blitzebill

A classic entry in the Sci-fi genre from the '50s.

As with other films from this era, like The Day the Earth Stood Still 2 years earlier, Invaders tries in its own way to stop Earth from launching beyond its own atmosphere.

But was it an attempt to take over Earth for its own uses? I'm not sure or convinced of that.

But it's interesting in one important way: As the astronomer Dr. Kelston explains to Jimmy and Dr. Blake the present and future of space travel, you hear basically the goals and aspirations of the US space program at that point in time. Werner Von Braun had already established himself as the new voice of Man In Space (see the Disney features from 1955 for more on Braun and rocketry).

Von Braun had shared his visions with just about everyone around the world by 1953, the date of this film, and Dr. Kelston reiterates Von Braun's space philosophy. This of course reinforces the American plan to conquer space for peaceful purposes, mostly peaceful anyway for Von Braun.

Surely, audiences had heard Von Braun speak and read his writings, so Dr. Kelston's speech must have sounded familiar to the audience.

Is hilarious, but fits Shatner's character quite well. Billy's performance made this episode worth watching, due to his usual over the top melodramatic antics.

I've been watching all the episodes of Columbo once a week since forever on Peacock and it's fascinating to see how he aged in both his physical and acting aspects. This one still has the little tune of "this ol' man" playing in the background when he's at work on a particular focus of his investigation.

The plot is not quite as good as earlier episodes, but the clever twists of the villain make it fun.

The biggest part was of course Shatner, but wait there's more: Go find a film noir titled "The Big Clock" from 1948. It stars the famous Charles Laughton. As "Butterfly" opens with Shatner, I immediately saw Laughton in his demeanor, right down to the moustache! Was Billy Shatner mimicking Laughton? They both acted in the same dramatic fashion in their respective roles in their films. Maybe Shatner was paying homage.

As Spock would say..."Fascinating."

After watching the first season and the first 2 eps of the 2nd, I am done with this bore.

It's a great example of modern TV: cliched, dull, predictable...and not funny.

How this mess won any awards is beyond me. Current TV trends are in the dumpster and generating a huge fire within it.

No wonder I stick to PBS.