Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Steven Spielberg, newly famous for his ’75 hit, Jaws, furthers his fame with another big hit: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE, for short). He both wrote (with help) and directed. His movie is, perhaps, the best landmark of the watershed between the old era of sci-fi and the new. Spielberg blends old-school UFO lore with new-age benevolent aliens. CE was a big budget, A-level film, but also very well received in the box-office. Richard Dreyfuss stars as Roy Neary, the obsessed ‘everyman’. Melinda Dillon stars as the obsessed mother of lost Barry. Francois Truffaut stars as the French scientist. Teri Garr plays Roy’s wife. Much has already been written about CE, so this review will only touch on a few elements.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Claude Lacombe (Turffaut) and his time are called to the discovery of five Grumman Avenger aircraft from Flight 19, lost in the Bermuda Triangle in 1945. An old man who was there said, “The sun came out at night, and sang to him.” Later, several airline pilots and air traffic control experience a near-collision with a UFO, but all decline to report it. Still later, Lacombe is summoned to the Gobi Desert to see the freighter SS Cotopaxi (lost in Bermuda Triangle, 1925). Meanwhile, back in Muncie Indiana, Little Barry is awakened by offscreen aliens and goes with them. His mother, Jillian, frantically searches for him. Roy Neary, a lineman, is called in to help with a massive power outage. While in his truck, he has several UFO experiences. In them, he crosses paths with Jillian. Over time, Roy becomes obsessed with internal visions of a mountain. He draws it and sculpts it. His obsession ruins his already tenuous middle class suburban lifestyle. His wife (Garr) leaves him. Roy sees a TV report about a nerve gas train accident near Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. The mountain was his vision. He drives to Wyoming. The government had, meantime, been decoding signals from space to be coordinates for Devil’s Tower. They fabricated the nerve gas accident as a ruse to evacuate the area. Roy, and some others, including Jillian, have also made their way to Devil’s Tower. They are all captured by the military, but Roy, Jillian and an expendable named Larry, escape to the mountain. The army uses sleep gas to stop them, but Roy and Jillian escape. In a box canyon at the mountain, the see an elaborate landing pad compound. Little light-spangled craft float in first. Attempts are made to communicate using the five-note motif. Then the huge mother ship comes down. More communications take place. A hatch opens on the bottom, and out walk all the people who mysteriously disappeared, starting with the crew from Flight 19. Little Barry is returned to Jillian. A row of volunteers is presented to the aliens. Roy gets to be one of them. The aliens decide they like Roy, so he gets to go with them in their ship. It lifts off majestically. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Spielberg does an excellent job of providing compelling visuals and telling the story from  Roy's uninformed point of view. Dreyfuss plays his part well. The effects still work.

Cultural Connection
Optimistic Unification — Where Starship Invasions sought to unify many loose ends in UFO lore, with the more old-school hostile aliens, Spielberg unifies them with friendly, benevolent aliens. This is the watershed between the old era of sci-fi and the new. The old era view developed in the Cold War and amid Atomic Angst, in which “new” was a source of fear. The new-era mythos cast aliens as benevolent wonders. Spielberg, (born in ’46) grew up through the old era of fear and angst. He lived through the decline of the Cold War, and the counter-culture of the 60s. That counter culture longed for good news (“give peace a chance…all you need is love…” etc.) so the creation of a new alien mythos was developing in the 70s. Spielberg wove in elements of the old era — abductions, missing ships and planes, government cover-ups, etc. — but put a happy spin on them. It was as if Spielberg’s message was ‘all that stuff we feared turned out to be good.’

Notes
Third Kind? — The title is a reference to “ufologist” J. Allen Hynek’s ranking system. A First Kind encounter is viewing a craft that is less than 500 feet away. A Second Kind, is viewing a craft from less than 500 feet and there is some physical effects (car stalls, lights go out. heat, etc.) A Third Kind, is seeing the aliens themselves. Others have added 4th and 5th Kinds to Hynek’s list. Others have divided Hynek’s kinds into subtypes. One might argue that the movie CE is actually about the 4th Kind (going inside the craft) and the 5th Kind (communication between aliens and humans), but at the time of the film, the Third Kind was a high as it got.

Personal Journey — One of the strengths of CE is that it has depth beyond the surface story of aliens and UFOs. Overtly, CE is about an official contact between earthlings and aliens. Beneath that, it is the story of one man’s “awakening”. Roy Neary starts out as a blue collar ‘everyman’. He has normal, but not very satisfying, suburban lifestyle. Even though he wasn’t seeking change, he gets “inspired” (by the aliens). His new sense of mission, a purpose for his life, begins to crowd out the old life. He loses his job. His wife leaves him. He abandons his suburban home to follow his dream. When the power of authority tries to squash his dream, he fights back. When physical hurdles get in his way, he climbs them. He even turns down the opportunity for love with a fellow dreamer (Jillian). Like a Homerian hero, he overcomes monsters and sirens to reach his fulfillment. Roy’s dream stands in for less sci-fi goals: art, social causes, a business, etc.

Big Visuals — The special effects in CE may not look as slick as modern CGI, but they hold up well enough. Younger viewers who have grown up on abundant CGI and have only see CE on the small screen, tend to kvetch about the poor special effects. Older viewers, who saw CE in its original theatrical release, still recall the awe and wonder Spielberg created. The big mother ship’s arrival at Devil’s Tower impressed people on a par with George Lucas has his “big fly by” visual in Star Wars. Douglas Trumbull was involved in the special effects for Kubrick’s 2001 a decade earlier. His “New Era” style can be seen in The Andromeda Strain (’71) and Silent Running (’72). He would go on work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture (’79) and Blade Runner (’82).

