Moon Gallery

A little gallery of random goodness.  There are dozens of shows and films I could have picked but these are just a few of my favourites.  Everything's been previously blogged so go and explore by clicking the labels below.

2001: A Space Odyssey

 

 Destination Moon

 First Men in the Moon

 Moon Zero 2

 Moonbase 3

 The Mouse on the Moon

 

 Space 1999

UFO

Steve

Road to Hong Kong (1962)

The Road to Hong Kong was made in1962 at Shepperton Studios in England.  It starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope and features a host of other guest stars, many of whom come across as a little bit fresher and a lot funnier than the series reoccurring comedy duo.  Not surprisingly this was the last of the Road to.. series of movies. 

 

 

And - of no particular interest to anyone one other than me- it appears to be the first appearance of this particular space helmet which turns up the next year in Mouse on the Moon (1963) and then a little later on as part of  the killer robots in The Earth Dies Screaming (1965)

Now that's kind of cool.

 

 

Steve

Road to Hong Kong (1962)

The Road to Hong Kong was made in1962 at Shepperton Studios in England.  It starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope and features a host of other guest stars, many of whom come across as a little bit fresher and a lot funnier than the series reoccurring comedy duo.  Not surprisingly this was the last of the Road to.. series of movies. 

 

 

And - of no particular interest to anyone one other than me- it appears to be the first appearance of this particular space helmet which turns up the next year in Mouse on the Moon (1963) and then a little later on as part of  the killer robots in The Earth Dies Screaming (1965)

Now that's kind of cool.

 

 

Steve

Not Really A Spacesuit but... 2

The Earth Dies Screaming, released in1964, uses the spacesuits first seen in the 1963 satire; The Mouse on the Moon.

Here they’re used to dress the killer robots that have been sent to Earth to mop up the last few survivors of an alien plague attack.

I’ve not had the pleasure of this little gem of British cinema as of yet but I will soon and I already know I’m going to like it. 

As a side note it was directed by the late great Terence Fisher who gave us Spaceways in 1953 which has also been covered previously in this very blog.


Steve

The Mouse on the Moon (1963)

The Mouse on the Moon is the 1963 British film adaptation of the novel by Leonard Wibberley and the sequel to The Mouse that Roared. In this one, the people of Grand Fenwick, an independent micro state within England, take themselves off to the moon in a rocket propelled by exploding wine.

Rather than being a farce, though, the film is actually a sly satire on the space race and the cold war.

Following the discovery that it’s only export has a tendency to combust, the Prime Minister of Grand Fenwick asks the American Government for financial support but rather than telling them the truth he says it is to fund Grand Fenrick’s space program.

Little believing that the duchy’s attempts will amount to very much, they give them the money and more, for the positive publicity of the act.  Not to be outdone in the propaganda stakes, the Russians respond by gifting them an old rocket.

The PM’s plan is to explode the rocket on launch, thus hiding the fact that most of the funds have been spent on updating the plumbing of Grand Fenwick.  It's to this end that Professor Kokintz, the local scientist, is charged with setting up the pyrotechnic display.  However once Kokintz hooks up with Vincent Mountjoy, the Prime Minister’s son, and discovers that he has aspirations of becoming an astronaut, the two of them plan to make the rocket space worthy and genuinely set their sights on getting to the moon.

Which is why, on the launch day, before delegates from America, Russia and Britain, the rocket unexpectedly ascends into the heavens to begin its three week trip to the moon.

Potentially humiliated, the Super Powers are then forced to rush their own space programs forward, intending to still win this very literal space race with their faster ships.

Unfortunately for them, Kokintz and Vincent arrive much quicker than anticipated and are on hand to greet both the superpowers upon their arrival, even inviting them back to their ship for tea to discuss who gets to claim ownership of the moon

Realising that the real victory will actually be in whoever returns home first, the Americans and Soviets both race back to their ships only to end up burying themselves into the deep lunar dust in their haste.  And so when Kokintz and Vincent return to Grand Fenwick during their own memorial service, it's with the hitch-hiking astronauts from  the other two countries.

I remember watching this one years ago and being entertained by the silliness without actually being old enough to understand what it was saying.  I would love to see it again now but it seems to have become somewhat of a forgotten classic.


Steve