zillabob Reviews

NBC Special Treat: Into Infinity (1975) Season 1, Episode 3

Anderson Quickie

[6/10 · 12 November 2008]

Between seasons 1 and 2 of SPACE:1999-remember that the first season was shot from 1973-1974 but wound up not appearing on US or UK TV until Fall '75 and season two started up in late 1976- Gerry Anderson was asked to make a quick Sci Fi show for NBC's SPECIAL TREAT (which was NBC's occasional answer to ABC's Afterschool Specials). The trick was it had to be a thinly veiled science lesson for the kids. In this case, it vaguely remakes the LOST IN SPACE concept, this time about two distinct family units on a spaceship that is to accelerate to light speed, to journey to the star Alpha Centauri, but then, due to a mishap , they get sucked into a black hole and taken to another universe. Brian Blessed and Nick Tate-both SPACE:1999 veterans play the elders. Tate drops his Aussie accent in this show so he'd be easily understood by US kiddies, and, to not come across like his Alan Carter character. They use some rather flatly lit spaceship sets from Year 1 of SPACE:1999(the inside of The Ultra Probeship from Dragon's Domain) very crudely re-dressed. The costumes seem a thrown together affair as well. All the money seems to have been spent on a new model of the spaceship "The Altares" however, it's poorly photographed, even by the standards of SPACE:1999(which at the time were quite good). Too many strange lens flares are used and the black hole looks like a really cheap effect(unlike the rather good matte painting from the Space:1999 episode "Black Sun"). The music score, not done by Anderson regular Barry Gray, was done by Derek Wadsworth who did the electronic jazz theme music to Season 2 of Space:1999. It further makes the effort seem quick and cheap.

The best attention is paid to the science, which is explained in correct, but expository dialogue that lets us know this is a science lesson, in fact.

The quick, hour long film is known as THE DAY AFTER Tomorrow in the US and, INTO INFINITY in the UK. It was filmed very quickly, in something like 9 days before SPACE:1999 Year Two had geared up. It was in fact longer with extra footage in foreign markets as it was sold to Europe as a feature length film. Fanderson-the Gerry ANderson Fan Club-issued the film on VHS and eventually DVD, a few years ago exclusively through them.

Invasion of the Star Creatures (1962)

I thought I only imagined seeing this...

[4/10 · 27 October 2008]

This was one of those films that got a ton of play on the airwaves in the early 1970's, usually on the "4am Movie" or one time, on the 7:30 PM "Channel 6 Big Movie" and still another on Creature Double Feature.WHen local channels used to run movies as part of their local programming(mostly gone today in favor of infomercial time) It was of the time. A couple of low-rent Abbott and Costello wannabees(Frankie Ray and Robert Ball) are in a platoon of soldiers(half a dozen guys in Army Surplus remainders) who are sent on field maneuvers to look into some strange radiation, and wind up encountering extraterrestrials. They first go into Bronson Canyon to what would be later the famous Batcave on BATMAN, and encounter the remains of a dead "carrot monster". Later, in the cave they're chased by a living carrot creature-basically a guy in black suit and paper mache head, with sparkly things on it and ping-pong ball eyes. Two of them-complete geeks,Ray and Ball-are captured and wake up tied to tables and are being "examined" by space amazons-Dr Poona(nooo kidding!) and Professor Tanga who are stunningly beautiful and even moreso in their skimpy bikini "uniforms". We were too young at the time,to realize what later bondage and fetish scenarios this "examination" scene would more than suggest. Turns out that the two gals and their carrot monster, are stranded on earth with a ship that's well hidden and are trying to return to their world.

The film was made as a total comedy with varying degrees of taste but remember this was of the time when Eric Von Zipper and his crew from Frankie and Annette's films, were the height of B-film, drive-in comedy.So it only seemed a natural to jump on the bandwagon for some quick bucks.

For some reason I only thought I'd imagined seeing this film to start with. No, I really saw it. And when it was released on "restored" DVD I was assured in my memory. The comedy goes from mildly funny to just plain stupid, but whatever.The budget is non-existent, which, is a minor miracle when you think about it, that it even got made and we can talk about a "restored" version here and now-over 40 years later. The payoff is the girls who want to learn about "love" and "kissing" and, the upshot is the geeks-which all of us were- get the girls and love wins out. It's just goofy and silly and for the locations, has nostalgic significance.

High Seas Hijack (1977)

Post Godzilla...

[3/10 · 21 October 2008]

After Godzilla had retired in 1975, Toho had used their SFX dept to work on disaster films. This is one of them, indeed made by Toho. THE SUBMERGENCE OF JAPAN(1973)(TIDAL WAVE-US 1975) PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS(1976)(LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH-US 1978) and this film which was released in the US as HIGH SEAS HIJACK. The plot is basically, an oil tanker is hijacked and will be rammed full speed into a fuel depot in Tokyo Bay thus causing a massive uncontrolled fire, unless terrorists get what they want. The film was picked up by UPA/Henry G Saperstein and after a limited theaterical release around 1979, it was released directly to TV, showing up on late nights and most recently, on AMC(before they changed their format). It's rife with stock footage from past Toho films including THE SUBMERGENCE OF JAPAN and, oddly, GODZILLA VS HEDORAH(some exploding oil tanks footage) and to confound it further, newly shot footage of Peter Graves and some other caucasians was filmed in what appears to be a very 1970's office as he "monitors the situation" which like inserting Raymond Burr into GODZILLA, it was a way for a familiar face to narrate what's going on for the audience. This makes it a mishmash of a film. It intends to be something really big and, it's not. Even action on board the ship looks very set-bound and poorly lit. Not bad but, not that good.

Leonard Nimoy: Star Trek Memories (1984 TV Movie)

Locally made show goes bigtime!

