Destination Space

Although John Agar is the nominal star of this unsold TV pilot the bulk of the exposition goes to Harry Townes - who like most of the cast is more familiar for his work in television than in films - although the real stars are easily the special effects crew who created the wheel in space for 'Conquest of Space' which Paramount are here trying to squeeze a bit more money out of under the direction of future 'Star Trek' director Joseph Pevney.

The virtue of 'Destination Space' is that it's much sorter, it's vice being that it's in black & white rather than colour. Most of the plot actually takes place on Earth where the endless haggling with politicians over costs is probably the most accurate prediction that it makes.

Destination Space appears to have been a pilot for a CBS TV series. You can tell it was a pilot as the end of the 'movie' leaves things unanswered. John Agar is wasted here and Agar Sci Fi fans will be disappointed. John shows emotion late in the film by breaking a pencil (Whoo Hoo!).

Majority of the film is the main character trying to convince the powers that be to try another rocket launch (zzzz). When he finally convinces them, they try again and have to abort. Can you imagine a series where each week they try and fail to launch the rocket? Neither could CBS.

I was in grade school when Men Into Space ran. It was great. Destination Space was another spin off of the ZIV pioneering series using elements and effects from George Pal's Conquest of Space. After 60 years cut it some slack please.

By the way Jim Schulke was a producer. If your parents listened to beautiful music in the late 60s then it was likely a FM station Jim programed with his Stereo Radio Productions service.

I worked in radio in the early 70s for the competitor Bonneville

SCI Fi and beautiful music, a glorious combination!

I met Jim at a broadcast convention and asked if he was the same and yes!

A penurious Senator needs to be shown that an orbiting space-station is essential to national security and the future of space exploration. This TV-movie is believed to be a failed CBS pilot for a 'realistic' science fiction series (similar to 'Men into Space'). Most of the special effects are recycled from the 'hard' science-fiction film 'Conquest of Space' (1955) and are great of examples of what 'serious' predictors thought space-travel would look like in the ensuing decades. A bit predicable but not bad and, as one of the stars is the ubiquitous B-movie thesp John Agar, a must see for some people (but if you are only interested in the visuals, dig up the old movie instead).

For one thing - I'd definitely say that (at 50 minutes) the running time of "Destination Space" (from 1959) was way-way-way too long for its own good.

From its super-dry story-telling, to its slow-moving action - This low-budget SyFy production (that featured some very laughable old-school visual effects) was clearly a product of its time.

And, yes - With that in mind - I honestly did try to cut "Destination Space" some serious slack. But, unfortunately, the overall monotony of this b&w presentation just couldn't hold my undivided attention (nor my enthusiasm) for more than but a few brief moments at a time.