PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

George Taylor The USAF is planning a trip to Mars. While this has some beautiful visuals, once they're on the way, the usual stuff happens. One guy gets killed during EVA, the Colonel (one of the characters fathers) becomes a religious nut who nearly kills them all, and this version of Mars is way off. (For a better version see Robinson Crusoe on Mars), but it's still worth seeing. I can only wonder what Pal would have done with an A budget.

MartinHafer During the 1950s, Hollywood made a ton of films about voyages to the Moon or Mars. Most of these films look very quaint and old fashioned when seen today, but you must allow for the fact that they simply couldn't produce the grand special effects we take for granted in more modern films. Plus, while the way the trips occur seem pretty strange compared to the actual moon landings, you must also allow that back in the 1950s it was still all speculation--they simply didn't know better about many of the important aspects of such a journey.However, despite some very old fashioned ideas about such a voyage, CONQUEST OF SPACE is a very good film for its day. Much of this is because unlike most of the other films of the genre, this one does not use stock clips of old V-2 launches and features all original rocket and space shots. Sure, the models in this production are a bit on the cheesy side, but you can tell they at least tried to get it right. In particular, what I founds interesting is that they used a space shuttle-like craft to go to Mars--not a more traditional rocket.The film was also interesting because instead of the traditional bug-eyed monsters or malevolent external forces like some films employed, the big nemesis of this film is space fatigue and mental illness caused by this exhaustion. The only negative about this was later in the film when the general obviously was insane due to these effects and yet his best friend so doggedly refused to admit it--even when the guy did everything but put on a hat and declare that he was Napoleon!! The only other thing that bothered me about the film is that like some of these types of films, there was a crazy notion that the film needed a comic relief crew member (Siegel). While not an uncommon plot device, you'd sure think that the Earth with its billions of people would have someone better and smarter than him!! Overall, an excellent film for people like me who like this genre, though I can pretty safely assume that many people today would not be particularly interested in the film. It's a shame, as it's an interesting glimpse into the 1950s.

Edward E. Pringle Warning: Spoilers ahead...This film contains some amazing predictions: The movie was written in 1953, filmed in 1954, and released in the spring of 1955. The time setting of the story is, I believe, the mid-1980s or early 1990s. The older Americans on the station are veterans of a war fought (in their past, our future): in "Indo-China" (Vietnam).One of NASA's greatest concerns, as they plan the Mars expedition, is how to prevent tensions among the crew from escalating to the point of physical violence, or worse. The time line, 8 months to get there, and another 8 months for the flight back, plus many months of time spent on the surface present one of the biggest problems that they face -- and who's "solutions" are not guaranteed.Mars is shown as containing liquid water, which is probably true."The Wheel" has an international crew.

sowr In the days before Yuri orbited the World, or Neil bounced on the Moon, or Spirit and Opportunity rovered across Mars, everyone wondered what if? Werner and Chesley painted wondrous images of places and machines yet to be built. This film comes from this era. The scenes on orbit (Earth) of the wheel and the spaceship evoke a true sense of childlike wonder, and while the Greek tragedy of the father and son is a little silly, the depictions of the technology and landscape are very good for their time. Ironically this film with its primitive effects is more scientifically accurate and visually compelling than modern space operas.One critic said that it was ahead of its time but behind ours, I'd like to remind the writer of those words that in CoS, they walk on Mars in 1980...we'll be lucky if get there by 2020, looks like we're at least 40 years behind.