Bad Girl? — Some critics dislike the Ronnie Neary character (or Garr’s portrayal of her). Ronnie is the counterfoil for Roy, so she’s going to be different. She is supposed to be so entangled in the stereotypic middle class life that she cannot see anything else. Where Roy is chasing his dream, he is also ruining hers. She is not the model mother (the kids are unruly brats). She wants Roy to be her middle class spouse more than she really wants him. Stability and her public image are more important — not in a snooty sort of way, but in more of a desperate way. Spielberg’s parents divorced when he was young. He ended up going with his father, while his siblings stayed with his mother. The Ronnie and Roy subplot can be seen as a personal story by Spielberg. The mother is the inflexible, unforgiving one. The father is the sympathetic figure, as the misunderstood visionary.

Variations — For a later re-release for home video in 1980, Spielberg added some footage at the end, at the behest of the studio marketing wing. This new footage showed the interior of the mother ship. The original cut did not have this. Spielberg regretted the addition, so when the film was re-re-released video in 1990, the mother ship interior scenes were taken out, making the third cut closer to the original.

Bottom line? CE is a must-see as a cultural benchmark, even by those not fond of sci-fi. This is one of the early examples of the Good Aliens paradigm that would carry through to present. Spielberg’s directing keeps things visually rich, though some criticize him not using more directorial devices like traveling shots or boom or dolly work. His spare use of camera tricks helps keep eyes on the story. The story lags somewhat in the middle with the Roy-Goes-Nuts element being a bit drawn out. The ending scene is probably too long for those of short attention span, but it has several layers to process through. CE is well worth seeking out.

Starship Invasions

Hal Roach Studios created an ambitious flying saucer film that was, unfortunately, released between Star Wars and Close Encounters. As such, Starship Invasions (SI) was eclipsed into obscurity. By the standards set by those two seminal films, SI was anachronistic when brand new. SI starred some well-known actors among the cast. Robert Vaughn plays the hero scientist, Allan Duncan. Christopher Lee plays the evil alien, Captain Rameses. This film went by a few titles, such as Alien Encounter (which is bland) and War of the Aliens (which is accurate enough). The UK release of this film was re-titled Project Genicide.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A old farmer is stopped in his field by a flying saucer. He is abducted inside and subjected to high-tech tests by aliens in black hooded monotards. Next, he is come onto by a naked alien woman hottie and sex is presumed. No one believes the farmer’s story, so he contacts Professor Allan Duncan, an astronomer who does talk shows, discussing UFOs. Allan believes Rudi’s story. A family is also abducted and subjected to tests. The mom knows they plan to kill them. Sure enough, the next morning the motel maid finds them all slashed. Captain Rameses has his crew seek shelter from earth discovery, by hiding in a secret undersea base staffed by the League of Races — a sort of galactic UN. Rameses is from the planet Alpha, whose sun will nova soon. The Alphans need a new home and Rameses thinks Earth will do nicely. He must eliminate the League presence (so they can’t stop him) and then eliminate all humans. Phase One involves sabotaging a League saucer so it is visible and has no force field. It gets shot down by vaguely military men. While many League folk are out investigating, Rameses and his crew kill off the remaining League personnel in the secret pyramid base. His men also pitch all the “android” robots down a stairwell. Meanwhile, a pair of Rameses saucers are pursing the recon saucer that got away. The recon saucer vaporizes one of them, but this damages their computer. They can’t fix it, so figure some smart earthlings can help. They contact Allan. He suggests they also abduct his friend Malcolm who is a computer expert. They steal some 1970s earth computer parts to fix the alien computer. This works for awhile, but while trying to evade the second of Rameses’ saucers, they fry the patch job. The next plan is to use brain links between Allan (the astronomy expert) and Malcolm, the math wiz) to form an organic computer. With this set-up and Malcolm’s fast fingers on a Texas Instruments calculator, the recon saucer avoids hitting any planets and eludes their pursuers. Nevermind, says Rameses, return to Earth. He launches his evil Alphan saucers against a fleet of League saucers. Meanwhile, Rameses has set up a suicide ray in earth orbit. People either kill each other, and/or kill themselves. This was Phase Two in action. Allan’s wife Betty succumbs to the ray and slashes her wrists. The space battle is going poorly for Leauge, because Rameses is using the pyramid base’s computer to give his ships a tactical edge. One of the robots ‘wakes up’, receives instructions to stop the use of the base computer. It staggers slowly up all those stairs and chokes the lone Alphan. With a few button pushes, the robot programs all the Alphan ships to crash into each other. Rameses has lost. He finds out that Alpha’s sun went nova. While he’s all sad and mournful, he doesn’t notice that his ship is headed directly towards earth’s moon. Crash! The League ship lands in Allan’s backyard. The aliens revive Betty and reunite Malcolm with his wife too. Everyone is happy and smiling as the League ship sails off into the starry night. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
When viewed from nearly 30 years after its release, SI has an unintentionally campy quality. This is only heightened when everyone in the production is taking it all so seriously. Robert Vaughn is his usual Man From U.N.C.L.E self. Christopher Lee is his usual evil character self.

Cultural Connection
Grand Unified Conspiracy Theories — In 50s sci-fi, it was often the government (agents or the military) that rescued Earth from alien doom. This reverent trust in government was eroding during the 60s, what with Vietnam and counterculture and all. The Watergate Scandal seemed to have removed the last shred of the old Government Protects Us mantle. With that last control-rod removed, the reactor of paranoid imagination was free to run wild. Fascination with UFO reports and abductions resurfaced with new vigor. The Roswell incident, dormant for 30 years, would be fanned back into popularity. The logic of the day was: The government said UFOs don’t exist, AND the government cannot be trusted, therefore, that PROVES that UFOs DO exist in all the ways people imagined. The logic was flawed, but it was popular. Various abduction stories, sightings, the Roswell incident and von Daniken’s “ancient astronauts” theorizing were coalescing into a more-or-less unified UFO/aliens narrative in the culture. Even those who did not believe that narrative, still knew it. SI interweaves many of the popular narrative tropes: abductions, tests, hidden bases, even alien sex, into one "epic" tale.

