Post #497105 by robotiki on Thu, Dec 3, 2009 3:17 PM

The Tomorrowland DVD's are great. Wernher von Braun's collaboration with Disney resulted in some awesome images. At a time when most space travel films in the US has to have a prerequisite BHA (Butt-Headed Alien), the Disney films portrayed the journey with much realism and high production values.


The Man to the Moon segment of the DVD's has some particuarly stunning images and it is interesting to see how precise and sure von Braun was of his facts & figures.

The vision of tomorrow of the late 50's intermingled with Tiki no place more than California, and ground Zero for the convergence was Disneyland. The sense of optimism that colored Disney's view of tomorrow also pervaded the nation at the time. We were supposed to have big donut shaped space stations and bubble cities on the moon by now. Sigh....
Bonestell & Ley did some beautiful work in this time period. The final scene in "When World's Collide was supposed to feature a diorama of the new world, but Bonestell's production sketch was deemed close enough and used instead.
Not to hijack my own off-topic thread, with something further off-topic, but if you like to see an interesting view of space travel of the future, seek out early Russian Sci-Fi on You Tube, particularly "Road to the Stars."
Some more on the Moonliner from Wilkopedia:

"The TWA Moonliner was a futuristic exhibit that was once at Tomorrowland at Disneyland in the 1950s. It marked TWA product placement by Howard Hughes.
At 76 feet tall, it was the tallest structure in the park—eight feet taller than the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Adjoining the rocket was the attraction Flight to the Moon, which later became Mission To Mars.
It was designed by John Hench, one of the original Disney Imagineers, with the help of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, and it resembled a V-2 rocket, depicting what travel would be like in 1986.
Its "retractable" legs were said to resemble TWA's Lockheed Super Constellation. It featured port holes, a cockpit, and a boarding ramp. The Moonliner was to be powered by atomic power.
After Hughes left TWA, the airline pulled the sponsorship of the TWA Moonliner, and it later became the Douglas Moonliner after the new sponsor Douglas Aircraft Company. This new moonliner was the same height as the original, but it had a new paint scheme of white, blue and black. The famous red TWA logo shown on the nose of the moonliner disappeared.
The moonliner stayed at the park until 1967, when it was probably demolished. A scaled-down version of the moonliner, complete with the familiar TWA red stripes, was added as part of the 1998 New Tomorrowland and is today used to promote Coca-Cola "Delivering Refreshment to a Thirsty Galaxy." It sits next to the building that used to house Flight to the Moon, which is now Redd Rockett's Pizza Port.
A 32-foot version of the Moonliner, known as the TWA Moonliner II, was placed on top of the TWA Corporate Headquarters' Building in Kansas City, Missouri."


And who can forget the Monsanto home? Here it and a model of the Moonliner are in an exhibit on Disney's Dreams.

Robotiki
Mira Mar League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

[ Edited by: robotiki 2009-12-03 15:21 ]