Zontar, The Thing From Venus

American International commissioned Larry Buchanan to remake several of their older movies as part of a TV movie package. The first was The Eye Creatures ('65) which was a remake of Invasion of the Saucer Men ('57). Zontar: The Thing from Venus was a similarly close remade of It Conquered the World ('56). As a purely TV movies (no theatrical posters), it would fall outside the scope of this survey, but Zontar is grandfathered in. It's like a "10th Anniversary Edition" of a 50s icon, updated to have mid-60s styles and cars.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Note: What follows is nearly identical to that for It Conquered the World, but with mostly just name changes.
A special laser communication satellite is about to be launced. Keith, a scientist who has become discredited for having too many wild theories, tries to warn the authorities not to launch a satellite. They do anyway. It is lost, but returns mysteriously. Keith reveals to his friend Curt (a rocket scientist) that he has been communicating with a being from Venus, who is coming to earth in the errant satellite. Curt does not believe him. After the satellite comes down, the venusian takes up residence in a steamy cave. It somehow manages to stop all power sources. Electricity, steam, hydro, even mechanical watches stop. It releases eight lobster-like flying creatures who 'bite' their intended target person in the back of the neck, implanting an electronic control device. The alien then directs them to do its bidding. The Army General of the rocket base is bitten, and so is the police chief of the town. They become emotionless tools of the alien. Curt's wife Ann is also bitten, but Curt eludes and kills his lobster-bat. When he realizes that his wife has been taken over by the alien, he shoots her. Keith feels much inner turmoil. He believed that the alien was coming to earth to improve mankind, but events have caused him to doubt. The alien, Zontar, orders him to kill Curt, but he can't. His doubts have grown. Keith's wife, Martha takes matters into her own hands, drives to the cave and tires to shoot the alien. Bullets are useless. The alien kills Martha, which Keith hears over his radio. This is the turning point for Keith. He drives to the cave. A squad of soldiers tried to shoot the alien, also to no avail. Keith uses a special plutonium laser wand to stab Zontar. It grabs Keith in its claws. They die together. Curt (John Agar) gives a longish epilogue speech about imperfect man needing to find his own answers. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It is amusing to see how closely Buchanan copied the original screenplay. Sometimes it's a more general scene-for-scene copy. Other times even specific lines are copied. It is a curious thing to watch.

Cold War Angle
Whatever there is of this, was inherent in the original. The most blatant line (also in the original) comes when the possessed-general tells the lab folks that the power is out due to a "communist uprising."

Notes
Compare and Contrast -- Larry Buchanan's remake is not an exact line-for-line copy of Lou Russof's original screenplay. Buchanan and Hillman Taylor tweaked the script a bit -- in places. For instance, when Keith is letting Curt listen to a transmission from Zontar, Curt guesses that he's listening to "progressive jazz?" In ICW, Paul says, "the London Philharmonic?" Yet, many times, they kept lines completely intact, such as the general worrying about recovering the satellite, then relaxing a bit, "What am I worried about? I'm not paying for it." Even Martha's final speech is the same as Claire's. Aside from such tweaks (or not), a notable change is that in the original, Tom takes an old-tech pump style blow torch to the monster's eye to kill it. Keith stabs Zontar with his plutonium laser and turns it on, frying them both.

Monster Mash -- The original movie suffered some scorn for having its monster be too silly looking. Paul Blaisdell's foam creation would have worked better in moody dark cuts, but Roger Corman had far too exposed. Blaisdell's monster looked like a mutant carrot. Buchanan at least touched on deeper cultural iconography. His monster, Zontar, played off the more classic villain, Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost. In this one small way, Buchanan's Zontar improved on the original.

Saucer Redux -- Fans of the low-B genre will probably note that the "Laser Communication Satellite" which returns to earth is the same saucer model used in Buchanan's first A.I.P. remake, The Eye Creatures. In fact, the footage is the same. It's just recycled.

Bottom line? Zontar is almost exactly the same as its predecessor. If you liked the original, you'll be amused by the remake. If ICW annoyed you, it might be best to give Zontar a pass. John Agar fans might still want to take it in, as he is the star.

Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150

Following up on the success of the first Dr. Who feature film. AARU productions put out a second. Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 (DIE) was, like the first movie, a big screen remake of six episodes from the small screen's second season. Peter Cushing again plays the Doctor, but this time with a bit more zeal. Roberta Tovey plays young Susan again. The rest of the cast are new. In several ways, this sequel rises higher than the first film, in having more action and a faster pace.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Policeman Tom Campbell fails to stop some jewel thieves. He rushes to what he thinks is a police box, and stumbles into the Tardis. Dr. Who was just about to depart, so he must come along. Inside are the Doctor, Susan and the Doctor's niece, Louise. The arrive in London, at the year 2150. London is in ruins. A scruffy man named Wyler helps Louise and Susan hide, but Tom and the Doctor are taken prisoners by the Daleks and their human mind-controlled minions, the "robomen." The prisoners are put aboard a "flying saucer" ship to be transported to a Dalek mine operation. Susan and Louise have fallen in among humans living underground and plotting rebellion. They stage an attack on the saucer, freeing the Doctor, though the attack is crushed. The Doctor and a rebel named David head to the country to find the mine. The Doctor is certain that the mine is the key to the invasion. Susan and Wyler head for the country too. Louise and Tom ride in the saucer. Wyler and Susan are betrayed into the Daleks' hands. Tom and Louise are helped hide by a miner. A profiteer takes the Doctor and David to the mine. The minor says that the Daleks are trying to break open the earth so its metallic core is expelled. They then plan to make the earth into a space ship. The Doctor hatches a plan to divert their seismic bomb down an alternate shaft to a magnetic anomaly. Tom succeeds in getting to the shaft, but the Doctor captured when the profiteer sells him out. Using loose boards, Tom fashions diverter in the vertical shaft. The Doctor is brought to the Dalek leader. The Doctor uses the Dalek PA system to order the robomen to attack the Daleks. The do, but eventually, the robomen are all killed. This gave Tom time to finish the diverter. The bomb is dropped down the shaft, but bounces off the boards, down the diagonal shaft. It blows up sooner than expected and releases great magnetic waves. These suck the Daleks down the shaft. Many things explode. The remaining Daleks take off in their saucer ship, but it too is drawn to the mine shaft. It crashes and explodes. Anything else Dalek explodes and burns too. Dr. Who declares that the earth is safe from further Dalek invasion since we know their weakness -- magnetism. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
DIE has more action and a busier plot than the first movie. It was amusing to see that 200 years in the future, Londoners would still be driving around 50s-vintage vehicles. The saucer in DIE was pretty cool, and well done. (much better than the Ed Wood-ian wobbly hubcap of the TV series)

Cold War Angle
Beneath the surface-level replay of War of the Worlds and dabbling in Nazi archetypes, is still the notion that a hostile power (in this case, the Daleks) recklessly plan to use a nuclear bomb to make the Earth more to their liking.

Notes
Dalek SS -- Where the first movie tapped into exiting "Nazi" ehtos, DIE takes it up a notch. The robomen are helmeted, and dressed in black (The Daleks' SS troops). They round up prisoners, whip the stragglers and obey orders from their superiors without question. DIE's robomen are more military than the TV series portrayed them. On TV, they came across more like zombies -- stiff, awkward and slow. They were also dress in plain clothes. Only the silver headgear with metal mutton-chops set them apart. In DIE, we have the classic nazi visuals of guard towers with search lights and forced labor camps.

A Nod to Wells -- The trope of an invasion of England, and a battlefield in London, owe much to H.G. Wells. His novel War of the Worlds (1898) was not the first to depict England invaded, but it is the most famous. There is something deeply visceral to the British, about seeing their great city in ruins. It's a trope they return to many times.

Deviations -- While the screenplay of DIE follows that of the television series, in large part, there are numerous deviations. Most notable, is the replacement of Barbara and Ian (as seen on TV) with the Doctor's niece Louise and the chance policeman, Tom. Necessarily missing from the TV version was the budding love story between Susan (a young woman of 23) and the rebel David. DIE still used Roberta Tovey (aged 11), so the romance threads had to go. Another notable change was the omission of the Daleks' beast, the Slyther. A notable addition in DIE was that of magnetism being the Achilles Heel of the Daleks. On the TV show, they're simply blown up in the end. In the movie, massive magnetism sucks them (and their space ship) into the earth.

Who Was Boring First? -- Someone is boring deep into the earth so they can explode a nuclear bomb to exploit a crack in the earth? Haven't we just seen this? Crack in the World used this exact same premise. CitW was in production in late 1964, released in theaters in May '65. DIE was released in August '66. The television episodes upon which its screenplay was based, aired in November and December of '64. Their teleplays obviously predate that.