Notes
Old Fashioned Aliens — An amusing feature of SI is how the aliens are essentially humans (this, somehow, explained away as that the aliens were descended from humans). They dress in solid colored monotards. The evil Alphans wear solid black, with a big logo of a winged snake emblazoned on their chest. The good League aliens wear solid white or light blue. This was how aliens were depicted in the good old days of the early 50s. The Catwomen of the Moon (’51) wore all black monotards. The aliens in Radar Men from the Moon and Killers From Space (’53) wore hooded monotards. After Star Wars gave audiences a wide variety of really weird aliens, plain humans in hooded monotards just looked super cheap.

Egypto-Nauts — Part of the fertile lore of UFO conspiracy theories in the mid-70s, was that aliens had visited Earth for thousands of years. Erich von Daniken’s 1968 book, “Chariots of the God,” popularized the notion, though he did not invent it. The set designers in SI created a pyramid base, and festooned costumes and props with pyramid shapes. The evil alien is named Rameses too! When Allan asks the big-head girl alien (named Phi, btw) about their culture, Phi says he won’t understand. “When you can explain the pyramids, perhaps then you will understand.” She said they built the pyramids thousands of years ago. We knew it! The late 70s TV series “Battlestar Galactica” would blend the new Star Wars look with the old egyptonauts trope. “Stargate SG1” would be a 21st century refresh of this old trope.

Alien Sex — Rameses’ only female crew member, Sagnac, who looks totally human, (no big head like Phi) had sex with the happily willing abducted farmer. This was, it would seem, how Rameses’ scientists got their sample of earthling sperm. (They had no other way?) Later, inside the League pyramid base, Rameses comes upon a room full of space hookers with very 70s big hair. They come on to him with ‘hey baby’ eyes and looks (since they communicate telepathically). One of them, Gazeth, stands before Rameses and poses a bit. Then they leave together to an Earth monitoring room. Was that alien sex? That was fast. Since they communicate telepathically, do they do things telepathically too? That burning question remains unanswered, but preserves the PG rating.

Before It “Happened” — The induced mass suicide trope in SI seriously predates M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening by a good 25 years. SI had it as an evil alien plot. M.Night spun his version as eco-revenge by the Earth’s plants.

Bottom line? SI is an ambitious effort that had a fair budget. It would have been better received when first released, given its zeitgeist. Audiences in ’77 were still abuzz over flying saucers and all the lore that had glommed onto that snowball. It might have been one of the two big sci-fi films of 1977, had not Star Wars and Close Encounters been released then too. However, they were and they made SI instantly look outdated and cheap. For fans of the old-school style of sci-fi (flying saucers and human-aliens in hooded monotards), SI can be nostalgic fun. For people expecting anything approaching Star Wars or Close Encounters, SI will feel tragically campy and liable to be seen as a “worst movie ever.” SI isn’t all that bad. It’s just very old-school for the late 70s.

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.

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.

Planet of the Invading Women

Estudios Americas, produced a sort of sequel to Planetary Giants, in 1966. La Planeta de las Mujeres Invasoras, (Planet of the Invading Women) (PIW), is more of a "continuing adventures" than a true sequel. It opened in Mexico in 1966, in the United States in 1967. PIW stars the same four stars from the prior film, playing the same characters: Professor Daniel Wolff, rocket scientist, Sylvia, his pretty secretary, Marcos the boxer and Taquito, his trainer. Shot in black and white, and with the opening footage of a blinking flying saucer, PIW has a very 50s look to it. The plot, too, is very 50s, owing much to Catwomen of the Moon, and others in the "Planet of Beautiful Women" sub-genre.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A flying saucer lands near an amusement park at night. Two pretty female invaders incapacitate two men who operate a saucer-shaped 'moon' ride. Cut to a parallel story of Marcos the boxer. Professor Wolff and Sylvia urge him to win (not throw the fight like last time). Marcos wants a date with pretty Sylvia. She agrees, provided he wins. A shadowy gangster, Toño, reminds him he agreed to lose. In the ring, Marcos wins Sylvia agrees to a date. Later, Toño's thugs ambush Marcos, but they're poor shots. Macros takes Sylvia to the carnival and board the very saucer ride the aliens had commandeered. Toño and his thugs follow them in. They're all kidnapped when the saucer flies off. On the planet Sibila, a planet of only young women, Queen Adestrea smiles but tells them they're prisoners. Obey all commands. In a scuffle, on thug is killed. He's taken to a lab where the Sibilians remove lung tissue. They can only breathe earth's air for a few hours. The earth tissue will create breathing a apparatus. The other thug escapes, but is blinded by the intense Sibilian sun. He is taken for lung surgery too. The queen's twin sister, Alburnia, is good, so helps the earthlings. She sends back her servant, Fitia, to earth to give professor Wolff a "send help" message. Adestrea sends two of her women to stop Fitia. They have the new lung filters. Fitia does not, so she dies before delivering her message. However, Wolff figures out enough that he and Taquito take Dr. Walters' rocket and fly to Sibila. Once there, they pretend to be rogues interested in selling humans to Adestrea. The two women report that the new lung filters wear out fast. Adult lung tissue is worn. Adestrea orders them to kidnap 20 school children. She has a mirror weapon that can kill only adults. They do this, and the saucer has its load of kids. Adestrea is captured by the good guys. Alburnia trades clothes with her. Wolff and the others gain control of the mirror. They kill the alien guards, freeing the children. They then use the mirror on Adestrea's guards too. As they all head for the rocket to leave, Adestrea stops them. Toño shoots Alburnia, but since they're special twins, both Adestrea and Alburnia die at the same time. The earthlings take Alburnia's body to earth for a proper burial. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The Planet of Beautiful Women trope is amusing in itself. PIW is a worthy member of the group. The format, sets, props and photography are all very reminiscent of 40s and early-50s serials, so there is some nostalgia value.

