“Mars and Beyond” (December 4, 1957 Disneyland Episode) Part 3

Some serious infrastructure speculation.
© Walt Disney Productions

In many ways Disneyland’s “Mars and Beyond” is the weakest of the Tomorrowland realm’s three space exploration episodes. Of course, it’s airing a full two years after the first two would seem to weaken the premise. For another thing, the first two concentrated on extrapolating about technologies and realistic space programs that were within our grasp (both in terms of its audience’s grasp as well as the broader technological grasp), which gave the episodes an inherent plausibility that translated as a rather real sense of anticipation. Also, by its nature “Mars and Beyond” couldn’t help but be more fanciful and purely speculative.

The show began as did “Man and the Moon” with its first half concentrating on animation, this time divided into three distinct parts: the first part described the history of humankind’s relationship to the Red Planet, discussing its role in mythology and its allure for Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo Percival Lowell, H.G. Wells and others; in preparation for discussing the possibility of life on Mars, the second part has a very nice summary of how life could have begun on earth and how evolution would likely have transpired to eventually, in billions of years, cover the earth with life.

But the third animated part, introduced by Mars-authority Dr. E.C. Slipher who wondered if life may already exist on the planet, was more problematic. Though ordered up specifically by Disney himself to lighten the show for children, this third animated sequence in my view was a waste of time. Even when I saw the program when I was thirteen-year-old science fiction enthusiast, I was frustrated that anyone could care about the preposterous cartoony wild speculations of what life on Mars could be like “if the conditions were somewhat different.” 

A few of the assorted Martians imagined by Disney animators.
© Walt Disney Productions

In his most serious tone, voice actor Paul Frees told us:  “Although scientific evidence seems to indicate that Mars is a cold desolate world, many scientists today spec- ulate on what the planet might be like if conditions were somewhat different. [Italics mine.] With a little more water and oxygen than expected, there could be an astonishing array of life on Mars, a totally different sequence of living things following its own pattern of evolution. There may be plant life that migrates in search of richer soil. There may be plants that feed on other plants. Or even plants that feed on themselves. And if animal life has developed on Mars it too may have taken many new and unexpected forms. There could be animals with heavy insulation to conserve body heat in the sub-freezing night, or perhaps the bitter surface conditions have driven some life underground to develop in a dark, mysterious environment. If it is true that there are dust storms on Mars, life could’ve involved ways of protecting itself. On the other hand, there may be creatures that actually thrive on the ever-present dust. Some organisms working with powerful digestive acids may be able to feed directly on minerals and the rocks, leaving a fantastic Martian sculpture in their wake. If in the thin Martian air there are creatures that fly, their wings of necessity must be four times as large as those on earth. However, flight may be achieved by other means. On Mars even as on earth life would surely be a competitive struggle for survival. There might be fantastic hunters who kill by concentrating the heat of the sun on their victims. Devastating creatures that envelop their quarry in shrouds of poisonous gas, or maybe ominous ultrasonic beams who shatter their prey with high frequency sound waves. It is possible that entirely new chemical patterns of life may have developed on Mars. Life based on the silicon atom instead of carbon would be more resistant to the extreme cold providing a whole new range of weird forms. Feeding on the drifting sands, tall crystal spires may grow to maturity in a single day to be shattered in a crescendo of destruction during the cold Martian night. Just as it is impossible to conceive an intelligent life totally different from our own, so we may find that our earth- trained minds unable to comprehend the weird phenomena that exists on this strange new planet.”

For those who would rather see this sequence rather than merely read about it, here it is via YouTube:

© Walt Disney Productions

The second half of the show describes what a manned voyage to Mars might be like. Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger with the aid of Dr. Wernher von Braun shows us his wild vision of a Mars-bound flotilla comprising six entirely unwieldy-looking umbrella-shaped ships. While presented in a pleasant semi-animated form, this vision is so far removed from what we have come to expect from the previous two episodes that it is hard to take seriously. Stuhlinger’s vision, as we have seen before in this series, presupposes that leisure is the coin of the realm and that there would be all the manpower, time, and finances in the world to build his fleet. Again, here is this nice, almost dreamy sequence, again via YouTube:

Going to Mars in a fleet of umbrella-shaped spaceships.
© Walt Disney Productions

Nevertheless, as sometimes happens, it may be that the 2-year delay was unexpectedly fortunate. Time and again, it often seems fate knows better than us poor people what is best for us. In the case of the delay of the “Mars and Beyond” episode, it turned out that there was a silver lining: The reason there was a two-year delay in the airing of “Mars and Beyond” was that, as I said in Part 2 of this posting, there was much political infighting between the Navy and the Army about which agency would launch the first American satellite, causing Disney to delay production of the program. However, on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union put Sputnik in orbit around the earth causing great American consternation and humiliation. And to make matters worse, the Navy Vanguard rocket exploded on its launching pad on December 6, 1957 (see Part 2). But, Disney had rushed to completion “Mars and Beyond” and aired it just two days before on December 4, perhaps giving America a much needed shot of confidence. 

