Sunday, September 25, 2022

MORONED

MAROONED (1970)
dir: John Sturges

MAD #138, October 1970
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Mort Drucker

Charles Keith (Gregory Peck) is directing the Ironman One flight from Kennedy Space Center.
Ted Dougherty (David Janssen) is the chief astronaut supervising the mission.
On the monitor in the first panel is Sally Field, who was starring in the Gidget series then.

We see footage of the three men on the monitors of the three men throughout their mission, Jim Pruett (Richard Crenna), Buzz Lloyd (Gene Hackman), and “Stoney” Stone. It is now the fifth of the planned seven months and Lloyd is acting erratic and there is not enough fuel, so they intend to bring the flight back. The problem is there is not enough oxygen and they are marooned, hence the title. 4
Dougherty wants to rescue them but Keith feels the idea is prohibitively time-consuming and expensive. The President insists they do something because the consequences would be worse if they did nothing, and it could even kill the space program. Dougherty even offers to go up himself using NASA's experimental X-RV rocket. There's a chance the three astronauts might make it back if they preserve oxygen.
There's a storm, putting the astronauts of the rescue mission and thus the ones already in space at further risk. The astronauts' wives Celia (Lee Grant), Betty (Mariette Hartley), and Teresa (Nancy Kovack) are allowed to talk to them but can not tell them yet that they're at risk. Buzz starts to break down. The storm becomes too serious to allow the rescue mission to go through.
When home informs the astronauts that their only chance of survival is if only two of them use the remaining oxygen, Pruett leaves, sacrificing himself.
Russians are also in space and provide oxygen for the two remaining astronauts who are becoming delirious from deprivation, then the X-RV is able to bring them back, leaving the unmanned Ironman drifting in space and everyone on Earth celebrating.
The cosmonaut is drawn as Kruschchev.

MAROONEDED
Spoof #1, October 1970
w & a: Stu Schwartzberg

The foreground in the middle left panel is showing Keir Dullea of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This didn't do too well at the box office and was repackaged for TV as Space Travelers, and roasted on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

1 comment:

  1. On page 4 of the Mad parody, in panel 4, Keith has a picture of Stanley Kubrick on his desk.

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