DESTINATION SPACE. 1959 Unsold Sci-Fi Pilot Film w/ John Agar & Edward Platt from Get Smart.

This pilot was produced by CBS in 1959 but unfortunately it never materialized into a series. Features veteran actor Harry Townes, John Agar and Edward Platt from Get Smart. This film entered the public domain in 1987 from lack of copyright renewal.

[@Quasatoad]

Another obscurity scratched off my "To See" list. Thanks very much!

[@arkincousin]

Senator Royce,played by Robert Cornwaithe,was also the scientist in the original "Thing From Another World"(The Thing). Lots of familiar tv faces in this pilot. Pretty impressive!

[@MrGchiasson]

The earth orbiting space station and rocket-plane...straight out of 'Colliers magazine'..Werner Von Braun did a big mag' special..,his vision of space flight.

[@WakandaBabe]

Cecil Kellaway was a remarkable character actor. Was in many classic movies of the 1930s through the 1960s including 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'.

[@ZenZaBill]

Not bad for 1959. I've seen every B-grade sci-fi movie there was from the 50s and 60s growing up, and this isn't bad. Primitive effects, smoking during dinner, yep - 1959. And I noted it was directed by Joseph Pevney, who directed a lot of the original Star Trek episodes. And I noticed the two rocket scientists, who were part of an underground in the episode "Return of the Archons." Let not Landru find you are not of 'The Body!"

[@ewaf88]

One of the scientists - Jon Lormer - was also in the Star Trek pilot ' 'The Cage' uncredited though

[@wallys11000]

Right, there's a lot of known actors in this. One of the better sci fi for my husband and I to watch over pizza tonight.... 1959...a good year. :)

[@chrisking3849]

Nice they were able to wear their suit and ties on the space station. talk about low budget movie. I liked it.

[@sarasarah1810]

Jolly good....jolly good indeed.🐈🙋👍 Tyvm for sharing..

[@TheSpelldoctor]

Hmm... I've never seen this one before. We needed this speech back in the 70's for Apollo. Cool!

[@gavin8tor]

So Many recognizable actors... different times :)

[@charlottewhyte9804]

love these old space series the best for sure

[@vincentmorgan8743]

I remember watching this each week at 10 years old loved it and very real even the back ground audio was cool; watching it today I,am blown away how well it holds up .

[@TheMrFarkle]

Quite a line-up of familiar character actors.

[@jmcenanly1]

There was a similar series called Men into Space, starring William Lundigan, at about the same time, on the same network. It ran for 38 episodes and managed to presage such events as Gemini 8 and Apollo 13, although the latter occurred on a flight to Mars.

[@TheNimus777]

This looks great, love the acting; wish they would have actually produced this series. I'm kind of surprised that today, since we actually have a real space station, they don't have a show like this. I agree with other commenters, that it wouldn't be nearly as well acted today, but would still be interesting.

[@ilovecoffee12]

You're right, what a difference it makes, having almost A-list actors and direction in a B-movie.

[@wandaburns7064]

Good to see Cecil Kellaway in this. Remember him from Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, one of the first 'monster' flicks I saw as a kid.

[@fastfeet31]

Man ya just gotta love them 50'S Sci-Fi movies, did you happen to see how many buttons the guys in the background were pushing from 7:05 to around 8:12 and that was just to shut it off.... lol and also good old MaBell to call HQ from the Ship BEBE...... Cant thank you enough for uploading these Great B-Movies! Thx Lou

[@Klingon-pp4fv]

they make it look easy to move around in those Michelin Man space suits .

[@DesiluTrek]

Solid actor Harry Townes starred in the very first episode of "The Fugitive" as a cop menacing Dr. Kimble, and is recognizable to "Star Trek" fans from the first season episode "Return of the Archons" as the fearful leader of the underground.

[@deriter64]

Well spotted. The late Harry Townes had a long a career going back to the so called Golden Age of television before becoming a clergyman. One of my favorite of his performances is in Tail To The Wind, a half hour Gunsmoke, in which he plays a peaceful farmer who comes up with a unique solution to deal with bullies. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

[@pallen49]

I recognize the doc as Mr Wickwire...from the old twilight zone. Episode call '' Elegy ''. He was the robotic caretaker of the '' Happy Glades ''....lol

[@floydroadheroes]

I waited forever to see the Chief of Control.... was getting anxious then wonderfully he appears in a key role. Professor Parker or Windish? from Get Smart was also in this as well as some other well known faces.... Nice to watch!

