Robinson Crusoe on Mars Mars Gravity Probe 1 Model Kit

"Robinson Crusoe on Mars" (1964,) directed by Byron Haskin, was the Little B-Movie that Could. In addition to intelligently re-telling a Daniel DeFoe tale of a voyager marooned far, far from home, the movie boasted vehicle designs that marked a clear demarcation between the Streamline Moderne ethos of the Buck Rogers era and the clunky, utilitarian sensibilities that would reach their pinnacle just four years later in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."

 

In fact, it's possible to see the precursor of Kubric's Discovery One in "Robinson Crusoe"'s MPG-1: The rounded forward command module, the long trailing spine and the large atomic-powered engine at the rear. In fact, early concepts for the Discovery featured elongated radiator fins almost identical to those seen here on the Mars Gravity Probe.