upcoming

Sci-fi Movie Night

What:

Science Fiction Pint and Pizza Night with “space exploration movies” featuring Rocketship X-M (1950) and Destination Moon (1950), and other psychotronic weirdness, trailers, short films and strange giveaways Wednesday, March 10, at Arcata Theatre Lounge, 1036 G St. in Arcata. Doors open from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., cost is free with $5 minimum purchase of food or beverage and is all ages. Sponsored by La Dolce Video,  Daisy Drygoods, Vintage Avenger,  Tin Can Mailman, The Clothing Dock and more!

TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING!

Destination Moon (1950) is an American science fiction feature film produced by George Pál, who later produced When Worlds Collide, The War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine. The eminent science-fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein contributed significantly to the script and served as a technical adviser. It was the first major science-fiction film produced in the United States dealing seriously with the prospect, problems and technology of space travel. This movie was not the first such to hit the screens, however; Rocketship X-M stole its thunder. Scientist Dr. Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson), former Air Force General Thayer (Tom Powers), and industrial tycoon Jim Barnes (John Archer) believe that it’s time that the U.S. blazed new trails and found new adventures. Convinced that exploration of space is the wave of the future (and that America’s dominance in space is vitally important if they are to continue to dominate the Earth), the three men begin planning and constructing a spaceship called “Luna” in the Mojave Desert that will take the men to the moon and back. However, anti-American forces begin flooding the press with propaganda against the moon mission, and finally the men make their way to moon without the aid of the federal government. Destination Moon won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects of 1950; the film also features a brief appearance by cartoon favorite Woody Woodpecker, who helps explain how rockets work.

The Most Astounding SPACE ADVENTURE of All Time!

Rocketship X-M (1950) was the second of the American science fiction feature films of the space adventure genre begun in the post-war era, in 1950. Set sometime in the future, the film details the first manned space flight to the moon. John Emery plays the head of the expedition, with Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, Hugh O’Brian and Noah Beery Jr. in the crew. Blown off its course by a meteor shower, Rocketship X-M misses the moon and lands on Mars instead (the Mars scenes were originally tinted pink). During an exploratory expedition, the crew finds evidence of a once-mighty civilization, evidently destroyed by atomic warfare. A savage band of surviving Martians attack the earthlings, killing two and wounding a third.

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