Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

John Weybrew Somewhere on the California coast, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, a small group of scientists, engineers and technicians working in a secured base are preparing to test-launch a six-stage rocket carrying a satellite with a nuclear warhead: The Thunderer. The satellite is designed to be an immediate-response strike against enemy aggression, anywhere in the world. It is supposed that other nations are preparing similar satellites and weapons....Unbeknownst to the powers that be, other minds have reason to want to see the project fail, and utilize an unsuspected resource to carry out their plans...This small but effective little sci-fi tale is long on atmosphere, novel in viewpoint and execution, and well worth a couple of viewings for fans of the '50's sci-fi genre.More than a few familiar cast members, and an impressive band of juvenile performers, under Jack Arnold's sure and spare directorial hand, give this a fresh and simple feel, and don't spend a lot of time hammering home its message (rare for the immediate post-Sputnik years).

TxMike A movie came out in 1951, it was during a longer period that became to be known as the cold war. It was a fictional movie, but also a cautionary message for all of us on Earth, not to keep developing weapons of greater destruction. It was "The Day The earth Stood Still."This movie, "Space Children", borrows its themes from the earlier movie. Here the USA has a base on the coast of California, and are prepared to launch "The Thunderer", a missle that will put a very powerful weapon in orbit 1000 miles up, and it will be able to destroy any target on Earth, if we decided it was a grave threat.In this story an alien from space is discovered in a cave on the beach by a band of children roughly ages 14 to 6. It reminded me of a small octopus head, with barnacles, and somewhat pulsating. It made no noise, but it communicated by telepathy with the older boy, whose dad was a scientist just assigned to the base. Its mission turned out similar to that of the aliens in "Earth Stood Still", to protect us from ourselves, and to prevent the new weapon from being launched into space.This is definitely a "B" movie, but a good example of the 1950s black and white Sci-Fi movies. The dialog is very bland, the acting serviceable, and the climax anti-climactic. Much of the filming has the band of children running around the beach, going back and forth, sometimes with adults.In modern times, with more interesting cinematography, acting, color, and special effects, this movie is not much else but nostalgia. Now that we know so much about space exploration, it is fun to see how they depicted these fictional stories just when space exploration was about to begin.

cppguy Without hesitation, I'd admit I've seen worse movies... but not many. ("Hobgoblins", "Manos".) While I enjoy the MST3K guys, I think even they had trouble trying to find something to parody.Anyway, it's obvious this is a B movie. Budget actors, budget writers, TV grade special effects, etc. Of movies like that, where at least normal attempts of quality are adhered to, some movie has to be one of the worst. This film is it.Perversely, some person in IMDb has created numerous logins and given "reviews" of this film that are better categorized as "propaganda." Disregard these rants. It's a bad movie... not as bad as they get, mind you, but certainly some fun if the MST3K guys can give you commentary.

danger_bird1971 I have yet to see this movie un-mstied but would love to as I think it's a pretty damn good movie. This is one of the rare cases of mst3k being way off the mark in choosing this movie. Don't get me wrong, I loved the episode and their were some great riffs but I couldn't help but think that this movie was not nearly as bad as Mike, Crow and Tom (or any of these reviewers here) made it out to be. I will admit thought that on first watching it I did feel that the kids were being somewhat (but not completely) controlled by the alien but on repeated viewings it does appear that that is certainly not the case. I really need to see the unedited, un-mstied version, this is a b-movie classic in my humble opinion.