 

 

 Here is the actual full-length episode!

© Walt Disney Productions

All three episodes are available in the Walt Disney Treasures Tomorrowland: 
Disney in Space and Beyond DVD collection.

For other takes on Disney’s “Man in Space” trilogy from the points of view of another two space film buffs, see Glenn Erickson’s Sci-Fi Savant and Gary Westfahl’s The Spacesuit Film.

“Mars and Beyond” (December 4, 1957 Disneyland Episode)

USA. Walt Disney Productions. BW/C. 1.33:1. 53m.

CREDITS: Director Ward Kimball. Producer Ward Kimball. Story William Bosche, John Dunn, Charles Downs, Con Pederson, Ward Kimball. Score George Bruns. Layout Design A. Kendall O’Connor, John Brandt, Tom Yakutis. Cartoon Animation Julius Svendsen, Arthur, Stevens, Jack Boyd, Charles Downs, John Dunn. Space Paintings William Layne, Gordon Legg. Technical Advisors Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, Dr. Werhner Von Braun, Dr. E.C. Slipher. Models Wathel Rogers. Editors Lloyd Richardson, Lionel A. Ephraim. Special Processes Eustace Lycett, Sound Robert O. Cook. Production Supervisor Harry Tytle. Acknowledgement Lowell Observatory.

CAST: Narrator Paul Frees. Host Walt Disney. Dr. E.C. Slipher Dr. E.C. Slipher. Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger. Dr. Wernher von Braun Dr. Wernher von Braun.

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

“Mars and Beyond—Man and the Moon” (December 28, 1955, Disneyland Episode) Part 2

Of course, the striking models from the series soon became plastic model kits.
© Walt Disney Productions

In December of 1955, shortly after the opening of the Disneyland park, Disney aired his second "Main in Space" Tomorrowland program “Man and the Moon,” featuring Wernher von Braun, as had the first. After this episode spends half of its time using cute cartoon animation to summarize humankind’s fascination with the Moon, von Braun goes into a fairly detailed but family-friendly discussion of how a manned rocket could be sent to the Moon, emphasizing that that first venture would only circle the moon to test the application of rocket power and to gather scientific information. The program ended by presenting a well- designed, carefully acted, and truly stirring live-action simulation filled with excellent special effects showing just how von Braun’s vision would happen, point for point.

Now bear in mind that von Braun was the same man who headed the real Apollo program that actually did send men to circle the moon thirteen years later—Apollo 8, December 21–27, 1968. The vision presented on the Disneyland TV program showed how it would happen through an unhurried logical leisurely fashion. In fact it happened through a highly political crash-program to race the Soviet Union to the Moon. As a result, the particulars of the real Moon project had very little in common with the more leisurely version shown on Tomorrowland.

Without quite intending to, Walt Disney

became one of the most important early

proponents of American space exploration

by investing in his three "Man in Space"

programs in the 1950s.
© Walt Disney Productions 

It would be two years later that “Mars and Beyond,” the third act of the trilogy aired. In between there was much political infighting between the Navy and the Army about which agency would launch the first American satellite, causing Disney to delay production of the program. However, on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union put Sputnik in orbit around the earth causing great American consternation and humiliation. And to make matters worse, the Navy Vanguard rocket exploded on its launching pad on December 6, 1957. But, Disney had rushed to completion “Mars and Beyond” and aired it just two days before on December 4, perhaps giving America a much needed shot of confidence. Of course, it was von Braun who came to the rescue by shooting Explorer 1 into orbit on January 31, 1958. Finally, in this sequence of events, President Eisenhower announced the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which became a reality on July 29, 1958.

In terms of timing, the broadcasting of Disney’s three space programs seem inextricably linked with milestones in the development of the real space program. Is there any real cause and effect? Did Disney actually spark interest in a fantastic goal that was not taken seriously beforehand? More probably, the flurry of interest in space that began in the late 1940s, which I pointed out in my Destination Moon discussion in the book, was still very much in the air and just beginning to become part of the cultural background noise—meaning that each step forward taken by whichever parties in whatever manner added to the substance of the idea that manned space flight was inevitable.