Cold War Angle
Such themes are secondary at best. You do have a 'heartless' despot with agents operating in "our" land. She might intend to invade. (unclear) The bulk of the film is more adventure than angst.

Notes
Women! -- PIW is a solid example of the time-honored 50s sub-genre featuring planets inhabited by only 20-something pretty women. Others include Catwomen of the Moon, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Missile to the Moon, and Queen of Outer Space. PIW offers no reason why there are only pretty young women on the planet. It's just a fact.

Good Girl, Bad Girl -- PIW also employs the dualism featured in several of the other Planet of Women stories. There's a bad girl who doesn't like men and a good girl who does. PIW does the dualism one better by having them be identical twins! Queen Adestrea is the heartless, scheming and vain bad side of womanhood. Her twin sister Alburnia is kind and compassionate. An interesting twist is the lightly metaphysical notion that evil cannot exist without good, and wherever there is good, there will be evil, is that if one of the twins dies, the other will immediately die too.

Night and Day -- In the spirit of dualism, viewers may note that the alien planet in the first movie, Planetary Giants, was referred to as the "planet of eternal night." Sibila, the planet of beautiful women, was referred to as the "planet of eternal day." This makes the two movies a sort of film diptych.

Prop Watch -- As sister films, Planetary Giants and PIW share props and scenery. The conehead helmet of El Protector is duplicated as headgear for all of Adestrea's minions. The saucer is the same -- and even makes the same beeping sound. Of course Walters' rocket is the same, as it's a carryover too. Note the alien planet landscapes of the two movies. It's the same rocky barrens -- perhaps the Mexican equivalent of Bronson Canyon.

Pre-Jaffa -- Fans of the Stargate SG1 television series will note with some smile the spear weapons of Queen Adestrea's guards. They don't throw them, but use like Klingon pain sticks to subdue (or kill) their victims. Ruthless Queen Adestrea, flanked by her spear-toting guards looks like a retro-prototype of a Stargate Goa'uld "system lord" and her Jaffa.

Bottom line? PIW has all the faults and foibles of a low-budget production, capitalizing on the appeal of leggy young women. The special effects are vintage 40s, but therein lies some of its charm. Watch PIW, not as the best the mid 60s could do, but as a lost episode of the Planet-Of-Beautiful-Women series.

Planetary Giants

This Mexican production is said to have played in the US in 1967. An english-dubbed version of Gigantes planetarios doesn't seem to exist, so perhaps it played in primarily spanish-speaking markets. Planetary Giants (PG) is the first of two sibling films by Director Alfredo B. Crevenna. Apparently patterned after tastes in populist Mexican television, the film's fabric is a mix of serious sci-fi, comedy (Marcos and Taquito) and "pro" fighting. (q.v. Santo and Neutron serials). The mix is definitely not in the Hollywood formula.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Flying saucers are landing at various spots around the world. People are killed with a beam weapon. Evidence suggests that the aliens are completely human in appearance, so undetectable. They are sabotaging key earth installations. Professor Daniel Wolff seeks the advice of Dr. Walters (dismissed by the scientific community as a crack pot).Walters tells of receiving transmissions from a "planet of eternal night," about a dictator there named El Protector. Walters suspects El Protector plans to invade Earth. First comes sabotage, then bribing vulnerable earth scientists to help. Finally, the invasion. Walters has one rocket for space travel. He says Daniel should use the plans to build a defense fleet. Daniel's pretty secretary Sylvia is pestered by a brash boxer named Marcos. Walters is killed by a ray gun blast. Sylvia suggests Daniel pretend a playboy gambler's lifestyle and complain of debts to attract an alien bribe, to gain access to the aliens. He does this, attracting the busty blonde Mara and her bald sidekick. Baldy wants Walters' rocket plans. He and Daniel fight. Baldy falls into a tub of water, fizzes and dies. Daneil must take Walters' rocket to the alien planet to defeat them. Marcos, the champion, boxes a contender. He bet against himself, then throws the fight in the first round. While fleeing a mob of bet losers, Marcos and his trainer, Taquito hide in the hotel room of the other two astronauts. They put on the space suits as disguises, but are put into hibernation and aboard the rocket. Sylvia joins Daniel too. The four zoom to the planet of eternal night. Once there, El Protector demands the rocket plans. He intends to invade and be the Emperor of Earth. Daniel refuses. They become embroiled in a palace coup that goes awry. Marcos escapes. With the help of the coup leader's daughter, Alice, manage to upset El Protector's plans. He takes Sylvia hostage, intending to flee to earth in Daniel's rocket, but is stopped. The planet is free to live peacefully. The four earth people zoom away. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Even though filmed in 1965 (or '63?), PG is a thoroughly 50s B-grade sci-fi. At times, it's even a 40s style sci-fi. Saucers, ray guns, pointy rockets, pretty alien women, PG is a nostalgic pleasure cruise.

Cold War Angle
It is uncertain how much the Mexicans worried about commie spies, so the themes of fifth columnist saboteurs and oppressive dictators may have had a more conventional intent. Yet, those elements were common to American sci-fi's Cold War themes too.

Notes
Unexpectedly Timely -- Watching PG in the early months of 2011, made some unexpected parallels to current international events in Egypt and Libya. El Protector was a dictator who ruled with an iron hand and had no qualms about turning his weaponry on his own people if it suited him. His people were happy to see him overthrown. Life imitating art.