Comic Quirks -- In the first movie, Ian is played as a comic-relief bumbler. Actor Bernard Cribbins plays the role of the "other" man in Tardis (constable Tom Campbell) as the serious hero most of the time.. Yet, director Gordon Femyng still inserted a comic scene which seems oddly out of place. The scene is aboard the Dalek saucer, when Tom "hides" by tagging along with a squad of robomen. They all act in unison -- rather like a drill team. Tom is always comically out of sync. Later, there is a retread of the classic unstoppable food conveyor gag, made famous by Lucille Ball.

Bottom line? Dr. Who aficionados consider the two feature films to be non-canonical, since they deviate (somewhat) from the TV series. As stand-alone films, they hold up well enough, even if some of the quirkiness of the series leaks through.

Dr. Who and the Daleks

The "small screen"' once again provided material for the "big screen". Dr. Who and the Daleks (DWD) was a feature film recreation of a series of Dr. Who episodes airing in late 1963 and early 1964. The film brought the British Dr. Who phenomenon to America, though without the pre-existing viewer fan base. Peter Cushing has marquee power.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Who and his two granddaughters, Susan (10) and Barbara (20-something), are visited by Barbara's boyfriend Ian. While the Doctor is showing Ian his time travel device, Tardis, Ian accidentally pushes the lever. They arrive on a dark and desolate planet with a petrified forest and ashy soil. They see a distant city and are startled a few times and find a box of drugs outside the Tardis. Everyone wants to leave, but the Doctor. The Tardis fails to leave because, the Doctor says, it's "fluid link" has leaked. They need more mercury. So, they go to explore the city in search of mercury. The city (a maze of corridors and small rooms with sliding doors) is the home of the Daleks -- small mutants who must live inside their tank-like robo-suits because of the radiation on the planet. Dr. Who and the others are getting weak from radiation poisoning. The Daleks agree to let young Susan fetch some drugs from the Tardis, thinking the drugs will help them be free of the robo-suits. While out, Susan meets Alydon, one of the Thal -- humanoid inhabitants of the planet. He gives her more drug, knowing the Daleks will take the first box for themselves. She returns. The drugs make everyone feel better. The drug has no such effect on Daleks. So, they plan to exterminate the Thal by luring them into the city with a promise of food. The Doctor and others, escape from their cell by capturing a Dalek. They thwart the Dalek trap just in time and flee with the Thal. The Daleks then plan to kill all the Thal by exploding a neutronic bomb, adding to the planet's radiation levels. The Thals are encouraged to fight and mount a two-pronged attack on the city. The frontal assault only gets the Doctor and Susan captured. The infiltration by a couple Thal, Ian and Barbara succeeds. They manage to get to the control room just in time. They start a melee in which the Daleks mostly blast each other in "friendly fire", but also blast their control panel. Power cut, the Daleks all go dark and the countdown stops at 3 seconds. The Thal are happy and wave goodbye. The Tardis does not go back to London as planned, but lands amid a Roman infantry charge. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As an introduction to Dr. Who, DWD gets a couple of major tropes in play fairly quickly. Cushing is good. The Daleks are amusing as mechanical baddies.

Cold War Angle
There are several of these. First, is the customary prophetic warning. There was a massive war on the planet which rendered it nearly lifeless. Second was the caricature of earthly "hawks" in the Dalek's obsession with wiping out their enemies with yet larger bombs. Third, is the more subtle thread of the Thal as caricature of earthly "peaceniks" and pacifists who, ironically, are goaded into becoming fighters. A subtle message there. The Cold War world was no place for flaccid pacifism.

Notes
As Seen on TV -- The plot line of DWD follows fairly closely the collective plot of the seven television episodes of Dr. Who aired on the BBC between December 21, 1963 and February 1, 1964. In many cases, the movie matches the teleplay scene for scene. Susan finds the flower. Barbara smears food glop on the Dalek's "eye", leaping the chasm, etc. etc. Fans who had watch the TV show two years earlier would recognize DWD as a bigger-budget remake. It was not a new story.