[7/10 · 5 October 2008]

This documentary was made in 1982/83 in Boston Mass, at the facilities of Channel 56, then "Boston's Star Trek Station". 56 used to be part of the old Kaiser Broadcasting Group and was partly owned by the Boston Globe(they had their building next door) and was a UHF station, they were sold to Field Communications by this time (and were eventually made into a WB affiliate, and recently,sold off to a smaller company which runs them currently as a low-cost CW affiliate and, "informercial" station). At the time, they had tremendous ratings success showing the original STAR TREK weeknights in the 70's, and, later in the 80's, on weekends for their "Star Trek Club" which local fans(inc myself once) were asked to "host" the showings. Boston was Nimoy's home so that provided a bit of charm as well. I'd heard privately that Nimoy in fact, came up with the idea, and Boston's Channel 56-which was doing so well in the Trek ratings-offered to produce it because he was due to be in town on other matters.It was an hour long(50 mins without ads) show on the history of Star Trek and how his character came to be, and how the movies came to be and basically done as a result of the enormous success of the 2nd Star Trek film, The Wrath of Khan which had the original series once again doing well in syndication, and fans clamoring for more-especially in light of Spock's "death" in the 2nd film. So this "TV special" was concocted, along with Paramount Pictures' blessing and use of many clips including from Star Trek:The Motion Picture and, the (then) recent Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. I remember Nimoy was going to answer whether Spock would come back at the very end of the show. What he said as he smiled, was something like "I can't say for sure...only that...in science fiction anything can happen!"-basically a yes and we all knew they wouldn't leave a major franchise character dead for long, and he beamed out via a slightly cheesy video effect. Most of the show was him speaking,standing against a video star field,and he was wearing a sport jacket and jeans and was very casual. The show was aired in the Boston and RI area,once and then, again because it did so well in ratings and then it was syndicated to other stations and aired irregularly through the 1980's and then to other countries. Paramount put it out on VHS I recall, as well during the 80's. So it was a locally made show, with almost no budget-a great deal of the idea was apparently Nimoy's wish to re-connect with the fans after years of saying "I am not Spock" and such.

Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974)

1970's Apocalypse....

[6/10 · 17 September 2008]

Depending on which version you see, it's either an epic masterwork or, a truncated mess. Originally, the film was a 1974 follow-up to the highly successful SUBMERSION OF JAPAN(1973). By this time, revenues for Godzilla had been falling and Toho saw more money in the disaster film genre. PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS was the next great, epic they did. The original cut is quite long and details the events that lead to world destruction by nuclear weapons. They had to work some monsters in there so what we get are giant slugs(about a foot or two long) and, giant bats(looked about four feet across). Details the story of a family in Japan-a 1970's polluted country-and how the excesses of pollution, famine and finally, war, effect them. Ostensibly, it's a loose remake of THE LAST WAR from 1961, by Toho. It even features stock footage from that film. There are some quite remarkable effects-a convexed reflection in the sky, of Tokyo thanks to a polluted and sweltering greenhouse effect which has occurred. A terrific matte painting of snow covered pyramids. And, later, a nuclear-blasted landscape of earth wit two VERY weird mutants scurrying for food. It was quite epic for it's time and a long film.

In 1983 or thereabouts, Henry G Saperstein's company UPA(which had under it's belt five Godzilla films and some other Toho works) acquired the film and edited it down to a scant 90 minutes, and re-framed it, and had it narrated in the style of the old Sun Classic Pictures and those strange pseudo-documentaries that got wide releases on secondary markets in the US through the 1970's. They even named it THE LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH(kind of like THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH, another 70's pseudo-documentary) The result is kind of a mess, and while it retains some of the cool imagery, it jettisons a lot more making scenes jump along inexplicably and the whole thing becomes a "THis was just a possibility. We can change the future" kind of ending. It then was sold directly to VHS and TV so it wound up appearing usually very late at night on the old TNT "100% Weird" and AMC(when they showed a lot of old retro movies).One scene that was excised, for a time, in the Japanese LAser Disk print was that of the mutant humanoids fighting over a worm. It was such a disturbing scene that Toho removed it after complaints from Hiroshima survivors and such. So it made the US print highly sought after even in the truncated and panned and scanned form(the US VHS and LD copies were from a 16mm print) in Japan. Later, Toho would restore the scene.

Perhaps the US holders of the film, Classic Media, will see to releasing this film in it's full Japanese version.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

A Letdown...(SOME SPOILERS)

[4/10 · 26 December 2007]

The positives include some stunning location photography(thank you Canada, more later on that however)in the start, and the suit work is great and eschews CG work, thankfully, save for a few shots perhaps.

The negatives outweigh all that. There are no humans we ever like or care about as we never get to know them in the film's scant one hour 25 minute running time. There are complete rips(maybe "homages") to both previous Predator and Alien entries to the point they are re-creations of the same scenes. In the first film, there is a genuine heroine and a Predator that we not only like both, but they have a genuine chemistry! Nothing like that happens here. There is a lone Predator who's a "fixer" who is sent in to completely wipe out all evidence of the crash landed ship, bodies, and aliens. Yet, he does something that completely, illogically ruins his mission purpose-he kills someone and leaves them hanging from a tree to be found! The FX work of the Predator home world shine-what little we see of it. Maybe the film should have taken place there. That would have been fun to see.

What bothered me was the out and out lack of scope to the film. These films have always worked best with monsters vs humans in an enclosed environment. That's what worked about the first AVP film and, I love that one for it's balance of humor and action. Even "Predator humor" worked there. This film is largely humorless-one joke is said and that's a throwaway line used in other films. With no insult or offense to Canada, it has all the hallmarks of a somewhat lower-budgeted Canadian film-where it was(again, stunning forests) mostly filmed, and most of the cast and production people, save at least for the FX/suit guys(from Hollywood) came from. Canadian Robert Joy, who's a regular to TV and movies there, even shows up as an "important mysterious military guy" but winds up not bearing much presence. No one really has much of a presence. It's also filmed in this murky-too-close-up way that just gets visually confusing.

It's also *blatantly* sadistic-not in a fun way-in one part of the film. Perhaps the FX people or whoever always wanted to see a pregnant woman-on the verge of birth-infected with writhing aliens, and some other things happen, not so nice, to babies and children. Ick.

