Filmmaker and writer Ib Melchior passed away March 13 at the age of 97. His short story “The Racer” was twice adapted for the screen – as Death Race 2000 (1975) and Death Race (2008).
He wrote and directed The Angry Red Planet (1959) and The Time Travelers (1964), and co-wrote Reptilicus (1961), Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962) and Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964).
For television, he wrote two episodes of Men Into Space, “Water Tank Rescue” (1959) and “Voice of Infinity (1960), as well as “The Premonition” episode of The Outer Limits (1965).
He also claimed to be the creator of the original idea upon which Irwin Allen based the TV series Lost In Space, an allegation documented in Ed Shifres’ Lost in Space: The True Story.
He was the son of opera singer and movie star Lauritz Melchior, about whom he wrote a biography, Lauritz Melchior: The Golden Years of Bayreuth.
In recent years he was a regular at the annual LA Vintage Paperback Show.
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Speaking as one of the hosts for the L.A. Vintage Paperback Show, Ib will be missed.
My son once gave a succinct two-word review of “Reptilicus”: “Cheese Danish.”
Going back to the 1959 – 1960 season, the episodes of Men into Space Ib Melchior wrote can be found on Youtube:
“Water Tank Rescue”
“Voice of Infinity“
That’s great — I didn’t know those had been uploaded to YouTube.
I took a peek at the begining of “Water Tank Rescue” — funny to see an astronaut stubbing out the cigarette he just finished smoking.
Weirdly, REPTILICUS last for many issues as a comic book. And it lodged into the collective memory as a referenced joke in RUGRATS as “Reptar”. I read the comic and recall none of it, except for the lurid menacing covers.