# Flying saucers: spinning or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877 "2006-07-17T16:26:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/1 "2006-07-17T16:26:13Z")
Having seen relatively few in person, and my biggest experience those that I’ve seen I think they come in three main types (so far as motion): a) Those that spin b) Those that do not spin c) Those that do not spin–but have moving lights (phi phenomenon) In the movie “Earth vs The Flying Saucers” and the Gerry Anderson series “UFO” I think they were all “a” types. The 1960s series “The Invaders” used “b” types, but occasionally they used “c” types. The “Jupiter II” might have been a type “c,” but I’m not totally sure. Any other examples? I’m just curious what has been the most consistent representation. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/2 "2006-07-17T16:34:21Z")
The saucers in _Mars Attacks!_ were an homage to Harryhausen’s spinning saucers in _Earth vs The Flying Saucers_, but instead the top spun one way and the bottom spun the opposite way. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/3 "2006-07-17T16:56:06Z")
That line should have read " my biggest experience is those that I’ve seen in movies. . . ." ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/4 "2006-07-17T16:58:18Z")
The ones in the _Witch Mountain_ movies were of the A type. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/5 "2006-07-17T17:50:00Z")
My memory is hazy, but I believe the flying saucer at the beginning of **The Thing** is type c, although it might have been type a. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/6 "2006-07-18T12:57:57Z")
\*\*This Island Earth \*\* was a non-spinning type, as was **Forbidden Planet**. But the best saucer of all is in **Devil Girl from Mars**. The main body is stationary, but the rim spins, and it makes a heckuva sound, too. The movie as a whole is talky and slow, but the saucer and the robot are marvels of late-Deco design. (The Devil Girl herself is a marvel of early Fetishistic leatherwear design–hubba hubba!) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/7 "2006-07-18T13:19:51Z")
I’ve never understood the spinning flying saucers. Don’t the aliens get queasy, or flattened against the outer edge, or at least slip and fall a lot? ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/8 "2006-07-18T13:40:50Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] I’ve never understood the spinning flying saucers. Don’t the aliens get queasy, or flattened against the outer edge, or at least slip and fall a lot? [/QUOTE] Well, in both **Forbidden Planet** and **This Island Earth** the passengers were protected by clear plastic tubes or forcefields or something during the dangerous parts of the trip. But those were non-spinning types, so I guess I haven’t really responded to your concern. (sigh) Heaven knows motion sickness would be, ahem, undesirable while encased in a plastic tube… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/9 "2006-07-18T13:53:34Z")
It further occurs to me that this is where the **Devil girl from Mars** design really excels: From the spinning rim, you get the undoubted performance advantages of spinny-ness, while enjoying the rider comfort benefits of the main body’s stationary-ism. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-saucers-spinning-or-not/364877/10 "2006-07-18T13:54:07Z")
in the completely unknown but truly excelent film, **The Bamboo Saucer** , the rim has spinning lights. This would make it a ‘C’. I believe on Type-A saucers the inside is stabilized and seperate from the outer spinning hull. polarized graviton-gimbals if memory serves\*. \*the memory that I just made up, that is.