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 an asteroid collides and explodes Capella.

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.

---

Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | low budget sci fi movie | volcanic eruption | carnivorous plant | space station | 

---

Genres:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gary Kurtz is billed in the (phoney) opening credits as Production Manager. Kurtz, of course is on one George Lucas' frequent partner/collaborators/producers and worked as on Star Wars, American Graffitti as well as Copolla's The Godfather II.

---

Goofs

During the approach to Venus and also while orbiting around Venus through minute 15:00 +/- the crew are walking casually around on the spaceships. No evidence of spin or any other methodology for gravity enhancement is shown. The crew however stay firmly planted on the deck, or their chairs.

---

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...

---

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."

---

Connections

Referenced in The Star Dreamer (2002)

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'!

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