Destination Space DVD

Here's an ultra-rare science-fiction obscurity that's remained unseen for far too long: the one-hour pilot (and, perhaps, only finished episode) of an unsold television series produced by Paramount for CBS, and filled to the brim with great special effects shots — all courtesy of stock footage from George Pal's 1955 Conquest of Space. But though Destination Space looks like a vintage space opera from the Fifties, it sure plays differently. Usually, Fifties sci-fi deals with alien monsters or some kind of cosmic holocaust about to engulf the planet. Here, however, the menace is a bit more...bureaucratic. Here, the menace threatening the U.S.space program is nothing less than the government itself.
In the (then) near future, the U.S. has a glistening space station impressively orbiting "500 miles out from Earth." But all is not happy in Outer Space Land. Because it's dubbed a "white elephant of a space station," the head of the U.S. space program, Jim Benedict (HARRY TOWNES,an instantly recognizable TV actor who seemed to have guest- starred on every single series ever produced in the Fifties and Sixties), is under pressure to prove the stations worth by launching the first manned rocket to the moon. With Col. Mathews (sci-fi icon JOHN AGAR) by his side and lots of machines with blinking lights behind him, Benedict's hopes for a successful launch are crushed when a flaming fire ball smashes into the space station and sends everything spinning and wobbling and falling around.
The moon launch is abruptly cancelled and Benedict heads back to earth under subpoena from the Senate where he must duel politically with space-hating Senator Royce (the great ROBERT CORNTHWAITE of The Thing from Another World). But after a pep talk from the impish CECIL KELLAWAY (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms), Benedict saves the space program with a rousing speech which even gets Comthwaite to his feet applauding: "Let us go forward in the American way, pioneering new frontiers without fear, taking pride in accomplishment, yet facing dangers and Disappointments with resoluteness and without qualms and complaint!" (Geez, was this financed by NASA?)
Benedict's allowed to continue with the moon launch but must return to the space station with Get Smart's EDWARD PLATT as an "official observer." But — oh no! — just as the rocket is about to be launched, something goes wrong with its nuclear engine and the whole thing is about to "blow like an A-bomb..."
It would have been fascinating to see where this series was heading but, alas, CBS chose to shelve this in favor of he somewhat similar Men Into Space. What remains is a wonderful curiosity from the Cold War era when the space program was seen as yet another weapon in the war against the Commies. And since the show itself runs under an hour, we've also included lots of cool sci-fi trailers. Blast off, bunkies!