Killdozer

This little film lies just outside of the study’s stated boundaries, being a television release only, and more of a horror/thriller than sci-fi. However, requests from readers tapped it back in bounds — even if just barely. Since it had no theatrical release, the book cover from the original novella is shown at left. Killdozer is often cited as one of those “so bad they’re good” movies, and a member of that small sub-genre of vehicles running amok. It certainly has a cult fan base. Clint Walker (famous as Sheriff Cheyenne Bodie on the TV series Cheyenne (’55-62) stars as the stalwart construction crew chief. His crew includes Carl Betz as Dennis, Neville Brand as Chub and James Wainwright as Dutch. A very young Robert Urich (pre-Spencer For Hire) is an early expendable, as is James A. Watson Jr. as Al.

Quick Plot Synopsis
After an explosion in space, a blue meteor tumbles towards earth, landing on a small island. On a remote island 200 miles off the coast of Africa, a crew of six men is left, with their construction equipment, with orders to construct a base camp for an oil company. After a mild bit of character development (tensions, backstories and the like). The young bulldozer operator, Mack, hits a rock that won’t move. His boss, Kelly, shows him how to deal with it by ramming the rock with the big D9 Cat. The rock glows blue and hums. The glow enters the D9’s blade and Mack is zapped with excess energy. The D9 then starts moving on its own until Kelly cuts its fuel line. Mack dies awhile later of what looks like radiation sickness. Tensions mount in the group. Al takes the checked-out and fixed up D9 out to do some work, but it gets a mind of its own. He jumps off, but can’t crawl backwards with his mouth open faster than a D9. He hides in a culvert pipe. (bad move) The D9 crushes him. More group tensions. The D9 roars in and trashes their camp. The four men flee in two jeeps and a truck, headed for the hills. They plan an ambush, thinking to use fire to stop it. En route to their ambush site, the D9 ambushes them. The jeeps get away, but Chub in his 1964 F-150 is caught by the blade, crushed and blows up. The three remaining men retreat to the hills again. Dutch does a bit too much drinking and decides to go to the beach for a swim. The D9 is there waiting for him. The jeep engine stalls. Dutch keeps trying to start it, then resigns himself to being crushed. He is. Dennis and Kelly try to fight machine with machine using a big Northwest 80D cable shovel excavator. After a protracted battle, the shovel finally snaps some cables. Kelly and Dennis run away, then hatch a plan to electrocute the dozer. They hook up a portable generator to some big steel perf plates (such as those used in temporary runways). Kelly tries to bait the dozer, but it doesn’t comply until Kelly breaks one of its headlights. Then, in bulldozer rage, it rumbles onto the plates and is electrocuted. After much sparking, smoke and flames, the dozer’s blade glows blue, then fades out. The thing is dead. Dennis and Kelly both know that no one will believe them, but are happy to be alive. The End.
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Why is this movie fun?
The absurdity of the premise makes the film easy for mockers to mock, but it actually a fairly tightly done made-for-TV thriller. The actors turn in reasonable performances, given the material. The battle between D9 and Excavator is fascinating for the audacity of it.

Cultural Connection
Lexical Legs — Despite the relative obscurity of an ABC Movie of the Week, Killdozer managed to enter the cultural lexicon with enough “legs” to still be a relevant and understood term 30-plus years later. In 2004, a disgruntled business owner in Colorado armored up a bulldozer and went on a rampage, damaging several civic buildings and business. He eventually committed suicide when the dozer got stuck, though may have intended to do so anyhow. His armored bulldozer quickly got the media nickname of Killdozer. YouTube videos of the 1974 movie still garner thousands of hits. A punk rock band named themselves after the film. An obscure form of homage.

Notes
Sci-Fi Origins — Even though the 1974 screenplay is not particularly sci-fi, the original story, penned by Theodore Sturgeon in 1944 was more so. In the original story, the alien entity was leftover from an ancient battle between aliens and their sentient machines that involved the lost continent of Atlantis. The construction crew disturb the resting place of the alien entity, which then resumes its warlike function — killing. Sturgeon had a hand in the screenplay, though to what extent is unknown. Sturgeon also wrote screenplays for two Star Trek (TOS) episodes: Amok Time and Shore Leave.

Book - Movie Comparisons — The book was set in WWII. The men were constructing an air strip on a remote Pacific Island, not an oil company base camp off the coast of Africa. Hints of the original story show up in the film, however, with the Quanset hut that they find, left over from WWII and the big metal plates they have on hand, which were used for making temporary airstrips. The book kills off the demon dozer with aerial bombardment, not electrocution. Both end, however, with the survivors admitting that no one will ever believe them.

Bad Machines — Killdozer is perhaps the more famous of the machines-gone-bad sub-genre. These include Duel (’71) (even though it was clearly the driver, not the tanker truck that was bad), The Car (’77), Christine (’83), Maximum Overdrive (’86) and Trucks (’97). The genre as a whole, has the credibility hurdle of things big, slow, and not especially scary being jazzed up to seem scary.

Untimely Deaths? — One of the endearing (or exasperating) features of Killdozer is how something so big, loud and slow, could ever catch a victim. In this, Killdozer share the puzzlement with the carpet monster in Creeping Terror (’64) and other such films. In those films, the victims help the monster by standing in one place and screaming “No no, don’t eat me” long enough for the slow monster to get up to them and eat them. In Killdozer, actually only two of the deaths were of this sort of easily avoidable doom. Mack died of radiation. No running would have helped there. Chub died when his truck was ambushed and rolled over. Not much running there. Al, however, is one of the lame deaths, as he obligingly crawled around slower than a D9, then hid in a flimsy metal pipe. Dutch did the classic waiting-too-long to try and restart his engine. When the D9 was upon him, he just sat there at accepted his fate. Perhaps being drunk does that. So, yes, some of the deaths are lame. But half of them weren’t.

Good Ol’ Electrocution — Using electricity to kill the monster is a very old, and somewhat hackneyed plot device. It was, of course, how The Thing was stopped in 1951. It destroys the Indestructible Man in ’56. It toasts the giant energy robot in Kronos (’57). and the Crab Monsters in ’57, Colossal Beast in '58 too, and numerous monsters after that. Such a tried and true monster solution.

Marvelous Echo — Marvel Comics put out an issue of Worlds Unknown in 1974, based only loosely on the film and drawing from the original short story for yet a third variant to Killdozer. The cover was wildly sensationalized and not germane to any of the three story variations (there was no woman character, and the dozer did not have a toothed blade or angry eyebrows). But, in this, the cover is in keeping with sci-fi movie posters tradition: which must feature a menaced babe of ample proportions and something with jagged teeth and/or angry eyes.

Bottom line? Killdozer is a cultural cult icon. For that reason alone, it deserves to be experienced. As a sci-fi film, it’s pretty darned thin. As popcorn entertainment, it fares pretty well. The actors do a fair job and the director, Jerry London, does a good job keeping the pace brisk and the exposition short. High art, its not, but it’s still fun and has thousands of fans.

1974

This year saw a large number of sci-fi films released. It was also the year of the last SkyLab mission, and the year that India joined the “Nuclear Club” of nations. 70s-style anxiety continues to motivate film makers and audiences.

Below are the sci-fi films of 1974, in roughly chronological order.

The Last Days of Man on Earth — Based on a Michael Moorcock story, “The Final Programme”, about creation of an Übermensch.

Zardoz — Future dystopia of mankind split into effete elites and labor class. Sean Connery stars as Zed, the human that exposes the false god: Zardoz.

The Questor Tapes — A Gene Roddenberry creation of an android given sentience by mysterious tapes from a Dr. Questor. He turns out to be more than just an android.

Dark Star — A student film by John Carpenter. A dark comedy of a planet clearing crew in the lonely isolation of space and a self-aware nuclear bomb.

Planet Earth — Second attempt by Roddenberry to get a television series on his Genesis II premise. Picks up the same story thread sometime later.

Digby: Biggest Dog in the World — Another small-thing-big heart-warming comedy of a sheepdog made huge by secret space serum.

Moonchild — A convoluted quasi-New Age tale of Deja’ vu, reincarnation and Hotel California story of a young man's encounter with allegorical characters of good and evil. (mostly evil)

Chosen Survivors — Just before nuclear armageddon, a group of semi-random citizens are put in a deep bunker. Trouble is, a flock of crazed vampire bats live down there.

Terminal Man — George Segal stars as a mentally-ill killer to reformed via computer implants. The process did not account for the adaptable human mind.

UFO: Target Earth — A low-budget film about a man’s search for a UFO hiding in a mountain lake.

Invasion: UFO — Feature film created from episodes of British TV series UFO, the work of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.

Phase IV — A planetary alignment causes Earth’s ants to become collectively sentient. They set about subjugating mankind in phases.

It’s Alive — A mother gives birth to monster baby that kills when frightened. It escapes the hospital, eluding searchers, some with ulterior motives.

The Stranger Within — Barbara Eden becomes mysteriously pregnant with what turns out to be an alien baby. She is not alone.

Where Have All The People Gone — Peter Graves stars as a father who survives (along with his son and daughter) a solar flare that turns people into powder.

Invasion From Inner Earth — An obscure, low-budget tale of aliens, dormant for centuries beneath the earth, rising to spread a killer virus.