© Walt Disney Productions

Special photo emphasis juxtaposition by Thomas Kent Miller; copyright © 2016-2017 by Thomas Kent Miller.
Other than Walt Disney, the two most important personalities on the 'Man in Space" shows were Ward Kimball (left) and Wernher von Braun (right). It was Kimball whom Disney entrusted with the development of the programs, and it was Kimball whose first action was to contact the authors of the pioneering space-exploration articles he'd been reading in Collier's magazine, one of whom being von Braun, one of the principal developers of the German V-2 rocket. Here we see them both posing next to the large-scale model of the RM-1 moon rocket that figures prominently in the "Man in the Moon" epsiode. 

It’s no coincidence that Wernher Von Braun, Willy Ley, and other German scientists were involved in the making of Destination Moon and Conquest of Space, in producing the Collier’s magazine space series, and in helping persuade Walt Disney to spare no expense televising his “Man in Space” series, and that these were the same men who would in fact make space travel a reality. Furthermore, the men who consulted with these scientists and engineers and who brought all those media projects to fruition would themselves become passionately strong believers in what was then thought of as “Man’s Conquest of Space”— George Pal, Collier’s magazine’s Gordon Manning and Cornelius Ryan, and Walt Disney.

© Walt Disney Productions
 The imagination, enormous drive, vision,

and the sheer ability to get things done of these

two men literally changed the world. It is quite

a treat to see them together in the same

photograph.  It is quite thought-provoking.

Left is Walt Disney; Wernher von Braun is right.

  

 Yet, all these men and these projects were merely the part of the iceberg that appeared above the water; below the surface was a growing interest in “outer space” that fed the hard science fiction readers who held sway just then, that prompted the head-long proliferation of space movies and TV programs, that got under the skin and inspired people to become scientists and engineers the world over, that tickled the interests of private industry and the military. It was all coming to a head more or less at the same time, culminating in the launch and successful orbiting of Sputnik, which in turn sparked into being the swiftly moving engines of the earth’s mightiest nations. And it just so happened that Disney’s three space shows added to the increasing momentum at just the right times.

Here is the actual full-length episode.

Part 3 of these “Mars and Beyond” (December 4, 1957 Disneyland Episode) blog postings will focus on the third of Walt Disney's "Man in Space" programs, "Mars and Beyond."

“Man and the Moon” (December 28, 1955, Disneyland Episode).

USA. Walt Disney Productions. BW/C. 1.33:1. 53m.

CREDITS: Director Ward Kimball. Producer Ward Kimball. Story William Bosché, Ward Kimball, John Dunn. Score George Bruns. Assistant Director Robert H. Justman. Directors of Photography Charles Boyle, Edward Colman. Art Director Marvin Aubrey Davis. Set Decorator Bertram Granger. Production Supervisor Harry Tytle. Layout Designers Frank Armitage, A. Kendall O’Connor. Car- toon Animation Jack Boyd, Charles Downs, Joe Hale, Conrad Pederson, Arthur Stevens, Julius Svendsen. Space Paintings Al Dempster, William Layne. Technical Advisor Dr. Wernher von Braun. Editors Sam Horta, Lloyd Richardson. Special Processes Ub Iwerks, Eustace Lycett. Models Wathel Rogers. Special Instruments Maxwell Smith. Sound Robert O. Cook. Acknowledgments Griffith Observatory, Douglas Aircraft Company, Bill Jack Scientific Instrument Company, Protection, Inc.

CAST: Narrator Edgar Barrier. Host Walt Disney. Ward Kimball Ward Kimball. Dr. Wernher von Braun Dr. Wernher von Braun. Rocketship Crew Frank Gerstle, Richard Emory, Frank Connor, Leo Needham.

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its

individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-9914-4

“Mars and Beyond—Man in Space” (March 9, 1955, Disneyland Episode) Part 1

Disneyland's "Mars and Beyond" episode

proposed a fleet of  parasol ships.
© Walt Disney Productions

“Mars and Beyond” (December 4, 1957) was the third stage of Walt Disney’s three-stage rocket that literally helped launch the space-age. The impact of the trilogy series cannot be over- emphasized. The first two episodes—“Man in Space” and “Man and the Moon”—both aired in 1955, the first just before the official opening of Disney’s theme park Disneyland, the second just after.

