To the Galaxy and Beyond

The birth of the 20th "century of progress," also coincided with the rise of the American movie industry, so it seemed natural that science fiction tales would fit into the Hollywood mix. Hosted by Star Wars alumni Mark Hamill, To the Galaxy and Beyond is loaded with well-selected and edited clips from this century's most popular science fiction films, both landmarks and stinkers, though all seemed to reflect the hopes and fears of their time. For example, an enthusiasm for Jules Verne led to Georges Melies' "A Trip to the Moon" (1902), which envisioned lunar exploration, while the '20s and '30s produced a few visionary classics such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis and H.G. Wells' Things to Come, but Depression-weary audiences flocked to the 1930 talkie Just Imagine, which depicted dancing girls on Mars. Except for some mad scientist flicks and Flash Gordon serials, World War II audiences mostly ignored science fiction, but the atomic bomb, the Cold War "Red Scare," and the flying saucer craze quickly brought sci-fi back to the fore, particularly after a postwar drive-in movie boom created a demand for low-budget, low-quality creature features (although The Day the Earth Stood Still, Them, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers are among the classics from the period). Science fiction really came of age in the late '60s with films such as Planet of the Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey, with the latter--as one fan notes here--creating a "brand new roadmap" for the genre, one that would eventually lead to Star Wars (a winning blend of good-natured optimism, New Age philosophy, and Flash Gordon-like action scenes), a seminal film that packed theaters and created new markets for special effects movies. In spite of the recent quantum leap in technical innovations and computer generated images, however, the program wisely notes that the most successful films continue to present characters and stories that audiences care about. From makeshift monsters to digital dinosaurs, this is a smartly-made movie lover's feast. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (S. Rees)