The Terrornauts (1967)

A group of scientists are kidnapped and taken into outer space aboard a saucer.

Director:

Montgomery Tully

Writers:

John Brunner, Murray Leinster (novel)

Stars:

Simon Oates, Zena Marshall, Charles Hawtrey

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Simon Oates	...	Dr. Joe Burke
Zena Marshall	...	Sandy Lund
Charles Hawtrey	...	Joshua Yellowlees
Patricia Hayes	...	Mrs. Jones
Stanley Meadows	...	Ben Keller
Max Adrian	...	Dr. Henry Shore
Frank Barry	...	Burke as a child
Richard Carpenter	...	Danny
Leonard Cracknell	...	Nick
André Maranne	...	Gendarme
Frank Forsyth	...	Uncle
Robert Jewell	...	Robot Operator

Storyline

Residents of a radio telescope laboratory are kidknapped when they answer a mysterious signal from outer space. They are taken to a satelite inhabited only by robots, where they are presented with a series of intelligence tests. Since this is a mystery as well as a sci-fi movie I will only say that the rest of the plot deals with theyre attempt to find out why they've been kidknapped, and how they will get back to earth.

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Plot Keywords:

space | robot | kidnapping | based on novel | independent film

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Taglines:

The virgin sacrifices to the gods of a ghastly galaxy!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

February 1967 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amicus Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last feature of Zena Marshall.

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Goofs

Smoke from an explosion rises in the air and goes behind the twin moons of the alien planet. Obviously the moons were painted on a sheet of glass set in front of the camera.

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Connections

Featured in Shiver & Shudder Show (2002)

User Reviews

An interesting and somewhat different SF plot for its time.

I was constantly surprised by where this film took me.

Initially expecting the the alien spaceship to have hostile intentions against the Earth, it simply kidnaps some miscellaneous and startled astronomers and makes off with them. After that it is nothing like the usual: aliens attack earth, humans fight back but are losing, humans find a clever trick/weapon/chemical/virus and defeat evil aliens (or get soundly defeated and taken over by evil aliens).

They are dumped into an alien base on an asteroid and the fun part is watching them work out where they are, and why. The ending is novel for its time, but a little tacky.

I enjoyed the film very much for its novelty and surprises (not its very basic special effects). It was a "nice" film. It is probably very dated now but I haven't seen it for 30 years.