The Day the Earth Stood Still: Klaatu's Ultimatum
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
Release Date: 09/29/2024
On the Beach: Atomic Apocalypse in 1959
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! Trigger warning for a lot of discussion of suicide with analysis of the plot along with a side of dark humour. If you would like to support the podcast and get ad free versions you can subscribe for $3 or £3 a month at You can follow the podcast on , and . If you want to watch the film before you listen you can check the Just Watch website to see where it is available in your region. On the Beach is available online to buy and rent from Apple and other sources in many places. I can’t believe I am almost done and dusted with this...
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The World, the Flesh and the Devil: Harry Belafonte, Race and Apocalypse
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As usual there are spoilers ahead!
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Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* If you would like to support the podcast and get ad free versions you can subscribe for $3 or £3 a month at https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* You can find the podcast on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. In 1992 Ishiro Honda sat down for his info_outline
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* You can find the podcast on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* As usual there are spoilers ahead! Somewhere in the late 1950s society began to come to terms with the idea of the teenager. Teens were heading to the cinema leaving younger siblings and parents at home. The Blob (1958) isn‘t a tale of rebellion or film warning about teenage delinquency but a thoroughly enjoyable time with a catchy theme tune. I have two wonderful guests to help us unravel this classic 1950s sci-fi. The Experts Roger Luckhurst is a Professor at Bi Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* For this bonus episode I’ve teamed up with the excellent History Daily podcast. Very exciting! History Daily tells fascinating stories of what happened “on this day” in history with a new episode every weekday. The early 1950s in the USA stand out as not just a time of economic prosperity but also one of paranoia. The country faced the fear of the atomic bomb, the Red Scare and a moral panic around juvenile delinquency. (Teenagers were new and unpredictable!) During this Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* You can find the podcast on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. The Worst Film of All Time by The Worst Director of All Time. So claimed the 1980 book The Golden Turkey Awards by Michael and Harry Medved regarding the film Plan 9 from Outer Space and director Edward Wood Jr AKA Ed Wood. But this very title is one of the Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* As usual there are spoilers ahead! I would love to know what you make of the ending of this film if you watched it. Best place to do that is on social media. Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.&nb Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* As usual there are spoilers ahead! Forbidden Planet (1956) is a somewhat overlooked 50s classic. Although it often fails to make lists of the greatest sci-fi films of all time it has come across often in my written research and when 
I Married a Monster from Outer Space was released as part of a double bill (with The Blob) in 1958. The story focuses on newlywed couple Marge and Bill Farrell but unbeknownst to his new bride and the whole town Bill has been replaced by an alien on the eve of th
As usual there are spoilers ahead!
If you want to read the full show notes you can click the episode on this page and scroll down.
The Day the earth Stood Still was released in 1951 just like The Thing from Another World. And just like that film The Day the Earth Stood Still is based on a story from Astounding Science Fiction magazine.
The flying saucer craze of 1947 has obviously made its impression on Hollywood and The Day the Earth Stood Still delivered a seamless sleek futuristic saucer along with an imposing shiny robot and a polite humanoid alien who comes in peace to deliver an ultimatum to a world wrangling with the atomic age.
The Experts:
Glyn Morgan is Curatorial Lead at the Science Museum in London and is a science fiction scholar.
Peter Gottschalk is a Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University with a special interest in the South Asian region, empire and science. He also teaches a class called “Awesome Cinema”.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the show and guests
02:22 Astounding magazine, The Manhattan project and the Peace Offensive
5:55 From pulps to peace: Sci-fi amid the red scare
11:28 The Flying Saucer
14:00 A benevolent invader and the United Nations
19:39 Gort the robot - Klaatu, Barada Nikto!
25:55 The sane scientist
29:06 Christian themes
34:36 Media frenzy
38:24 The 2008 remake
42:44 Bernard Hermann’s seminal score
44:06 Legacy and recommendations
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be taking a closer look at The War of the Worlds (1953). You can check Just Watch to find out where it can be found in your region. It is available to buy or rent at many outlets including Apple TV.
If you wanted to listen to the famous 1938 radio play from Orson Welles you can hear it here on YouTube.
And if you want to hear Richard Burton’s hypnotic reverberating voice in Jeff Wayne’s Musical version of War of the Worlds you can hear that here on YouTube.
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