SCI-FI FILM FIESTA –THE SWINGIN’ 60s - Volume 1: “Eve of Destruction” (FREE eBook)

 🔥 When the World Stood on the Brink🔥

SCI-FI FILM FIESTA –THE SWINGIN’ 60s - 

Volume 1: “Eve of Destruction” 

(FREE eBook)

• What happens when civilization realizes it may not survive the week?
• What happens when science outruns wisdom?
• What happens when governments withhold the truth?
• What happens when ordinary people are forced to confront the end of everything they know?

Welcome to Volume 1 of SCI-FI FILM FIESTA — The Swingin' 60s: "Eve of Destruction," an exploration of Cold War science fiction at its most urgent, intelligent and unsettling!

And the best part?

It’s absolutely FREE!!

A Journey to the Edge of Oblivion

The 1960s marked a dramatic shift in science fiction cinema. Gone were the reassuring alien invasions of the 1950s, where heroes restored order and the threat was neatly contained. In their place came something far more disturbing……..

The REAL enemy was US!

In Eve of Destruction, you’ll encounter films that grapple with:

• Nuclear brinkmanship.
• Media responsibility and government secrecy.
• Civil defense paranoia.
• Scientific hubris.
• Social breakdown under pressure.
• The fragile psychology of survival.

These are not merely “old movies.” They are cultural time capsules — reflections of an era when the Doomsday Clock ticked ominously close to midnight and the unthinkable felt frighteningly plausible. (Check out the Doomsday Clock setting for 2025-6! and ask yourself, why?)) These films do indeed remain startlingly relevant.

More Than Film Reviews

This volume is not just a collection of reviews and commentary. It is a deep dive into the ideas behind the films — the anxieties, politics, and moral questions that shaped them. Each entry explores:

• Historical context
• Thematic analysis
• Cultural significance
• Creative Immersion into the plots
• Points of interest for modern audiences

Accompanying the film discussions is a carefully curated resource section for readers who wish to explore further — from Cold War history to documentary realism and nuclear-age philosophy.

Whether you are a lifelong science fiction enthusiast, a student of film history, or simply intrigued by how previous generations imagined the end of the world, this volume offers insight, atmosphere and thoughtful reflection.

In the spirit of sharing a passion for classic science fiction,
Volume 1: "Eve of Destruction" is available as a FREE eBook.

No Catch
No subscription fees.
No hidden charges.

Just a curated celebration of intelligent, thought-provoking cinema.

Download it!
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Eve of Destruction is only the first instalment of the second multi-volume Sci-Fi Film Fiesta series. This time it comprises an ongoing exploration of a most fascinating era of science fiction film-making – The Swingin’ 60s’s!

If you enjoy thoughtful film analysis, cultural history, and a touch of apocalyptic drama, this series is for you.

Download your FREE copy of Sci-Fi Film Fiesta - The Swingon’ 60s – Volume 1: “Eve of Destruction” and rediscover an era when cinema dared to stare directly into the abyss.

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©Chris Christopoulos 2026

Crack in the World (1965)

An entertaining sci-fi film that is great fun to watch and does not fail to warm things up for the audience

Directed by Andrew Marton
Written by Jon Manchip White, Julian Zimet
Produced by Bernard Glasser, Lester A. Sansom
Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer
Music by Johnny Douglas
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Running time: 96 minutes
Budget: $875,000

Cast

Dana Andrews as Dr. Stephen Sorensen
Janette Scott as Dr. Maggie Sorensen
Kieron Moore as Dr. Ted Rampion
Alexander Knox as Sir Charles Eggerston
Peter Damon as John Masefield
Jim Gillen as Rand
Gary Lasdun as Markov
Alfred Brown as Dr. Bill Evans
Mike Steen as Steele
Emilio Carrere
Sydna Scott as Angela
John Karlsenas Dr. Reynolds
Todd Martin as Simpson
Ben Tatar as Indian Ambassador

A geothermal energy project developed with the aim of breaking through to the Earth's magma layer by means of a thermonuclear device!

The possibility of cracking the key to unlimited energy!

or

Cracking Earth’s crust and destroying the planet!

Trailer

Read on for more....

