Blast From The Past: 1950's Sci-Fi
Giant heads, giant eyes, and giant beasts ruled the screen
By T. F. Powell

The fifties  ushered in  some of the most  cheesiest,  yet  glorious alien  creatures in the  history of
sci-fi  film. Some hold the  opinion that the  popular onslaught was in part  spawned from  military
air  and  naval  personnel   reporting  strange   sightings  during  World  War II.  QTM.net's  article
'History of UFO's During World War II' states . . . . .

"During world war II the  accumulation of  sightings of mysterious celestial objects, finally started
to worry the military authorities. In both camps, high-ranking officials of the intelligence services
started to study these  strange objects and  investigation committees composed of military and
scientific personnel were set up in various countries.

They had a  double purpose: first of all to determine the nature of these flying objects and then
to see  if  they  constituted a threat to the security of the nation.   During World War II, the Allies,
just  like  the  Germans,  noticed the  presence of  these  enigmatic  flying  objects above their
secret  bases.  The first reaction of each side was obviously to suspect  espionage on the part
of their enemy."

The QTM.net  article continues with the point that when the  Germans and the  Allies resolved
that it was not their  opponent responsible for the mysterious craft and  sightings, each camp
explored the numerous reports drifting in, such as a  luminous object  described by a pilot as
an "aerial whale - not a machine made by man." The preceding decades were peppered with
alien  narrative, so the fifties were clearly not the birth of our beloved fictional  entity.  However,
the World  War II  sightings combined  with the  dawn of the atomic age, set in  motion a grim
reality humans had never faced before.

We now have the capability to destroy our entire species (and most likely all the other species
of Earth).  Perhaps our  own  egos  nurtured the  50's  sci-fi film explosion.  After all, surely we
wouldn't  destroy ourselves, would we?  If mankind were to meet it's demise, it would have to
be at the hands (or  purple  tentacles) of beings not of this planet. Only those other-worldly
space monsters were inhumane enough to perpetrate such a heinous act.

Such  possible  armegeddon  level  scenarios  like  above  is  a  rich  harvest  for  the
narrative-creating minds. Authors surfaced from every literary and cinematic corner
with fantastical  stories of  alien  invasions  and vgalactic wars.   Regardless of
what influenced the fifties explosion the most, the outcome produced a variety
of obscure  and some now  humorous  visuals  that no  doubt  held the movie
audience of that period in cosmic awe.