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Invasion From Inner Earth

We close out 1974 on a low note. Bill Rebane’s deservedly obscure Invasion From Inner Earth (IFIE) had a small theatrical release. (note the very low budget poster) IFIE is actually a neat way to close out the year as it tied in the previous made-for-tv movies. It was another survivor group story (and with five main characters too) and insidious aliens. IFIE also had the 70s’ sense of civilization-collapse doom. Listen for the theme music, a rather flagrant paraphrase of the theme from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, (classic western from the mid 60s)

Quick Plot Synopsis
The movie opens with a montage of spinning earth in space, a crude flying saucer, some people running in the streets and a radio announcer talking of people dying of a mysterious disease. Then cut to a remote cabin in the Canadian wilderness. Jake is a young bush pilot who has ferried up three young “scientists” to study something or other. Jake’s sister Sarah tends the cabin Jake flies Stan, Eric and Andy back to civilization, but they are warned not to land due to a mysterious disease. They fly to a closed lodge to look for fuel and supplies. They find neither, but Stan and Andy experience an odd red light. All return to the cabin. Through a very slow series of scenes, it is revealed that people around the world are dying of a mysterious disease. Radio communications are sporadic or lost altogether. The five debate what to do — stay and wait out the problem, or go to a city for help. There are no animals anywhere to hunt. Supplies run low. Andy sees the red light again. Being the rich young jerk type, he decides to steal Jake’s plane and fly back. The red light is in the plane too. Andy screams and the plane blows up. The others pick up an odd alien voice asking how they’re doing, etc. Stan has a theory that the whole things is trouble caused by aliens who came from Mars thousands of years ago and hung out deep in the earth. The aliens have come up and spread disease to get rid of everyone. Jake decides to go for help on the snowmobile. He drives and drives, but the red light gets him too. He disappears all of a sudden. Stan, Sarah and Eric decide to walk out. They trudge and trudge. At a camp, while gathering firewood, Eric sees the red light and wanders off to die in the snow. Stan and Sarah are separated looking for each other, or Eric, but eventually meet up at a small empty town. They hold hands, become young almost-naked children who walk down a grassy hill towards a whitefish flying saucer parked beside the woods. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Fans of “bad” movies may find much of what they like. Only for the very patient, and forgiving, is there some fun in seeing familiar sci-fi tropes recast into a low-budget indie production.

Cultural Connection
Worlds In Collision — Stan spins a theory of where the aliens came from, and where they’ve been, based on almost nothing the viewer is shown. Instead, he seems to be drawing his “obvious” conclusions from theories proposed by Immanuel Velikovsky. HIs 1950 book, “Worlds in Collision” sought to explain legendary stories and Biblical events as caused by near-collision encounters by Earth and Venus, and earth and Mars. Of course, the “established” scientific community dismissed Velikovsky’s theories. This outcast (by the establishment) status made Velikovsky’s work rather popular on college campuses in the mid-70s, when youth were eager (if not too critical) to accept all things anti-establishment. His theories must have made up the “obvious” pieces that Stan assembled into his whole-cloth theory.

Notes
Comet Dating — Some notes on IFIE say it was shot in 1972, but released in 1974. Some of the footage may have been shot earlier, but the Eric character makes mention of the comet Kohoutek while discussing Stan’s theories. That comet was discovered in March 1973, so clearly, most of the final quarter of the film were after that date. The comet Kohoutek is interesting for a couple reasons. One is that it was a huge hype bust. Touted as the “comet of the century” and a “once in a lifetime experience.” it turned out to be an Edsel of an astronomical wonder. It was barely visible with the naked eye. The comet was also significant as just one in a long string of doom signs. Some felt that the comet’s appearing (as weak as that was) foretold the end of the earth in January of 1974. There would be many more doomsday predictions — such as Y2K and the Mayan calendar, etc. — but those were nothing new. Kohoutek was supposed to be one too, and yielded similar results.

Rebane Returns — Director, producer, writer and bottle washer, Bill Rebane first (sort of) brought the world his puzzling sci-fi movie Monster A-Go-Go in 1965. You can read a review of it here. Nine years later, Bill manages to complete a whole movie, though his style (or lack thereof) remains evident. Long talky scenes and most action happening offstage. Bolstered by completing an entire film, Rebane went on to produce/direct three more films. None of them were all that good, but one of them was nominally a sci-fi in 1978, The Alpha Incident and 1975’s Giant Spider Invasion, which will be covered later. Bill had a technical ability as a director, but no particular artist’s skill or eye. Since he made and sold several movies, one must assume he was, at least, a talented salesman.

Rookie Writer — The story and screenplay were penned by Bill Rebane’s wife Barbara. She and Bill were a mom-and-pop team of movie makers at the low low end of the movie pecking order. They produced, directed, edited, etc. Their son even worked as a grip. Bill has his wife Barbara write the story and screenplay for IFIE. Her abilities as a writer matched her husband’s talent as a director.

Can’t Say Goodbye — Perhaps endemic to the Rebane “system”, IFIE doesn’t really have an ending. It just ends. This happens in Rebane’s first venture, Monster A-Go-Go. He had a beginning and a middle, but no ending. Another man added an ending and marketed the film. His wife’s story might have a cohesive (or at least, explained) ending, but with all the time and footage spent on the beginning and the middle of IFIE, there was no time to wrap things up. It too, just ends.

Plane Crazy — In case you were curious, and even if you’re not: Jake’s plane was a Beechcraft Baron. That particular plane was built in 1965. It was sold to Hilgy Aviation in 2006, but suffered substantial damage in May 2008 when the pilot mistakenly raised the landing gear after touchdown in Lansing, Michigan, thinking the lever he was pulling would raise the flaps. The pilot was alone and survived.

Bottom line? IFIE is a very weak film, weakly written, weakly acted and weakly directed. Bill Rebane has a reputation for creating weak films, but IFIE is said to be his weakest. Some say IFIE makes Manos or Plan 9 look good. So, fans of “bad” movies may be amused. Those not big fans of “bad” movies may want to give it a miss.

Where have all the people gone?

This is yet another made-for-TV movie that begs inclusion in this study. Where Have All The People Gone? (WHAPG) is low-budget, as fitting its television production, but it mirrors so many classic 50s films as to granted a pass. Peter Graves stars as Steven Anders, father of a family that finds itself more or less all alone after some mysterious event has wiped out almost all the rest of humanity. Lewis John Carlino wrote the story and the screenplay. John Moxey directs. (he had directed episodes of "Mission Impossible," and "Mannix" and after WHAPG, episodes of "Magnum P.I.")

Quick Plot Synopsis
The Anders family is hunting for fossils while on a camping vacation in the California hills. Mom has to leave early, to return to L.A. for work. While dad, college student son David, and teen daughter Deborah are looking for fossils in a cave, a massive solar flare erupts, followed by a mild earthquake. When they come out, their local guide/friend, Clancy is feeling ill. They suspect the cause was a nuclear blast and radiation sickness. By evening, he is in bad shape. Dad decides they need to take him down to town. Before they get far, Clancy dies. Before they can bury him, his body has turned to white powder inside his clothes. Dad, Dave and Deb continue down to, finding many abandoned cars and other powder people, no power, no radio, no phones. They fix up Clancy's Blazer with a new battery (all other cars have fried generators) and continue on to LA in search of mom. While refueling, they discover a woman in shock and take her with them. Later, it comes out that Jenny's husband got sick and turned to powder, then crazed dogs killed her children. En route to LA, they stop to help a stranded motorist, but he steals their working car at gun point so he can get to his family in Phoenix. They come across a farm with the farmer and wife shot dead by car thieves. They find their orphan son, Billy and take him with them. They proceed on foot, coming to a shopping center. They come across another survivor who has taken up farming. Dad declines to join him, as he wants to get to LA and find his wife. When they do get to LA, and home, they find mom's bathrobe and white powder. Dad, despondent at his loss talks gloom and despair. Jenny, still mourning her own losses, decides to walk into the sea and kill herself. Everyone rushes out to stop her. Everyone decides that they must go on surviving. Mom left notes describing how the solar flares knocked out all power and power generation, but also created a mutated virus that killed people in hours. Some people with a particular gene were immune. Since the home in LA had no fresh water or farm land, the group of five don backpacks for a hike to northern California to go live off the land. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The theme of post-apocalyptic survivors is an old familiar one from the Golden Era of sci-fi. The pace is good and the sense of mystery well played -- especially for a low-budget television movie.

Cultural Connection
As stated before on other recently reviewed movies, the 70s was a time of much anxiety about epidemics, pollution and overpopulation.

Notes
Survivors' Tale -- The band-of-survivors stories have a long history and aren't necessarily sci-fi or nuclear. Recall "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) or a later group-based variant, "Swiss Family Robinson." (1812) and the whole "robinsonade" sub genre. The Atomic Angst era embraced that old theme, but with nuclear detonations or nuclear effects substituting for shipwrecks. An early example, which has many parallel's was Arch Obelor's Five from 1951. Target Earth ('54) had a random collection of survivors of an alien robot invasion. WHAPG flirted with the customary nuclear causes and anxieties.

Double Whammy -- By the mid-70s, atomic angst had cooled significantly. It wasn't gone, per se, but had lost most of its terror in the movie-watching market. The new terrors on the block, for the 70s were highly anxious about environmental issues (pollution, overpopulation, etc.) and unstoppable epidemics (think: Andromeda Strain). WHAPG combined both angsts d'jour for a double whammy. Why be spooked by just one crisis when you can have two? Prescient Angst -- In the 21st century, in fact, ever since the Y2K hysteria went mainstream, many people of the prepare persuasion worry about EMPs (Electro-Magnetic Pulses) frying everything electronic and casting civilization back into the 19th century. Nowadays, the EMP Angst is divided between worries that a rogue terrorist (or terrorist nation) will create a man-made EMP by exploding a nuclear bomb (or bombs) high in the air, OR that there will be a massive coronal event along the lines of 1859's "Carrington" event. EMP-Angst would really not "catch on" in the public imagination until the 2000s. 1974 was a bit too early.