Cyborg 2087 (1966)

An undemanding over-padded but enjoyable low-budget sci-fi film

Directed by Franklin Adreon
Written by Arthur C. Pierce
Produced by Earle Lyon
Edited by Frank P. Keller
Music by Paul Dunlap
Production company: Harold Goldman Associates
Distributed by United Pictures Corporation
Running time: 86 minutes

Cat

Michael Rennie as Garth
Karen Steele as Dr. Sharon Mason
Wendell Corey as the sheriff
Warren Stevens as Dr. Zeller
Eduard Franz as Professor Sigmund Marx
Harry Carey, Jr. as Jay C
Dale Van Sickel as Tracer #1
Troy Melton as Tracer #2
John Beck as Skinny

Trailer

We have already witnessed a possible future in which humanity in the year 2029 faced the possibility of extinction in a war with machines. In order to prevent human beings from triumphing in that war, a cyborg - the T-800 TERMINATOR - was sent back to the year 1984 to kill the mother of the human resistance leader, John Connor.

Now, we discover that in the future year of 2087, freedom of thought is illegal and the world’s population is controlled by governments that employ technology as a means of control. A small resistance group of free thinkers send a cyborg, ‘Garth A7’ back in time to the year 1966 to prevent a scientist, Professor Sigmund Marx from making a discovery he will term as "Radio-Telepathy" that will eventually result in mind and thought control becoming a reality and as a consequence will lead to the establishment of tyranny in Garth's time. Hot on Garth’s heals are government agents called ‘Tracers’ who have also been sent back from the future to prevent him from carrying out his mission and changing that future.

Read on form more.....

Matango (マタンゴ) (1963) / Attack Of The Mushroom People (1965)

A little known atypical and interesting tokusatsu classic sci-fi / horror film, that is atmospheric and well-crafted, but somewhat slow-paced at times

Directed by Ishirō Honda
Screenplay by Takeshi Kimura
Story by Shinichi Hoshi, Masami Fukushima
Based on "The Voice in the Night"by William Hope Hodgson
Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka
Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi
Edited by Reiko Kaneko
Music by Sadao Bekku
Production company: Toho Co., Ltd
Distributed by Toho
Running time 89 minutes
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese

Cast

Akira Kubo as Professor Kenji Murai
Kumi Mizuno as Mami Sekiguchi
Kenji Sahara as Senzō Koyama
Hiroshi Tachikawa as Etsurō Yoshida
Yoshio Tsuchiya as Masafumi Kasai
Hiroshi Koizumi as Naoyuki Sakuda
Miki Yashiro as Akiko Sōma
Jiro Kumagai as Doctor at Tokyo Medical Center
Yutaka Oka as Doctor at Tokyo Medical Center
Keisuke Yamada as Doctor at Tokyo Medical Center
Hideyo Amamoto as Matango
Haruo Nakajima as Matango
Masaki Shinohara as Matango
Kōji Uruki as Matango
Toku Ihara as Matango
Kuniyoshi Kashima as Matango
Tokio Ōkawa as Matango

In Summary…..

Matango  / Attack of the Mushroom People (1963) is a Japanese sci-fi / horror film directed by Ishirō Honda. It is partially based on William Hope Hodgson's short story "The Voice in the Night." The story involves five pleasure-seeking young people and two crewmen who become stranded on a tropical island. They soon stumble upon a deserted, fungus-covered ship wreck which they discover had been a research vessel examining the effects of radiation on plant and animal life. The crew had eaten some of the fungus and as a result were driven mad. With little edible food on the island, the group of castaways struggle to find a way to survive only to realize that they have each other to contend with along with a mysterious presence in the form of…...deadly mushrooms!


Read on for more……

Mutiny in Outer Space (1965)

A well-paced and entertaining sci-fi film hampered by its low budget

Directed by Hugo Grimaldi, Arthur C. Pierce (uncredited)
Written by Hugo Grimaldi, Arthur C. Pierce
Produced by Hugo Grimaldi, Arthur C. Pierce, Bernard Woolner, David Woolner, Lawrence Woolner
Cinematography: Archie R. Dalzell
Edited by George White
Music by Harry Eisen (Stock music editor)
Production company: Hugo Grimaldi Productions
Distributed by Woolner Brothers Pictures
Running time: 82 minutes
Budget: $90,000 (estimate)

Cast

William Leslie as Maj. Gordon Towers
Dolores Faith as Dr. Faith Montaine
Pamela Curran as Lt. Connie Engstrom
Richard Garland as Col. Frank Cromwell
Harold Lloyd Jr. as Sgt. Andrews
James Dobson as Dr. Hoffman
Ron Stokes as Sgt. Sloan
Boyd Holister as Maj. Olsen (in credits as Robert Palmer)
Gabriel Curtiz as Dr. Stoddard
Glenn Langan as Gen. Knowland
H. Kay Stevens as Sgt. Engstrom
Francine York as Capt. Stevens
Joel Smith (unnamed character)
Carl Crow as Capt. Dan Webber
Robert Nash (unnamed character)

Astronauts on a trip back from the lunar ice caves contract a deadly fungus.

