Pathfinders to Mars (1960)

The second sequel to Target Luna and following on from Pathfinders in Space, Pathfinders to Mars contained the following episodes in its 6 week run; The Imposter, Sabotage in Space, The Hostage Lichens!, Zero Hour on the Red Planet and Falling into the Sun

Steve

Pathfinders in Space (1960)

Pathfinders in Space was the first of three sequels to the TV serial Target Luna shown earlier in the same year on British television via the ATV network.  The 7 episodes were entitled; Convoy to the Moon, Spaceship from Nowhere, Luna Bridgehead, The Man in the Moon, The World of Lost Toys, Disaster on the Moon and Rescue in Space.  The plot involved Professor Norman Wedgewood and his team planning a second rocket mission to the Moon. More importantly for this blog, the spacesuits looked like this....

Steve

Visit to a Small Planet (1960)

Jerry Lewis plays Kreton, a childish alien who, against his teacher's wishes, leaves his planet to visit the Earth and study humanity.

Steve

The Twilight Zone - Elegy (1960)

From The Twilight Zone, season 1 episode 20.

Running out of fuel, astronauts Meyers, Webber and Kirby land their spaceship on a remote asteroid in 2185. They find the place quite Earth-like with buildings and people but after looking around begin to wonder where everyone is. The first place they come to is a farm where they can find no one. No one, that is, until they see a farmer gazing off into the distance. They approach him, tap him on the shoulder and try talking to him, but realize he is nothing more than a statue........ and so it begins.

Interestingly while I ponder as to the notion that that these might be the same suits as seen in Destination Moon, I find that Wikipedia is more than happy to point out that the equipment seen in the space ship was from Forbidden Planet.  Fancy that!

 

Steve

The Bulldog Breed (1960)

The Bulldog Breed is a 1960 British comedy starring Norman Wisdom.  That's him below on the right standing next to the sublime John Le Mesurier.  Wisdom made quite a lot of similar films where he fumbles through a uniformed profession being clumsy but well meaning.  The milkman one is quite good, as is the ambulance driver and the policeman outings. In this particular version he joins the Royal Navy although some how winds up at the end of the picture in a rocket ship that's blasted into space!

The spaceman in these stills is the rockets actual pilot, who manages to lock himself in a cupboard prior to take off and thus allows Wisdom to unwittingly climb aboard unnoticed.  The ending seems a tad tacked on, given this is about being in the navy, but this may have everything to do with the availability of a very nice spacesuit and a quick way to end the picture.  If you compare this with our final image; from Network's DVD release of  Man in the Moon, also 1960, you'll see exactly where they had it from. 

 

 

Quite a nice bit of kit, I wonder where it wound up next.

 

 

Steve

Man in the Moon (1960)

 

 

Steve

Battle in Outer Space (1960) aka The Great Space War

Battle in Outer Space (1960) was released originally in Japan as The Great Space War at the back end of the previous year. The film is a loose sequel to The Mysterians (1957).  And there I must confess to having seen neither of them so rather that wiki-repeat I'll just let you look at the pretty pictures.

 

 

 

Steve

 

Space Men aka Assignment Outer Space (1960)

Italian in origin, Space Men aka Assignment Outer Space follows the adventures of Interplanetary News reporter Ray Peterson aboard a space station in the 21st century.

Despite problems with the base commander, and only being a simple journo, he's eventually responsible for stopping a space ship which threatens to destroy the Earth.

 

As a final note of no great importance, I noticed that if you compare the space man in the top right hand corner of the movie poster up top he seems to be a composite of these three chaps here

 

Steve

Conquistador de la luna (1960)

All the way from Mexico, Conquistador de la luna is light hearted flick featuring some impressive effects.... primarily lifted from Destination Moon and Road to the Stars.  And for that reason alone you can see what inspired the suit design.

 

 

Steve