Plot Holes or Leaps -- For the most part, the plot is solid and progresses logically. There are, however, a couple of quirks. One is that the EMP is presented as strong enough to fry automotive generators, yet did not fry the Anders' AM Radio or CB radio. As a side note, 21st century folk who worry about EMPs like to assume that pre-1978 automobiles will remain usable because they lack delicate electronics. WHAPG had the EMP frying all the old cars -- if they were running. A second plot leap was the idea that the burst of "gamma radiation" would mutate some common benign virus in the exact same way, all across the country (and world?) Since the conventional wisdom is that radiation causes random mutations, how likely is that?

Powder People -- The low-budget "special effect" of having the victim's bodies turn to white powder was effective. This effect may have been borrowed from the Star Trek episode, "The Omega Glory" from TOS's second season. In it, some strange germ from the planet in the Omega system causes earth-humans' bodies to lose all water. Only the scant trace minerals remained as white granular powder amid the left-behind clothing of the victims. A somewhat similar, but different effect appeared in the 1963 film When Mars Invaded Earth. There, the martian copy-people eliminated their human originals with a heat beam that left behind white ash in the shape of a person.

Peter's Previous Power Outage -- Actor Peter Graves starred in another movie about a mysterious collapse of the power grid. The earlier movie was It Conquered the World in 1956. In that film, it was a sinister being from Venus that was jamming the world's power sources selectively. Graves also starred in the 1953 film, Killers From Space, in which he was abducted by aliens. These prior roles lend WHAPG a bit more of a sci-fi feel.

The Optimism of CityFolk -- As the movie progresses, it is clear that the power grid, and much of earth's establish civilization has been taken down. Not only is there no power grid to support modern life, there are few people left to man all the technology that did survive. Amid all that, the writers exude the naive optimism of city folks who imagine that if they had to, they would just move out into the country, become farmers and raise their own food. One character even says this. "I guess eventually the store food will run out, and we'll have to learn how to farm. I"m a cost accountant. Born and raised in the city." Growing crops and raising livestock are not that easy -- let alone how to handle the raw products if properly raised. The Anders family truck off into the northern country, each equipped with a "bug out bag" with that hubris of city folk, that they're going to walk into the hills and live off the land. Amusing.

Bottom line? WHAPG is well worth the watch. It is available on YouTube. The acting is passible, but not great. Peter Graves does not grieve very convincingly. He did rugged heroics much better. The pacing is pretty good and the writers don't try to sew up all the loose ends, leaving viewers to ponder over story lines hinted at, but not pursued.

The Stranger Within

Another movie in the monster baby vein, was The Stranger Within (TSW). This was also a made-for-TV movie, shown on Oct. 1, 1974 on ABC. Normally, television movies are not part of this study, but this one was included because of its affinity to the previous film, It's Alive (which did have a theatrical release). TSW was written by Richard Matheson, a major light in the realm of sci-fi writing. Barbara Eden stars (looking much like Jeanie). George Grizzard co-stars as her husband.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Ann breaks the news to her husband David that she's pregnant. He's shocked and dismayed as he got a vasectomy three years ago. Ann had a bad miscarriage back then, and it was deemed dangerous for her to get pregnant, so David had a vasectomy. They get several more medical tests to check things out. All the tests concur. David cannot be the father, and Ann is, indeed pregnant. The central third of the movie focuses on the question of trust and infidelity (or not). Through all this, Ann acts strangely. She craves lots of salt. She drinks volumes of coffee. She disappears for long walks in the California hills. She likes the house very cold. Sometimes, she is very rude and snippy to David, but later apologizes. She speed reads books, eventually able to absorb the knowledge by merely stroking the covers. They talk of aborting the baby, but every time they set out to the hospital, Ann gets too sick for the operation. Their friend Bob tries hypnosis. Under hypnosis, Ann tells of becoming impregnated by a beam from a space ship while she was in the hills. As the voice of the baby, she talks of a home planet that is cold and has orange seas. David, Bob and friends have a hard time believing any of it. Dr. Klein isn't so sure it's far fetched. Ann's body has undergone "impossible" biological changes. Blood type changed, body temperature stabilized 10 degrees cooler, etc. Ann runs away to the hills. In a remote lake cabin, she gives birth to the baby boy. She walks back, baby in arms, and is joined by many other women, also with babies in their arms. They come to a tall tree with a bright point of light in it. Smoke swirls up, Wind blows, the sound of rocket engines roar, and the women and babies are gone. David sees Ann's latest painting. It's of an alien landscape with dual star suns and an orange sea. He realizes she and the baby have been taken. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Richard Matheson is a good story teller. He took the basic premise behind "Rosemary's Baby" ('68) and recast it as a sci-fi instead of an occult story.

Cultural Connection
Abortion Again -- As mentioned in the previous film review, the underlying theme deals with abortion. Legal for only a year, since Roe v Wade, abortion is bandied about as if it were a long-standing accepted elective surgery. Contrasting with this, is the baby's fighting back. It doesn't want to be aborted. In this film, the baby wins.

Notes
It Takes a Village -- There is a good deal of similarity in premise between TSW and John Wyndham's Village of the Damned ('60). In both, aliens impregnate earth women who produce special human-alien hybrid children. Wyndham's story deals with the crop of kids as they are school age and discovering who they are. Matheson focuses more on the pregnancy period.

Bad Babies -- Rosemary's Baby imagined a single strange baby (the Anti-Christ). It's Alive ('74) suggested that there might be multiple bad-babies being born. TSW ends with the reality that many women were impregnated (apparently at the same time). Bad babies galore!

They're After Our Women -- Many other sci-fi films have suggested that aliens, for some reason, want earth women. Of course, the young men of earth can see why -- they're the young and shapely women. Some films hint at the aliens want earth women as breeding stock. Some films were overt -- such as Mars Needs Women ('67). This is the old tribal theme: an outsider tribe has come to steal OUR women. Matheson rakes over the ancient ground, but still manages to give it a creep spin.

Speedy Hypnotism -- The fact that hypnotism is employed as a route to the truth, smacks of a later New Age flavor. Note how quickly Bob is able to hypnotize Ann the second time. "Watch the pendulum…" blamo, she's under. Ann was very very sensitive to hypnotism. AND, there was little screen time to waste on the process.

Avocado Green! -- For those who lived through the 70s, take note of the kitchen in Ann and David's house. Avocado Green appliances! Dark wood! This was the 70s. Avocado green, burn orange and harvest gold, were THE coolest colors ever -- in the marketing mind. Throw in dark brown wood and some faux-hammered metal trim and woohoo baby, you've got that 70s look.

Bottom line? TSW is a fairly well done film for a TV movie. Yes, the budget is small, so the sets are few and somewhat claustrophobic -- as the TV camera favors. The acting is reasonable. Things are slow for the first half, as the fidelity issue is only dabbled in, with little tension. Once the notion of immaculate conception via aliens was made, the movie rushes along to it's roughly drawn conclusion. If the monster baby sub-genre interests you, TSW is online for viewing (YouTube), so one needn't spend money looking for a VHS tape. ---

It's Alive ('74)

The 1974 film titled It's Alive (IA), by Larry Cohen, is an entirely different story from the 1969 film by Larry Buchanan. The '74 film is essentially a horror story, but it gets put into sci-fi lists of movies, so it is included here. Actually, there is a trace of sci-fi theming, with a typical 70s mood, which may explain the sci-fi/horror hybrid label. The film is written, produced and directed by the same man: Cohen. Typically, this spells trouble for a film, but Cohen manages to avoid most of the usual pitfalls. John Ryan and Sharon Farrell star as the parents of the monster baby. Several other familiar second-teir actors play minor supporting roles. Cohen would go on to create two sequels, one in '78, the other in '87, expanding the monster baby trope.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Frank and his wife Lenore wake one night. It is time for her baby to be born. They drop off their 11 year old son, Chris at a friend's house. At the hospital, things are mostly typical, though Lenore keeps saying things feel different this time. No one listens. When the doctor delivers the baby, using forceps, the baby -- unseen, but a little monster child with fangs and claws -- kills the five doctors and nurses. The police are called to the crime scene. The baby escaped through a skylight. News is out about the monster killer baby, so Frank's job in a PR firm is over. He brings Lenore home, who seems a little loopy. Random other people are killed in the area: a musician, a milk man. Everyone assumes the baby must be killed. A professor wants the baby's body to study. A man from a big pharmaceutical firm urges a police lieutenant to totally destroy the body to preclude any lawsuits. The baby makes its way to Chris's school. Somehow the cops know and swarm the school. Frank goes there and shouts that the baby is no kin of his. It kills a policeman. Frank notices Lenore's oddly unconcerned behavior, and how food (milk) is disappearing from the fridge. He connects the dots. Lenore has been hiding the monster baby. Frank gets his hidden revolver. At the same time, young Chris has run home and lets himself in to the basement via the ubiquitous hidden key. Frank goes downstairs. Chris talks consolingly to the baby. Frank shoots at it. Charlie (the friend) shows up just in time to get killed by the baby. Frank shoots again, this time wounding the baby. It flees. The police eventually trace the trail of blood to the sewer system under L.A. Frank goes along, intent to be the one to finish off the monster baby. Police search the sewer system. Frank finds it. His heart softens. He bundles the wounded monster baby in his coat and tries to run from the cops. Eventually, he's surrounded, with many shouting for him to kill it. Kill It! This includes the doctor. Frank tosses the monster baby on the doctor, who is killed by the baby. Police open fire killing the baby. As sad Frank and Lenore sit in the back of a cop car, the Lt. gets a call. Another monster baby was born in Seattle. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Cohen does a fair job of keeping the pace moving. Both Ryan and Farrell give credible performances as the conflicted couple. To his credit, Cohen does not reveal too much of his monster baby puppet, leaving most of the monster to the viewer's imagination.