They unwittingly contaminate a space station with the fungus.

Space Station X-7 is soon overrun by the unknown deadly alien fungus.

What’s more, not all is right with the X-7’s commander.

What must the crew do in order to save the space station, along with Earth itself from destruction?

Read on for more.....

First Spaceship on Venus (1960) Milcząca Gwiazda (Polish) Der schweigende Stern (German) (The Silent Star)

A good-looking sci-fi film with a naively optimistic view of the future and with characters that are difficult to care too much about.

Directed by Kurt Maetzig
Screenplay by Kurt Maetzig, J. Barkhauer (uncredited)
Story by J. Fethke, W. Kohlhasse, G. Reisch, G. Rücker, A. Stenbock-Fermor
Based on The Astronauts by Stanisław Lem
Cinematography: Joachim Hasler
Edited by Lena Neumann
Music by Andrzej Markowski
Production companies: Roter Kreis group of DEFA, Filmowe Iluzjon film studio
Distributed by Progress Film (East Germany), Crown International Pictures (US)
Running time: 93 minutes / 79 minutes (English dub)
Box office: 4,375,094 tickets

Cast

• Günther Simon as Raimund Brinkmann (Robert Brinkman in the US release), the Kosmokrator's German pilot
• Julius Ongewe as Talua, the African communications officer
• Yoko Tani as Dr. Sumiko Ogimura, the Japanese medical officer
• Oldřich Lukeš as Professor Hawling, a US nuclear physicist (Orloff in the US release)
• Ignacy Machowski as Professor Sołtyk (Durand, a French engineer, in the US release), the Polish chief engineer
• Mikhail Postnikov as Professor Arsenjew, Soviet astrophysicist and commander of the mission (Harringway in the US Release)
• Kurt Rackelmann as Professor Sikarna, an Indian mathematician
• Tang Hua-Ta as Dr. Tschen Yü (Chen Yu in the US Release), a Chinese linguist.
• Lucyna Winnicka as Joan Moran, television reporter
• Eduard von Winterstein as a nuclear physicist
• Ruth Maria Kubitschek as Professor Arsenjew's wife

The World of 1960: A Taste of the Times

• OPEC ( Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ) is formed and will eventually comprise twelve member countries: six in the Middle East( Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates ), four in Africa ( Algeria, Angola, Libya and Nigeria ), and two in South America ( Ecuador and Venezuela ), Collectively they will end up by the 21st century holding most of the world’s crude oil reserves and a significant proportion of its crude oil production.
• As the Cold War intensifies, a Soviet SA-2 guided surface-to-air missile shoots down the US Lockheed U2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers.
• In the wake of the French withdrawal from Vietnam, the United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam. The Domino Theory involves the belief that if one country was to fall to communism each nearby country would also likely fall, especially with the financial and military support of North Vietnam by the Soviet Union and China. Thus begins America's involvement in a long and many would argue futile war against communist North Vietnam.
• Following major food shortages in East Germany 160,000 refugees cross to West Germany, Nikita Khrushchev orders the construction of the Berlin Wall
• The Irish Republican Army (IRA) starts it's fight against the British
• President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law. The purpose of the law is to close loopholes from the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and mainly dealt with voter disenfranchisement.
• The United States Supreme Court decides the Boynton v. Virginia case which arose from an incident in which Bruce Boynton, an African-American law student,being arrested for trying to order at a “whites only” restaurant in a bus terminal. The court ruled in a 7-2 decision that racial segregation in public transportation was unconstitutional as it violated the Interstate Commerce Act.
• In South Africa Afrikaner police open fire with sub machine guns on demonstrators in the black township of Sharpeville.
• The first televised U.S. Presidential debate takes place between Kennedy and Nixon
• John F Kennedy wins the presidential Election with one of the smallest margins in history.
• The sexual revolution begins with the use of birth control pills and the opening of the first Playboy clubs in Chicago.
• Technical achievements include the invention of the Laser and a heart pacemaker.
• With its testing of its first atomic bomb, France joins ‘nuclear bomb club.’
• 100,000 people Join the"Ban The Bomb" Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally on April 18th in London.
• In the USA the yearly inflation rate sits at 1.46%. The average cost of a new house is $12,700.00 while the average monthly rent is $98.00. A gallon of gas will set you back 25 cents to fuel your $2,600.00 new car. When you get home you can put your feet up, relax and watch your 23 inch television.
• In the new frontier of space exploration, (in which the Soviet Union seems to be forging ahead of the US) NASA launches the Pioneer 5 space probe that will travel between the orbits of Earth and Venus to gather information about deep space between the two planets. Pioneer 5 is able to establish communications with Earth at a record 22.5 million miles away, but contact with the craft is lost after that point.
• NASA also launches TIROS-1 (Television Infra-Red Observation Satellite), one of the world’s first successful weather satellites. TIROS-1 weighs about 270 pounds and measures 19 inches in height and 42 inches in diameter. The satellite can only function during daylight hours but manages to transmit thousands of photos of cloud patterns and document the formation of cloud systems. It will continue to function for about 78 days.
• The Summer Olympics are held in Rome, Italy and were the first games to be fully covered on television. The geo-political rival superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, along with host country, Italy win the most medals.

