Michael D'Brannin(John Standing)has a great vision and that is to find a certain form of alien life/intelligence but needs a space vessel to seek it out. The ship he's able to find is captained supposedly by a mysterious man named Royd(Michael Praed)who won't reveal himself in person to the crew. Miranda(Catherine Mary Stewart who I thought was just fine)is a head-strong woman who is D'Brannin's confident, a person who believes in him and his life's goal & desire. The rest of the crew are not as assured of this mission, but go along with the ride anyway. They are mostly made up of tech-heads who wish to understand Royd more and try various ways to get more information about him. Then there's a woebegone Class-10 telepath Jon(the always watchable, flashy, flamboyant Michael Des Barres ripping to shreds every scene he's in)who believes he's found an evil presence on board the ship, at it's very core. This "seething malignant presence" hates the crew, Jon informs them in shouting tirades as he has "linked" with the very evil itself. Royd has found a person to confide in with Miranda, obviously a woman he's also attracted to. He finds her doing gymnastics(perhaps one of the few times the film really pursues character development by placing a past to a person)and is intrigued by her and the things Miranda has to say. Royd informs her that he is in fact a clone, created by a woman he calls "Mother" who died before the chamber birthing him completed it's cycle. Royd wishes to leave his ship and realizes that his immunity system is so weak he'll probably die leaving the ship, but his feeling of imprisonment makes his decision easier. His desire to do this makes the evil presence on the ship erupt as it's obvious who it is that is behind the violence that will take place..Mother. Jon wishes to "take over" the ship and believes he can defeat the evil that is control at the present..big mistake. He is instead controlled by Mother and forced to attempt the murder on the one she believes is responsible for putting thoughts of leaving in Royd's head..Miranda. The rest of the crew are merely fodder for her death belt. From Jon we find out what is indeed behind the evil..somehow the woman who created Royd transfered her consciousness and will into the ship's core meaning that it's her who controls the ship and it's computer. Somewhere on the ship lies her power and it must be destroyed or else everyone perishes.
Yeah, it's rather mediocre, but I never found it to be as bad as everyone else posting user comments does. Now, this could be because I haven't read the book it's based on. I'll admit, there isn't much character development and the crew, for the most part, are merely here to serve as victims for the "Mother of evil". Lisa Blount who portrays Audrey, the crew member who questions nearly everything, especially the trustworthiness of Royd, is feisty enough, but a bit grating at the same time. James Avery(as Darryl, the cook who gets his fingers taken off in a kitchen explosion during one of Mother's emotional outbursts and then later re-applied during a surgery scene)tries hard in the role of token black guy who serves as emotional center to the nervous crew members who do not trust Royd or the other goings-on on board this alien ship. Glenn Withrow is Keelor, the nerd who understands the engineering side of things and has a scene where he finds the massive schematics of the computer showing us what they're up against. Hélène Udy is Lilly, the computer wiz mostly seen punching keys trying to get at what makes Royd(..and the ship)tick. Annabel Brooks is Jon's telepathic lover, Eliza.
There's one great sequence where someone possessed by Mother attempts to kill Miranda and during the struggle gets his arm sliced off & face broken apart by a renegade laser. Another poor soul is sucked out into space when, in another one of her emotional tirades, Mother opens the cargo bay doors. During that tirade, Royd is able, he thinks, to stop Mother, but not before the cargo bay is breached meaning it must be patched before the ship implodes. So you know that going outside the ship is very necessary..is Mother really dead? I thought some of the special effects sequences were just fine and the murkiness of the ship's interior isn't something I was bothered by. It could've been better, I assume, since many consider this an abomination to a good novel. Whoever made this probably didn't have the money or proper resources to make the kind of ambitious project that novel needed.
Yeah, it's rather mediocre, but I never found it to be as bad as everyone else posting user comments does. Now, this could be because I haven't read the book it's based on. I'll admit, there isn't much character development and the crew, for the most part, are merely here to serve as victims for the "Mother of evil". Lisa Blount who portrays Audrey, the crew member who questions nearly everything, especially the trustworthiness of Royd, is feisty enough, but a bit grating at the same time. James Avery(as Darryl, the cook who gets his fingers taken off in a kitchen explosion during one of Mother's emotional outbursts and then later re-applied during a surgery scene)tries hard in the role of token black guy who serves as emotional center to the nervous crew members who do not trust Royd or the other goings-on on board this alien ship. Glenn Withrow is Keelor, the nerd who understands the engineering side of things and has a scene where he finds the massive schematics of the computer showing us what they're up against. Hélène Udy is Lilly, the computer wiz mostly seen punching keys trying to get at what makes Royd(..and the ship)tick. Annabel Brooks is Jon's telepathic lover, Eliza.
There's one great sequence where someone possessed by Mother attempts to kill Miranda and during the struggle gets his arm sliced off & face broken apart by a renegade laser. Another poor soul is sucked out into space when, in another one of her emotional tirades, Mother opens the cargo bay doors. During that tirade, Royd is able, he thinks, to stop Mother, but not before the cargo bay is breached meaning it must be patched before the ship implodes. So you know that going outside the ship is very necessary..is Mother really dead? I thought some of the special effects sequences were just fine and the murkiness of the ship's interior isn't something I was bothered by. It could've been better, I assume, since many consider this an abomination to a good novel. Whoever made this probably didn't have the money or proper resources to make the kind of ambitious project that novel needed.