Destination Space (1959) / The Yesterday Machine (1963): Lost Science Fiction Double Feature

The United States has successfully launched an orbiting space station high above the Earth. This technological marvel will be the launching platform for the first manned rocket to the Moon. But with government bureaucrats anxious to beat the Russians in the space race, program leader John Benedict is forced to commence the mission before the craft can be perfected. A sudden meteor strike damages the ship's hull, turning the rocket into a ticking time bomb. Benedict and his team now only have hours before what was meant to be mankind's salvation explodes, taking him and his crew with it.

Produced by Paramount, Destination Space was meant to be a pilot for a regular sci-fi series on CBS. The studio saw the intended series as a way to recoup their losses from George Pal's over-budgeted Conquest of Space (1955), stock footage from which Destination Space would heavily utilize. Despite its failure to go to series, director Joseph Pevney would eventually find great success with a Paramount-produced science fiction series for CBS. Pevney was the most prolific director working on the original Star Trek (1966-1969), helming some of the most popular installments including "The City on the Edge of Forever", "Amok Time", and "The Trouble with Tribbles". He would reunite Destination Space stars Harry Townes and Jon Lormer in the episode "The Return of the Archons". Destination Space also features several actors who will be instantly recognizable to fans of 1950s sci-fi, including John Agar (Tarantula, The Brain from Planet Arous) and Robert Cornthwaite (The Thing from Another World, The War of the Worlds), as well as Edward Platt, best remembered as "The Chief" from Get Smart (1965-1970).

PLUS: The Yesterday Machine (BW, 1963): A Nazi scientist, obsessed with getting revenge for Germany's defeat in World War II, invents a time machine. The madman kidnaps a high school cheerleader to test his invention. If the experiment is successful, he will go back in time himself to accomplish his real goal: Preventing the death of Adolf Hitler! This homegrown science fiction potboiler from Texas features legendary Western actor Tim Holt in the twilight of his career. Holt is best known for co-starring with Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948). Director Russ Marker also wrote the screenplay for the John Agar creature feature Night Fright (1967).

• science fiction