Rocketship X-M

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Recycled IN SPACE!"

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Four men and one woman hold a hasty press conference before blasting off into space in the RXM (Rocketship Expedition Moon). But a miscalculation in the fuel mixture sends the RXM hurtling off at tremendous velocity, knocking the crew unconscious. Upon waking they discover they're near the planet Mars. Deciding they might as well explore that planet instead, the crew land to discover the remnants of an alien culture literally "bombed back to the Stone Age" after a nuclear war.

In 1949 Hollywood was abuzz with the news of George Pal's upcoming Destination Moon. Taking advantage of the movie's long production time (due to its extensive special effects), exploitation studio Lippert Productions decided to beat them to the cinemas. The result was Rocketship X-M (AKA Expedition Moon and Rocketship XM-1) filmed in only eighteen days. It shows. While competently written and directed by Kurt Neumann, the movie contains moments of Fridge Logic, Hollywood Science and Special Effects Failure.

For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, please go to the episode recap page.

Nevertheless Rocketship X-M was a great success at the box office and has garnered some staunch fans over the years. One of them -- producer Wade Williams -- spent six years tracking down a fine grain print of the film which he then restored, even reshooting some of the scenes with special effects models and doubles of the original actors.

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Rocketship X-M includes examples of:

• After the End: Mars
• All Planets Are Earthlike: Averted in that California's Death Valley doubles for Mars, which is actually quite similar (NASA tested some of its Mars equipment there). But apparently war-surplus jumpsuits and oxygen masks are all you need to walk around on the surface.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Dr Lisa Van Horn eventually falls into the arms of handsome pilot Floyd Graham, though only at the point of imminent death.
• Deus Ex Machina: None of the plot contrivances would work otherwise. Heavily lampshaded, as various characters question whether God actually is interfering in the mission.

Eckstrom: "Unbelievable...it couldn't be mere chance! I don't quite know how to tell you it's so...if I could have even dreamed that an incredible set of circumstances, each precisely and exactly timed...would carry us unerringly though space to our most congenial planetary neighbour, Mars..."

• • Averted at the return attempt, however.
• Developing Doomed Characters: The press conference scene before the launch; takes less time than Destination Moon, but they had Woody Woodpecker.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Even for a Golden Age Retro Rocket, the RXM looks unusually phallic.
• Dueling Movies: And not just at the box office -- contrast the anti-nuclear Aesop of this movie with the pro-nuclear theme of Destination Moon.
  • To the point that, as noted below, the ship only misses the moon because of a nasty letter sent to this movie's producers.
• Five-Man Band: Standard B-Movie cast with a serious older guy, a cocky handsome Ace Pilot, a shy handsome guy, the Broadly Accented Comic Relief, and The Chick.
• Hollywood Science: Glaringly obvious when compared to its rival Destination Moon. Rather than using advisors of the calibre of Robert A. Heinlein and Chesley Bonestell, scriptwriter Kurt Neumann took his information from a 1949 Life magazine article which itself contained several scientific errors.
• Interplanetary Voyage
• Kill'Em All: Several expedition members are killed by the Martians. The remainder return to Earth only to have their rocketship crash because they've no fuel to land, or even put themselves into orbit.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: To avoid being sued by George Pal this Moon expedition goes to Mars instead. What the hell -- it's only 50 million miles away! The journey from Earth orbit to Mars takes days instead of months and they still have enough fuel, water, oxygen and food to make it most of the way back.
• Sound in Space: The obligatory meteor shower goes roaring past the rocketship.
• Space Friction: Apparently when the engines stop in space, you're stranded and can't move.
• Splash of Color: Although filmed in B&W, scenes on The Red Planet were given a red-tint, an effect restored by Wade Williams for the DVD release.