Tim and Jen return to Soviet filmmaker Pavel Klushantsev’s optimistic world of space exploration for 1962’s Planet of Storms!

ERRATA: Jen speculates in the episode about the reason for the lack of cultural impact the film made in the United States, but it turns out there's a good reason: Planet of Storms didn't arrive in the US in official and unadulterated form until some time in the 90s, on home video. As we mentioned, the film was cannibalized for two different American productions. One was Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, with new footage directed by eventual New Queer Cinema trailblazer Curtis Harrington. The other, as we mentioned in the episode, was Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. They both suck.

The original film is available on YouTube with English subtitles. If you're curious about the 1955 Disney short Man in Space, you can watch it here, but you won't actually learn much about the historical origins of rocketry.

See photos of the actual Venusian surface captured by some of the unfortunate Soviet probes we mentioned. 

The Sally Ride tampon thing is true, by the way. 

If you missed our Road to the Stars episode, listen to it here! 

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