Popular Culture includes:

• To Kill A Mockingbird novel
• Alfred Hitchcock’s Pscho
• Coronation Street - UK TV series ( I spent many a night in the ‘60s watching that British soapy with my parents)
• The Flintstones cartoon series
• Rawhide western TV series
• Chubby Chequer and The twist dance craze.

• The Etch A Sketch art toy/gadget (It really seemed like magic!)

Trailer

From that dawn of a new decade that was the year1960, emerged an ideological illusion and hubrisric hallucination in the form of the film, First Space Ship on Venus with its Utopian vision of a future world of 1985…….when;

An alien artefact is discovered on Earth originating from from Venus

A rocket expedition to Venus is launched to discover the origin of the artefact and the beings that created it.

Read on for more…

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

The film that gave Star Trek back to the world

Directed by Robert Wise
Screenplay by Harold Livingston
Story by Alan Dean Foster
Based on Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry
Produced by Gene Roddenberry
Cinematography: Richard H. Kline
Edited by Todd C. Ramsay
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Production company: Paramount Pictures
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date: December 7, 1979
Running time: 132 minutes
Budget: $44 million]
Box office: $139 million

Cast 

William Shatner: Captain Kirk
Leonard Nimoy Leonard Nimo: Spock
DeForest Kelley DeForest Kelley: Dr. McCoy
James Doohan James Doohan: Scotty
George Takei George Takei: Sulu
Majel Barrett Majel Barrett: Dr. Chapel
Walter Koenig Walter Koenig: Chekov
Nichelle Nichols: Uhura
Persis Khambatta: Ilia
Stephen Collins: Decker
Grace Lee Whitney: Janice Rand
Mark Lenard: Klingon Captain
Billy Van Zandt: Alien Boy
Roger Aaron Brown: Epsilon Technician
Gary Faga Gary Fag: Airlock Technician
David Gautreaux: Commander Branch
John Gowans:  Assistant to Rand (as John D. Gowans)
Howard Itzkowitz: Cargo Deck Ensign
Jon Rashad Kamal: Lt. Commander Sonak
Marcy Lafferty: Chief DiFalco
Michele Billy Povill: Lieutenant (as Michele Ameen Billy)
Jeri McBride: Technician
Terrence O'Connor: Chief Ross
Michael Rougas: Lt. Cleary
Susan O'Sullivan: Woman (as Susan J. Sullivan)
Ralph Brannen: Crew Member
Ralph Byers: Crew Member
Paula Crist: Crew Member
Iva Lane:  Crew Member
Franklyn Seales: Crew Member
Momo Yashima:  Crew Member
Jimmie Booth: Klingon Crewman
Joel Kramer: Klingon Crewman
Bill McIntosh: Klingon Crewman
Dave Moordigian: Klingon Crewman
Tom Morga: Klingon Crewman
Tony Rocco: Klingon Crewman
Joel Shultz: Klingon Crewman
Craig Thomas Craig Thomas: Klingon Crewman
Edna Glover Edna Glover: Vulcan Master
Norman Stuart Norman Stuart: Vulcan Master
Paul Weber Paul Weber: Vulcan Master
Joshua Gallegos: Security Officer
Lisa Chess Lisa Chess: Yeoman
Leslie C. Howard: Yeoman
Sayra Hummel: Technical Assistant
Junero Jennings: Technical Assistant

Trailer

(Spoilers follow below.....)

