Lee Eisenberg Unlike most of the movies riffed on "Mystery Science Theater 3000", Kurt Neumann's "Rocketship X-M" is not completely idiotic. While clumsily made, it does contain a warning about the potential for nuclear war (which seems more possible than ever nowadays). When a manned mission flies to the moon, it gets diverted and ends up on Mars, which turns out to have its own story.All these old movies about space travel come across as silly in an era when there's already been a moon landing and there's an International Space Station, but they're still fun to watch. As for the MST3K riff of this movie, that episode was the first to feature TV's Frank. Joel, Servo (voiced by Kevin Murphy for the first time) and Crow have fun heckling the movie. Good times.Anyway, not any sort of masterpiece, but still enjoyable.PS: Kurt Neumann also directed the original version of "The Fly".

MartinHafer Apparently there was a 'space race' that most of us are unaware of, though in 1950 it was fast and furious. It seems that George Pal had announced a new picture (DESTINATION MOON) that would feature a moon landing and it was to be the first of many similar films made in the 1950s. However, when the makers of ROCKETSHIP X-M heard about this, they decided to rush this film into production and beat them to the punch, so to speak. However, the DESTINATION MOON people cried foul and so when ROCKETSHIP X-M was marketed, they were forced to include a proviso that it was not DESTINATION MOON. Well, I don't know how these films fared at the box office, but as far as quality goes Pal and the rest of the DESTINATION MOON people had little to worry about, as ROCKETSHIP X-M, though a decent film, wasn't nearly as well made or entertaining. It seems that although it was technically first, it certainly wasn't best. I can say this because I saw them one after another today--an interesting way to see these two milestone films.The biggest problem is that while ROCKETSHIP X-M wants to be taken as serious sci-fi, there are just too many elements in it that would soon be recognized as clichés. The most obvious was including a female crew member. This set the stage for a million and one sexist and silly remarks and while the film makers might have been trying to say something positive about women's rights, the crew member really came off as just another piece of meat. The second cliché is finding aliens on their mission, though in this case instead of either little green men or horny space babes (such as in QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE or CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON) they are very primitive and look human. They discover cave men on Mars who apparently like to smash things--including members of the crew. In fact, because the film had so many clichés, when the film was about half-way complete, I predicted to my wife who on the crew would die in what order and I was correct! I'm not THAT smart--the film was just that predictable.In addition to the clichés, the film makers didn't do a very good job of dealing with the scientific aspects of space travel. Part of this might have been ignorance (such as having small objects on the ship float in zero gravity but not bigger ones--as if that mattered) and much of it was probably due to their desire to rush it into production (no pressure suits or other protection when walking on Mars--despite the cold temperatures and pressure difference). This made the film come off as a bit cheap, but at least I was thrilled that inside the space ship it didn't look like a big empty room. It looked a bit more like a real space ship.Overall, the film is entertaining, offers a few mild thrills and abounds with predictability as well as a message that comes off as both preachy AND premature. After only walking about for a few minutes and not even exploring the Martian cities, the scientist among the crew announces that the Martians destroyed themselves with nuclear bombs and the people living like idiot cave people was the result. How did he know this?! And why did everyone just accept this so quickly? For die-hard fans of sci-fi like myself, this is a must-see because of its historical value and it is reasonably entertaining. Others might find it tough going.

chuck-reilly The pioneering 1950 sci-fi film "Rocket Ship X-M" was way ahead of its time in regards to its message and also in terms of serious dramatic content provided by an "outer space" movie. Considering the low budget (even for 1950) for this "B" movie, the cast is solid with Lloyd Bridges, Hugh O'Brien, Noah Beery Jr. and Osa Massen along for the ride. The plot seems simple enough; a spaceship lifts off for a mission to the moon with five astronauts aboard. During their flight, they encounter a severe meteor shower which violently pulls their craft out of its orbit and points them towards Mars instead. Of course, that scenario is slightly scientifically implausible in today's modern physics, but this is 1950 and anything's possible. After landing on the Red Planet, the astronauts discover the remnants of a technically advanced civilization that was far superior to anything ever developed back on Earth. The astronauts soon surmise that somehow the civilization destroyed itself, possibly by a nuclear war. What happens next is the crux of the film and lingers with viewers long after the final reel. There are survivors from Mars' past after all, but now they're nothing more than primitive cavemen. Frightened by these "intruders," they attack the astronauts and send them scurrying back to their ship. Dangerously low on fuel because of their long detoured journey to Mars, the astronauts blast off and attempt to return to Earth. But there's no happy ending for Rocket Ship X-M. This movie makes some obvious points about the Cold War atmosphere of the early 1950's and the constant threat of nuclear war. There's no question that the filmmakers wanted the audience to understand exactly how drastic things would change if something like that happened. Living as cavemen wouldn't be too far off the mark. Although this film has certainly dated since its release nearly sixty years ago, its message holds true today just the same as it did back in 1950. It wouldn't take much to send us all back to the Stone Age. So next time you vote for president...

huemannus With Rocketship XM, a trip to the moon is like a trip to the corner grocery. No need for any time consuming pre-flight preparations or complex calculations for a jaunt through thousands of miles of vacuum and titanic gravitational forces. Just review a chalk board drawing of the XM's easy-as-pie layout, joke around with the press, then saunter over to the launch pad with your crew a few minutes before departure. It might be a little chilly in outer space so wear your leather jackets. Unless good ole XM runs into a shower of crackerjacks, its supposed to be air tight, so helmets or other protective gear is optional. What a crazy trip it turned out to be. A twist of the dial here, a pull of the lever there, and a few pencil and paper miscalculations later, the XM makes an unscheduled U-turn to Mars. Space flight can be tricky and full of surprises for the unwary traveler. But what the heck. Since you're there, might as well hop down for a little scientific exploration. Mars ain't so bad after all but the air's a little thin. Better bring along your oxygen mask and a few weapons in case you run into a little trouble with the local natives who have devolved into sickly cavemen after toasting their planet with nukes.On the way back be sure to warn the worried folks back home what can happen if they play around with nukes and ask them to be understanding about the mess you're going to make out of XM because your side trip to Mars used too much fuel. Happy smack down.