By 1955, Disney’s standing as a genius visionary and risk-taker were already on firm ground. Betting on his own (mostly extraordinary) hunches brought into the world the first sound cartoon (Steamboat Willy), the first color cartoon (Flowers and Trees), the first feature-length cartoon (Snow White), the first attempt at merging the whimsy of animation with the sophistication of classical music for the masses (Fantasia), the first feature-length educational cartoon (Victory Through Air Power), the first themed amusement park (“Disneyland”), and the first hour-long weekly commercial for that park and all his other creative ventures (ABC’s Disneyland).
.

Both the park Disneyland and the TV series Disneyland were divided into four “realms,” Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and Tomorrowland. Each week’s TV episode was devoted to one of these themes, usually featuring some already-existing Disney film product that easily underscored that theme.

Walt Disney pulled off quite the coup when

he brought to the air Disneyland,

a one-hour blatant weekly commercial for

his brand of entertainment products and his

brand new amusement park!

© Walt Disney Productions

But, according to Disney archivist David R. Smith (in the article “They’re Following Our Script: Walt Disney’s Trip to Tomorrowland” in Future magazine No. 2, May 1978), “The tremendous Disney film library could be called upon to supply the shows for [three of the show’s four realms], but when it came to Tomorrowland, Disney was momentarily stumped. Tomorrow was the future. There had been no previous Disney work on future technology.... The person to whom Disney turned to for help was Ward Kimbball.” Kimball at the time was a trusted member of Disney’s animation staff for more than twenty years, and, besides, he and Walt were both avid fans of steam-powered trains. Smith continues by quoting Kimball, “‘And that’s when I said I had been following some interesting articles in Collier’s magazine.’ It was fascinating for me to realize that there were these reputable scientists who actually believed that we were going out in space.”

This is a 3-minute YouTube taste of the first show, "Man in Space"
featuring Ward Kimball as host and Werhner von Braun.
© Walt Disney Productions

The Collier’s series of unique and colorful articles, developed by managing editor Gordon Manning and edited by Cornelius Ryan, promoting space travel appeared in Collier’s magazine from 1952 to 1954 and were co-written by six noted scientists, including Willy Ley, Heinz Haber, and Wernher von Braun. (Also see comments on Conquest of Space in the book) Before long, Kimball was in touch with these three, and the concepts that came out of their collaboration sold Disney on the idea that it would take three shows to convey the idea of space travel, and he gave Kimball a blank check to get them done—literally.

After one particular early but inspired meeting, according to Kimball’s collaborator on the series Bill Bosche, “I remember when we finished the meeting, Walt walked out of the story room, stopped at the desk, and ripped off a blank sheet of notepaper. He handed it to Kimball and said, ‘Write your own ticket’ ... Walt never said anything like that.”

Three of the eight Colliers issues from the early 1950s

 that kicked started America's interest in space exploration.

On one hand, the first episode, titled "Man in Space,"of the Disneyland space trilogy can be seen as a blatant advertisement for the Tomorrowland section of the park; but on another hand, Disney, by showing his steadfast financial commitment to what he soon understood in his bones was a vital wave of the future, the show was a sincere effort to alert the public about the changes that were in the air.

 

 Here is the actual full-length episode.

When president Dwight D. Eisenhower heard of the “Man in Space” program he requested a viewing and it was also screened regularly at the Pentagon. Then four months later, on July 29, 1955, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s press secretary announced that the United States planned to launch “small Earth circling satellites” sometime in 1957 or 1958 as part of its contribution to the International Geophysical Year.

The three Disneyland "Man in Space" episodes were watched by tens of millions in their initial airings, and it was natural that Dell comics brought out these comics versions of the shows.  The fourth comic shown here, a 35-cent GIANT magazine, was an omnibus of all three comic magazines, and, trust me they are delights to own and read over the decades!
© Walt Disney Productions

The second of the "Man in Space"episodes, titled "Man and he Moon," aired only a few months later, also in 1955. (Part 2 of this blog posting will focus on "Man and the Moon.")  However, it would be two years later that “Mars and Beyond,” the third act of the trilogy aired. (Part 3 of this three-part blog posting will focus on "Mars and Beyond.")