“Who are they fighting?”

“Unknown, sir.”

A cloud-like ominous entity moves through deep space, having long traversed its bejewelled beauty festooned with supernova, nebulae and innumerable star systems. This mysterious luminescence is of a size that can barely be comprehended by human or extraterrestrial intelligence. It seems to defy all known concepts of size and distance.

The interstellar intruder is about to be confronted by one such extraterrestrial intelligence in the form of three Klingon heavy cruisers. On the Klingon command cruiser bridge ‘battle stations’ is sounded. From the point of view on the tactical grid, the main viewer and from the external perspective, the three diminutive ships closing on the steadily growing luminescent cloud-like entity appear puny and inadequate in comparison to the enormity of the unwelcome trespasser.

Undaunted, the ships sweep further into the mysterious cloud as if under the influence of some unknown beckoning force together with an impelling innate force located deep within the Klingon psyche and genetic makeup. The cruisers are soon dominated by the sheer immensity of the cloud that seems to dominate and consume all the available surrounding space.

The hatches of the photon torpedo launch tubes slowly slide open to reveal red-hued harbingers of death within. The order is then given to fire and the brilliant orbs of the photon torpedoes burst forth from the tubes.

On the Klingon bridge, the tactical grid displays the three torpedoes heading directly toward the Cloud and then suddenly and unexpectedly winking out of existence before reaching their intended target.

An external shot reveals the same course of action with the same result as the other ships launch their torpedoes toward the cloud. This time, however, there is a response in the form of an orb of power emanating from within the luminescence and heading directly toward the Klingon ships.

Despite evasive maneuvers, the orb strikes one of the cruisers with a bolt of energy which engulfs the vessel causing it to dematerialize. Raising defensive shields, executing evasive turns and discharging rear torpedoes at the approaching energy orbs do nothing to forestall the fate of the remaining two cruisers. The Klingons achieve an honourable death - their passage and entrance to Sto'Vo'Kor' assured.

“Sir, it's on a precise heading for Earth!”

Meanwhile at Starfleet Monitoring Station Epsilon IX, from the outside there appears to be an air of sedate almost complacent serenity surrounding this small outpost as astronaut workers lazily and quietly waft about servicing the station’s equipment. This atmosphere is about to be shattered within the installation where a report of the battle scene has come through to the monitor room.

A text translation of the Klingon commander’s voice appears on a monitor screen:

“Intruder unidentified.

Believe luminescent cloud to be enormous

Power field surrounding alien vessel.

Our sensor scans unable to penetrate.

Imperial Klingon Cruiser Amar, continuing to attack.”

The crew of Epsilon IX know that the battle has taken place “within Klingon boundaries” but not who or what the Klingon’s were fighting. After the shock of witnessing the complete annihilation of the Klingon vessel on the viewer, their minds now turn to the realisation that the cloud will pass into Federation Space fairly close to them “on a precise heading for Earth.”

Read on for more……..

Atragon (1963)

( 海底軍艦, Kaitei Gunkan )

'The Undersea Warship'

A fairly entertaining Japanese science fiction film with impressive-looking sets and battle sequences together with a rousing music score. However, this is probably one of Toho’s and Ishiro Honda’s lesser efforts

Directed by Ishirō Honda
Screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa
Based on The Undersea Warship: A Fantastic Tale of Island Adventure by Shunrō Oshikawa, The Undersea Kingdom by Shigeru Komatsuzaki
Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka
Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi
Edited by Ryohei Fujii
Music by Akira Ifukube
Production company: Toho
Distributed by Toho
Release date: December 22, 1963 (Japan)
Running time: 94 minutes[2]
Box office: ¥175 million

Cast

Jun Tazaki as Captain Hachiro Jinguji
Tadao Takashima as Susumu Hatanaka
Yōko Fujiyama as Makoto Jinguji
Ken Uehara as Rear Admiral Kusumi
Yū Fujiki as Yoshito Nishibe
Kenji Sahara as Umino
Hiroshi Koizumi as Detective Ito
Akihiko Hirata as Mu Agent #23
Hideyo Amamoto as High Priest of Mu
Tetsuko Kobayashi as Empress of Mu

Strange occurrences are taking place all over the world, including disappearances and kidnappings.

