necessary plot device in making the later Mars story line more believable. Several scenes in Rocketship X-M involving the interaction between the RX-M's sole female crew member, scientist Dr. Lisa Van Horn, her male crew, the launch site staff, and the press corps provide cultural insights into early 1950s sexist attitudes toward women. One notable scene involves Van Horn and expedition leader (and fellow scientist) Dr. Karl Eckstrom rushing to recalculate fuel mixtures after their initial propulsion problems. When they come up with different figures, expedition leader Eckstrom insists they must proceed using his numbers. Van Horn objects to this arbitrary decision, but submits, and Eckstrom forgives her for "momentarily being a woman". Subsequent events prove Eckstrom's "arbitrary decision" to be wrong, placing them all in jeopardy. Lippert's feature was the first film drama to explore the dangers of nuclear warfare and atomic radiation through the lens of science fiction; these became recurrent themes in many 1950s science fiction films that followed. Dalton Trumbo, black-listed during the McCarthy era, script doctored the film's Red Planet sequence, adding the horror of an atomic war having occurred on Mars; his name does not appear in the film credits. New footage added Rocketship X-M was rushed to market to be in theaters before the more lavishly produced but delayed Destination Moon that was finally released 25 days later. A lack of both time and budget forced RX-Ms producers to omit special effects scenes and substitute stock footage of American V-2 rocket launches and flight to complete some sequences that otherwise would have been made using the Rocketship X-M special effects miniature. These V-2 inserts created very noticeable continuity issues. In the 1970s the rights to Rocketship X-M were acquired by Kansas City film exhibitor, movie theater owner (and later video distributor) Wade Williams, who set about having some of RX-Ms special effects scenes reshot in order to improve the film's overall continuity. The VHS tape, LaserDisc, and DVD releases incorporate this re-shot footage. Williams funded the production of new footage to replace the stock V-2 shots and a few missing scenes. All new footage was produced for Wade Williams Productions by Bob Burns III, his wife Kathy Burns, former Disney designer/artist Tom Scherman, Academy Award winner Dennis Muren, Emmy Award nominee Michael Minor, and Academy Award winner Robert Skotak. Costumes were re-made that closely replicated those worn by the film's explorers, and a