The 1950s marks a turning point in the history of the science fiction film genre. This is a period that is commonly referred to as the ‘golden age’ of the science fiction film, partly due to the unprecedented number of feature films produced and partly due to a group of highly influential, American-made ‘classics’ released over the course of the decade. Although the period is frequently associated with low budget, ‘trashy’ B features, landmark films like Destination Moon (dir. Irving Pichel, 1950), The Day the Earth Stood Still (dir. Robert Wise, 1951), The War of the Worlds (dir. Byron Haskin, 1953) and Forbidden Planet (dir. Fred M. Wilcox, 1956) were produced by major Hollywood studios on relatively respectable budgets. In addition, a number of lower budget features are regularly listed amongst the canon of ‘classic’ films of the era. For instance, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (dir. Don Siegel, 1956) has become a central text in discussion of the genre, even though it was produced by Walter Wanger in association with the low-budget studio, Allied Artists, at approximately a quarter of the cost of The War of the Worlds and Forbidden Planet and half of the budget afforded to Paramount's The Day the Earth Stood Still. At the other end of the scale, director Ed Wood's infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) heads up a group of 1950s B-films that have attracted a kind of cult following (i.e. It Conquered the World [dir. Roger Corman, 1956], The Brain Eaters [dir. Bruno VeSota, 1958], Attack of the Puppet People [dir. Bert I. Gordon, 1958], Earth Versus the Spider [dir. Bert I. Gordan, 1958] etc.).