During those long drawn-out two years, there was much political infighting between the Navy and the Army about which agency would launch the first American satellite, causing Disney to delay production of the program. However, on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union put Sputnik in orbit around the earth causing great American consternation and humiliation. And to make matters worse, the Navy Vanguard rocket exploded on its launching pad on December 6, 1957 (see film clip below!). But, Disney had rushed to completion “Mars and Beyond” and aired it just two days before on December 4, perhaps giving America a much needed shot of confidence. Of course, it was von Braun who came to the rescue by shooting Explorer 1 into orbit on January 31, 1958. Finally, in this sequence of events, President Eisenhower announced the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which became a reality on July 29, 1958.

The U.S. Navy's Vanguard rocket , which was 

supposed to launch the first U.S satellite into earth 

orbit, exploded on its launching pad on December 6, 1957 

“Mars and Beyond”(December 4, 1957 Disneyland Episode) continues in Post 2.

“Man in Space” (March 9, 1955, Disneyland Episode

USA. Walt Disney Productions. BW/C. 1.33:1. 53m.

CREDITS: Director Ward Kimball. Producer Ward Kimball. Story William Bosche, Ward Kimball. Score George Bruns. Director of Photography William Skall. Layout Designers Donald Griffith, A. Kendall O’Connor, Jacques Rupp. Cartoon Animation Jack Boyd, Eric Cleworth, John Dunn, John Sibley, Arthur Stevens, Julius Svendsen, Harvey Toombs. Backgrounds Claude Coats, George De Lado, Donald Peters, Art Riley, Anthony Rizzo. Technical Advisors Dr. Heinz Haber. Willy Ley. Dr. Wernher von Braun. Editor Archie Dattlebaum. Special Processes Ub Iwerks. Sound C.O. Sly- field. Acknowledgments U.S. Department of Defense: Army, Navy, Air Force.

CAST: Narrator Dick Tufeld. Host Walt Disney. Ward Kimball Ward Kimball. Dr. Heinz Haber Dr. Heinz Haber. Willy Ley Willy Ley. Dr. Wernher von Braun Dr. Wernher von Braun.

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual

posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-9914-4

Alien Dawn (2012 Straight-to-Video)

 This is quite a nice little movie. In fact, this is the finest modernized straight-to-video/DVD War of the Worlds clone. Period.

Rachelle Dimaria as Marissa

From the credits, it’s clear that this film is the brainchild and labor of love of Neil Johnson. Nevertheless, in my view the real stars of this film are Steve Southern, the 3D tripod designer and animator, and Final Light, the company mainly responsible for the explosion and nuclear effects. Both of these aspects of the film are marvelous and believable. The design of the war machines is at once different and traditional; their movements are always first-rate in many and varied scenes. The explosions are multitudinous and enthralling. My favorite shots are several long effects shots across the war-zone of a city. They reminded me of the practically perfect opening shots of Blade Runner, which show huge gas flames in a future Los Angeles erupting into the night sky, with the difference here that these shots include multiple wonderful Martian tripods marching across the detailed terrain. 

The model work, showing refineries and domes are nice, and reminded me of similar shots in Hammer Studio’s 1957 Enemy from Space (known in England as Quatermass 2). By and large, the production design and effects in this film are superior, especially for a straight-to-video project.

Rachelle Dimaria

Aside from the special effects, the hands-down highlight of the film for me is actress Rachelle Dimaria as Marissa. She lights up any scene she’s in; indoors shots are more problematic, since the indoor lighting is generally inconsistent. She is a skilled actor; in fact, she’s far and away the best in the production, which means in the final analysis that she convinced me time and again that her experiences were real and not just scenes in a movie. Obviously somebody else noticed this quality, as she has been featured in some 15 new film and TV projects during these intervening years.
.

The first frames are on Mars, so we know we are dealing with Martian invaders. We meet eight young people in different areas of a big metropolis after a full-scale invasion has already begun; we are literally dropped into the middle of a horrific war zone. We meet these young men and women in pairs and small groups, but eventually they all stumble upon one another. Their personalities are different; some take charge, others can barely keep it together, some die; their personalities evolve through character arcs over ten days as they learn to work together. True to Wells, there is no plot, just a bunch of survival episodes strung together. 

One reviewer noticed similarities to Cloverfield, the J.J. Abrams-produced kaiju-genre/found-film epic; and indeed there are. But this is a liability; the “found-film” moments don’t seem to serve any purpose; they are interspersed with stock news footage and both are randomly thrown into the film; at least they don’t seem to have any purpose until the last shot in the film. That Cloverfield was an inspiration I think may be shown by the fact that a character in the film is named Ashley Cloverfield. Another homage is that the sound of the disintegrating rays of the war machines is in fact repurposed sound effects of the equivalent rays in George Pal’s 1953 The War of the Worlds.

