, because, well;  why would Allen go to the expense!  Tim said this in a blog comments made back in June 2014:

"Damn those suits have had a long life, any idea where the helmets seen in this episode came from, I find it hard to believe that they would have had helmets custom made for just this episode."

And then 6 years later in January 2020:

"I think I`ve just cracked the riddle of the helmets on the Destination Moon type suits that we first saw in episode 2 of The Time Tunnel and that also made an appearance in the Lost in Space season 3 episode flight into the future [ep8]
These are actually the Way... Way Out helmets prior to receiving their new opening visors. The profile looks identical and there are 4 of them [we see 4 in The Time Tunnel] it looks like they've covered part of the original visor in some new material and added a raised lip to the new visor's edge, in fact in a couple of the scenes in Lost in Space you can actually see this in profile as the actor turns his head.

These ARE the Way...Way Out helmets! I`m certain of it!"

And do you know what; I'm going to agree with him because when you look and compare the images for long enough, you can see it.

You may also wish to follows the label below: Way Out Spacesuits to trace the history of the suits and the helmets or;  A Suitography of the "Way... Way Out" Spacesuit (1966 and onwards)  which gets updated with each new discovery so feel free to let me know of any gaps.

 

So a massive thanks to Tim, whose fascination and dedication to this site has been greatly appreciated over the years. Cataloguing spacesuits is one thing but unearthing these cultural hand-me-downs and exposing their secret histories is for me the most satisfying part of it all.  Top work.

 

 

Steve