Cultural Connection
Abortion -- The Supreme Court decided, in the Roe v. Wade case in 1973, that abortion was legal. While they decided that on a narrower technical ground, the popular mindset was much broader. Abortion became, then, simply another elective surgery.

Notes
The Usual Suspects -- The thin sci-fi link in IA is the intimation that Lenore's monster baby may be a mutation caused by exposure to radiation. This would be the classic 50s explanation for any and all monsters. A bit later, the intimation shifts to Big Pharma (drugs with hidden risks) or pollution. Those were much more 70s suspects for the evil in the world. There is even a hint of Evil Corporations as a suspect, when the Pharma executive urges destruction of the baby so as to avoid lawsuits and loss of profits.

BabyPhobia -- Why would a newborn ever be considered a suitable monster? Perhaps Cohen was tapping into a subtle 70s sentiment. After all, the many "free love" flower children of the 60s were (by the mid 70s) over 30. Was Cohen's monster baby an analogy for how the "free love" generation viewed having children and settling down? A baby "ruins" everything. It "kills" their free-spirited self-centered lifestyle. IA may have resonated with maturing hippies, afraid to enter the adult world of family life. 1968's Rosemary's Baby was an early example of Baby Fear in film.

Abortion Metaphor -- It's unclear if Cohen was intending this, but his screenplay could be seen as a metaphor for an abortion. Consider how Frank (and all the other men, it seems) are so adamant that "It" must be killed. Call it a 4th trimester abortion. Note how the mother loves "It" unconditionally. The son, Chris, can see the baby as a little brother in need of protection. Frank, the father, at first feels nothing by scorn and denial for "it". But, once wounded and whimpering, Frank sees the mortality and maybe the humanity of the baby. His human heart trumps his selfish hate. Still, in the end, the System manages to prevail and "it" is killed.

Who's The Monster? -- At one point, Frank is reminiscing about seeing James Whale's 1931 movie, Frankenstein. He recalled how as a kid, he always thought of the monster was named Frankenstein. It was only in college that he read the book and realized it was the doctor's name. He muses, who was the real monster, the creature, or the creator? Cohen includes this as commentary on his own screenplay. Who is the real monster in IA? Is it the mutant baby, or is the society which is so eager to kill it. Where the 1931 monster had a mob of angry villages shouting for the death of the monster, in IA, it is a ring of policemen, led by the doctor, who are the mob shouting death-to-the-monster.

Sewer Star -- Fans of older sci-fi can be amused by the L.A. sewer system once again providing the setting for another monster hunt. The most famous of these was Them! in 1954. Lesser known, but very similar was Indestructable Man in '56. There were others too. To those who lived in L.A., the vast network of sewer tunnels must have felt like a whole other netherworld -- the realm of nightmares and monsters.

Bottom line? IA is almost pure horror, but the sci-fi connections are there. As horror goes, it's mild enough by modern standards (or lack thereof). Gallons of bright red latex paint get mere flashes on the screen. The monster itself is well handled -- revealed in only PoV shots, glimpses and tight close-ups. The acting helps keep IA from lapsing into a campy B-movie. Fans of sci-fi with saucers, spaceships and aliens might be disappointed at the mostly-horror aspect of IA. Fans of 70s-style angst over the harmful effects of pollution, corporations or Big Pharma, might be better entertained.

Phase IV

Saul Bass, more known for his graphic design (logos especially), film posters and creative work on movie credits, directed just one feature film -- a sci-fi film -- released in September of 1974. Phase IV (P4) is a mixture of exiting tropes, telling a fairly conventional 70s mankind-is-doomed story. The primary cast is spare. Nigel Davenport plays Dr. Hubbs, the traditional bearded man of Science. Michael Murphy plays the younger, computer-savy hero scientist: James Lesko. Lynne Frederick plays the traditional damsel in distress.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A narrator tells how Earth's scientists watched an astronomical event with great anticipation and dread. They knew something significant would happen, but did not know what. The event passed with no apparent result, because what changed were Earth's ants. They became collectively sentient. A pair of scientists are dispatched to the Arizona desert to investigate and study reports of strange phenomena. Hubbs is an older entomologist. Lesko is the younger cryptographer. The ants stay quiet, so there is little to study. Hubbs and Lesko warn a nearby farm family to leave the area, but they don't. The institute that sent the team grows impatient, as does Hubbs, so he blows up some of the ants' square towers. This does prompt an attack on the station and the Eldgridge farm. The family flee, but crash near the station, attacked by ants. Hubbs deploys a yellow toxin spray that kills off the attacking hoards. When Hubbs and Lesko emerge (in hazmat suits) they find the dead family, but "teen" daughter Kendra is alive in an abandoned house's cellar. Lesko wants Hubbs to get Kendra safely away, but Hubbs does not call for help. He worries that the Institute will pull the plug on the project if they knew about the deaths. Lesko starts to decipher the audible language of the ants. The ants sabotage the station's AC unit and built up a ring of mirrors to reflect the desert sun onto the station. The heat shuts down the computer. Operating at night, Lesko sends a message to the ants -- a simple geometric shape -- to show that humans are sentient too. Lesko uses a loud high-pitched tone to crumble the mirror towers. This kills lots of ants too. Ants drag some of the yellow toxin to the queen, who samples it, and starts laying yellow eggs -- new ants immune to the yellow toxin. The ants later send a message to Lesko, which he figures out means that they want one of the people in the station. Kendra thinks it must be her, so she sacrifices herself to save the two men, walking out into the desert. The ants find her. Somewhat demented from an infected ant bite, Hubbs goes out into the desert to go kill the queen and end the war. He falls in a trap pit and the ants swarm him. Lesko tries to spray blue toxin around and tries to go down in a big tunnel and spray the queen. Instead, he finds Kendra rising up from the sand floor of the chamber. The two of them are changed, somehow. They are now obedient members of the sentient collective, awaiting orders. Phase IV. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is a lot of great macro photography of real ants, which adds to the somber-serious tone. (no silly monster puppets to spoil the story) There are some great visuals too, as Bass uses distance, texture and color contrasts to give his film a richness for the eyes. Beyond all that, there is a lot to chew on mentally in the story.

Cultural Connection
Age of Anxiety -- As the euphoric days of the Age of Aquarius faded, the 70s were years of much anxiety. Worries that the world's population would outstrip food supplies very soon (Soylent Green), or that a quirk virus would wipe out Earth's food supply (No Blade of Grass), or that mankind would somehow screw up his home planet, rendering it uninhabitable.Audiences seemed eager for movies that validated (or stroked) the populist sense of enviro-doom.

Notes
Them! 2.0 -- Fans of 50s sci-fi can see some parallels (intentional or otherwise) to the the classic 1954 film, Them!. The story takes place in a desolate southwestern desert. A few investigators try to discover what happened in the area. A family is wiped out except for a young girl (or woman) who is in shock over the experience. In P4, the ants are not giant sized from nuclear radiation, but normal sized and made sentient by some external freak of nature. In Them!, human sovereignty is upheld by conventional weapons. (Bazooka Saves The Day) In P4, the ants win. (Bazookas Won't Save Us.)

Archetypes -- Mayo Simon's story uses some comfortably familiar characters, not so much as a lazy shortcut to a script, but for their symbolism. Hubbs is the old-school scientist. (eccentric bearded professor type), but in that, he also represents the old paradigm in which Man imposes HIS will on nature and doggedly refuses to give up the top of the hill. James Lesko is, on the surface of things, the archetypal hunky hero: young, smart, resourceful and reasonably attractive (I guess). Lesko is symbolic of the youth of the 70s. He was techno-savy and had more compassion and empathy. Where Hubbs was obsessed with defeating the ants, Lesko was obsessed with understanding them. Kendra is, on the surface of things, they requisite damsel in distress. She does little beyond scream, run and look vulnerable. Yet, she too represents another side of the youth of the day (or at least how they perceived themselves). She was young and innocent (of the sins of the fathers). She was more of a refugee/viciim in an elders' war. These three archetypes, and their symbolism, tell a 70s view of the world.

Vichy Adam and Eve -- In the end, it is implied that the ants somehow change Kendra and Lesko. The ants don't kill every human, but preserve these two as a sort of Adam and Eve -- a new couple to exist within the Reich of the ants. In this, the two are like the French citizens in Vichy -- they are an occupied and subjugated population awaiting orders from their new overlords.

The Phases -- It's easy to miss the text-on screen intervals that label the four "Phases," but they're there. The movie opens with Phase I: the awakening of the ants. Phase II is the ants asserting their sovereignty over the area. Phase III is the assault, siege and conquest of the human holdouts. Phase IV, where the movie ends, is the assimilation of humans (which starts with Lesko and Kendra) into the any empire.