Plot Medley -- Fans of 50s sci-fi will note some familiar plot tropes. The first half of PG, set on earth with alien agents (who look like us) engaged in sabotage, was a frequent theme. Not of this Earth ('57), War of the Satellites ('58), Planets Against Us ('62) and The Human Duplicators ('65), to name a few. The second half is a close parallel to Flight to Mars ('51) More on that below. The format of PG is akin to a variety show. There are moments of serious sci-fi, with shadowy alien agents, death by ray gun, etc. Then there are moments of extended comedy (such as Taquito's budding romance with Alice's plumpish maid named Frijo (bean). This is not just the Hollywood notion of comic relief. It is like sections of an Abbott and Costello movie were intercut into Crash of the Moons. Then too, there are many minutes of boxing, almost for its own type of entertainment value. The result is an odd mix by Hollywood's yardstick, but perhaps the way Mexican audiences liked their entertainment.

Serial Redux -- Much about PG's second half resembles the old Buck Rogers, or Flash Gordon serials of the 40s. Likewise, a resembles to the early 50s' Video Ranger episodes. All have: cigar-shaped rockets that take-off and land on a dime, and fly slow, alien worlds just a few days journey by rocket, alien civilizations somehow stuck in an era of earth's past, and aliens who are all plain ol' people. Oh, and ray guns.

Viva Aelita! -- The plot of the second half of PG is a close parallel to Flight To Mars. FTM was itself an adaptation of the 1924 Russian film, Aelita, Queen of Mars. Both PG and FTM have a planetary despot intent on invading earth if/when he can get the secret of the earthlings' rocket. In both, the alien planet is (or is supposedly) doomed. Both have a ranking cabinet minster who is the clandestine opposition leader. Both ministers have beautiful daughters who aid the humans. The coup succeeds. Aelita lives on in yet another retelling.

Galactic Lingo -- A common scoff for American sci-fi films is that the aliens, wherever and whoever they are, always managed to speak pretty good english. So it was amusing and refreshing to see that the people on the Planet of Eternal Night, spoke pretty good spanish.

Bottom line? PG is far from a slick production with cool sets or models. Nor does it have a thoughtful plot. PG is old fashioned low-budget sci-fi like it used to be done in the 40s and early 50s. Fans of Flash Gordon, et al. can enjoy the homage.

Battle In Outer Space

This was the second space alien (non-kaiju) movie by the Ishiro Honda/ Toho Studios team. Battle In Outer Space (BiOS) is loosely a sequel to their first space drama, The Mysterians ('59). BiOS does not re-use the Mysterians, but introduces a new alien threat -- beings from the planet Natal who want to conquer Earth. This was hardly a new trope when BiOS was filmed in 1959, but Toho jazzed up the old story with lots of action. The film included a battle on the moon, a dogfight in space and another battle on the earth. Some traditional themes were integrated too. Columbia Pictures released an english dubbed version in the summer of 1960, along with 12 to the Moon to make a double feature.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The year is 1965. Three flying saucers come to earth. They destroy a big-wheel space station, then cause several disasters. Experts decide that they were caused by an anti-gravity beam. At a UN-like meeting, the Iranian delegate slips away and tries to sabotage the earth's heat ray experiments. He is caught before completing his mission. He briefly takes Etsuko hostage and monologues about Natal making a colony of Earth. The Natalians vaporize him, but forensics find a tiny radio transmitter. The transmissions locate the suspect aliens on the moon. Earth sends two rockets for reconnaissance. En route, Iwomura, a member of team 1, is also radio controlled by the aliens. He is caught trying to disable the rocket's weapons and is tied up. Once the rockets land on the moon, the two teams look for the alien base in tracked rovers. On foot, through a long cave, they find the base in a deep crater. Etsuko is temporarily captured by the midget Natalians. A beam weapon battle erupts as the teams attack the base. Meanwhile Iwomura has untied himself and blown up Rocket 1. He is caught trying to do the same to Rocket 2 when the teams return. The saucers attack. Iwomura, free of alien mind control, stays behind to give covering fire. He dies, but Rocket 2 escapes. Eventually, the saucers and mother ship approach the earth. Squadrons of space fighters (X-15s) are sent up. The mother ship sends 'torpedoes' that hit New York and San Francisco. The mother ship tears up Tokyo with its anti-gravity beam. The X-15s and saucers have a massive dogfight. The remaining saucers and mother ship advance on the Tokyo space base. Large dish beam weapons finally destroy the mother ship. It is a bittersweet victory, but the earth is safe, for now. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Unlike many invasion movies where the alien threat is off camera, BiOS has lots of combat action. The aliens give it a good try and we earthlings do a lot of shooting back. The miniature work is not quite as extensive, but still fun to watch.

Cold War Angle
Most of Honda's movies have a blatant anti-war tone. BiOS is a little different. Honda reuses the notion of the earth united against a common foe, as he had in The Mysterians. The result is more of an encouragement (see what we can do if united?) than the more common dour warnings. There is also something vaguely McCarthyesque about a ruthless enemy "turning" loyal citizens into spies and saboteurs.

Notes
Etsuko Grows Up -- Pretty young Etsuko Shirashi and Professor Adachi are characters reused from The Mysterians. Adachi is pretty much his old sagely self, full of knowledge, stoicism and wisdom. Etsuko has grown up from her old fashioned girl role. In BiOS, she is a researcher at the Tokyo Space Center and even qualifies to go on the moon mission. Once there, however, she is still given the traditional "woman's work" of getting captured and needing to be rescued.