This film is like looking at say SPECIES 2 or HIGHLANDER-THE FINAL DIMENSION as sequels, compared to what has come before. Had it been in the drive-in days it would have been a summer quickie. I'd heard that Fox, upon seeing it, had no idea really how to sell it which is why it wound up on Xmas day as a release, as it had been ready last summer and then was highly edited and some scenes re-shot. Probably should have gone right to DVD.

I Am Legend (2007)

Beyond The Omega Man...(***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***)

[10/10 · 14 December 2007]

Years ago, THE OMEGA MAN scared the bejeezus out of me, then again, I was young and even seeing somewhat dated visions of an empty world and rather badly done shots of people collapsing from a viral attack, still scared me. I AM LEGEND, which is the third movie based on the Matheson book, I Am Legend, really is scary for the here and now and thanks to some inventive photography and CG effects, we see a grim but fascinating vision of a completely abandoned New York City from the get-go. A well intentioned virologist Dr Krippen(played uncredited by Emma Thompson) in a news clip as the film's opening production tags play, shows a quick "human interest" story as a TV host talks innocently(and somewhat disbelievingly) with her, about her success with "curing cancer with a genetically engineered 'friendly' Measles virus" and that this was administered to over 10,000 cancer patients who are now "Cancer free". Cut to three years later and a dead, overgrown NYC with Will Smith speeding around it in a new Mustang(In THE OMEGA MAN, Chuck Heston sped around LA in a new 1972 Mustang, one of the film's many homages to it's predecessor) we see the extent of Krippen's horrible mistake to mess with and trust the nature of viruses-which can do mutate without prediction. Will Smith is Robert Neville, military virologist who witnessed the end of mankind-he's watching a tape of news as the illness begins to mutate and media is becoming alarmed. Krippen's Virus had a bizarre side effect-it mutated and became a contagious, airborne rabies-like illness that either kills outright or drives it's victims to become rage-filled, blood/fluid drinking mutants who hide in the shadows and only come out at night. (In THE OMEGA MAN it turned them into psychotic hippies called "The Family" styled after Charles Manson who was still hot news at the time-films are products of their own time) The virus spread very fast as we see in quick flashbacks(Omega Man was told in several flashbacks as effective). Mannequins play a role in THE OMEGA MAN, and they do in I AM LEGEND.

It is Smith's amazing acting talent that holds one riveted. It did me. The "mutants" are styled after the running infected in 28 DAYS LATER the only difference-and the film's drawback-is that too much CGI is used here and we're now so used to seeing CG in movies, that it appears that is what it is. In 28 DAYS LATER and it's sequel 28 WEEKS LATER, dancers were used as the running, screaming rage infected victims to much better effect. The CG FX shine in the visions of a ruined NYC, with grass and weeds everywhere, wildlife roaming, and destroyed bridges thanks to the military quarantine of the city. Obviously, it did little good as we overhear in a flashback, the President saying that "every major world city has taken the same action". Smith reminds us later, in dialog, "nothing was supposed to happen the way it did" It's a frightening vision, and I think the point being made was if, in reality, the Bird Flu hit and became easy to transmit, such scenes of sheer pandemonium, in larger cities would not be so much fiction. It's a terrific film.

A Christmas Carol (1971 TV Short)

Like a painting in motion...

[26 November 2007]

This little gem is something I saw on ABC, waaaaay back around '71 or '72. I know it aired several times in those days,around Christmases('71-'74)in prime time, and on their experimental but short-lived "Wide World of Entertainment".(At the time, there were two animated versions of this story. One was the CBS version which was an hour and, had traditional open-line art for the animation, including a skull-faced Jacob Marley.) This version miraculously managed to squeeze the entire story into 30 minutes and was out and out scary. The animation looked like an old etching, come to life with lines moving everywhere to indicate shadow and form. London became a creepy, Gormenghast-like city with spires, and arches, all sort of in this weird forced perspective. I remember the gap-mouthed Marley with his jaw dropping down to the middle of his chest as he screamed at Scrooge, and the eerie candle-headed Ghost of Christmas Past whom he forced back into a large cone that one would put candles out with in those days(but smaller). Creepy stuff even for it's time. Worth finding.

The Incredible Hulk: The Quiet Room (1979) Season 2, Episode 21

The Hulk Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

[8/10 · 6 November 2007]

David is working at a mental hospital as an attendant. While marveling at the work of Dr Murrow who seems to be curing violent patients with surgery, he later walks in as the doctor is viewing a tape that in fact, shows that Murrow is conducting clandestine mind-control experiments and his "surgery" is in reality, high-tech lobotomies making the subject more easily to obey orders (along the lines of The Manchurian Candidate). Murrow reveals some of the staff were in fact patients and because David has witnessed the tape, demands he cooperate...or be committed himself. David chooses to run for it-and then absconds with the incriminating tape, hiding it in some bushes in the garden. Before he can escape, he's beaten unconscious by two attendants and...wakes up in a straitjacket, strapped down in a padded cell-"The Quiet Room" of the title. His one ally-the female Dr. Hill who David seems to have developed a liking to- is called and Murrow tells her he's homicidally paranoid and must be medicated immediately and prepared for the surgery. Of course,in view of doctors,and attendants, Banner thrashes and struggles telling Dr Hill he's lying -"he's gotta be stopped,don't let him get the tape!"- which only worsens his case. As they go to prepare some powerful medication, he panics, hulks out,bursts out of the straitjacket and escapes-briefly onto the hospital grounds-and is re-captured and given a double dose of meds and is restrained in bed again. A fellow patient, "Houdini" helps him with another escape attempt which fails. David begs Dr Hill to listen to him,("We're always here to listen" she says therapeutically)and she in turn implores him to reveal where he hid the tape- but she begins to believe something in his story, and she agrees to reduce his medication and take his restraints off-but he's still scheduled for surgery. Finally, another patient finds the missing tape and Dr. Hill sees it- but plays along. As he's wheeled to surgery,he knows his fate depends on whether she will help him or will it take the power of the Hulk, or both?

