MovieChat Forums > It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) Discussion > Irwin Allen

Irwin Allen

posted 17 years ago by neil-124
4 replies | jump to latest

There's been a lot of discussion on this board about the influence this movie had on Ridley Scott's "Alien", which may well be, but after watching this movie I couldn't help but believe it influenced producer/director Irwin Allen as well.

The vast sets, wacky science, rubber suited monsters, crawling around in air vents, and two dimensional characterizations would all be hallmarks of Allen in years to come.

I think what made me tumble to it the most was the Paul Sawtell music, in fact watching this movie just made me think of it as an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Which is a good thing, it made me like the movie all the more.

"Just remember, once we're in space you can't hang your head out the window anymore" -- Captain Video

[–] Naldoman 16 years ago

The best thing about the Irwin Allen shows was that they were like watching goofy sci-fi flicks from the 50's every week. They raided the studio warehouses for costumes from every era of Earth and ran every cliche' into the dirt and down to the core. I loved it.

- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
- Lost in Space
- The Time Tunnel
- Land of the Giants

[–] jonbecker03 15 years ago

as i recall, "voyage to the bottom of the sea" was in color. "terror from beyond space," of course, is in black and white. so it has a brooding, "noirish" quality that the undersea adventure show lacked. "terror from beyond space" is "noirish" while "voyage to the bottom of the sea" was merely "narisch" (foolish). (a little yiddish inside yoke on my part.)

[–] neil-124 15 years ago

The first season of Voyage was in black and white which compares pretty well to "It".
A lot of dark and well written episodes, and some goofy rubber monsters too.
And as far as I know there was never an episode where the Seaview tackled a giant gefilte fish.

[–] wallerworld 12 years ago

Some of the IT! music shows up in the pilot episode of the 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' TV series. Blame it on Sawtell & Shefter. They re-used a lot of their own music.