Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us

I was quite amazed when I watched this film, as the producers were able to assemble several amazingly important "heavyweights" from the film industry to talk about 50s sci-fi as clips are shown. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Ridley Scott all were interviewed and Mark Hamill narrated. Listening to their insights and recollections concerning these films was indeed interesting to a sci-fi fan like myself and I sure liked the clips. However, I felt that the show lacked pizazz and tended to be a bit too cerebral at times. I would have preferred a more comprehensive show--one that showed a broader spectrum of movies--including the bad ones, not just a few famous or seminal ones. Because of this, the special just wasn't as entertaining as it might have been. Interesting, yes--fun, not especially.

Despite the previous reviewer's screed, this is a well paced and interesting documentary with lots of clips from classic 1950s sci-fi films that influenced Spielberg, Lucas and others in their more recent efforts. I agree that Spielberg's films aren't even in the same league as the films discussed here, such as William Cameron Menzies' brilliant INVADERS FROM MARS, to name just one of the many titles examined, but this is still a remarkably good overview of 1950s paranoid sci-fi. Yes, it turns into a commercial for the tepid remake of WAR OF THE WORLDS during the last fifteen minutes; you can turn that off. The rest is surprisingly good, and it's nice to see contemporary filmmakers remember the films that inspired them, even if they can't begin to match the originals.

There are few things in life that allow you to crease the world without consequence. In the world of movies, those consequences can be profound.

Take Spielberg, a moderately talented filmmaker who eschews originality and insight, instead trusts an extraordinary intuition about what people like. Or think they like. Or can be fooled into liking with a several hundred million dollar promotion budget.

This is part of that promotion, a fake documentary about science fiction movies with a commercial for Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," tacked on a the end. The "history" here is his own version of what happened in the genre, which naturally enough starts when he started watching movies.

So we get a story about science fiction movies from an accomplished storyteller with a selfish purpose. And it is nearly all wrong. I hope this is enough to warn you away from this travesty. It is bad enough that he peppers us with vulgar movies (yes, even the nobly themed "Schindler"); but it is beyond the pale for him to reinvent the history of cinema to suit himself.

Science fiction goes all the way back to the invention of movies (and of course before that in literature). The core notion has always been with us: we enter the world of film to see another world. So far as films about the future and/or space, that element of the genre was fully mature by the end of the 30s and reached its peak in "Forbidden Planet" of 1956.

After that, the genre was reimagined to host technological thrills either in the story or in the effects brazenly displayed. Scott (shown here with the briefest of comments) added horror with "Alien" and improved on the self-reference of "Planet" with "Bladerunner."

All this without the meddling of Mr Dreamworks. Bah.

Incidentally,Spielberg's one really good film ("Close Encounters") is a French New Wave project about movie-making only wrapped in sci-fi like the French (and now the Hong Kongers) like to wrap in the gangster genre. Never was, even by him at the time, considered sci-fi.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Directors Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott and James Cameron discuss the science fiction movies of the 1950s that influenced them.

This is an interesting short documentary, now featured on the Blu-ray for "Forbidden Planet" (with Spielberg joking that Robby the Robot influenced C3PO). We get a broad range of science fiction films from the 1950s, with some much better known than others, and four of the most successful science fiction directors discussing them.

I was frankly impressed how well the directors knew these films, with their casts and plot and special effects. Usually only Martin Scorsese seems to have this kind of recall. Either the interviewees were prepped, or they truly love these films and were deeply influenced by them. I prefer to accept the latter.

"Watch the Skies" (2005 - 60 minutes) is an excellent documentary about movies of Science Fiction. It was produced and directed by the critic Richard Schickel, author of more than 20 books on this theme. Mark Hamill is the documentary narrator. Schickel joins directors as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, George Lucas and Ridley Scott to carry through a trip in time and space to show some of the most memorable science fiction movies of the fifties and also some more recent classics. The documentary shows six different approaches: The paranoia of the atomic war; The fantastic trips to the Moon; The enigmatic planet Mars; Good and evil aliens; The after-apocalyptic world; and The humanity future. It presents comments and scenes of the following classics: The Flying Saucers, Rocketship XM, Destination Moon, The Space Children, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, A Trip to the Moon, The Angry Red Planet, Forbidden Planet, The Thing From Another World, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, I Married a Monster from Outer Space, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Blob, The War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, ET: The Extra Terrestrial, The Omega Man, The Planet of the Apes, The Terminator, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Things To Come and Metropolis. Highly recommended to Science Fiction fans!