A familiar theme explored in episodes of Mannix, The Rockford Files and films like The Fifth Floor-of when sane,desperate pleas are seen as insanity given the surroundings of an asylum, a corrupt doctor's diagnosis and how will the "sane" victim prevail? In one scene, he begs a laundry truck driver to help him get out-the driver only turns him into the attendants as he clings to a bag of laundry in sheer desperation-"Look I'm not a patient here..I have to get out" Banner(in pajamas) pleads, and the driver goes "Sure buddy, just get in the truck and I'll let you know when it's safe". Later, Banner appears completely resigned,pacing about his padded cell everything working against him, Bixby acts the character as if, this time, he's truly given up.

The truth is that even in 1979, patients couldn't be involuntarily operated on so while it was an excellent episode, it had some far fetched elements that were more out of the 1940's.

On the Beach (2000 TV Movie)

Utterly heartbreaking look at the end of the world...with some humor...

[10/10 · 19 August 2007]

This Australian production was aired as a 4 hour film in the US on some cable networks. It should have gotten a wider viewing. It's tremendous. Based on Neville Shute's novel of nuclear Armageddon, it's got a lot of Aussie humor as well as some stark images, and it's far more graphic(people throwing up with radiation sickness) than the original film. It drives home the point-or pointlessness-of nuclear war far more than anything like The Day After done here. All of these films wound up being a little nostalgic of a time when we worried about nuclear war.( Now, thanks to Bush and his idiot cronies, we're worrying again, because he's effectively re-created the feeling of the Cold War by provoking war, and recently Russia, again to a more defensive stance. One wonders if these people could watch a film like this and it would make a difference. Bush and his minority of right wing-nut religious supporters sadly want "Armageddon" because to them, they're going to some afterlife and, it in turn creates-to them-a "Biblical" prophecy fulfilled-rant over). The film has stand-out performances from Armand Assante, Byran Brown and Rachel Ward, and without giving away spoilers(you know the general story) it's griping and graphic in spots, pulling no punches on the effect that impending nuclear radiation has on a society. Brown has some fun throw-away lines, and in one case he "steals" some art from the national gallery, only to realize, everyone else is...what's the point, who will survive to enjoy it.

The Last Dinosaur (1977)

Fun...they don't make 'em like this anymore....

[8/10 · 19 August 2007]

The Last Dinosaur was one of those "out of nowhere" movie-of-the-week films in the 1970's that was pretty exciting for the time especially to fans of Japanese Tokusatsu films. Originally slated for a theatrical release (around when the Dino King Kong was out in the previous December) it was suddenly pulled and made into a Friday Night ABC Movie of The Week. Rankin Bass-who were no strangers to Japanese co-productions were the guns behind this production, co-produced with Tsuburaya Productions of Japan-the people who brought us Ultraman in various forms. Starring mostly an American cast including the late Richard Boone, Joan Van Ark and the late Steven Keats, it told the tale of a prehistoric pocket of time in what was a superheated volcanic caldera somewhere at the frozen arctic circle, containing dinosaurs. It plays a lot like the films The Land Unknown(1956) and The Land That Time Forgot(1975) in feel and pace. Sure the dinosaurs were guys in suits(A Triceratops with front knees!) but they were filmed in such a way, the music and score was so well done, and the cast did a fine job that this didn't matter much to many of us brought up on Godzilla. The film has a lot of class to it, from the opening score by Nancy Wilson "The Last Dinosaur" to the overall "big" feeling of the film-the locations at hot springs in Northern Japan were excellent and lush- and the undeniable feeling of Kaiju Eiga to it. There are some amazing set pieces-the T-Rex's "bone yard" and a tracking shot that takes us deep into the jungle to see the T-Rex eat a giant fish from a stream. Tsuburaya's FX people did their job in style here and aside from a few dodgy matte shots, they do their job well. This film is considered the best 1970's "kaiju" film from Japan, even over the five Godzilla films made during that decade. Rankin Bass did several other co-productions with Tsuburaya providing the creatures or miniatures- The Bermuda Depths(1978) and The Ivory Ape(1980)-but neither measured up to the epic look of this film.

Xanadu (1980)

Fun, and of the time....

[9/10 · 14 August 2007]

Xanadu has received it's share of trashing over the years, right from the get-go, the film seemed already D.O.A. despite riding on the heels of Grease and the disco/roller boogie movement. It hit-just like Can't Stop The Music-another musical/disco kind of thing-right when the Disco backlash was in full swing. Had it been two years earlier it would have done a lot better. The result was the studio had no idea how and whom to market it to, as music was in such a state of change at the time. It's really fun, very colorful to watch and contains as a record,the now-burned down art deco Pan Pacific auditorium which sat for many years, abandoned and decaying, right in the middle of Los Angeles, hidden somewhat by it's own wilderness of overgrowth. It comes across like an old fashioned film in many ways-the music, Gene Kelly (his last theatrical screen appearance before he retired for good- he did some TV after that), the dancing, Busby-Berkley overhead chorus line shots, and the boy-meets-perfect-gal-he-can't-have storyline. It's a lot of fun, no matter what people say and once you put it on you can't stop watching it. Music is by Olivia Newton-John(who looks totally hot especially towards the end in the big dance number) Electric Light Orchestra and The Tubes and combinations of all of them.

Rescue from Gilligan's Island (1978 TV Movie)

Just sit right back....

[7/10 · 25 June 2007]

