Over the course of several decades, scientific fact has overtaken science fiction as humankind's understanding of the universe has expanded. Mirroring this development, the cinematic depictions of space exploration over the last century have evolved from whimsical sci-fi fantasies to more fact-based portrayals. This book chronologically examines 75 films that depict voyages into outer space and offers the historical, cultural, and scientific context of each. These films range from Georges Melies' fantastical A Trip to the Moon to speculative science fiction works such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, and Contact, and fact-based accounts of actual space missions as depicted in The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, Salyut 7 and First Man. Each film is analyzed not only in terms of its direction, screenplay, and other cinematic aspects but also its scientific and historical accuracy. The works of acclaimed directors, including Fritz Lang, George Pal, Stanley Kubrick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Robert Wise, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, Ridley Scott, and Christopher Nolan, are accorded special attention for their memorable contributions to this vital and evolving subgenre of science fiction film.

In sharp contrast to many 1960s science fiction films, with idealized views of space exploration, Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) terrified audiences, depicting a harrowing and doomed deep-space mission. The Alien films launched a new generation of horror set in the great unknown, inspiring filmmakers to take Earth-bound franchises like Leprechaun and Friday the 13th into space. This collection of new essays examines the space horror subgenre, with a focus on such films as Paul W.S. Anderson's Event Horizon, Duncan Jones' Moon, Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires and John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. Contributors discuss how filmmakers explored the concepts of the final girl/survivor, the uncanny valley, the isolationism of space travel, religion and supernatural phenomena.

While the first few films about space travel-primarily those by George Pal- were relatively serious and full of good intentions to get it right, the prime sources of inspiration for most of the films of the 1950s and early '60s-the first sci-fi boom-were not so much austere scientific journals and speculative studies, but rather the mad, bad pulp magazines of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. These glorious mind-meddlers had already inspired movie serials and comic books of the same period, from Republic, Columbia, and Universal in the movie houses to EC, DC, and Atlas (later Marvel) on the newsstands. Feature films followed much the same pattern, and so, well-meaning trying-to-be-intelligent fare like Destination: Moon and Conquest of Space gradually gave way to more brainless frolics such as Cat-Women of the Moon and The Angry Red Planet. But there was room for both, and a market for both. This book looks in detail at space travel films of the '50s in chronological order, from the relatively sober but hilariously dated Destination: Moon and Rocketship X-M to the B-movie insanity of Cat Women of the Moon and Queen of Outer Space. Along the way, we'll take a Flight to Mars, see what happens When Worlds Collide, visit the Forbidden Planet, find out what so aggravated The Angry Red Planet, and witness humankind's Conquest of Space. The book also includes the lowbrow parodies of Abbott And Costello and the Three Stooges, the less disreputable Trek-like World Without End and It, the Terror from Beyond Space, the film that inspired the Alien and Predator genre. Plus Missile to the Moon, The Phantom Planet, and 1964's First Men in the Moon. Also includes a brief cover gallery of books and magazines of the era, and a photo feature of space travel on TV during that period. Not bad for the price of a couple of magazines! Jon Abbott has been writing about film and television professionally for nearly forty years. He has contributed to most of the major sci-fi magazines in that time. He is the author of numerous books on popular culture, including the highly regarded Cool TV series. He currently writes for Infinity magazine. In the previous three titles in this series, which can be enjoyed individually or as a set, we looked at the creatures who came here... or who were already here and got defrosted, mutated, or irradiated! This final volume deals with our efforts to Go There... So brace yourself, buckle up, ray guns at the ready, fish bowls on your heads, and don't forget to take a packet of three for all those delightful space babes you're going to encounter in this, the fourth and final of our studies of 1950s sci-fi movies...

A journey through the otherworldly science behind Christopher Nolan’s award-winning film, Interstellar, from executive producer and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne. Interstellar, from acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, takes us on a fantastic voyage far beyond our solar system. Yet in The Science of Interstellar, Kip Thorne, the Nobel prize-winning physicist who assisted Nolan on the scientific aspects of Interstellar, shows us that the movie’s jaw-dropping events and stunning, never-before-attempted visuals are grounded in real science. Thorne shares his experiences working as the science adviser on the film and then moves on to the science itself. In chapters on wormholes, black holes, interstellar travel, and much more, Thorne’s scientific insights—many of them triggered during the actual scripting and shooting of Interstellar—describe the physical laws that govern our universe and the truly astounding phenomena that those laws make possible. Interstellar and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s14).

This is the first comprehensive exploration of the role played by film and television systems in enabling these feats of interplanetary exploration to be witnessed by audiences of hundreds of millions of people.