‘Pig-guy’ isn’t wrong unfortunately. As a young kid who saw this in first run, I recognized the prosthetic makeup of the Tellarites in TOS Journey to Babel as a rehash from the 1961 feature film ‘Atlantis, the lost continent.’
In the movie, a prisoner has his head changed into a pig-face. He eventually gets horns too.
Here’s the only production photo I can find of the scene.
Roddenberry seemed to like to lift a lot from MGM science fiction movies since they were high production value for the era. The movie was the kind of idea that would appeal to Roddenberry, a primitive but heroic fisherman is accidentally brought to the technologically advanced, godlike but immoral Atlantean society.
Uhm, I liked the Discovery and Short Treks version of Tellarites better. Much better.
While not of the same quality as MGM’s 1950s landmark ‘Forbidden Planet’, ‘Atlantis’ was a spectacular film, and influenced a lot of 1960s science fiction, including some of the ‘gods in space’ in Star Trek TOS. Some of the set designs seem resonant too. Worth tracking down and watching.
I’ve never seen Atlantis, but I’ll have to look it up. That first image does look right out of TOS! Kirk and McCoy could walk into that room and not look out of place at all.
‘Pig-guy’ isn’t wrong unfortunately. As a young kid who saw this in first run, I recognized the prosthetic makeup of the Tellarites in TOS Journey to Babel as a rehash from the 1961 feature film ‘Atlantis, the lost continent.’
In the movie, a prisoner has his head changed into a pig-face. He eventually gets horns too.
Here’s the only production photo I can find of the scene.
Roddenberry seemed to like to lift a lot from MGM science fiction movies since they were high production value for the era. The movie was the kind of idea that would appeal to Roddenberry, a primitive but heroic fisherman is accidentally brought to the technologically advanced, godlike but immoral Atlantean society.
Uhm, I liked the Discovery and Short Treks version of Tellarites better. Much better.
Don’t like that SNW is reverting somewhat.
That’s really interesting. I love the set designs and prosthetics of old scifi.
Even if they did all steal from each other constantly.
While not of the same quality as MGM’s 1950s landmark ‘Forbidden Planet’, ‘Atlantis’ was a spectacular film, and influenced a lot of 1960s science fiction, including some of the ‘gods in space’ in Star Trek TOS. Some of the set designs seem resonant too. Worth tracking down and watching.
Here are a few more images.
I’ve never seen Atlantis, but I’ll have to look it up. That first image does look right out of TOS! Kirk and McCoy could walk into that room and not look out of place at all.