NBC, out of nowhere in 1978, announced this TV film "Rescue From Gilligan's Island" as a Movie of The Week(which they did so well in the day!). Much was made of the fact that Tina Louise declined to be in the film-a mistake on her part-feeling the Ginger role had 'ruined' her career. Judith Baldwin kind of faked her way in the sultry part, but truly it was Dawn Wells who was still da bomb of the two of them. The story was what everyone had wanted to see. Many of the cast had aged noticeably but once in familiar costumes, they jumped back into the roles easily from the get-go and they kept it with "real time" in that they'd been missing for 15 years. It has the familiar theme song from the start and the Professor finds out grave news-via one of his ingenious devices-they have to leave the island because it's sinking. Gilligan's incompetency in cooking a fish on the wooden raft of huts causes a fire-which attracts the Coast Guard-and gets them rescued. After a rather-highly budgeted location scene that had them return to the the Honolulu harbor they left from-the film descends into familiar territory, on studio sets, with two Russian spies pursuing Gilligan for a missing part (from a Soviet rocket)he's wearing for good luck. One by one the castaways find they can't really connect back into society after the lapse of 15 years and are drawn back together, for...another boat cruise. The film wound up being a ratings smash for NBC, with one of the highest ratings ever for a TV movie, apparently! So much so they commissioned two more very lame,set-bound "sequel" movies-The Castaways of Gilligan's Island, and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island. The former had them winding up-after another three hour tour-back on the same island(apparently it did not sink) and, within the first 10 minutes rescued again by a condo developer who'd been there already and, puts them in charge of their famous island as a resort getaway. The latter film really was threadbare, and a new low-point for guest stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain as the "bad guys" who create robots to go head to head with The Globerotters on the island at a sporting event. Jim Backus-who had been suffering the terrible effects of Parkinson's Disease-had to step out and was replaced by his and Mrs Howell's long-lost son. Backus, apparently so cared for his cast mates, and the role that despite his crippling illness found some strength and gave it his all to do a very quick walk-on scene(he could barely walk) and one or two lines that were written in at the last moment. He was obviously visibly ill. It's hard to think that the core of the cast, save for Dawn Wells, Tina Louise and Russell Johnson, have passed on because the show was so immortal even for it's mere 3 seasons and 3 movies.

28 Weeks Later (2007)

What if....

[10/10 · 19 May 2007]

What was scary as Hell about 28 Days Later and it's excellent sequel 28 Weeks Later is that it shows us a virus-created from apparently(I read in some back-story literature) a splicing of the very real Ebola and Borna viruses. Ebola explains the violent hemorrhaging, Borna-a little know but real and scary disease-explains the rage. Souped up with some very fast incubation time. Borna was named after a town in the early 20th century in France, which was an unknown-origin virus that struck a horse farm with no warning. Apparently contagious, all the horses went into "rage" trying to kill each other until they all had to be put down and burned. No one knew where it came from-or where it went.All their brains were infected with this bug. But it has never thankfully appeared again. Borna was used in the 1985 virus film Warning Sign. What better way to spread a virus than by vomiting blood and bodily fluids all over people as you run into them? To sum up without spoilers, this film is a lot less disturbing on the human level as the previous film was which was truly disturbing at the last third. The characters here, this time, are warmer and this balances off the terror of the virus. A couple of people make some very stupid mistakes which re-activate the virus otherwise it may have been totally wiped out. The gore is there but the way it's filmed,staccato-like... your mind fills in more than is really seen. I like that, where violence is not lingered over but only flirted with. Also, in this film, it's apparent the virus is ready to mutate.

Also, to answer the Dawn of The Dead vs 28 Days/Weeks..."are they or aren't they zombies?" No, they're very much alive and in the throes of an uncontrollable virus. So, this film is less in the category of "Zombie" film and more in the category of "Virus" film such as The Omega Man(1971) Virus(1980) Warning Sign(1985) and Outbreak(1995) A worthy sequel to 28 Days Later....

The Shape of Things to Come (1979)

Things that Came and Went...Space:1979

[1/10 · 7 May 2007]

Makes a great double feature of bad films paired with Space Mutiny(1988)or Starship Invasions(1977). I remember there being some hype for this film in Starlog and other genre mags of the time, and that Barry Morse was headlining it(along with Jack Palance and Carol Lynley) and that Sylvia Anderson(Space:1999, UFO) was producing it and involved in aspects of the design. Well, Anderson walked early on, signing herself off it, but not after signing on Barry Morse from her Space:1999 haunts, to star in this. The film was to be made in Canada and, to feature some "top line" visual effects and miniatures by Brick Price.It's ghastly from the get-go. A disco-inspired theme song opening the show(this was 1979) and we go to a moon base which just happens to be a futuristic(then)office building outside of Toronto and we're told in that casual, expository way, that the "earth-like" conditions outside the windows, complete with clouds and trees, are all inside a dome with a "sunsphere" providing a familiar view for the people inside. How convenient. Barry Morse puts on an American accent for this, not his familiar grandfatherly British accent. Jack Palance plays "Omus" an evil kind of guy(he played the same kind of "evil guy" in an episode of Buck Rogers about the same time) who has these walking-garbage can robots who look totally ridiculous and awkward. He also laughs, for no apparent reason only that he's amazed himself, which isn't hard. All of the costumes of the young people look like they just roller boogied to the moon. The same corridor is used again and again for "chase" scenes-they just change directions. The miniatures are pretty bad-fighters that have model parts of the "K-7 Space Station" on the front end. The FX work is largely some glitzy animation that's passable at first, but just gets more annoying. Landing on another planet, it looks just like some empty lot or tract of land in Canada. Supposedly this was to be a much more ambitious production, with Mike Trim having done some production drawings and miniatures made in England-that all went when Sylvia Anderson walked off it. In fact, that's what Morse was led to believe when he signed on. (I read where he said he was taken aback at the cheapness of everything, but honored his professional commitment and did his job and finished it, as he agreed to do.) Harry Allan Towers (no slouch at cheap films)came in and the quality was replaced by the thrift of just getting the film done. I admit I was pretty shocked it was so low-budget. I'd accepted that it was a Canadian film, for the time, and figured it would be lower end, but this took the cake.

Space Mutiny (1988)

Battlestar Gawdawful....