Smarter Ants -- A few years later, another ants-conquer-the-world movie will come out. Empire of the Ants. It will be much less cerebral and more in the traditional Big Bug sub-genre. The ants in P4 are normal-sized real ants, so avoid the risible movie monster aura. They work better as a villain because they're more real. What changed was not their size, but their consciousness. They weren't frightening because they were large, but because they (the millions of them) got smart.

Bottom line? P4 is a bit obscure in the old movies market, but definitely worth seeking out. A few things are rather dated -- such as a room-sized computer using magnetic reels and punch tape -- but Bass has a great eye, and does a fine job of creating a moody, claustrophobic variant on the people-trapped scenario. Modern viewers of face-paced action films (explosion-a-minute) may find the pace slow and lacking in action. This is a thinking movie, not an adrenaline rush movie.

Invasion: UFO

A good movie to follow up on the previously reviewed film is Invasion: UFO. This movie is actually a re-edit of some episodes of the British sci-fi television series, UFO, which ran from September 1970 to July 1971. The series was the work of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. They were famous for their 60s sci-fi series using marionettes as actors such as Stingray and Thunderbirds. Invasion: UFO (IU) was a theatrical release. The story line drew from several UFO episodes. (more on that below). Network execs cancelled the show, feeling that earth-based sci-fi was no longer fashionable. Anderson would roll with the realities and rework his sci-fi series ideas into a space-bound version, Space:1999 in 1975.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A man and two women come across a flying saucer in the woods. The red-suited aliens machine gun down two of them and capture the surviving woman. Cut to Colonel Ed Straker and General Henderson in a Rolls Royce. The car is hit by laser fire from a UFO overhead. Henderson is hurt in the crash, so Straker is made commander of the super secret agency, S.H.A.D.O. (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization) Fast forward 10 years to 1980. SHADO has it's HQ under a movie studio, it has a base on the moon, its own satellites and lots of cool vehicles. The aliens send saucers to steal or sabotage a shipment of SHADO surveillance equipment. The saucer is shot down. The wounded alien is examined, but dies in earth's atmosphere. Straker concludes that the aliens are a "dying" race from a planet depleted of resources. They come to steal human organs for transplant in order to prolong their alien lives. Another UFO gets through SHADO's outer defenses and disappears somewhere in Canada. Straker's units eventually find the saucer and capture another alien. Straker tries to interrogate (or plead with) the alien, but he dies too. After a lull in UFO sightings, a cargo ship is attacked and sunk. Straker's teams discover that the aliens have an undersea base and use a volcano for power. Straker and Col. Foster examine the seabed dome to discover a duplicate of SHADO's command center. Alien copies of SHADO staff come and give commands to drop defenses. Straker and Foster escape and the dome is blown up. Apparently, the ruse failed. The aliens mount a mass attack with two waves of UFOs. In the climactic battle scene, the SHADO pilots' marksmanship is much improved. Earth is saved...for now. Straker has to give Peter the bad news that one of the aliens they captured (and later died) had the heart of his sister (the captured woman from the opening scene). At the funeral, Straker muses darkly over whether this battle was the end, or just a beginning. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
If one still has an inner eight-year-old boy, the ample supply of exotic models will be a treat. Since the IU is a compilation of several UFO episodes, there seems to be a new wonder-craft every 15 minutes or so. The model work and effects hold up well, even in our CGI world. It is also amusing to watch how many of these vehicles flying and driving around, have the name SHADO painted on them. Surprising visibility for such a super secret organization.

Cultural Connection
Even though the original television series aired in 1970 and 71, people in the mid-70s were just as obsessed (perhaps more so) with UFOs than they were in the early 70s. (see notes on previously reviewed film: UFO: Target Earth The re-release of Anderson's work in 1974 was very good timing.

Notes
Serial Tradition -- The practice of cobbling together episodes into a "feature film" is old. For instance, in 1939, Universal Studios released The Phantom Creeps, a serial (chapter play). Later that year, they assembled the episodes (cutting out the recaps) to release a feature film version. This practice would continue with Flash Gordon, Commando Cody, and Rocky Jones: Space Ranger, to name just a few. In IU, three of the episodes provided the meat of the footage. The early quarter of the film comes from UFO's first episode, "Indentified." The middle section came from the episode "Computer Affiar." The underwater alien base and climactic battle sections came from the episode, "Reflections in the Water," (which was actually UFO's last episode.) Snippets from other episodes were used to help with continuity, but the result can still seem choppy or full of non-sequiturs, due to the remix process.

Moon Babes -- The fine 50s tradition lived on in Anderson's vision of Babes In Space. Catwomen of the Moon ('53) posited that the moon would be inhabited by slender 20-somethings in tight leotards. Note the moon base ladies in IU. They're all shapely 20-somethings. (middle-aged women are not allowed on the moon) and in form-fitting metallic suits that accentuated their curves. Matching purple wigs and vast amounts of eye make were apparently required, but only on the moon.  The same characters appear a few times on earth, in more conventional clothes and no wigs. It must be a Moon Babe thing.

Retro-Nasty -- Even though aliens were morphing into benevolent Care Bears after the mid-70s, Anderson's aliens were still in the older Golden Era style of hostile invaders. Also in the 50s tradition, the aliens regard humans as simple a livestock to be harvested. Recall how the aliens in Teenagers From Outer Space ('59) sought to use Earth as a sort of remote ranch where their lobster monsters (which the aliens ate) would feed on humans.

Darn Dying Aliens -- Solidly copying H.G.Wells and his opening of his novel "War of the Worlds" (1898), Anderson has Commander Straker (a James T. Kirk copy himself) summarize the aliens: "Imagine a dying planet in some distant corner of the universe. Its natural resources exhausted. Its inhabitants sterile. Doomed to extinction. A situation we may one day find ourselves in, gentlemen. So they discover earth. Abundant, fertile. Able to satisfy their needs. They look upon us not with animosity, but callousness. As we look upon our animals that we depend on for food. Yes, it appears they are driven by circumstance across a billion miles of space, driven on by the greatest force in the universe --. Survival." Just like Wells said.

ToMAYto - ToMAHto -- Of some amusement to American ears is how the British preferred to make the term UFO into a word and not just as initials. Several times, the characters refer the saucers as "You-Fohs", not "U.F.Os."

Bottom line? IU is fun viewing. Since you get two season's worth of episode production jammed into an hour and a half, the pace is quick enough -- to the point of sometimes not making much sense. Despite the youth-appeal of Anderson's cool craft, the story threads are rather glum and pessimistic. Humans as donor stock. Death from the sky at any moment. There is even a recast of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers flavor of creepy. IU is thoroughly 70s and "mod", so fun for nostalgia, but not too bad as entertainment, even if you don't remember the 70s.

UFO: Target Earth

This is another of those films written, produced and directed by the same man. Michael A. DeGaetano's UFO: Target Earth (UTE) is a very low budget affair that suffers from the traditional pitfalls of the one-man-band films. The cast is mostly unknowns who never acted in another film. UTE is also slow paced, as was the film before it, The Terminal Man. The premise of a man searching for a lost UFO was not new. Others, with more money and talent, would make similar stories, but with more memorable results.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A television reporter interviews several people about some recent UFO sightings. This preamble sets the stage for opening with college staffer Alan Grimes trying to make a phone call. Instead, he gets patched into a call between to military officers discussing scrambling some jets to check out a UFO sighting. Alan senses there's something to it. He asks professor Whitman about the possibility of UFOs and extraterrestrials. He gets a rambling answer that amounts to "science doesn't believe in such stuff." Alan next asks colleague Dr. Mansfield if he could talk to Vivian -- a young woman with strong ESP. Vivian has felt a disturbance in the force. The army deny any reports or communications about UFOs. Positive that military denial amounts to reverse proof, Alan asks permission to go hunt for the "felt" UFO. He and Vivian go interview some rural folk and to a lake to set up some sensors. While he's on the far side of the lake, Vivian gets some creepy voices calling her name. She runs off into the woods. When Alan returns, he finds Dr. Mansfield and associate Dan there with more equipment to unofficially probe for hidden saucers. They find Vivian channeling the aliens temporarily. All go back to the camp. Once the equipment is set up, the TVs display colorful glimpses of faces. Alan hears the alien talking New Age blather. They are pure energy beings who have been in the lake for a thousand years. They need Alan's imagination to refuel their ship. Alan, in a trance and apparently aging quickly, walks into the lake to join with the aliens. Dan tries to stop him, but rescues a skeleton. After a very long colorful geometric display, the saucer forms and wooshes out into the stars. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
On the so-bad-its-good level, UTC is such a low-production-value film that it really makes you appreciate all that mediocre film makers actually accomplish. For fun during the slow parts, watch for the mic boom.

Cultural Connection
The early 70s saw a resurgence of UFO sightings. The most sensational was the October 10, 1973 sighting by a dozen or more witnesses, culminating with the "abduction" of two men fishing on the Pascagoula River in Mississippi. The UFO craze of the 70s was not the Cold War expression of the 50s craze. It was a melding of Eastern Mysticism and New Age assumptions with extraterrestrials. Erich von Däneken's book "Chariots of the Gods?" (1970) was in popular circulation. UFOs and, in fact, all things mysterious, became the work of aliens with ESP and other paranormal powers. Aliens and saucers were becoming "contacts" with advanced beings that were vaguely benevolent and friendly, rather than hostile invaders. Spielberg's vasty superior Close Encounters of the Third Kind ('77) will be a benchmark in this 70s version of the UFO / aliens crazes.