Deviations -- For Dr. Who purists, some of the deviations in DWD might make it hard to warm up to. For one, Peter Cushion plays the Doctor as a sort of genial absent-minded professor. Television's William Hartnell played the Doctor as more gruff and devious. The Doctor in the TV series was understood to be a time traveler from somewhere else. In DWD, Cushion's Dr. Who is implied to be an earthling inventor. In the television series, Ian Chesteron is the brave hero type, often saving someone. In DWD, Roy Castle's Ian is spun as more of a comic relief bumbler. Barbara in DWD has less depth, serving more as the damsel in distress (with very tall 60s hair). Susan is played by a much younger actress (10 instead of 18), but this actually works better in DWD than in the series. A huge difference, too, is that DWD is shot in widescreen Technicolor. The series was shot in black and white.

Daleks as NeoNazis -- The Daleks proved to be very popular with British audiences. They made many appearances in the run of the television series and were even good for another feature film. Why so popular? In the British cultural pantheon of archetypes, the Daleks play out as classic Nazis in robotic form. They hate anything that isn't their kind. They obsess over "exterminating" anyone that's not one of them. They are cold, remorseless and bent on world domination. If, instead of robotic pepper shaker outfits, the Daleks were shown as people costumed in black uniforms with swastika arm bands, and wearing tall boots, but acted exactly the same fway, viewers would easily accept them as "typical" Nazis. In this, the Daleks make "good" archetypal über villains. Cultural pantheons need classic villains.

Bottom line? DWD will have more appeal to Dr. Who fans than to someone who had never seen the series. The story is complete enough in itself, but can drag at times. DWD may be worth watching for the Daleks alone. They have a sequel coming, after all. (Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150)

The Eye Creatures

This made-for-TV movie would normally fall outside of the scope of this study except that it is a member of a small sub-genre of a 50s sci-fi B movies remade for 60s TV. American International Pictures commissioned director Larry Buchanan to remake its 1957 Invasion of the Saucer Men for the television market. But they gave him almost no budget -- just $16,000, according to imdb.com. The Eye Creatures (EC) featured lumpy white humanoid monsters festooned with many eyes. The extremely low budget is obvious. When Wade Williams brought the rights to the film, it got retitled Attack of the The Eye Creatures (yes, two "the" words).

Quick Plot Synopsis
The uncredited screenwriter added the opening scenes in which an Air Force General briefs a lieutenant. Top secret spy satellite footage shows a flying saucer headed for earth. It will land in the midwest. The lieutenant is assigned to check it out. Also added, are a sergeant and corporal who monitor the top secret surveillance equipment. They use the "infrared scope" to peep on teens necking at Lover's Point. They form a sort of pair-of-perverts running gag interspersed through the original script. The '57 script kicks in with the drifters in the diner. See Invasion of the Saucer Men, as it is essentially the same, but with different names. The running thread with Mr. Larkin's beer-loving bull was left out.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing an almost word-for-word remake of a 50s B sci-fi has some amusement value. Spotting the budget shortcuts (such as un-careful use of day-for-night) provides some amusement too.

Cold War Angle
The original had little Cold War to it. This remake added none.

Notes
Comedy Gone Bad -- The original screenplay had its own odd mixture of "serious" alien invasion / monster story and a few too many attempts at comic relief. Buchanan opted to boost the comic relief aspect in his remake. Yet, he also attempted to retain the "serious" alien-monster angle. The result is even more bi-polar than the original. EC would almost qualify as parody, but Buchanan was serious. At least, seriously completing his assignment with what little he was given.

Cheap Clones -- To satisfy demand for low-cost TV movies, AIP took many of its 50s B movies and cloned them. They took the existing scripts and had them reshot (in color!) with minimal budget. This way, they had two movies about saucer men, etc. Coming up soon in this group, we'll see It Conquered the World ('56) remade as Zontar: Thing From Venus and Day the World Ended ('55) remade as In the Year 2889. These, too, will re-use the older scripts almost verbatim, but be in color and feature more "hip" 60s actors.

Clip Spotter -- Buchanan used a short clip from Invaders From Mars ('53) where the glowing saucer hovered over the rim of the sand pit, then dove in.

Scrimping Exposed -- MST3K's critique of EC included a skit at the called "They Just Didn't Care," which highlighted the flagrant budget shortcuts. The more amusing is the "extra" eye creatures being actors in black shirts and pants, wearing just an eye creature head.

Bottom line? EC is so low in production value that the average viewer will likely find it extremely annoying, or hilarious. Fans of the 1957 original might be amused at seeing the script re-acted with less talent, like a community theater's version. In a way, one can almost respect how much Buchanan accomplished with almost NO money.