[1/10 · 6 May 2007]

Possibly the worst Sci Fi movie ever made. Apparently this was filmed in South Africa, on a non-existent budget. I mean, if $200,000 was involved I'd be surprised. It was filmed in an old refinery-with brick walls and supports, catwalks and duct work. Inexplicably there is daylight sun out the "windows". Of course, in The Shape of Things to Come(1979)it was just as bad(the moonbase there happened to be in an futuristic office building, the explanation for the windows and trees and blue sky was it was all in an "earth-like dome"). Equally inexplicable is how they managed to get Cameron Mitchell and John Phillip Law to headline this mess. Probably they needed money. Mitchell was pretty much no longer acting at this point and got a free Vacay in South Africa as part of it. The film goes beyond laughable from the get-go. The use of Battlestar Galactica footage(probably leased from Universal, so they'd get some $$$ out of the old show in some way) is glaringly weird. With the costumes,acting, sets it all comes off like a home movie, only using professional equipment. All the girls have ghastly hairdos, even for the 80's, many looked like they rolled out of bed. Most laughable are the use of entire rows of airliner seats in many shots-people seem to sit side by side for conferences and to work at consoles. Computers with the old floppy disks were placed on card table stands just to look "futuristic". There's a disco scene, some soft core porn, lots of girls dancing in spandex and muslin, the cheap clothing, awful acting and the security guy with the mullet. Even the ditsy babe Cissy Cameron gets strapped to a stretcher by the bad guy, and tortured with a laser tooth drill(!!) and hilariously, she manages to seduce a slob worker into "If you take your trousers off, I'll unzip my spandex top" and he takes her restraints off, and she knocks him on his ass. In one scene there's a party on the bridge of the ship(complete with a semi-nude girl just sitting there)-then a space battle-and then they get back to the party. The end climax chase scene just takes the cake however. When one of the cars turns over, the cardboard outside falls off, we see it for what it is-a motorized wheelchair!! One of those films you have to watch to say you did...and be done with it. Back in the 80's, this film was a direct-to-video release in the US, with theatrical release in other countries. It showed up a lot on late-nite cable TV. It could be said Ed Wood at least had an inept optimistic ambition. This is just a mess.

The Stranger (1973 TV Movie)

Of it's time...

[6/10 · 19 March 2007]

Typical ABC Movie-of-The-Week circa 1973 when some cheesy and some interesting Sci Fi films were produced rather prolifically. They are still way better than the crap that Sci-Fi Channel makes seemingly weekly for "Premieres".

This one was more or less a rip-off/remake of the much better Journey to The Far Side of The Sun(1969) which was made in England and Europe by Gerry Anderson. That film benefited from incredible FX work from Derek Meddings, a great score from Barry Gray and a good cast and had a haunting ending.

The Stranger doesn't have any of that. The plot-an astronaut Glenn Corbett-blown up in space-finds himself on a parallel earth, we learn it is called Terra(one assumes the play on the word "terror" as well as Terra meaning Earth) with three moons. He wakes up-a prisoner in what turns out is a mental hospital-to a very paranoid and not-giving-much-info hospital staff. Managing to escape he finds out he's on this creepy, alternate version of earth but ruled by a totalitarian government called The Perfect Order and is pursued by Cameron Mitchell, a ruthless agent of the secret police for this government. The agents drive around in ominous looking Plymouths(that do not sound like Earth cars) and wear these strange knit jackets with wide lapels and they've cautioned everyone that a dangerous mental patient has escaped and that he must be found. Our astronaut manages to evade capture by dressing like the inhabitants-who dress unfashionably drab sort of like old 60's Communist Russia. When he starts asking questions-such as a scene in a bookstore when he asks "What came before the Perfect Order?" suspicion is aroused and up pops Mitchell and his thugs who threaten the already paranoid citizens with "Ward E" a sinister mental asylum. They'll do anything to cooperate and earn "citizen points" rather than face the ominous Ward E so Corbett is off again in The Fugitive-style escapes. The evils of Ward E are illustrated when another administrator (Tim O' Connor) confides to Mitchell that he wonders if this visitor has something to say and maybe this "Perfect Order" is wrong. Later we see him sitting in the middle of a weird surrealistic room, in hospital clothing, completely docile and vegetative and Mitchell warns him over his shoulder how he has paid the price for doubting. Meanwhile our astronaut befriends a young doctor(Sharon Acker) who not only believes his story of coming from-and wanting to go back to-another earth-but seems to have feelings for him. Eventually she is captured and hooks up with him later saying she escaped. He wants to use this society's slightly better space technology (which is hinted at, by Perfect Order elders that they'll eventually use to invade Earth) to escape this madness. When they get to the launch facility, she implores him not to go(he's already put on a space suit) and in the struggle, she reveals she was in fact taken for "treatments" at Ward E and has been brainwashed to lead him back to the authorities. He sets off an alarm which incapacitates Acker(revealing the nature of the Ward E treatments)who crumbles, grasping her head and he attempts to get aboard the spaceship. She's recaptured and the last we see is Mitchell telling her she's failed and it's back to Ward E-forever-as she screams. The launch fails and he winds up, staring wistfully at the three moons, all set up for a TV series that never happened.

The biggest thing this film had working against it was lack of a budget. The FX are non-existent, space stuff is all stock and a shot of the Terra launch facility simply looks like Cape Kennedy/Vandenberg AFB footage at night. The three moons are nothing more than three balls just hung on string in front of a star field-very cheesy. It has the claustrophobic-shot-in-an-old-office building feel that many of those Made-for-TV'ers suffered from. Also, everything seems very convenient. He appears to have escaped into a regular New England-looking back lot town-that seems very near the space facility. It has a creepy moment when he takes the scarf off Sharon Acker's head to see her temple areas disfigured horribly from shock treatments, though I saw this coming a mile away, the fact she shows up inexplicably and with a head scarf on.

It was a film, very much of it's time that Gerry Anderson did much better earlier, but downplayed the political angle of it.

The Love War (1970 TV Movie)

When it was Love, Extraterrestrial Style...

[7/10 · 15 February 2007]

Back in the day, I saw this on a Sunday afternoon syndicated movie(about 1975). Apparently it was a 1970 ABC movie of The Week(Networks did some terrific-but cheaply made- movies of the week, back in those halcyon 70's days.. of a sci-fi or horror nature, like Earth 2, The Stranger Within,Killdozer, The People, Don't Be Afraid of The Dark, The Horror At 37,000 Feet, Gargoyles..way before Sci Fi Channel put on mostly made for TV garbage of recent years. In fact, Sci Fi Channel, in their old days of the mid-90's re-ran many of these old films as well as TNT/TBS back in their retro format years). I think the word "Love" was in style-Love American Style, Love Story, etc all coming out the same year. Lloyd Bridges (who did a lot of made for TV'ers in them days) plays an alien who comes to earth to fight other aliens as the two races have declared the earth their battleground. Bridge's alien claims he's fighting the good fight and going to win the battle and, the earth will be left alone by his race, as he says that if the other race wins, they'll take over earth. Or will they? It's his word against theirs.He falls in love with the earthly Angie Dickinson and reveals his secret to her-you can guess the twist ending to that. Done kind of like a color Outer Limits episode made into a film. Special effects are not bad, for the day, and we only once ever glimpse, quickly, the alien's true visage, from a distance, before it turns... so we know while they look like us, they're quite alien. The aliens can see each other apart from the earthlings via special glasses. Fun stuff for, and of the time.

