Science Fiction on German Television - in 1938!

[DrZarkov]

I found this film at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G-mbmZb ... r_embedded

The film "Weltraumschiff 1 startet" (Spaceship 1 is starting) has been produced in 1937 for the German television. It had been shown in German TV in 1938. So you have the chance to see a really strange piece of German prewar television. (Of course in German, sorry, no subtitles.)

[holtzman]

I enjoyed it, very good quality effects and understanding for the 30-ties! Nice lettering art, too. The jet propulsion for space travel was quite independantly developed those days in Russia, Germany and USA.

[Klaas Robers]

Two remarkable things in this film:

1. Apparently it was thought that the microphone of a television chain should be fixed to the camera. The reporter is standing next to the camera where a microphone is hanging out. I might asume that in film this wasn't already the case.

2. It was thought that a space ship could not have radio contact as long as it has lost the earth atmosphere. Wasn't the truth not known in those days?

But yes it was a nice film, where lots of things were shown as they would go 30 years later. The german language was of course no problem for me.

[DrZarkov]

About 2): I registered it, too. And I can't believe they really thought it is impossible. It was known, that radio waves are just electro-magnetic waves like the light. And it was well known in 1937 that light could cross the space. A simple lamp or a mirror would have been enough to get morse contact with earth. In fact, the first radio telescope was made by the American Karl Guthe Jansky in 1932! But a rocket scientist does not need to know everything about radio