Notes
Ambitious Auteur -- While Michael DeGaetano might not have had a lot of skill as a director, he did not lack for ambition as a writer. Even though he fails to communicate via his screenplay the deep "truths" he had in his heart, one can tell he was trying very hard to say something. Some samples of the dialogue illustrate this: Dr. Mansfield points out to Alan that he's planning to use science and technology to seek and find a metaphysical phenomenon. Alan replies, "When the circle is drawn, they're joined." This is a handy retort for any contradiction, but DeGaetano was surely aiming at some notion of the paranormal actually being more physical than metaphysical. Then, towards the end, the alien voice says: " We are beyond the jaws of darkness, where the light springs from the consciousness of your mind, and bends upon itself to become the truth." Again with the circular thinking. DeGaetano was trying hard to say something deep, but for most people, it just came off as New Age gibberish. DeGaetano would try his hand at Film Art twice more, writing, producing and directing Haunted in 1977 and Scoring in 1979. Both were equally obscure.

Fuel The Imagination -- DeGaetano's ambitious overreach left his screenplay with peculiar holes and leaps of logic that tend to befuddle viewers. A crucial bit of dialogue (easily missed) comes between Dr. Mansfield and Alan as they talk about the mysterious sightings. Her: "For instance, how much do we really know about electricity?" Him: "We know it's a power source." Her: "Exactly, just like the imagination." (Huh?) Even though this leap of logic is never fleshed out, it explains why the aliens "want" Alan. His imagination will be the fuel for their space craft. Now, why beings that are pure energy need a space craft in the first place is also not explained. Another unexplained bit is that Alan is somehow the fourth "chosen one" by the aliens. Since they're still stuck in the lake, did the first three not have enough imagination? Was each person only a quarter tank of saucer fuel? This imagination-draining somehow ages Alan to baldness, then to bones. Loss of imagination ages people?

Alien Sales Technique -- The alien gives Alan a peculiar sales pitch for help fixing their saucer. Help them, but die doing so, or don't help them and die anyhow (of old age after a long life, etc.) Seems an odd appeal. It works, though. Alan opts to give up his life to top up the saucer's tank rather than face ordinary mortality.

Conrad Retread -- There is a noteworthy similarity between UTE and MIkel Conrad's 1950 film The Flying Saucer. Both were one-man-band productions, written, produced and directed by the same man. Both featured some plucky lone wolf guy who looks for a hidden flying saucer. Both have a guy and a girl involved in the search. In both, the saucer is gone at the end. Like Conrad, DeGaetano seems to have tried to capitalize on their respective UFO crazes to sell some tickets. Both films suffer from the writer/director being too enamored with his own writing and directing such that long boring scenes escaped editing and poorly explained non-sequetors arise. UTC is proof that Conrad's style of "art" was not unique.

Long and Short -- There are longer and shorter versions of UTE. The theatrical release, the VHS release and DVD release all seem to have differing run times. There may even be shorter versions that were run on television. UTE has many scenes which would benefit from some editing. The final "light show" scene alone goes on and on and on for many long minutes. Clearly, DeGaetano was fascinated with computer-generated spirograph images and could watch them for hours. As such, the shorter versions may not be missing anything, plot-wise.

Bottom line? UTE is a poorly made amateurish film with cheap sets, flat acting, stale camera work and a talky screenplay that tries waaay too hard. For those who enjoy "bad movies", there are many of the things that are usually "liked." Anyone prone to being annoyed by weak movies would be advised to give UTE a miss.

Terminal Man

Another of Michael Crichton's sci-fi novels as made into a movie. This time it was his 1972 book, The Terminal Man (TTM) The title character, played by George Segel, is "terminal" in the sense of becoming a computer terminal. Joan Hackett, Richard Dysart and Donald Moffat star as the cooly dispassionate scientists. Crichton's basic story, as adapted by director Mike Hodges, is a subtle flavor of dystopia.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Harry Benson was a brilliant computer scientist. He suffered a serious head injury in a car accident which left him with a rare disability: psychomotor epilepsy. When he had a seizure, he would black out and remember nothing, but went into violent rages. His battered wife divorced him. He could no longer work. He volunteered for an experimental surgery. It would place electrodes in his brain and a microchip computer in his neck. The computer would detect the onset of a seizure and stimulate his brain in such a say as to tranquilize him. The surgeons feel most of the badness in mankind could be cured with such surgeries. The procedure is done. The scientists test each of the 40 probes to see how Benson's brain reacts to each. From this input, his implanted computer can calculate which probes to stimulate. The scientists monitoring Harry note that his mind is learning to bring on seizures in order to get the pleasure stimulation. Harry is under police guard since he was convicted of prior violence. However, after the surgery, he manages to escape the hospital and the guard with clothes and a wig provided by Harry's girlfriend, Angela. She picks him up outside and takes him to her apartment. After a calm spell, Harry goes into a seizure and kills Angela. He seeks comfort in a church, but kills the priest when a seizure comes on. He flees to Dr. Ross's apartment. He has another seizure and attacks Dr. Ross. She stabs him with a kitchen knife. Wounded, he flees aimlessly, ending up in a cemetery just ahead of a funeral. He falls (or jumps) into the open grave. He has another seizure, but cannot get out. He is discovered by the funeral procession. The police come, and Dr. Ross, but a police sniper in a helicopter shoots and kills Harry. Fade to black. Dr. Ellis gives a press conference about the pervasiveness of violence and despite the failure with Harry, the need to continue research. An anonymous orderly quips about his coworker being next. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
TTM is a dark and rather grim tale, so it's not so much fun as it is visually appealing. Director xx xx composes his shots, choses sets and costumes in such a way as to speak volumes with the visuals.

Cultural Connection
TTM falls into the category of Cautionary Tale films. Many of them warn of the dangers of dispassionate Science. This sentiment goes back Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in the early 1800s. The technophobia of the early 70s was a fertile ground for new cautionary tales -- this time of medical science and computers both going horribly wrong.

Notes
Too Slow? -- A common criticism leveled at TTM is that it moves too slow. Granted, the pace is slow by modern (or television) standards. Getting Harry through the surgery takes the first half of the film. There are some action scenes, but xxx deliberately slows down the pace and even stretches many scenes out beyond the rapid-fire sound-bite format that modern viewers have become accustomed to. Rather than a flaw, this is a feature. Among the complex visuals and spare score, there are messages is the quiet. Quiet, however, is not a familiar dialect to many.

Hodges Vision -- While Crichton was involved in the project early on, he did not remain involved. Apparently, he felt the alterations to the script deviated too far from the plot of his book. Mike Hodges developed the screenplay and directedThese deviations do not hurt the film. The overall story is cohesive. Hodges' vision of ruthless science is well displayed in costume (the doctors are all very neat, or even in tuxes), and acting (the doctors are all stoic and calm). The sets and location shots are all clean and orderly. Hodges' image of dystopia is tidy while it is oppressive. It is dark while dressed in clean white.

A Crichton Orange -- Where Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange explored the dark side of psychological behavior modification as the "cure" for the badness in mankind, the Science establishment in TTS see their brain-probe computer implant surgery as the cure of the badness in mankind. Both establishments have the hubris to think they can "fix" man -- on the presumption that mankind is intrinsically "good" and it is only some fixable flaw which is the root of all evil. Like Alex in ACO, Harry submits to the dehumanizing "modern" process as escape from his violent criminal past. Both suffer from the solution as much as the sickness.

Cyber-Threat -- The 70s were a hotbed of technophobia films. TTM follows that path with computers failing man, medical science failing to save mankind from itself. Harry Benson is a sort of cross between Frankenstein's monster, Alex from ACO and the gunslinger from Westworld.

Bottom line? TTM is visually rewarding to the careful observer with an artistic eye. It is not a face-paced action thriller. It's depth makes it valuable to watch, even if its measured pace runs counter to modern tastes. TTM isn't a benchmark classic, but still worth watching.

Chosen Survivors

Combining several tropes, Chosen Survivors (CS) mixed animal attacks, government conspiracies, bunkerism and the small group dynamic. The cast included familiar names, such as Jackie Cooper as the rude self-centered tycoon, Alex Cord as the hip 70s leading man and Diana Muldaur as the sensitive congresswoman. Bradford Dillman plays the duplicitous scientist. Various other supporting cast, including an expendable nobody or two for the bats to kill. The notion of a safe haven turning into a deadly trap had some appeal.