Of course Alien Dawn is not flawless, but its strengths far outweigh its problems. Some flaws are the awkward ubiquitous handheld camera, occasional poor editing, dismal close-ups of the Martian creature, poorly lit night shots and indoor shots that look amateurish, and the over-the-top bickering and interactions between the characters that are woefully drawn out and awfully written, and for that matter, a character or two who are portrayed as utter morons. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this film through multiple viewings. It grew on me. The attacking Martian machines are vivid and convincing, as are the countless explosions, and any number of other special visual effects.
.

On the other hand…

Throughout my book and this blog extension, I hope I’ve proven to most people’s satisfaction that, while I’m not an expert, I do know a thing or two about special visual effects. I believe I’ve also shown that I don’t suffer fools well when it comes to lazy and irresponsible movie critics. Because of the straight-to-DVD nature of this film, no professional critic that I could find deigned to acknowledge its existence. So, I depended on viewer reviews on Amazon.com, imdb.com, and YouTube.com. Though I haven’t spent any time or space heretofore on commenting on common garden-variety viewer reviews, now is the time to point out that viewers can fall into exactly the same trap of dismissing films out of hand, just like their fellow human "professional" reviewers, in other words, just like lemmings. (You'll see if you read my book and/or stick around for these blog posts that I talk a lot about lemmings! I have zero patience and tolerance for mean-spirited jerks [so-called professionals or not] who absolutely must, or perhaps even unthinkingly, put down, that is, unnecessarily criticize, good things because some other jerk did. Yet, from the countless examples I quote in my book and these posts about various movies, it seems these sorts of morally-destitute, idiotic non-thinkers are as common as houseflies in a dung-filled house with broken screens.)  That said, I’m frankly bewildered by so many viewer reviewers that say, regarding Alien Dawn, variations on:

“You can’t put into words how terrible this film is.”

"A rehash of other movies but this one was really bad. No name actors who could not act. No plot and poor CGI."

“The effects in the movie were laughable and not pleasant on the eyes; explosions hilariously fake."

"Unwatchable, seriously!"

"Woo...what a stinker!"

"The magnitude of the awfulness of this film has to be addressed."

“The special effects are incredibly ugly and artificially constructed.”

 “The CGI effects were dubious and questionable.”

“There is nothing good about the movie—nothing at all!”

“This movie is piece of shit & HORSESHIT CRAP !!!!!!!!!”

Again, these quotes represent only the tiniest tip of the iceberg. There are countless more like this. It's as though these folks saw a different movie in a different universe than I did!  I believe that these negative quotes are mainly indicative of some sort of, as I say, lemming-like “get on the band wagon” phenomenon. Nonetheless, I’m devastatingly saddened and dismayed by all the vitriol and “tar & feathers.” There is no way on earth Alien Dawn deserves such universal disrespect. As I said up above: it is quite a nice little movie!  

Steve Southern's tripod models and effects are phenomenal. Also see the trailer above.

 The folks who made it had very little money, but for the most part they did a good job; I try to point out some of the film's special strengths in my comments above. Alien Dawn is not at all the spawn of the Devil as some of the viewer reviews would have you believe!  

It is the finest modernized straight-to-video/DVD War of the Worlds clone. Period.

The film is full of absolutely convincing explosions by Final Light.

Shots like these reminded me of the wonderful 
opening shots of Blade Runner.

 Alien Dawn (2012 Straight-to-Video)

USA. Phase 4 Films, Still Night Monster Movies, Morphius Film, Empire Motion Pictures. C. 1.78:1. 85m.

CREW: Director Neil Johnson. Script Neil Johnson. Producers Cynthia Martin, Neil Johnson. Executive Producers Ray Haboush, Neil Johnson. Directors of Cinematography Kyle Wright, Neil Johnson. Casting Cynthia Martin, Artists Unlimited Agency. 3D Tripod Design and Animation Steve Southern. Explosion and Nuclear Effects Final Light.

CAST: Marissa Rachelle Dimaria. Roger Kaczynski Michael Abruscato. Anders Kaczynski Alexander Bell. Sera Michaels Tiffany C. Adams. Joni Mitchell Cynthia Martin.

 

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its

individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

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AfrikaansAlbanianAmharicArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CorsicanCroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchFrisianGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHawaiianHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanKurdishKyrgyzLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianLuxembourgishMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPashtoPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSamoanScots GaelicSerbianSesothoShonaSindhiSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu

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