Destination Moon vs. Rocketship X‑M — Birth of Serious Sci‑Fi

0:00Trips to the Moon, 1950 style. This is exploring humanity through sci-fi. This continues my mission, to get a better understanding of ourselves through sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comics, as their mode of exploration. I'm diving into a fascinating moment in sci-fi history. Two phones released just weeks apart in 1950 that gave us a look at two trips to the moon, driving at the dawn of the space age, but they took radically different paths. One rooted in engineering realism, and the other in nuclear age anxiety. I'll break each down for scientific accuracy, plot, effects and their legacy. There's more of my look at Destination Moon and Rocket Ship XM, two 1950s pioneering films in a moment. Destination Moon, a procedural thriller about America's first attempt to reach the moon.

1:00A private team of scientists and engineers, raced against Cold War pressures, and sabotage to launch a crude, blue-normish. The drama comes from the technical challenges, oxygen shortages, propulsion issues, and the sheer danger of landing on an alien surface. Rocket Ship XM started as a moon mission, but veers widely off course, and incented its crew to a bowl place as Mars. What they find there is interesting, sort of. The ruins of a once-advanced civilization destroyed by atomic war. The surviving Martians are radiation-scarred remnants of what humanity could become. It's not a triumph of exploration. It's a warning. How do they adhere to science fact? Destination Moon has two pluses. Several advisors from Caltech, accurate depictions of zero gravity, and Chelsea bone-stills, scientifically informed lunar landscapes. Rocket Ship XM plays very loose with science.

2:02The Mars detour is hand-waved with a vague, fuel-racio talk, and the physics are more dramatic than accurate. But the film isn't trying to be realistic. It's using sci-fi as a metaphor for nuclear destruction. Destination Moon used technical visuals, award-winning effects, and iconic lunar mat paintings. It also set a new standard of what space would look like on film. Rocket Ship XM did not have the budget of Destination Moon. It relies on atmosphere rather than spectacle. The Mars sequences were tinted red, giving the film a surreal dreamlike quality. The Martian spared us close-ups with just enough makeup to simulate radioactive poisoning. The performances in Destination Moon are restrained and functional. However, Dick Wesson's Joe Sweeney was put in for comic relief. And I believe his resemblance to Jerry Lewis, popular at the time, was very intentional.

3:03Destination Moon benefited by a script written by legendary writer Robert Heinlein, based on his novel, Rocket Ship Galileo. What's interesting is that private industry financed the trip, which obviously has come to pass today. Another fun fact is that producer George Powell's puppetune Stop Motion Experience was helpful in creating the sequence on the surface of the ship in space to make repairs. Going back to Destination Moon's mat paintings by Chelsea Bohnstill, his depiction of the lunar landscape featured sharp and craggy mountain peaks and crater walls. However, photographs of the Moon, from orbiting lunar satellites in the 60s and the Moon landings, showed something less dramatic. A large backdrop that mimicked lunar crags and mountains, Bohnstill was unhappy with the cracks which were designed by art director Ernst Fedgci. A small soundstage was used for the Moon due to limited budget, the backdrop improved

4:04the scope of the lunar surface. The design of the rocket ship was based on German V2 rockets, adding upper wings and four tailfits. Much more in the 50s trips to the Moon, so stay tuned. Woody Woodpecker who appears in all of George Powell's films was part of the animated film used to explain space travel. Walter Lance, Woody's creator, was a close friend of George Powell. Because of Powell's Destination Moon, rocket ship XM was quickly shot in just 18 days, on a $94,000 budget, and then rushed to theaters 25 days before the power film, while taking advantage of Destination Moon's high-profile national publicity. Remote Southern California locations stood in for Mars. When the crew leaves the spacecraft, that was shot at Sbrisky Point and Death Valley National Park. The film's original 1950 theatrical release prints had all the more scenes tinted to a

5:08reddish pinkish sepia color. All the other scenes shot in glorious black and white. Design of the ship was taken from rocket illustrations from a 1949 life magazine article. For the ship interiors, there was a second soundstage featuring the long-litered crew lines. Instrumentation were supplied by Allied aircraft company of North Hollywood. Destination Moon used spacesuits of different colors. Maybe Jim Roddenberry was watching. Rocket ship XM's leather jackets and oxygen mask replaced spacesuits. Ah, the gender dynamics. Destination Moon featured an all-male crew with women appearing only in domestic or supporting roles. Pretty normal for 1950s. Rocket ship XM included a female scientist, Dr. Lisa Van Horn, played by Osa Massin. Interactions of Dr. Van Horn and her male crewmates, including the press corps, provided a glimpse

6:09into the sexist attitudes of the 50s. The scene involving Van Horn, an expedition leader and fellow scientist, Dr. Carl Ekstrom, rushing to recalculate field mixtures after their initial propulsion problems, they came up with different figures. An expedition leader, Ekstrom insists, they must proceed using his numbers. Van Horn objects to this arbitrary decision, but submits. An extram forgives her for momentarily being a woman. Oh, that made me cringe. But yes, Lloyd Bridges, Colonel Floyd Graham, and Osa Massin's Dr. Lisa Van Horn, do fall in love. What about their legacy? The animation moon is a legitimate science fiction film, despite having to work with the special effects available at the time. It showed audiences that space travel could be portrayed realistically, and inspired future films, NASA engineers, and public imagination.

7:09Rocket ship XM followed them the footsteps of sci-fi films that provided social commentary. Its nuclear allegory paved the way for films like The Day the Earth stood still, which came out a year later, among others. But there's contrast, destination moon attempted realistic space cinema, with poorly placed humor from Joe Sweeney. Rocket ship XM attempted to show cautionary, socially conscious sci-fi, with a post-group that exploration should continue, despite tragedies. These films marked a turning point. One looks outward with optimism. The other looks inward with caution. One imagines humanity's triumph. The other warns of its downfall. In that tension, hope versus caution, became part of the DNA of modern science fiction. Fall is here, and sci-fi talk is in full operational mode. Get premium commercial free podcast and videos.

8:09Movie and TV sit down interviews, film clips, and red carpet action from around the world. Your special episodes and combo podcasts and videos, jump in now for just $1.99, hit the link in the show notes, and go plus today. I'm Tony Tolato. Hey, thanks for listening.