All but one of the four films on TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Sci-Fi Adventures builds its story on misadventure sprung from the atomic bomb. Man's folly in pushing the scientific envelope comes up again and again, explicitly through the films. Monsters may be the immediate object of everyone's terror, but the larger monster depicted is always man and his runaway science. After all, the bomb tests in New Mexico create giant ants ("Them!") threatening the entire planet unless they can be completely eradicated. Scientific testing gone wrong puts two space crews in peril for the duration of "World Without End" and "Satellite In The Sky." Lois Maxwell, who film buffs will recognize as the girl that grew up to play Miss Moneypenny for most of the James Bond films, acts as the voice of scientific skepticism during "Satellite In The Sky." This is a common perspective, often represented by an authority figure during these films. If it weren't apparent that things have gone haywire because man's scientific reach has exceeded his grasp, these characters spell it out for the audience. This subtext blossomed later with the cold war, when we all felt the nukes pointing at us and perpetually hanging over our heads. The characters in these films have actual nukes to deal with, but also grapple with time travel ("World Without End") and giant beasts. We can't decide which is worse, finding out that giant beasts are threatening mankind or going forward 100 years to find out that giant beasts have essentially taken over...
The special effects here may seem primitive by comparison to today's standards, but each of these films creates an impressive mood using what was available at the time. Rather than green-screen, they used painted backgrounds. Models and miniatures took the place of computer animation, and post processing wasn't available to put fancy effects on spaceships. If you wanted to make something look like it was blasting off in the '50s, you pretty much had to set it on fire! "Them!" and "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" are black-and-white productions, while the others are in color. Ironically, the black-and-white films have even more punch in the effects' department than their color counterparts. Classic film buffs will appreciate the scattered specials thrown in around the four films, such as a collection of features showing some archive footage and "making of" shorts. Fans of the Three Stooges films may find it interesting to see Director Ed Bernds' name listed with "World Without End," since he otherwise spent the bulk of his career directing the Stooges. There aren't a slew of star directors or actors in these films, but they marked some watershed moments in their respective genres. Adventure and sci-fi films owe much to the accomplishments in films like these, and you may be surprised how familiar the devices used to build mood 60 years ago were to how directors today get you on the edge of your seat. TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Sci-Fi Adventures is too diverse to be a definitive sci-fi or monster flick compilation, but it has four great reference points for fans of those genres looking to build their collection.
