Spaced Invaders (1990)

Dimwitted Martians drop into a little Illinois town on the day that the local radio station happens to rebroadcast Orson Welles 1938 "War Of The Worlds".

Director:

Patrick Read Johnson

Writers:

Patrick Read Johnson (screenplay), Scott Lawrence Alexander (screenplay)

Stars:

Douglas Barr, Royal Dano, Ariana Richards

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Douglas Barr	...	Sam
Royal Dano	...	Wrenchmuller
Ariana Richards	...	Kathy
J.J. Anderson	...	Brian (Duck)
Gregg Berger	...	Klembecker
Wayne Alexander	...	Vern
Fred Applegate	...	Russell
Patrika Darbo	...	Mrs. Vanderspool
Tonya Williams	...	Ernestine (as Tonya Lee Williams)
Ryan Todd	...	Sid Ghost
Barry O'Neill	...	Clown Kid
Adam Hansley	...	Pig Kid
Casey Sander	...	Radio Announcer
Rose Parenti	...	Old Wife
Glen Vernon	...	Old Guy #1

Storyline

When one saucer of an invasion force has engine trouble, it lands on Earth. It happens to be Halloween and it happens the invaders are only about 4 feet tall. As the bumbling aliens wander around the countryside they are taken to be children and they make friends with two children, one of whom is the daughter of the sheriff. As their troubles mount (it's difficult for five aliens to conquer a world) they begin to give up their plans of conquest, but then there is that nasty killer robot.

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Plot Keywords:

spaceship | martian | misunderstanding | sheriff | farm | 

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Taglines:

They said outer space has intelligent life. They were wrong.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Martians!!!

Filming Locations:

Pacific Electric Power Station, Lake Ave. and Calaveras St., Altadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$15,369,573

Company Credits

Production Co:

Silver Screen Partners IV, Smart Egg Pictures, Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actors performing as the Martians were virtually blind when the Martian heads were in place, so they had to be talked through their actions.

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Goofs

In the opening scene, when Sherrif Hoxley is getting a bottle of soda pop out of the machine and talking to Russell on his radio, reflected in the window over the machine are two rather-tall palm trees, trees which are not native to Big Bean, Illinois.

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Quotes

Captain Bipto: What's the problem? Just vaporise; everyone, everything, boof, mission accomplished, medals, awards, a parade, next!
Giggywig: No! Wrong! False! None of the above! Why: because we're not supposed to be here!
Captain Bipto: What?
Giggywig: We goofed, we erred, we misinterpreted the data at hand!
Blaznee: Told ya so.

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Connections

Featured in The Cinema Snob: Spaced Invaders (2016)

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Soundtracks

Detail Man
Music and Lyrics by Paul Lacques and Richard Lawrence
Courtesy of Rom Records

User Reviews

A Great Film From When Disney Could Make Funny Movies

I understand many will think "Spaced Invaders" a lame farce about little green men trying to take over Earth; but believe me, compared to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which I have just finished watching with my family, "Spaced Invaders," along with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", makes me weep with nostalgia for how low Disney has fallen in quality. While "Spaced Invaders" is the film of least quality of the trio I mentioned, it nonetheless has a cheeky sense of humor, with a wonderful script and actors (er, voice-over artists for the Martians) who make this film highly watchable (and with no lame CGI effects of dragons or fireballs to ruin the fun!).

The Martians themselves make a great team. Their antics and delusions of grandeur are insanely fun to watch. One person compared the ostensible military commander of the Martians to Invader Zim, the protagonist from the eponymous Nickelodeon cult classic, and I think it is an apt comparison. Why does one Martian have a Jack Nicholson voice? I don't care, and I love it. Enjoy the futile attempts of the Martians to get their jalopy of a spacecraft to go airborne, and their desperate fight against the hicks and yokels of Big, Bean, Illinois. The human robot slave is one of the coolest sidekicks I've seen, and his creation, a robot made from tractors and other farm machinery, is one of the best special effects I've seen in a Disney movie. How can you hate his best line: "the smell of battery acid makes me thirsty!"? Answer: you can't.

This is one movie where you root for the alien invaders all the way. The human, denizens of a small Midwestern farming town, are made to be less than sympathetic characters, especially the wicked banker named Clembecker (or whatever his name was). One of the good humans is a brilliant example of character design, a crazy, wiry old farmer named Wrenchmuller who has a way with words and with nitroglycerin. The kid in the duck costume who also speaks with a lisp is also fun to watch, though he isn't in the film all that much.

Don't take "Spaced Invaders" too seriously as a film, nor look for any important theme or message. Sit back and enjoy Disney before CGI and Jerry Bruckheimer eliminated any camp value the company once had.