The legendary empire of the lost continent of Mu which disappeared 12,000 years earlier has reappeared.

The Muans and their giant snakelike guardian, Manda are set to reclaim their supposed colonies and threaten the surface world with domination.

The world’s countries unite to resist.

Embittered World War ll Captain Jinguji has created the greatest warship ever seen, that may be the surface world’s only defence.

Despite appeals for assistance from the rest of the world and even from his own daughter, Jinguji is reluctant to help.

But why?

What will it take for Jinguji (still bitter about Japan’s defeat in World War II) to decide to help save civilization?

Trailer

Read on for more....

The Power (1968)

Certainly not a classic sci-fi film, but it is an entertaining oddity with an impressive supporting cast and good production values.

Directed by Byron Haskin
Written by John Gay
Based on “The Power” by Frank M. Robinson
Produced by George Pal
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks
Edited by Thomas J. McCarthy
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-May

Cast

George Hamilton: Jim Tanner
Suzanne Pleshette: Margery Lansing
Richard Carlson: N. E. Van Zandt
Yvonne De Carlo: Sally Hallson
Earl Holliman: Talbot Scott
Gary Merrill: Mark Corlane
Ken Murray: Grover
Barbara Nichols: Flora
Arthur O'Connell: Henry Hallson
Nehemiah Persoff: Carl Melnicker
Aldo Ray: Bruce
Michael Rennie: Arthur Nordlund
Miiko Taka: Mrs. Van Zandt
Celia Lovsky: Mrs. Hallson
Vaughn Taylor: Mr. Hallson
Lawrence Montaigne: Briggs
Beverly Powers: Sylvia
Forrest J. Ackerman: Delegate A.C. Fogbottom
Daniel Elam: Scientist
William Burnside: Fun House Onlooker
Ken DuMain: Fun House Onlooker
Frieda Rentie: Fun House Onlooker
Boyd 'Red' Morgan: Merry-Go-Round Operator
Robert Deman: Young Man
Party Guests:
David Armstrong
Minta Durfee
Ed Haskett
George Holmes
Kenner G. Kemp
Joseph La Cava
John Pedrini
Anthony Redondo
Hank Robinson
Arthur Tovey

Chalky Williams

Key Scene

The power of telekinesis used not only to move just objects!

Members of a special project team being killed off one by one by means of telekinesis!

Who has the mind power to commit murder?

How can he or she be stopped?

Biologist Dr. Jim Tanner is chairman of a committee of scientists (The Committee on Human Endurance), based at the laboratory of the Space Research Commission in San Marino, CA. Tanner and the committee is tasked with tasked with;

1. Determining the limits of human endurance involving the human body's ability to survive pain.
2. Ascertaining the factors that would enable a human being to survive extreme physically stressful situations and make instant life-saving decisions in an emergency.

Little does Tanner realize, that he will soon find himself being pushed to the very limits of his own endurance…….

Read on for more....

The Phantom Planet (1961)

A fun sci-fi film with minimalist production values and special effects, both matching its budgetary constraints but with interesting ideas such as anti-gravity and magnetic fields. Unfortunately, it fails to launch far enough away from the world of 1950s film sci-fi and take the viewer into the brave new world of the future. Phantom Planet will, however grow on you after a couple of viewings, especially the colourised version.

