Conquest of Space

These are images from the movie Conquest of Space released in 1955. The movie is graphically based on images and ideas from the book by the renowned space artist Chesley Bonestell and space author Willy Ley. Aside from the artistic design, the movie has nothing to do with the book, which presents primarily an overview of the solar system and discusses the technical parameters of space flight.

Unfortunately, the writiers for the movie decided to introduce the "human element" into the story by introducing gratuitous irrational conflict and "colorful" enlisted men which are out of place in a space ship. The early hardware-oriented SciFi movies often had little in the way of a theme. The script often amounts to nothing more than a little soap opera wrapped around a rocket or bug-eyed monsters. In this case, the writers did manage to weave their soap opera into a theme, but the theme is that man is too spiritually flawed to go into space. The script is simply an abomination, but the graphic backdrop is quite spectacular. The matte art for the movie was done by Chesley Bonestell, and it shows. By and large, the movie is beautiful.

So far as I know, the movie was released twice on VHS format, the second time being recorded in EP (low quality) mode. That is the version I have, which explains the low quality of these images. The movie would look great on DVD, but unfortunately, the script will probably doom it to obscurity.

Note: This movie was released on DVD in 2004. I finally got around to renting it from Netflix, and the print quality is much better than any of the versions I've seen on VHS. This is a good thing, because when you're watching this movie, its for the visuals. On comparing the colors in the two, I suspect the DVD may be a little overly blue (probably to compensate for yellowing) and a little bit undersaturated. You can see the scenes side-by-side below.

Conquest of Space is copyright by Paramount Pictures.

A 45 second Quicktime clip from the opening of the movie showing the space wheel, the ship, and the general feel of the movie effects. (2.1 mb and 5 mb)
The space wheel rolls lazily 1000 miles above the earth.
The moon ship (which later becomes the Mars ship) waits by the wheel.
Mars ship detail - the center pod is the return ship
A space taxi comes to remove an injured man from the mars ship. It doesn't take new arrivals from the transport to the wheel though.
The transport rocket arrives at the wheel from earth bearing dignitaries
Astronauts move from the transport to the space wheel by kicking off the platform and floating across to the wheel.
The Mars ship departs
Lots of smoke and sparks send the ship on its way
Astronauts on a space walk to repair an external antenna. This problem always crops up just when you get going - see Destination Moon and 2001 a Space Odyssey.
Just when everyone gets outside, a giant glowing asteroid always comes along and ruins your space walk.
Mars looms as the ship approaches its destination. Note the glowing pastel presentation, characteristic of Bonestell.
The ship jettisons its booster tanks. Notice in the DVD image how much more pink Mars is, in contrast to the VHS color.
Landing on Mars. The ship lands as a glider, then the center pod rotates for a vertical liftoff, as shown below.
The return ship sits vertically by the landing wing while the astronauts wait for the next prime Mars - Earth alignment for liftoff.
Liftoff of the return rocket from the Martian surface

Links

last updated 05/10/2006 srogers1@austin.rr.com

		A 45 second Quicktime clip from the opening of the movie showing the space wheel, the ship, and the general feel of the movie effects. (2.1 mb and 5 mb)
		The space wheel rolls lazily 1000 miles above the earth.
		The moon ship (which later becomes the Mars ship) waits by the wheel.
		Mars ship detail - the center pod is the return ship
		A space taxi comes to remove an injured man from the mars ship. It doesn't take new arrivals from the transport to the wheel though.
		The transport rocket arrives at the wheel from earth bearing dignitaries
		Astronauts move from the transport to the space wheel by kicking off the platform and floating across to the wheel.
		The Mars ship departs
		Lots of smoke and sparks send the ship on its way
		Astronauts on a space walk to repair an external antenna. This problem always crops up just when you get going - see Destination Moon and 2001 a Space Odyssey.
		Just when everyone gets outside, a giant glowing asteroid always comes along and ruins your space walk.
		Mars looms as the ship approaches its destination. Note the glowing pastel presentation, characteristic of Bonestell.
		The ship jettisons its booster tanks. Notice in the DVD image how much more pink Mars is, in contrast to the VHS color.
		Landing on Mars. The ship lands as a glider, then the center pod rotates for a vertical liftoff, as shown below.
		The return ship sits vertically by the landing wing while the astronauts wait for the next prime Mars - Earth alignment for liftoff.
		Liftoff of the return rocket from the Martian surface