A little while back I stumbled across a 1929 German silent film called Die Frau Im Mond (The Woman In The Moon). It was a revelation. The main female character was a scientist, not just a pretty airhead along for decoration, and the details of the rocket flight were astonishingly familiar. Far closer to the real life rockets of the 1960s than most science fiction films of the 50s ever got.
I wondered why I’d never heard of this movie before. Turns out Fritz Lang (of Metropolis fame) consulted a rocket scientist named Hermann Oberth to get the details right. The Nazis started working on their V-2 rocket in the 30s and pulled all copies from circulation in 1933 to prevent details becoming well known to any other countries that might be working on a rocket program.
Goat over 4 years ago
The 2nd panel was a bit inaccurate: while Leigh Brackett wrote the original script for The Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas rewrote it in 1978.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empire_Strikes_Back#Writing
Auntie Socialist over 4 years ago
…so the NBC executives in 1965 were right after all. “Don’t make it too cerebral; be sure to put enough mindless action to keep them tuned in!”
Sigh…
Nuliajuk over 4 years ago
A little while back I stumbled across a 1929 German silent film called Die Frau Im Mond (The Woman In The Moon). It was a revelation. The main female character was a scientist, not just a pretty airhead along for decoration, and the details of the rocket flight were astonishingly familiar. Far closer to the real life rockets of the 1960s than most science fiction films of the 50s ever got.
I wondered why I’d never heard of this movie before. Turns out Fritz Lang (of Metropolis fame) consulted a rocket scientist named Hermann Oberth to get the details right. The Nazis started working on their V-2 rocket in the 30s and pulled all copies from circulation in 1933 to prevent details becoming well known to any other countries that might be working on a rocket program.
PoodleGroomer over 4 years ago
Star Trek had its stirred jar of water with glitter.
ChessPirate over 4 years ago
Luke Skywalker did come out of retirement… ☺