To quote the great Sun Ra, "space is the place" at KPR's next Virtual Cinema a Go-Go, when we serve up a couple of interplanetary adventures on June 9 at 7 p.m. Reserve your virtual ticket here.
The year is 2116. An intrepid newspaper reporter (wait, there are still newspapers in 2116?) heads into space to write a story aboard a space station. Tension mounts when an abandoned spacecraft, Alpha Two, enters the solar system and its photon generators are radiating enough heat to destroy Earth!
That's plot in a nutshell for Assignment: Outer Space (1961), Italy's first attempt at a cinematic outer space adventure. The special effects are about what you'd expect for a film of this budget - you'll see lots of flame-belching rockets lurching through space and crashing into planets, while the astronauts aboard spaceship Bravo Zulu 88 waste time on a ridiculous love triangle and other escapades.
Our second feature is an episode from The Lost Planet (1953), a spectacularly wacky cliffhanger serial about a nutty scientist who takes over the distant planet Ergo (uh, come again?) and now sets his sights on conquering the universe. It's up to reporter Rex Barrow and his friends to save the day.
This one's crammed with goofy sci-fi gadgets like the Axial Propeller, the Thermic Disintegrator and the Prysmic Catapult...and the hapless actors must've had a hard time keeping a straight face trying to speak all the pseudo-scientific gibberish.
Admission at Virtual Cinema a Go Go is absolutely FREE but you'll need to register in advance below.
Pop some popcorn and grab your Prysmic Catapult for when we visit YOUR screen!