Quick Plot Synopsis
An army helicopter brings 11 sedated civilians to a remote desert site, which is an elevator down to a secret high-tech bunker. They find out that they were chosen by a computer for their various skills. An automated greeting recording tells them they have food, supplies and space to wait the many months to survive a nuclear holocaust, which they are told just occurred. They and other similar bunkers' survivors will be the re-starting of humanity. The group go through various stages of denial, anger and bargaining. A young woman of the group cracks at the mental strain. Tycoon Ray Couzins (Cooper) tries to cajole and bribe passage back to the surface. Behavioral scientist Pete (Dillman) makes notes on how the group is holding up. The group discover that vampire bats have found a way into the bunker. An electrical short makes the lights fail. The bats attack the already frazzled Kristin, who goes into shock. After the bat attack, they rig up an alarm to warn them if the lights go out again. Ray, however, skulks around the computer room pushing buttons. He causes a short that lets in more bats. Luis (the expendable crewmen) tries to stop the bats, but is killed. Pete confesses that the whole thing was a government experiment to see how people would handle living in a survival bunker if there really was nuclear war. He tries to send a get-us-out signal, but there is no answer. The group decide to try and bait the bats with blood (a pint donated by each), and electrocute them. The trap works, but not completely. Kristin is killed. Ray convinces Woody, the over-the-hill olympic star (Lincoln Kilpatrick), to climb the conduit of the elevator shaft to open the door and trip another rescue beacon. After some drama, Woody makes the arduous climb, but is attacked by bats at the top. He opens the door, but falls to his death back in the bunker. Pete gets everyone out of the elevator bay before the bats come down, but not himself. The bats kill Pete. The others lay down to die as doomed. Army brass and soldiers rescue them and bring them to the surface. The recorded messages play ironic encouraging messages about getting along well with each others as they ride the elevator back up. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The story has a twist on the old bunker motif, which adds interest. Director Sutton Roley, a veteran TV director, does a good job of keeping the tension rising and falling. The gore is not made the focus, so fear and tension can get the focus.

Cold War Angle
Bunker mentality was well entrenched in the American culture. It was the popular notion for surviving the long-expected nuclear war. The unquestioned presumption was that the war would happen. It was only a matter of when. The bunkers and bunker programs were the logical conclusion.

Notes
Small Animal Attack -- Deadly animals were common in films since silent film days. Giant animals, or lone powerful animals were typical (King Kong, et al). A variant involved attacks by a mass of animals who alone would not be particularly frightening. The flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz ('39) are an early example. Alfred Hitchcock's Birds ('63) is a very famous example. There would be many lesser attempts of the mass small animal attack trope. Ants, bees, even frogs would be tried with variable success. In CS, Roley used bats in a fairly Hitchcockian fashion. One or two bats are startling or a bit gross. It's in the crazed swarm that it works.

Bunker Gone Bad -- Bomb shelters were the mental balm to debilitating atomic anxiety. But nothing could be pure "good." The rescue-shelter gone bad was an intriguing story. Rod Serling's "The Shelter" ('61) is one of the most famous examples. In CS, even the wonders of modern (70s) high-tech cannot create a purely safe haven. They fled the dangers of nuclear disaster (even if fake), only to be threatened by deadly nature. Moral of the story? There is no escape.

It's Da Gubbmint, I Tell Ya -- The early 70s were rife with government conspiracy story lines. Even before Watergate had verified in the public mind that "the government" was sneaky and self-serving, the conspiracy movies preached it. CS is right in line with the norm. Note that none of the eleven knew anything about the bunker and being chosen. They were nabbed and sedated without their consent. Even then, "the government" felt impunity enough to test the bunker plan on the eleven. Alana rather insightfully notes that the same government that could snatch them, would not want them telling about it when the experiment was done. She was sure they would all be killed to keep it all quiet.

70s Cool -- Alex Cord is the epitome of mid-70s cool. Longish hair, tinted aviator glasses, tall collars, even the mustache and moderate sideburns. For those not alive (or aware) in the early 70s, Cord was decked out as THE fashion plate the for cool 70s swinger guy. The standard of "cool" never rests, however. Disco and three-piece suits would replace the denim-jacket leisure suit, etc. But, CS is a nice snapshot of cool in the mid-70s.

Bottom line? CS has its flaws, but by and large is a reasonably well done people-in-danger story with a sci-fi foundation. The Cold War had receded from the front burner of movie-making consciousness, but it was not gone. The acting is pretty good and the effects hold up reasonably well (even though not amazing by 21st century standards). CS is fairly entertaining, even if not perfect.

Moonchild

For some reason, Moonchild shows up on lists of sci-fi movies. IMHO, there is no reason for this. There have certainly been many films that were many hybrid films that were predominately horror or crime drama and just a little sci-fi, but Moonchild has no sci-fi at all. However, in the spirit of complete-lists, a review is given here anyhow. Moonchild is the work of Alan Gadney. He wrote and directed it. The film started as yet another film student project, but managed to get some Hollywood attention and had a small theatrical release in May of 1974. Somehow, Gadney managed to get some recognizable actors to be a part of his project. Victor Buono and John Carradine dominate the film.

Quick Plot Synopsis
In the 1920s, a young art student stops to sketch an old mission church. The Walker, (Carradine) invites him to stay at the hotel and sketch the bells. The Student agrees. In the mission hotel is the stiff and brusque manager, the emotional Maitre D' (Buono), a scrabbling minion named Homonculous, and old prospector type named Alchemist, a bossy old woman maid and a pretty blonde who runs around in flowing silk dresses. Through much convolution, the Maitre D' and the Manager come to represent two opposing sides, vying for control over Student. Not quite "good vs. evil" or God vs. Satan, although the terms get guessed. It's more of a battle between weird and other-weird. Student is not charmed by either side, so seeks out the Alchemist who blathers poetically. Student is fairly obsessed with knowing more about the blonde girl. Eventually, he is told that he has done all this many times before, died and come back to do it again until he gets it right. The Maitre D' (dressed as a pope) holds an inquisition, charging the Alchemist with black arts and Student as an accomplice. After some stern, if obtuse, speeches, things devolve into a chaotic fight. Student helps the blonde carry her father, the Alchemist, away. They go through tunnels, out to the rocky hills beyond the mission. The Manager pursues and eventually stabs and kills Student with a sword. Alchemist, Blonde and Manager return, talking of having to do it all over again because Student chose badly again. A 1940s car pulls up on the mission road. Student gets out, dress in an army uniform shirt and dress uniform officer's cap. He photographs the mission. Walker invites him to come stay at the hotel. Fade to black. Edgar Cayce quote. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Primarily, the fun is Victor Buono. His flamboyant over-acting is the highlight of what would otherwise be a muddle of a movie.

Cultural Connections
The New Age -- Moonchild manages to be a glimpse into the nascent New Age mindset, with much emphasis on Deja Vu, reincarnation, vague spiritual powers and a heavy dose of existentialism. Appropriately, the film is not so much a coherent manifesto as it salient dream put on film.

Notes
Hotel California? -- It is hard not to think of the 1977 Eagles' song "Hotel California" while watching Moonchild. A young man enters a hotel (in California) which has all kids of strange guests, a pretty girl, and, he can never leave. Had Don Henley or Glenn Fray been among the few who had seen Moonchild in its brief release? The movie and the song tell different stories, but the premise seems the same. Gadney filmed his project at the Mission Hotel, in Riverside, California. The Eagles' album art features a mission. The lyrics talk of "mission bells" -- which Student was going to sketch. The mission hotel's ornate architecture, spiral stairs and lush plazas do make for an eye-appealing set.

Young Jumble -- The story of Student seems appropriate for the inner struggle of the adolescent mind. Torn between to Fates (God or The World) and not understanding either, the young man searches for a third way simple enough for him agree with. All the while, the only thing he strongly believes in, is running after a pretty blonde. That "third way" the youth likes preaches that HE is the sole judge of everything. "You are the way. You are the path." Gadney apparently had a traumatic upbringing regarding the Catholic church, which did not progress beyond boyhood fears of nuns and popes.

Bottom line? Moonchild is a confusing jumble with too many vaguely mystical notions to make a coherent story out of. Fans of New Age mysticism may find the film intriguing. Fans of classic sci-fi are likely to come away frustrated from the total lack of any science in the fiction.

Digby: The Biggest Dog in the World

MGM distributed a children's film produced by Elstree Studios in England in 1973. It came to America in May of 1974. Digby: The Biggest Dog in the World was marginally a sci-fi film in many of the same ways others have been over the years. A little bit of sci-fi sets up the story, which continues with fairly conventional tropes. Jim Dale stars as the good-hearted, if bumbling scientist. Agela Douglas co-stars as his love interest and Billy's mother.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Jeff Eldon is well-meaning, if somewhat accident prone scientist at a N.A.T.O. lab in England. The lab is working on a special secret formula: Project X. The formula grows foods to enormous size, so astronauts can have limitless food. The next step is an antidote that will shrink them again, for easier packing. Meanwhile, Billy, the son of the lead Project X scientist Janine, gets a fluffy english sheepdog as a pet. But, Digby pees on grandpa's carpet, so must go. Billy brings Digby to Jeff. While that was going on, Jeff stole a few grams of the Project X powder so his roses might grow bigger. Janine gives the formula to Digby unawares. Some bumbling crooks hide in Jeff's apartment, but leave their stollen silver behind when they sneak out. When the crooks return, Digby has grown to the size of a horse and scares them off. Jeff, realizing he must hid Digby, puts him in a horse trailer to take to his Aunt Ida's house. The crooks return with a trailer, planing to sell big Digby to a circus. Through comic hijinx, the trailers are switched. Digby is sold to the circus. Both Billy and Jeff see the TV commercials for the giant dog act and come to the circus. Digby is put on display, but escapes in Kong-like manner. He runs off and bothers the countryside. The government decides that Digby is a monster that must be destroyed, so they deploy the bumbling army. Billy and Jeff catch up with Digby, now hiding in a gravel pit. Jeff goes back to the lab to get some of Janine's untried antidote. He returns and gives this to Digby.(Actually Billy does this while inside a giant dog's mouth prop.) The army finally has the gravel pit surrounded. Jeff is told to get Billy out of there because the bombers are coming. A Harrier jet drops several small fireball poof bombs and everyone is sad. Jeff says he'll buy Billy a new dog, but normal-sized Digby barks and runs through the smoke to Billy. Everyone is happy. That is, until a giant chimp named Clarissa (from an early scene) shows up to chase the bumbling Colonel Masters. "Oh no. Not again…" Roll credits and ballad. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It's supposed to be fun. It's a light-hearted kids' movie aimed at seven-year-olds. While most of the humor is slapstick on the Three Stoogest order (or lower) -- someone does slip on a banana peel -- there are some little gags that can still bring a smile to a weary adult's face. Then too, adult fans of the Golden Era of sci-fi can appreciate the Giant-Something premise which was much more common in the 50s. Digby is, in part, a parody-homage to that sub-genre.

