# 1950s Movie Alien Spaceship Controls Look Like Giant Atoms **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [May 18, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-movie-alien-spaceship-controls-look-like-giant-atoms/964619 "2022-05-18T15:23:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-movie-alien-spaceship-controls-look-like-giant-atoms/964619/1 "2022-05-18T15:23:05Z")
**This Island Earth** > **[This Island Earth (Universal 1955) - Classic Monsters](https://www.classic-monsters.com/this-island-earth-universal-1955/)** > > This Island Earth is a 1955 Universal sci-fi movie starring Rex Reason, Faith Domergue and Jeff Morrow. This Island Earth introduces the Metaluna Mutant. [![](https://highdefdiscnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/this_island_earth_1851_45.png) ](https://highdefdiscnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/this_island_earth_1851_45.png) There’s one on the Interociter, too [![](https://highdefdiscnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/this_island_earth_1331_32.png) ](https://highdefdiscnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/this_island_earth_1331_32.png) …and in the Main Control Room on Metaluna > **[THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955) Blu-ray Review](http://horror101withdrac.blogspot.com/2019/07/this-island-earth-1955-blu-ray-review.html)** > > This Island Earth (1955) d. Joseph M. Newman (USA) (86 min) After a series of unique scientific instruments are delivered to his lab... Also on the alien ship in **It Came from Outer Space** > **[It Came from Outer Space (1953) - ALL HORROR](https://www.allhorror.com/movies/it-came-from-outer-space)** > > A spaceship from another world crashes in the Arizona desert and only an amateur stargazer and a schoolteacher suspect alien influence when the local townsfolk begin to act strangely. [https://www.google.com/search?q=It+Came+from+Outer+Space&rlz=1C1EJFC\_enUS908US908&sxsrf=ALiCzsaTYu3E4mahpIJv-9a9LEVdpZmV0Q:1652887031365&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjc0O6CrOn3AhVgjYkEHR7bAIIQ\_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1536&bih=750&dpr=1.25#imgrc=gp2e3suzDqnYWM](https://www.google.com/search?q=It+Came+from+Outer+Space&rlz=1C1EJFC_enUS908US908&sxsrf=ALiCzsaTYu3E4mahpIJv-9a9LEVdpZmV0Q:1652887031365&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjc0O6CrOn3AhVgjYkEHR7bAIIQ_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1536&bih=750&dpr=1.25#imgrc=gp2e3suzDqnYWM) You don’t see this sort of “atom means science-y” stuff in **The Day the Earth Stood Still** or **Forbidden Planet.** ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-movie-alien-spaceship-controls-look-like-giant-atoms/964619/2 "2022-05-18T15:33:25Z")
It’s my understanding that Universal was considered a “minor” studio during that era and more or less embraced that role, thus their productions tended to fall more on the “B movie” side, and consequently, more schlocky. Nice self-reference, though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-movie-alien-spaceship-controls-look-like-giant-atoms/964619/3 "2022-05-18T15:50:55Z")
It was originally planned to have “three-dimensional” instruments on the bridge of the starship _Enterprise_. These presumably would have looked like the ones in _ **Forbidden Planet** _. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-movie-alien-spaceship-controls-look-like-giant-atoms/964619/4 "2022-05-18T19:03:38Z")
I was sure there were more of these – the Rutherford atom logos were ubiquitous in the 1950s. One of the things I liked about **Watchmen** was Dr. Manhattan’s rejection of it in place of a Bohr hydrogen atom. I wonder how many people watching th movie version realized what that meant, and why it was important. > > **[Wait, Watchmen 11: I Have Seen Its True Face - Wait, What?](https://waitwhatpodcast.com/wait-watchmen-11-seen-true-face/)** > > So, did reading Before Watchmen change my experience of Watchmen on the most recent read-through? Surprisingly — to me, at least — yes, and for the better, although potentially not in the way that anyone... ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-movie-alien-spaceship-controls-look-like-giant-atoms/964619/5 "2022-05-22T15:42:06Z")
This is a fascinating rabbit-hole website about Sci-fi tech design and shortcomings. Here’s the spaceship from _Forbidden Planet_. > **[Military navigation](https://scifiinterfaces.com/2012/09/11/military-navigation/)** > > The C-57D is a military vessel with much of its technology feeling like that of a naval vessel. Lt. Farman navigates the ship towards Altair. The navigator, called an astrogator, sits at a station … * * * No such article exists for _This Island Earth_, unfortunately; the Interociter looks quite tricky to use, and so do the coloured lights on Exeter’s spaceship. * * * When did they first think of using keyboards to interface with computers? In 2001 they seem to be using large pushbuttons, perhaps advisable when wearing gloves. [![](https://aphelis.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/WARNER_2007_Blu-ray_01-31-13_detail_web-620x279.jpg) ](https://aphelis.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/WARNER_2007_Blu-ray_01-31-13_detail_web-620x279.jpg)