Bye Bye Jupiter (1984)

"We burn out like the comet's nest"

[3/10 · 4 February 2007]

What a mess of a film. This was Toho's first-of the 1980's-foray into Tokusatsu, after a hiatus in 1977 with The War In Space. It was made a year before Godzilla 1984 as well as a year before 2010 came out-and this film bears some striking plot devices to that one, as well as some of the set and miniature designs. The plus is perhaps some outstanding effects work by Koichi Kawakita, for the time; some mesmerizing cloud chamber work, and nice miniature ships,planet scapes and matte and optical work. I'd say it well matches anything by Gerry Anderson(think Space:1999) from the late 60's or early 70's. The story is another matter-a black hole is on collision course with earth-however it can be altered if Jupiter is blown up to become a sun. The "Jupiter Solarization Project" is being undertaken to create a new sun and thus, colonize the moons of Jupiter. However some space hippies of the "Jupiter Church" don't want this to happen. They hang around-when not casually attempting to sabotage the project in orbit around Jupiter-on a beach on earth with this head guru guy who pulls out a guitar and stops the film, and does a musical number! I kid you not. This happens about four times. Accompanied by a montage of images of animals, beaches, dolphins,etc. There is also perhaps one of the biggest rip-off scenes from Jaws ever done, so blatantly. Characters zip back and forth from earth to Jupiter with the edit of a scene. There is also a "space sex" scene which they use "Love Gas" to achieve. It's corny, cheesy but inexplicably...you can see nary a string or harness on their buck naked bodies! How'd they do that? It goes on forever but you can't take your eyes off it, not knowing how "hot" this will get. The hippies turn out to be terrorists and somehow we are supposed to empathize with their desire to kill everyone for no reason whatsoever. There are some grand set pieces, devices, and a "large" epic look to things. But it never really comes together. They steal everything you can think of from the aforementioned Jaws,Star Wars, The Black Hole and, another blatant effects rip off shot from 2001:A Space Odyssey. The songs are amazing-they don't miss a beat to get one into all four acts of the film and, the end titles, complete with strange lyrics like "We burn out like a comet's nest" and "I will transfer all your pain to me". The English speaking actors are atrocious for the most part, just completely ruining whatever grand set they are placed in. There is also a scene where a guy is speaking German to a Gaijin guy who speaks Japanese back at him. Huh? There's a Godzilla in-joke that's quite funny, and works, as clips from Ghidorah(1965) manage to make it into the film as one guy seems to be a Kaiju fan. The film was never released here in the states legally, until now. It's been a rarity for American Tokusatsu fans to try and find. And, to me, a letdown.

Annihilator (1986 TV Movie)

Moody...a real 80's gem

[9/10 · 9 January 2007]

I think this aired in 1986, on the old NBC Monday Night Movie, in the summer when it was usual to see lost TV pilots aired as movie-of-the-weeks. Told the tale of a newspaper reporter(Chapman) who has to miss a vacation(having won a "contest")with his girlfriend Angela, a scenario which, in the style it was filmed starts off very prosaic and normal until, as he narrates the entire film as a flashback, he finds her return plane had "gone off the radar" for 90 minutes, and returns, but delayed. He gets unnerved watching Angela speaking to a mysterious man in sunglasses,who seems to be watching the passengers leave the plane, asks who it was- and she denies having spoken to anyone. She is also unaware the plane was "delayed and missing". She begins acting strangely and having odd meetings with unknown people, and as the reporter begins to investigate things and ask more questions, she tries to kill him and he finds she's now a terminator-like robot(complete with the same kind of eye-tracking visuals from that film). Truly panicked he finds himself a wanted man, framed, and on the run with nothing more than the passenger list he got after dispatching the Angela robot. The only hint or clue we're ever given is one passenger who appears to be normal who claims "nothing went wrong on the flight, I slept, then felt a bump..and I had that awful nightmare.." . The reporter asks "What kind of nightmare?" and before she can say more, she's killed by another one of these robots. He finds out a little more, from another,older passenger who seems to be in charge of a localized group of these beings-he manages after a fight,to damage the mechanical brain and he begins talking incoherently about "Dynamitards...are the collective of Dymogeny" and how they intend to fully take over. We learn nothing else, other than he sets off,alone, in Fugtive-like fashion to find other normal passengers from the list-who were apparently checked off for termination-before the robots do. Obviously it was intended to be a series along the lines of Nowhere Man or The Fugitive, finding more clues along the way.

The film had some interesting "rock video" sequences,very much of the time-dissolves and used a perpetual "Los Angeles Sunset/Sunrise" for lighting. The use of Bowie's Ashes to Ashes and visual references to religious buildings and at one point, the hero seems to be standing in front of painted angel's wings, lead one to think these were possibly not aliens but something darker or even homegrown on earth.

UFO: Target Earth (1974)

Ghastly!

