Pinocchio in Outer Space
Entry updated 4 November 2024. Tagged: Film.
Belgium/US animated film (1965). Belvision Studios. Based on the character and story Le Avventure di Pinocchio (1883) by Carlo Collodi. Directed by Ray Goossens. Written by Fred Ladd (from an idea by co-producer Norm Prescott). Voice cast includes Jess Cain, Conrad Jameson, Kevin Kennedy, Peter Lazer, Mavis Mims, Ray Owens, Minerva Pious and Arnold Stang. 70 minutes. Colour.
The audience is assured that "the adventure you are about to see is based on a true portrayal of outer space and could actually happen – to a puppet, come alive". Cut to a pair of fairies (see Supernatural Creatures) sitting by a cottage in space as a Spaceship passes by: the elder (Pious) comments, "Earth finally made it, off the ground at last!" The Blue Fairy (Mims) corrects her: it "wasn't an Earth ship, mother, it's bound for Earth from outer-space." When her mother complains about the satellites, weather Balloons and now spaceships cluttering the sky, her daughter explains this spaceship will meet Pinocchio (see Precognition), the puppet she turned into a boy (see Magic), though now he is a puppet once more, having lapsed into his old brattish ways; the Blue Fairy adds she will be able to restore him, should he prove himself worthy.
On present-day Earth, Geppetto (Owens) – acknowledging that children's interests have changed – has moved from carving marionettes to spaceships, saying to Pinocchio (Lazer): "You'll probably see interplanetary travel in your lifetime." (see Space Flight). The television reports that yet another newly-launched satellite has been destroyed by the space whale, Astro (Kennedy), who is apparently angered by the high-pitched frequencies they emit. Marine biologists suggest that Astro is the result of Evolution: a "rare mutation, the kind that resulted in flying ants, flying squirrels and flying fish" – but space biologists disagree, arguing the whale "could have only come from another planet". A reward is offered for the capture of the whale and Pinocchio decides to win this: not only would it end their poverty, but the good deed would surely earn his restoration to a boy.
On his way to school Pinocchio meets Mr Sharp (Jameson) and Mr Groovy (Cain), a gentleman con-artist fox and hipster cat respectively: they sell him a copy of "Hypnosis Made Easy", promising it will enable him to mesmerize the space whale. The Alien spaceship seen earlier now almost lands on him: it contains Nurtle (Stang), a Twertle (not, he insists, a turtle, despite appearances) from the purple planet Twertle D: he thinks this is Mars and deems Pinocchio "too primitive for a Robot". A secret agent, he has been sent to investigate rumours of a highly advanced civilization on Mars: Pinocchio corrects and accompanies him, hoping to get the opportunity to hypnotize Astro. After braving a solar flare they land on Mars and find giant, ferocious crabs (see Monsters) and a derelict, atomic-powered City (see Nuclear Energy). Exploring the city, Twertle wonders if the population has been driven underground, to breath "manufactured oxygen" because of its absence on the surface. Venturing below, they find no inhabitants, save for more animals grown to monstrous size (see Great and Small) due to a radioactive diet: Pinocchio concludes Astro was one such, who escaped his Martian captors and destroyed the city in revenge (we have seen evidence of this). A giant sandstorm now engulfs the city and begins to cover the reactor: our heroes escape just before the city is destroyed by a nuclear explosion. While they are distracted by theorizing who the Martians were and why they bred giants (this is left unanswered), their spaceship is swallowed by Astro.
In the whale's stomach, desperate to find a way out, Pinocchio wishes he had paid attention to his science lessons: "Father was right, nothing you learn is wasted." The moral learnt, the Blue Fairy now appears and asks, "What makes the whale different from all the fish in the sea – think!" Pinocchio realizes they can escape through the spout; they do so, damaging one of the spaceship's stabilizers. Astro pursues: though Pinocchio's own attempts fail, the bent stabilizer causes the brightly covered spaceship to spin and the whale is duly hypnotized. The journey back to Earth with Astro has one more crisis during re-entry: Pinocchio dies saving Nurtle and the whale. This sacrifice enables The Blue Fairy to justify reviving him and turning him into a boy once more.
Ladd wanted the film to be scientifically accurate and educational (there are many brief Infodumps) and hired Martin Caidin as its technical supervisor: ignoring talking anthropomorphized animals and suchlike (see Fantasy), it is certainly more so than many of its peers. There are simplifications for the intended audience, flexibility for story and humour (Mars's lighter Gravity is much exaggerated) and outright Scientific Errors (the bent stabilizer affecting flight in a vacuum). Mars is shown as a desert and rows of cacti are seen, Twertle speculating they indicate the path of an underground water course and have been mistaken for canals. Pinocchio in Outer Space is a pleasant Children's SF cartoon: Pinocchio is frequently irritating, and is not the only character to grate, but the scenes on Mars are enjoyable, with the city being nicely designed. An added bonus is Stang, famous as the voice of Top Cat (see Hanna-Barbera), using a not too dissimilar voice here (that is, an impression of actor Phil Silvers). [SP]
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