Redeeming Sacrifice -- The heroic self-sacrificing character is fairly common in Japanese sci-fi. Here, too, the man has past sins for which he must nobly atone at the cost of his life. Dr. Serizawa, guilty of inventing the deadly Oxygen Destroyer, gives his life to destroy Godzilla. In The Mysterians, Etsuko's brother aids the aliens out of naive optimism. Realizing his error at the end, he sacrifices himself, allows the women to escape and blows up the alien base. The crewman Iwomura is in the same mould. His only way to regain honor is to single-handedly hold off the saucers with his beam rifle. The saucers eventually get him, but his sacrifice allows Rocket 2 to escape. Error atoned for.

New Old Menace -- The Mysterians were a homeless race, looking to make Earth their new home. Rather than bring them back for another try, a new foe emerges. Beings from the planet Natal want to make Earth one of their colonies. By 1959, this is hardly a new trope. A minor twist, is that the Natalians are, themselves, not much of a personal threat. They're just little men in orange space suits without any personal-sized weapons. It's their large-scale technology that's deadly.

They Might Be After Our Women -- A curious scene comes when Etsuko is walking back (alone) to the moon rover to fetch the heat ray gun. A swarm of little Natalians crowd around her and restrain her. Perhaps they were trying to capture her. Poor Etsuko has some magic allure to aliens. The Mysterians wanted her too.

Star Fighter -- Predating the space dogfight scene in Star Wars by 18 years, the squadrons of earth's 'star fighters' are none other than America's X-15. When BiOS was in production in 1959, the first X-15 had just made its maiden flight. As a space-capable rocket plane, it was the hottest thing in space-aviation. Little wonder Toho presumed that Earth would have a few squadrons of them (with ray weapons in their noses) by 1965.

Bottom line? BiOS is yet another aliens-attack-earth story, but with more action. Fans of model cities being destroyed get a triple helping. While not especially thought provoking, BiOS is still an entertaining movie.

Warning From Space

Produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company in 1956, the original title was (roughly) "Spacemen Appear in Tokyo". The later english dubbed version was retitled Warning From Space (WFS). Not all Japanese sci-fi movies were kaiju. There are some aliens and some destruction of model buildings, but there is no "giant" rubber-suit monster. Instead, WFS is a medley of prior sci-fi movie themes. WFS is historically significant as the first Japanese sci-fi movie shot in color -- just months before Toho's Radon was released. Unlike Rodan, however, the english dubbed version was not a re-edit, but the original Japanese director's cut. This makes it both peculiar (or frustrating) and yet intriguing.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Scientists observe a new satellite over the earth. It spews "meteorites" which are reported all around the globe as flying saucers. Shortly afterward, people report seeing monsters. Dr. Kamura's daughter Taeko sees one starfish shaped being outside her door. The starfish beings leave radioactive traces that glow blue. The starfish men are from the planet Paira, which is in an opposite orbit with the earth -- so we've never known of Paira. They, however, have been watching us detachedly. Now they break their detachment to warn earthlings of a rouge planet on a collision course with the earth. To circumvent that running and screaming at the sight of one-eyed starfish creatures, the Pairans transmorph one of themselves (and later others) into a human form -- that of a popular nightclub dancer. The new stargirl is found "with amnesia" and taken into the scientist's home. She scolds Dr. Matsuda for his formula for "Nurium 101": an explosive substance far more powerful than mere H-bombs. Japan asks the World Congress to authorize blasting Planet R with earth's existing nukes to knock it off course, but the politicians refuse. Dr. Matsuda is kidnapped by underworld thugs to get his formula. Meanwhile, the earth is becoming scorched as Planet R nears. The politicians reconsider, but all the nukes do nothing. Earth suffers more. The Pairans rescue Dr. Matsuda and use his formula to make a super bomb. This they launch at Planet R and successfully destroy it. Earth is saved. Bunnies come out of their holes and children run squealing into the grassy hills. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It's interesting to see classic stories recast through different cultural eyes. The cycloptic star-alien costumes are unforgettable. As an original (Japanese) edit, there are apparent plot non-sequetors and odd tangents to keep you wondering.

Cold War Angle
The customary not-mature-enough-for-nukes moral is present, but seriously undermined by the rest of the story. Mankind might be aggressive and impetuous, but if confronted by a danger that regular weapons can't stop, resorting to a super-weapon is sometimes necessary. This is the Cold War Dogma in a nutshell.

Notes
Two Remakes In One -- The two most obvious sci-fi remakes in WFS are The Day the Earth Stood Still and When Worlds Collide. The first half of the movie is TDESS. An alien comes to earth to deliver a message that the earth is in danger and mankind not mature enough for super weapons. "The earthlings must be stopped, and terminate their blundering," says the Pairan leader. The second half remakes WWC in having a rogue planet about to crash into the earth. The two are stitched together in that the Pairans contact earth to warn Earth about our nuclear blundering. This shifts to a common danger: the coming of Planet R. Stargirl (Ginko) is surprised to see Matsuda's formula for Nurium 101. The Pairan's wanted earth to use their "blundering" but then suggest we use our nukes to divert Planet R. It is when we bungled the job (due to bureaucrats dawdling) that the Nurium super bomb becomes necessary.

Remake Medley -- Two other classics lend their flavor as well. The opening scenes are very reminiscent of Paramount's War of the Worlds with meteors falling around the globe, radio static, etc. The theme shifts after this opening to scenes reminiscent of Creature From The Black Lagoon with the star-shaped Pairan's looming up out of dark murky waters to (unintentionally) frighten people. This theme is pretty quickly dropped too in favor of the TDESS theme.

Folklore Foundation? -- It is said that WFS was based on a novel which was itself based on an old Japanese folk tale entitled "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter." The association is loose, at best. The both have an alien come to earth in the form of a beautiful young woman, her growing up with an earth family, and ultimately returning to her heavenly home. Beyond that, the two diverge. This folk tale heritage does help explain the apparent non-sequetor of Star-Hikari (Ginko) being "found" and having no identity (like a baby) and why she stays with Dr. Matsuda's family. The pattern would be more familiar to Japanese audiences than American.