Cultural Connections
Superlatives -- Child experts say that after children become aware of the wider world around them, they tend to become fascinated with superlatives. The fastest this, the grossest that, etc. So, the Digby movie certainly played into sound child psychology. Kids would not be interested in seeing a movie about a really big dog, or the fourth largest dog in the world. But the "Biggest", would intrigue them.

Notes
Based on the Book -- Cartoonist Ted Key (famous for the Hazel cartoons) also created several children's books. One of them was "The Biggest Dog in the World" in 1960.

50s Monster For Kids -- In general, Digby is the board-book version of the classic 50s giant-monster story. Something vaguely science makes something ordinary grow to tremendous size, which then makes it a monster which frightens the rest of the wee people. The basic premise mirrors that of The Beginning of the End ('57) which has a secret plant growth experiment accidentally applied to animals -- in that case, grasshoppers. Digby is the same big-thing idea, but in a totally harmless (and fluffy) form.

Better Big -- The techniques used to make the ordinary sheep dog appear big on screen were not new, by any means, but in Digby, they were reasonably well done. One facet the director got better than others had, was the a huge dog would appear to move more slowly, since it was supposed to be physically large. "Big things" at normal speed is what usually makes a low-budget Giant-Thing movie look cheap.

Kong Homage -- Something veteran movie watchers would appreciate, was the homage to King Kong. Giant Digby is put on display in chains. He's even named "King". The promoters themselves even remark that Digby would be like King Kong, but he'd be okay because they didn't have Fay Rea atop any buildings. As per Kong, Digby is spooked and breaks his chains. The audience flee and scream, all per the Kong-esque motif.

Strangelove II -- Another something more amusing to veteran movie watchers was Spike Milligan's portrayal of German scientist Dr. Harz. It is quite reminiscent of Peter Sellers' Dr. Strangelove -- though more overtly comic. Harz takes up the conventional role of befuddled-neighbor, long a staple of TV sitcoms, but adds little else to the plot.

Bottom line? Digby more fun for kids in the six-to-ten age range. Most of characterizations are shallow and stereotypic. This can become tedious to adults, but obviously new and fresh enough for kids. The sci-fi part exists only as a plot necessity, with little to make one muse. Some of the comedy skits are amusing, though not perhaps enough to merit a long search to find this film to watch.

Planet Earth

Gene Roddenberry was not one to give up easily. His series idea, Genesis II almost happened in '73, but not quite. He mooshed some things around with the premise and characters to try it again as Planet Earth (PE). Dylan Hunt (John Saxon) is still the 20th century scientist awakened in the year 2133, to a post-apocalyptic world. The PAX people are still there, and most of the same themes. The sets and shooting locations are reused too, so PE is almost a remake more than it is a sequel to G2. This pilot also did not result in a series, but Roddenberry did not give up. He would be back with another remix. This time, Dylan Hunt is played by John Saxon. Janet Margolin plays Harper-Smythe. Ted Cassidy returns as the "white Indian" Isiah. Diana Muldaur plays the ice queen Marg. Majel Barrett gets a tiny tiny role as a central command officer.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A narrator recaps the first quarter of Genesis II to explain Dylan Hunt, 20th century man, revived in 2133, now a member of the peace-loving people of PAX, the only city not destroyed by the nuclear war. They explore the strange new planet earth via their Sub Shuttles. On one such recon mission, their patrol is ambushed by Kreegs -- a brutish militaristic race of mutants. Pax's leader, Pater Kimbridge is gravely wounded. Hunt and his team must find a particular surgeon to save him. That surgeon was lost in a land of Amazons who keep men as servile slaves. Hunt has Harper-Smythe pretend to want to join their Amazon confederation, with Hunt posing as her captured male slave. Marg, the alpha-female, decks HS and steals Hunt to sell him in the slave market. There, Hunt finds the rest of his team, drugged into frightened servility. Don't eat the food, warns Baylock. Hunt avoids the food. However, he gets drugged directly by Marg. She buys him, but HS returns to challenge Marg for ownership. They fight like girls. HS wins. Marg invites her and Hunt to her ranch. Hunt fights the drug. There, they find the missing doctor, Conner, who pretends to be drugged. He gives Hunt the antidote. They plot an escape. Conner spikes the tainted gruel pots with his antidote, then leaves. Hunt flirts with and tries to seduce Marg, except the wine puts her to sleep. The next day, the Kreegs attack Marg's ranch, having captured HS and Conner too. The male slaves, no longer drugged, join Hunt and his team in fighting the Kreegs to protect the women. They win. The women then agree that maybe 'real' men could be handy and agree not to drug them anymore. Hunt and his team return in time for Conner to operate on Kimbridge and save him. Smiles all around. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is a nostalgic sort of movie serial quality to the setting and the action. This would be fitting since PE was intended as a television series. The script still offers some more thoughtful undercurrents that keep it interesting. There is an earth-bound Star Trek quality to PE.

Cultural Connection
Evil Military -- In keeping with the cultural mood of the early 70s, the villains are an almost flagrant caricature of the military. The Kreegs (a play on the German word, Krieg, meaning "war"?) dress in uniforms (jumpsuits), wear battered helmets painted gold and tote rifles. The Kreegs are said to be dim-witted mutants left over from the old pre-apocalypse world with an aptitude only for machines and warfare. They speak in broken english, have dull faces and call each other "soldier." The Kreegs give an interesting picture of how liberal post-Vietnam America saw soldiers.

Notes
Non-Violence -- An overt theme in PE is that of heroic non-violence. Only the Kreegs shoot to kill. Hunt's team have tranquilizer dart pistols. In a very representative vignette, Isaiah picks up one of the fallen Kreeg's rifles. He almost uses it to fire back at the Kreegs who pursue them, but doesn't. Instead, he smashes the gun against the cave walls. There ya go. Swords into…scrap. In another scene, HS is shocked when she thinks Hunt is going to stab and kill a fallen Kreeg. Viewers may recall from G2 the vow of non-lethality the Pax folk have. Fists and fighting, however, seem to be okay. Even petite HS is shown as pretty good in a fight.

Subtle Chauvinism -- Despite the overt facade of women-in-charge, the script of PE is quietly male chauvinist. The women talk of female domination as "the natural order," but rule the men by drugging them. Despite the high minded words about the superiority of woman-rule-culture and the terribleness of male-rule-culture, the women's world is no better. There's oppression, disrespect and even petty fighting over just about anything. Then too, note how the ladies paw admiringly at the bodies of the hunky Pax team while on the auction block. The women might rule, but a hunky shirtless male body melts them into kittens. Then there is the implied reality that all women -- even Amazons -- ultimately want to be mothers. "I'd give half my fields for a baby," says one. Their drugged males have no…um…zip, so the birth rate has been falling. In the end, it is the hunky outsider men who show the women what "real" men are like. Hunt, in the Kirk-esque role, is the super-suave male who defrosts even the ice queen, Marg, turning her into a silly giggling girl.

Trek Underground -- The "glue" that would connect the various episodes was to be the Sub Shuttle. Like the starship Enterprise, the Sub Shuttle system would whisk the characters off to strange 'new" places each week. The post-apocalyptic world would be imagined as isolated islands of strange wonders, each handily located near a Sub Shuttle node. The Pax science teams would be a repeat of the "Away Team" format so successful in Star Trek. That is, if the series had been picked up.

Losing to Apes -- Network execs did not opt to put PE into production. Instead, ABC went with Planet of the Apes. This series did not fare too well and was dropped. It is interesting that the Kreegs were much like the gorillas in the Apes saga -- brutish and militaristic.

Never Give Up -- Roddenberry would not give up yet. He would re-recast his idea for another try, this time with the title, Strange New World a year later. His concept in G2, PE and SNW would be re-cast yet again to spawn the television series Andromeda in 2000. There, a Captain Hunt (!) and his crew are frozen at the edge of a black hole, only to return to normal time to see their Commonwealth has been taken over by brutish militarists. They strive to restore the utopian order. Sound familiar? Roddenberry (and family) had tenacity.

Gas Power -- A minor point of interest is that the Kreegs use wood gasifiers to make the old automobiles run (since gasoline refining would have long since disappeared.) The old cobbled-together vehicles (no newer than the mid-60s, one can note) have a Mad Max quality to them. Curiously, after 150 years, all the rubber parts (tires and belts) are imagined to still be working fine.

Bottom line? PE is perhaps the weaker of Roddenberry's attempts, though still entertaining. The acting is pretty good for a television pilot. While some of the messages are overt to the point of being hammy, others are neatly subtle. PE is worth a watch if one is a Trek fan, or a fan of post-apocalyptic movies.