Xenogenesis (1978)

A woman and an engineered man are sent in a gigantic sentient starship to search space for a place to start a new life cycle. Raj decides to take a look around the ship. He comes across a gigantic robotic cleaner. Combat ensues.

Directors:

James Cameron, Randall Frakes

Writers:

James Cameron, Randall Frakes

Stars:

William Wisher Jr., Margaret Undiel

Cast

Cast overview:
William Wisher Jr.	...	Raj
Margaret Undiel	...	Laurie

Storyline

A woman and an engineered man are sent in a gigantic sentient starship to search space for a place to start a new life cycle. Raj decides to take a look around the ship. He comes across a gigantic robotic cleaner. Combat ensues.

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Plot Keywords:

stop motion | one word title | no ending | vaporization | laser | 

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Genres:

Short | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Xenogen Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

12 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The music is 'borrowed' from Bernard Herrmann's Jason and the Argonauts and Mysterious Island scores (both Ray Harryhausen movies)

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Connections

Referenced in Aliens (1986)

User Reviews

Interesting Short Film from Cameron

Xenogenesis (1978)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

I've read reports that this, Cameron's first short, actually cost around $20,000 to produce, which is an extremely large amount for a short film. If it's true then I guess even at an early age the director was willing and able to work with large budgets. The 11-minute film has a pretty simple story as a man and woman are looking for a safe place to continue a new life cycle but soon they find themselves under attack by a robot. It's hard to be too critical of this film and it's certainly important to remember that this was the director's first film. With that in mind it's hard to be anything less than impressed as there's certainly a lot of imagination in this thing and for a short of this nature it looks extremely good. I think the biggest flaw are the performances, which are rather lacking and the dialogue that is really, really bad. With a better screenplay I'm sure this thing could have been even better but at the same time I'm sure people are going to be interested in this thing for the special effects. I found them to be pretty good as the robots look real, which is very important and all of the sets look like something from the future. I think the film also benefits from a curiosity factor by seeing things here that would appear in future Cameron movies. One can't help but not see touches of THE TERMINATOR and ALIENS here.