[@billworkgoggle]

Well done production owes much to other Paramount production such as the Conquest of Space! Good cast and intelligent script ! 0verall good production values almost movie like!

[@hoser20000]

I love the star wars look of the ending credits. Would have been a good show.

[@CosmeticsBeautyAndMaturity2nd]

This movie was advanced and interesting for its time, the year I was born. Reminds me of the "Electric Light Orchestra "Album Cover with the space station from back in the late 70s. From reading some if the comments how many of these were made?

[@Klingon-pp4fv]

31:09 The Chief of " Control " ( with a full head of hair ) and Boss of agents 86 & 99 on " Get Smart " .

[@gordonwiessner6327]

Edward Platt, the Chief from Get Smart.

[@drcurv]

An excellent and enjoyable sci-fi film. They certainly took a lot of trouble in production to make the space station believable from the audience's viewpoint. My only quibble - pushing an astronaut in the back to get them from the docking platform on the rocket over to the space station? wth? Too bad if he goes off in the wrong direction, not having any manoeuvring packs on his spacesuit!

[@g.h.1472]

The future of the space station an whats cool is we do have a one now. An its so much more...just think if this did happen with who we have now. In space with the station in place.

[@MrHawksby]

My idea of space travel came from this and other similar movies and TV shows- I was 12 or so. - this was the station and spaceship from disney's space animated films

[@Bill23799]

Actually the space ship and the station were taken directly from the George Pal film " Conquest of Space ".

[@TheWoodeezz]

There's a lot of "Twilight-Zoners" in this movie!!

[@Bettyfan92614]

Harry Townes appeared in the Men into Space episode "Lost Missile."

[@nathanshinder5314]

That theme music! Inspiring! LOL...

[@robertallen4627]

I can see why this one wasn't picked up. They could have cut 2/3's on this show and it would have been a lot more interesting.

[@michaelflores5286]

Interesting how they had a " space station " 60 plus years ago in a story line that mirrors today's, ISS . . .

[@wesseavey]

55 years ago actually, ...in 2014

[@jrcadet4]

The narrator is veteran newsman Clete Roberts, which is evidently meant to lend a documentary air to a low-budget production...clearly Paramount wanted to see if they could compete with the then-current series MEN INTO SPACE....

[@johncarper2816]

Thanks for the upload. I'd heard of this in the context of its reuse of the "Conquest of Space" effects sequences. Since I've always thought of that as a movie with great effects sold out by a horrid script, it's nice to see them used effectively here. A shame this didn't go to series. Interesting comparison with "Men into Space," the closest of which I know. That one understood the technology better than this seems to, and had a more up to date look (good as the "Conquest" effects were, the design looked a bit dated for '59 and would have been increasingly so in the '60s). However, "Men" suffered from somewhat dry scripting, too few regular characters to make for interesting relationships and a lead--William Lundigan--who was a fine emcee but a bit lacking as a series lead. This pilot, at least, seems to get that side of the equation better. The two series might have been interestingly complementary. As an aside, while "Men into Space" isn't particularly remembered today, many of its effects shots and props were reused by "The Outer Limits."

[@riversidemike1]

this space station is more realistic than the one they show us now.

[@rapsnik]

I think the networks would have bought this, if not for that business with Dave's wife being in-love with Jim. Why would they put that drama in the show, considering the social norms of the times? To bad, I like this episode and think it would have been a great program.

[@barbmacmaster5963]

Looks like a NASA production.

[@jimbeck3230]

Those rod controllers were made by Parker-Hannifin.

[@TERRAMOUNT]

loved it

[@jackward3799]

Although entertaining there were a couple of issues in particul that stood out. When the rocket took off to take the observer to the station, it was a standard rocket. By the time it got there it magicly sprouted wings. Also, the large winged spacecraft was the same one used in the film Conquest of Space. Finally, even back then they knew you did not need wings to fly throgh space. Something repeated many times since.

[@jakepettibone8164]

We're watching our own evolution. in cinama ,and reality.

[@Bill23799]

I wonder if they had permission of George Pal to use all of the footage and props from his film Conquest Of Space?

[@fromthesidelines]

CBS might have passed on this because they bought a similar program from ZIV Television for the 1959-'60 season- "MEN INTO SPACE", starring William Lundigan.