Quirks Explained? -- Some "plot holes" may be more a matter of a viewer expecting blatant explanations and tidy summaries. Japanese directors seem to have liked subtlety.
1. Why would the Pairans, who profess to have been monitoring earth for thousands of years, think that looming up out of the water, or lurking outside of dark doors, was the way to make contact with humans? Perhaps they knew we were easily spooked, so thought a quiet one-on-one with common folk was the way in. "Pssst, Hey, earthling..."
2. How could Ginko be so instantly familiar with the Nurium formula, yet the Pairan's still need Matsuda in order to make some? The Pairans never finished developing it, knowing how über-powerful it was, they stopped. Matsuda's formulae was the rest of the puzzle they avoided. Not everything was in that notebook. Much was still in Matsuda's head.
3. And, how did poor Dr. Matsuda survive being tied up in that chair for a month? Perhaps the underworld thugs have been continuing to hold him there. Feeding, bathroom breaks, etc., in hopes of getting the formula. We just don't see them doing so. They fled when the earthquakes began.

Dies Bling -- The handy communicator ring appears to be a bit of Dies Ex Machina jewelry. Planet R is fast approaching and no one knows where Matsuda is -- not even the Pairans. What to do? Home in on his honkin' huge communicator tracking ring, of course. Duh. Trouble was, no one ever mentioned this ring before. It was the classic dies ex machina device, dropped in to solve an unsolvable problem. American audiences like foreshadowing better than god-via-machine devices.

Dang Politicians -- Where the obvious heros of WFS are the scientists -- honest men, good fathers, altruists. The clear villains are the unseen world politicians. While doom approaches, they posture and dawdle. When it is too late, they decide to act. The gangsters are bad, yes, but not too bad. All they did to Matsuda was give him an extended 'time out' to make him talk.

Bottom line? WFS is entertaining on several levels. It is still B-grade sci-fi and not high art, but fun nevertheless. It is an homage to several prior 50s sci-fi classics.

Plan 9 From Outer Space

The dubious honor of "Worst Film Ever Made" for Plan 9 From Outer Space (Plan 9) originated with the Medved's "Golden Turkey Awards." This distinction doesn't quite fit anymore, however, as so many people have become fans of the film. In the context of its day (the 50s) Plan 9 was an obscure failure of a film when released in 1959. 1960s and 70s television rescued it. Countless late night runnings in local TV "Creature Feature" productions brought Plan 9's fascinating cheapness to new audiences. With such a wide cult following, much has been written about Plan 9, bringing attention to its quirky writer, producer, director, Ed Wood Jr. Plan 9 has a subtle earnestness to it, which the bad acting, cheap sets, and bad special effects cannot squelch. While it would be easy to see Plan 9 as a totally camp parody of 50s sci-fi, Ed was serious.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The show opens with Criswell making a menacing introduction. The movie itself opens with an old man among mourners at his wife's grave. He later dies too and is buried. Flying saucers arrive, seen by an airline pilot, Jeff. The dead wife (Vampira) rises and kills some grave diggers. The police investigate, but zombie wife and zombie old man kill the girthsome detective (Tor Johnson). Tor is buried, and also rises as a huge bald zombie. The Pentagon sends a Colonel to investigate it all. Aboard the saucers' mother ship, the lead saucer commander tells the alien Ruler how Earth's authorities refuse to listen to their warning about weapons proliferation. The alien "Eros" plans to use Plan 9 to get the earthlings' attention. He plans to raise the earth's recently deceased to cause chaos. Then the earthlings can no longer deny the existence of the aliens. Eros tries his plan for awhile, but three zombies don't cause that much chaos. Due to lack of results, the Ruler takes away 2 of Eros' three saucers. The Ruler's plan is to send the old man zombie (Bela)among people, then use the decomposition ray on the body. That should impress the humans into listening. Eros goes down to earth to follow orders. The old man zombie performs as planned, but it only causes the people to go into the cemetery to investigate. They find the ship. Eros lets them in so he can talk smug and monologue about how earth must be destroyed because earth scientists could (pretty soon now) discover Solarbanite which explodes light particles. This would destroy the whole universe, since light is everywhere. A fight breaks out aboard the saucer between Jeff and Eros. This sparks a fire. The Colonel, the Inspector and Jeff all get out just before Tanna makes the saucer take off. The three men watch the burning saucer fly over Hollywood, then explode. Criswell comes back on with an equally menacing epilogue. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
For fans of 50s B movies, especially sci-fi, there is so much to love. Aside from reveling in the really poor quality of almost everything, there is the mystery of just what Ed thought he was doing. Plan 9 is a "perfect storm" of cheapness that attains a sort to pathos all its own.

Cold War Angle
Plan 9 re-uses the familiar plot of advanced aliens warning (and/or threatening) earthlings for their recently developed destructive power. Eros says that earth scientists are on the verge of discovering "Solarbanite." This is a thinly veiled analogy for nuclear weapons. Jeff says,"So what if we develop this Solarbanite bomb, then we'd be an even stronger nation." To this, the alien Eros exasperatedly responds, "...stupid stupid stupid." Thus, Ed Wood delivers his commentary about Cold War logic.

Notes
Bela Beyond The Grave -- Ed Wood Jr. befriended the aging star Bela Lugosi -- famous for his Dracula roles in the 1930s. Over 70 years old, and frail as he was, Bela still had some drawing power on the marquee. Wood gave Bela the starring role as his mad scientist in Bride of the Monster ('55) -- Bela's last speaking role. In 1956, Woods shot a few minutes of Bela in his classic vampire tux. These weren't scripted scene segments, just some impromptu clips. Woods had a vague movie idea for a western-vampire hybrid, "The Ghoul Goes West." But, Bela died in August 1956 before any real work had been done. Wood later worked his Bela clips into his script for Plan 9. Thus, Plan 9 was Bela's last movie, released three years after he died.

