Mash-ups, imports, remakes and adaptations from (or to) television dominate the sci-fi movies of 1966. Fantastic Voyage is the stand-out big movie of the year. For influence of television increases, both as source material (e.g. Dr. Who movies) and a market for 50s remakes (the many A.I.P./Buchanan movies). Here are the year's movies, in roughly chronological order.
Queen of Blood -- Recycled soviet sci-fi footage mixed with new. An alien woman, rescued from crash on Phobos, feeds on the blood the rescue crew.
Planet of the Prehistoric Women -- Low-budget tale of a ship crashed on a prehistoric planet and the dawn of civilization.
War of the Planets -- English dubbed version of second in the Gamma One series. Energy beings take over humans.
War Between the Planets -- English dub of the third in the Gamma One series. Commander Jackson must stop a rogue planet whose gravity is harming Earth.
Dr. Who and the Daleks -- Movie version of several Dr. Who television episodes. Peter Cushing stars as the Doctor, battling the robot-like Daleks.
Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 -- Second movie version of Dr. Who. Travel to Earth's future to find Dalek domination. He must thwart their plan to steal the planet.
Fantastic Voyage -- A team and a mini-sub are shrunk to perform micro-laser surgery inside the brain of a defecting scientist. Sabotage and treachery threaten the mission.
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters -- Plant samples from Antarctica grow into man-eating trees, threatening to eat everyone on a remote island naval base.
Cyborg 2087 -- A Terminator-like tale of a cyborg sent from the future to earth's past (1966) to prevent a professor inventing a mind-control tool.
Dimension 5 -- A secret agent with short-jump time shifting belt, battles Chinese spies trying to assembled an A-Bomb in Los Angeles.
Destination Inner Space -- An undersea base is beset by a saucer carrying frozen gillman creatures. The earthlings must stop this spearhead of an invasion.
Zontar: Thing From Venus -- AIP/Buchanan remake of 1956 Roger Corman film It Conquered the World. John Agar stars.
Way...Way Out -- Jerry Lewis comedy about a shirker astronaut trainee, drafted to replace crew on a moon base. For propriety, he must marry astronaut Connie Stevens.
Fahrenheit 451 -- British production, based on Ray Bradbury's novel about Earth's authoritarian future, in which books are burned and independent thought is treason.
The Bubble -- A man and wife are trapped in weird town, beneath a clear dome. Is it the work of aliens? a 3D extravaganza by Arch Oboler.
Invasion -- A mysterious man lies hurt in a hospital. Two mysterious women are after him. Is HE a space criminal, or are THEY?
Sting of Death -- Young people on a research spring break in the Everglades are being killed off one at a time by a monster jellyfish-man-thing.
---
Absolutely love this site!! but, there is no "The" in the movie Invasion!! Have a great day! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060544/
ReplyDeleteCharlie, Glad you like the site. Good catch on the title. I've removed the "The."
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking about undersea SF and non-fic (we just watched "The Silent World" from 1956 and were talking about "World Without Sun" 1964) and I checked here and discovered that you have skipped "Around the World Under the Sea".
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely SF, with sensors for a worldwide earthquake prediction system being deployed by an advanced civilian submarine.