In the early movie serials of Flash Gordon why do all the space ships circle to land and take off?
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They don't. youtu.be/ixgNtxpS354?t=9m12s– ValorumJul 2, 2018 at 21:48
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Another VTOL(ish) takeoff; youtu.be/ASj6j4jFzX0?t=10m32s– ValorumJul 2, 2018 at 21:55
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They do in The Death Ray from Mars all through out the movie. youtube.com/watch?v=ngQG7lWWmBI– user76394Jul 2, 2018 at 22:26
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It...looks cool?– Organic MarbleJul 2, 2018 at 23:41
1 Answer
Most probably because aircraft commonly did so, and scriptwriters were consciously or unconsciously influenced by this.
Similarly, a lot of sf of pre-Sputnik days used to show astronauts as young men in their 20s or even teens, like WW2 fighter pilots, rather than the 40-somethings who were to get chosen in real life. Many people, consciously or not, probably thought of spaceflight as an extension of aviation, and were influenced by how things were done there.