by John Walker
Robert Heinlein's 1950 movie collaboration with George Pal,
Destination Moon, is rightly considered
one of the timeless classics of film science fiction, winning an Oscar
for Best Special Effects. On the other hand, his 1953 effort with Richard
Talmadge, Project Moonbase, is largely
forgotten, and deservedly so. Set in 1970, it features some of the Heinlein
view of the future which would come to characterise his later work: the
president of the United States is a woman, as is the first person to orbit the Earth
and commander of this Moon mission, Colonel Briteis (don't
pronounce it “bright-eyes” in her presence, unless you
outrank her!), who owes her selection for the mission in part to
public relations motivated reverse-discrimination against men.
Unlike Destination Moon, the special effects here are—how
shall I put it?—cheesy. There are delightful cordless
telephones which look just like fifties Ma Bell gear with little loop
antennas coming out of the desk set and receiver, the obligatory V2
camera footage from White Sands, spinning tape reels and blinking
lights, a page-flipping
“digital calendar”
which gets it right for 1970, intrepid spacemen and -women
sweating and straining against G forces which don't seem to deform the
cots they're lying on, and Earth to Moon communication without the
delay due to the
finite speed of light.
The scientist on the Moon flight who is impersonated by a Commie
double bent on sabotage is named “Dr. Wernher”.
The apogee of tackiness in the special effects is when a supply ship
comes in to land at the newly-established Moon base. Col. Briteis and
her fellow crewmember and soon to be betrothed Maj. Moore sit in
front of a screen and twiddle knobs to guide the ship as it, for some
inexplicable reason, flies back and forth with a rocket plume which
looks remarkably like the flame from a welding torch. Then they steer
it in for a landing, “by hand” via remote control, and
things get downright hilarious. Below are two video clips of this
scene: the first is a longer clip including sound; the second is
silent and shows only the funny part. Take a look and see if you can
spot the delightful means by which the Moon landing was effected.
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by John Walker March, 2007 |
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