[1/10 · 13 December 2006]

Terrible film, suffered from not just being long, and boring, but it appeared it was some kind of 16mm film, made by college students on a shoestring budget and transferred to 35mm-not an uncommon practice at the time for low-budget films, turned into potboilers for drive-in 2nd features. I remember it was "hyped" as a docudrama and double billed with The Devil's Triangle, another documentary that was narrated by Vincent Price and was at least,entertaining but both cashed in on,in then-1974, hype over UFOs and Bermuda Triangle lore. The plot is basically an electronics expert determines that strange signals may be coming from a rural area where he grew up-and a possible UFO crash site- at the bottom of a lake. The ship crashed possibly many years ago and it's occupants-or their psychic energies- have apparently been alive all that time and been attempting to communicate. An old-timer recalls when he was a boy, a "star falling into the lake". We never really see anything but an attempt is made to create a creepy, "too quiet" lake in many shots. The whole thing reeks of poor film-making-everyone in one shot, talking-lots of glib talking- as if they are reading the script, and extremely poor FX(what there are of them). Most seem to be just video tricks such as high contrast/video blending images of the alien's face on a monitor and a cheap bit of animation showing a ship in space-something like a dime store 2001. Interesting opening titles sequence with a strange but catchy electro-smooth "70's sounding" song called "Between The Attic and The Sky" and a montage of UFO photos we have all seen before. Everything is shot at night, or in a perpetual sunset-across-the-lake mode. This film oddly had a huge play in many areas in 1974, and wound up as a prime-time TV syndicated film the next year in many markets.

The Omega Man (1971)

Of it's time, but now relevant again...

[9/10 · 12 December 2006]

The Omega Man was a product of it's time. It played to Cold War fears of a biological war. In the original story, the plague was never really specified as to where it came from and how-it just kind of happened, however in the 1964 Vincent Price film of the same book, it was hinted at that it was something that escaped from a Eastern bloc country's biological weapons lab but it was only in passing. In The Omega Man, a flashback Heston has, shows us that Russia and China had some kind of escalating border war, and the US is somehow pulled into it. All this is done with a montage of stock footage of bomb tests,missile launches,voice overs warning of "Bacillus carrying warheads!" and bit later, we learn that "Jonathan Matthias" was once a news commentator as things went to Hell, as the plague takes full effect with scenes of overcrowded hospitals, people dropping on the street, and him on TV talking to dead viewers about "Judgement day". The virus, or whatever it was, hits very fast and seemingly kills most people within minutes. Some, however,we learn, it takes longer and they wind up as light sensitive,albino zombies, with the now insane- "Matthias" the guru of at least the Los Angeles area ones, battling Robert Neville, the last plague-free man on the planet. Alive,thanks to an experimental drug that seemed to be the cure,he found in the waning days of civilized society, but because of a helicopter crash, too late for anyone but him. We see him, apparently in 1977, two years after the plague had hit-in Spring, 1975(an old wall calendar and Easter greetings reveal this. The "Easter" reference would not be the film's only "Christ" allegory.)

The film has a tremendous Ron Grainer opening score, and positively drips everything 70's-fashions, expressions,cars and including nods to blaxploitation films of the time and managing to portray Heston's Neville as "The Man...on his own"

It became a seemingly terribly dated film after the Cold War ended in 1989, (kind of like The Day After became of it's time) and many people chortled at the idea of a biological war. After the Soviet Union collapsed, it was found that those fears were not unfounded-that in fact as a "doomsday" weapon the Soviets had secretly stockpiled massive amounts of Smallpox to create just such a last-ditch situation had they been on the losing side of a WW3 that never fortunately occurred.

However, now, with both fears of Avian Flu, and the threat of terrorists gaining some kind of viral agent and unleashing it, the film has a new relevance. A good piece of 70's nostalgia but with a current ring to it.

The Fountain (2006)

Mindblowing!

[10/10 · 16 November 2006]

I can't add much more to some of the other many-starred reviews here, suffice to say the film will have you thinking long after you have left the theater. At the same time it is not everyone's cup of tea and expects a lot from the viewer. Don't look too much for answers, as you sometimes have to put together your own.

The visual effects are stunning and,don't betray the "lowish" budget of $30 million this cost to make. They're done with some old-fashioned methods, fluid chamber work, model work and a dash of CG. The result is poetic and amazing.

It's kind of like 2001: A Space Odyssey, of this time though,and even then that film asked viewers a lot, rather than provide easy answers.

Disaster on the Coastliner (1979 TV Movie)

Very 70's TV Disaster Film

[5/10 · 15 September 2006]

Fun stuff for it's time. An ABC Sunday Night Movie, made by Shatner largely after he completed principal photography on STAR TREK-THE MOTION PICTURE, in 1978. I happened to be on an Amtrak train in 1979,going to a "Star Trek" Convention. The conductor explained to me that that very route-Rhode Island/Connecticut to NYC, was actually the very route and train(Amtrak) on which much of the film was shot, including several stunt sequences involving a small bridge. Many "out the window" reaction shots and some of the interaction was filmed with Connecticut whizzing by the windows. The crew apparently rented out three of the cars to do some quick filming on, however the conductor had access to all of them, so he got to meet the cast used in the sequences.

Of course it was an "all star film" like many of the time. And miniatures were used in the film as well.

An interesting anecdote.

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)

Dated in it's own time but still excellent!

[10/10 · 1 September 2006]

Gerry Anderson's first live-action foray in the way of a major motion picture that benefits from incredible model FX work and,a great Barry Gray music score. The reel-to-reel analog computers, in the far-off year "2069" (I guess Anderson really wanted a safe date of a 100 years later!) are a hoot to see as are the guru-jacket fashions, but one could easily accuse 2001 of the same violations, but no one could have foreseen some things as they turn out. This film was the springboard for the series UFO the following year, and in fact not only had the same FX people, and producers but many of the cast were regulars in that show.

It always comes off like an "alternate history" future more than anything else-the "Apollo-like" rocket used in the lift-off, it always seems like this is really another planet than earth. Given the "alternate earth" plot, one would assume that was the feeling they wanted. We end up with an ending that posits more questions than answers. That because the "other earth" exists every movement, event and thing said is duplicated as it's happening on both worlds. Because of that given, and the sun in between, the two versions of the same person (in this case Glenn Ross, astronaut) can never meet. A complete accident discovered the planet in the first place when it would have most likely stayed a secret forever.

Filmed mostly in Portugal with FX work in England, it's a must-own for any Gerry Anderson fan. I have the Image bare bones DVD from a few years ago now out of print, but one hopes Universal will re-release it with, perhaps extras and even a Gerry Anderson commentary.