Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)

In 2020, after the colonization of the moon, the spaceships Vega, Sirius and Capella are launched from Lunar Station 7. They are to explore Venus under the command of Professor Hartman, but... See full summary »

Directors:

Curtis Harrington (as John Sebastian), Pavel Klushantsev (uncredited)

Writer:

Curtis Harrington (as John Sebastian)

Stars:

Basil Rathbone, Faith Domergue, Marc Shannon

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Basil Rathbone	...	Prof. Hartman - Lunar 7
Faith Domergue	...	Dr. Marsha Evans - Vega
Marc Shannon
Christopher Brand
John Bix	...	John the Robot
Lewis Keane
Gennadi Vernov	...	Andre Ferneau - Sirius (archive footage) (as Robert Chantal)
Georgi Zhzhyonov	...	Hans Walters - Sirius (archive footage) (as Kurt Boden)

Storyline

In 2020, after the colonization of the moon, the spaceships Vega, Sirius and Capella are launched from Lunar Station 7. They are to explore Venus under the command of Professor Hartman, but an asteroid collides and explodes Capella. The leader ship Vega stays orbiting and sends the astronauts Kern and Sherman with the robot John to the surface of Venus, but they have problems with communication with Dr. Marsha Evans in Vega. The Sirius lands in Venus and Commander Brendan Lockhart, Andre Ferneau and Hans Walter explore the planet and are attacked by prehistoric animals. They use a vehicle to seek Kern and Sherman while collecting samples from the planet. Meanwhile John helps the two cosmonauts to survive in the hostile land.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | volcanic eruption | carnivorous plant | space station | nuclear war | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Soviet Union USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Prehistoric Planet

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Roger Corman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min 74 min (Retromedia DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The sound the land vehicle makes when in motion is also heard many times in "The Outer Limits" (1963).

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Goofs

Although the ship was still in orbit, landscape and mountains can be seen in the view port.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: The year: 2020. The Moon has been explored and colonized and the next space goal is about to be reached - the first landing by on the planet Venus. Scientists profoundly hope that life, similar to that on Earth, may be found on this planet where so many physical conditions are like our own. Three rocket ships of an international expedition - the Sirius, Vega and Capella, after having successfully traveled 200 million miles are in the final stages of their journey...

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Alternate Versions

For this version, all footage featuring Kyunna Ignatova has been removed and replaced by footage of American actress Faith Domergue playing the character whose name has been changed from "Masha" to the more American sounding "Marsha."

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Connections

Featured in The Schlocky Horror Picture Show: Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) (2010)

User Reviews

Roger Corman re-edits a Soviet science fiction movie with added Basil Rathbone and bad dubbing. A mess but strangely entertaining.

This is a really odd one! B-grade horror/exploitation movie legend Roger Corman ('A Bucket Of Blood', 'The Masque Of The Red Death', 'The Wild Angels') and writer/director Curtis Harrington (of highly thought of cult movies 'Night Tide' and 'Games') take an obscure low budget Soviet science fiction movie, re-edit it, badly dub it, and add extra footage of faded star Basil "Sherlock Holmes" Rathbone and 'This Island Earth's Faith Domergue, and come up with... well, I don't know what you call it! Let's face it, this movie's a mess, but it's a strangely entertaining cheesy mess. The story concerns a mission to Venus that goes wrong. But I must say, even with 'Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet's the hokey dinosaurs, silly lizard-men, laughably inept robot ("Robot John"), bargain basement special effects, awful dialogue, and moments of NOTHING HAPPENING, I still enjoyed it much more than Brian De Palma's dull Hollywood "blockbuster" 'Mission To Mars'!