[@videomaniac108]

I used to watch "Men Into Space" on TV as a young kid in the late 50s/early 60s.

[@1WaySafe]

That's back when circuit breakers were the new thing from old Push snap switches and fuse boxes :) It Wasn't believable Sci fi if it didn't have: lotta switches, buttons, knobs, dials and blinking lights : ) Check out the six inch flanged rising stem valve Now that's technology for space...;)

[@mikepowers9265]

Whitney Blake would go on to be a co-star on the Hazel TV sitcom. She is also the mother of Meredith who was the co-star on Family Ties.

[@Klingon-pp4fv]

back in the late 50 's and early 60 's Hollywood a job was a job you would appear on the following shoes : Twilight Zone . Outer Limits . Bonanza and Combat . An then later shows like the original Wild Wild West and some comedy shows . the late actor Ted Knight who is very underrated appeared several times in Combat as a German soldier he also appeared on several other shows before he got his own series it was he who was quoted saying back then a job was a job .

[@JohnSmith-kz8yo]

with hair Edward Platt kinda looks like Pernell Roberts on Bonanza.

[@xanderarrow8826]

See? It's a sphere!

[@philipverso1260]

dr cook plays as the chef in get smart :)

[@neuromantoo]

I don't remember him cooking anything. But I do remember he played the chief.

[@sighwestberry5079]

a bit like one of the star trek full lenght movies

[@boojay111]

shame it didn't continue, but please do not try and do a modern day version, more cgi, even more rubbish scripts, more killing and blasting and destruction there is enough of that crap already

[@jamesbaker7166]

NASA should take notes.

[@xsbuilder1]

Interesting, that penny pinching senator was right. An earth based rocket to the moon was cheaper and easier to build than an orbiting space station plus a space built rocket. That was just how NASA did the Apollo mission in 1969.

[@mistercash1000]

John Agar...Shirley Temple's first husband.

[@1701Tex]

That senator, Royce, is probably a Red agent. If nothing else, he's a useful idiot for the Russians. There's enough story here for a full season of a modern TV series. But I'd rather they didn't remake it. Let's face it, they couldn't get enough real actors to pull it off today--they'd get a bunch of metros and Barbies.

[@GregoryWMoore]

All VonBraun designs..

[@iac4357]

@ 30:50 it,s Chief. Maxwell Smart,s boss !

[@richardscathouse]

Shame the dream is lost

[@marctoscano5354]

Wasn't this the Late Late Late Show Movie that kept Ed Norton (Art Carney) from the Honeymooners up past his bed time, or was it Ralph (Jackie Gleason)?

[@BlueRidgeParkway]

wOw awesome predictive programming at 9:28 you can bet something similarly dramatic will be happening to our current Imaginary Space Station (nailed the name, didn't they?) soon :-/ (maybe 2018? This was made in 1959 and 59 years later would be 2018) Nice rocket effect at 33:57 looks just like the NASA animations that would roll out during the 60s Thanks for Posting!

[@georgka74]

Hilarious!

[@zxtenn]

Seen a LOT worse, this has a few future stars or at least decent working Actors

[@slimdudeDJC]

From 27:52 to 30:08 . . . sounds a lot like a lone conservative senator of today

[@james5460]

They were smart with "Lost in Space" and "Star Trek" to ditch the realism and just go balls-out for the adventure of limitless flight without "realism" and soap-opera angles like this thing. "UFO" then backtracked and got bogged down in stuff that tried to be "realistic" like budget battles again. Then "Space: 1999" basically killed the entire genre off again until "Star Wars" restored the endless fantasy. .There's nothing more boring than a space-opera that has Senate hearings as a major plot point. It's kind of funny that the senator everyone hates here actually was right, it did make more sense to skip the money pit of a space station and just fly straight to the Moon - but how do you make a continuing series about that? Once they hit the restaurant - twice! - it was lights out for this turkey. I did like the way they did the end credits Star-Wars style, though, that' was the best part of the whole thing.

[@gordonwiessner6327]

More politics then space movie.

[@frederickwise5238]

OK but kinda kookie. Already have built an orbiting space station but havent yet orbited the moon?

[@janreznak881]

Nicely done in parts, but I'd have to agree the female drama is lame, adds nothing to the story, and I bet that's what killed it.

[@myrnagroger132]

It left some loose ends....with the women, but very suspenseful at the end.