Directed by William Marshall
Screenplay by William Telaak, Fred De Gorter, Fred Gebhardt
Story by Fred Gebhardt
Produced by Fred Gebhardt
Cinematography: Elwood J. Nicholson
Edited by Hugo Grimaldi
Music by Leith Stevens
Production company: Four Crown Productions Inc.
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 90 minutes

Cast

Dean Fredericks as Capt. Frank Chapman
Coleen Gray as Liara
Anthony Dexter as Herron
Francis X. Bushman as Sessom
Jimmy Weldon as Lt. Webb
Dolores Faith as Zetha
Richard Weber as Lt. Ray Makonnen
Al Jarvis as Judge Eden
Dick Haynes as Col. Lansfield
Earl McDaniels as Capt. Leonard
Mike Marshall as Lt. White
Richard Kiel as The Solarite
Merissa Mathes as Juror
Angelique Pettyjohn as Juror

Trailer

Journal of (former) Captain Frank Chapman (USAF Space Exploration Wing)

“Since the splitting of the atom only a few decades ago and through his god-given genius of science, man at last has succeeded in penetrating further and further into the unknown vastness of space. The moon has become the launching base for advance exploration. From this pivotal point astronauts at the risk of their lives set out to conquer nature's mysterious forces, yet many questions remained unanswered:

• What is his earth in relation to the inconceivable number of other worlds?
• Is his speed truly the fastest?
• His achievements the greatest?
• Or is he a mere unimportant piece of driftwood floating in the vast ocean of the universe?
• Could there be life similar to our own on other planets?
• Is it not possible that atmospheric conditions of relative environments control their shapes and forms?
• If so, would they be giants…. or could perhaps the opposite be true?
• Could their intellect have reached a scientific level far above man's dreams?

What then will the future reveal” should the story I am about to set down here somehow finds its way into the public domain, is believed and constitutes “only the beginning?”

Humanity had been drifting on a cloud of smug self-satisfaction since the first manned moon mission at the end of the 1960s. Since then we had established lunar bases and at the start of the 1980s we were on the eve of a mission to Mars. Suddenly just over a year ago things started going wrong.

On 16th March 1980 Pegasus 3 while on its last day of space reconnaissance research flight 361 for the US air force Lunar Base One and at 21 000 miles from the base, encountered a large planetoid object on a direct collision course with the ship. The uncharted planetoid had somehow failed to register on the ship’s long-range sensors. After Captain Leonard reported having lost control of the Pegasus, his ship seemed to have just mysteriously disappeared. Another spacecraft had inexplicably vanished seemingly without a trace and without a reason.

As rumors began to spread involving space monsters and phantom planets, I together with my navigator Lt. Ray Makonnen were ordered to investigate. Well, for me there went the Mars project for which I had been preparing!

All that was known was that there were two ships on routine missions both with flight controls and rockets in order having gone missing in less than a month with nothing within thousands of miles of their position. Despite all this, they somehow managed to crash into something that appeared suddenly on our radar big enough to be a planet and then the next instant it disappeared “against all theories of space.” This mysterious planet seemed to come and go at such speeds it was impossible to track.

There was nothing for it but to conduct a reconnaissance for “something out there that isn't supposed to be.” Otherwise, if this Phantom planet mystery wasn’t cleared up and the rumors surrounding it dispelled, there wouldn’t be any Mars project for me or anyone else to be on.

Lt. Ray Makonnen and I soon began our search aboard Pegasus 4. Our mission involved us charting the same course Pegasus 3 took. At 18 000 miles out at 270 degrees azimuth and 47 degrees ecliptic with our speed at 4.6 miles per second, we felt that we weren’t getting anywhere considering the fact that this mysterious phantom planet was dashing about all over the place. We therefore decided to change course. After all, “lightning never strikes twice in the same place” and all we could do was be patient even though we ran the risk of going nuts just waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly the electrostatic meters started going haywire. Lunar Base One then informed us that we were completely off course. We had entered a heavy magnetic field resulting in several instruments failing and with others about to fail.

With all this happening and despite an impromptu course change, Pegasus 4 sustained damage from a meteor shower, requiring Lt. Makonnen and I to go outside our ship to make repairs.

It was a fairly routine procedure to effect the required repairs, but as luck would have it a micro meteor struck and pierced my suit’s air hose rendering me unconscious.

Lt. Makonnen managed to repair the hose, but as we were at the entrance to the airlock hatch, he must have been fatally struck by a similar micro-meteor. Before being propelled into deep space, it seems that Lt.,... Ray had somehow managed to push me inside the ship and close the airlock hatch.

When I came to I found Ray gone and try as I might, I discovered I was unable to communicate with the lunar base. I then decided to record a log entry outlining what had happened and what course of action I would take now that Pegasus 4 was completely out of operation and that I was unable read my position.

The only choice I felt I had was to make a forced landing on a near-by asteroid that was somehow exerting a force on Pegasus and pulling the spaceship in towards it.