Secret Martians -- The aliens in Plan 9 never really say where they're from. The script and early production work, however, referred to them as martians. Mars was the popularly presumed home of flying saucers. The only trace of this remaining in the script, comes when Eros refers to the possibility of earthlings blowing up the sun, which he calls "our sun." We must be neighbors then.

Interplanetary Faith -- Adding to the eclectic mix in Plan 9, Woods added a dash of God. In the saucer, Eros chides earthlings for "not using the minds that God gave you". Jeff questions this. "What do you know of God?" Eros adds this to his list of things to deride earthlings for. "You think you are the only ones to think about God?" Given their behavior, especially Eros's, the martians weren't any better at following God than 20th century earthlings had been.

Soap Boxing -- Ed, as writer, seemed to have several things he wanted to say about life or society. Without much delicacy, his characters occasionally launch into little monologues of Woodian messages. Women are headstrong, but weak. The military brass are hypocrites and liars. Flying Saucers and aliens do exist. Nuclear weapons are a bad thing. Policemen are incompetent boobs, etc. None of these messages have much to do with each other. They're just some things Ed wanted to say. Plan 9 was his soap box.

Lost Halo Luster -- In most 50s B movies, the US military is portrayed as the heroic guardian of the land. Recall Them! and Deadly Mantis to name but two. Notice how Wood was counter-culture. In Plan 9, the military weapons are ineffectual. The top brass are liars -- they know UFOs and aliens were real, but maintain a fiction. Even Wood's "benign" aliens are decidedly not Christ-like Klaatus. In some ways they were as dysfunctional as we earthlings. Eros backhands Tanna for being too outspoken, then goes on to chastise the earth men for being belligerent. No Klaatu here.

Constellation of Lesser Stars -- In addition to Wood's fallen star, Bela, Wood had his other regular character actor, Tor Johnson. Tor is once again cast as the big bald brute. Instead of reprising "Lobo" from the prior two movies, he is the zombie of Inspector Clay. Vampira, (Maila Nurmi), played the zombie of the "old man's" wife. Vampira was a local Los Angeles TV celebrity in the mid 50s. Criswell, who provided a lurid intro and epilogue to the movie, was also Los Angeles phenomenon. Minor note: In Criswell's intro, he uses the movie's original title "Grave Robbers from Outer Space." The rest of the cast were almost-nobody actors or just plain folks, like Wood's landlord, his chiropractor, one of the actor's houseguest, etc.

Bottom line? So much has already been written about Plan 9, but it really has to be seen. It is a classic "acme" of low-budget 50s sci-fi movies. It's almost too easy to watch Plan 9 with the condescending ridicule of MST3K. But, one can enjoy the cheapness without arrogance. Instead, watch it with the context of 50s B sci-fi in mind. Ed Wood wasn't making a parody. He was serious. Everyone in it was serious. They were in Hollywood and making a movie!

The Mysterians

Toho Studios produced another big budget sci-fi in 1957, entitled "Chikyu Boeigun" (Earth Defense Force). MGM released an english-dubbed version in 1959 retitled as The Mysterians. MGM's promotion pushed the envelope of the usual turgid hype. While the original japanese version took itself completely seriously, an english-dubbed japanese film already has one strike against it as far as the audience taking it seriously. Filmed in lavish TohoScope color, and directed by the famous Ishiro Honda (of Godzilla fame), The Mysterians is an epic invasion film for Japan, on the scale that War of the Worlds ('53) was for Americans. In fact, there are many similarities. The characters aren't as well developed and memorable as in Godzilla, but there is plenty of action and cool gizmos.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A local village festival is interrupted by something falling into the countryside. This sparks a forest fire. Local astronomer, Shiraishi, is lost and presumed dead. Later, another scientist, Atsumi, delivers a copy of Shiraishi's unfinished report to Dr. Adachi at the observatory. It tells his theory that the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was once a planet, which he named Mysteriod, that may have been inhabited. A village near Mount Fuji is swallowed up by a sudden sink hole. Investigators find radioactivity. A huge war machine robot emerges, but is neutralized when it falls into a ravine. Saucers are seen coming from the moon. Beside a lake near Fuji, a white dome rises from the earth. A voice commands 5 scientists to enter. They do, and are told the back story by Mysterians which look much like proto-Power Rangers. Their home world was the 5th planet, but an unchecked nuclear war destroyed it. Some escaped and lived on Mars. Now they only ask for a 2 mile radius of land, and the right to marry earth women. They ask for 5 women in particular -- which includes Shiraishi's fiancee, and Atsumi's girlfriend. No deal. Japan's army fights back, but lose to the aliens' heat ray. The Mysterians up their demands for now a 75 mile radius, which includes Tokyo. Earth leaders develop some super weapons. The Mysterians kidnap the two women. Atsumi finds a backdoor cave to the Mysterians' underground base. A huge battle ensues as a united Earth employs its super weapons. Shiraishi, ashamed that he had been duped by the aliens, sets free all the captured women. He then sabotages the base so that the Earth Defense Forces win. Some surviving saucers flee to space, but Earth is safe now. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is much to enjoy. It is a classic alien invaders tale. There

Cold War Angle
Though less subtle and artistically delivered than in Godzilla, Honda's usual anti-nukes cautions are present. Nuclear war can destroy a planet, as it did Mysteriod. At the end, Shiraishi makes the moral plain. "The tragedy of the Mysterians is a good example for us. Don't use science in the wrong way!" Don't repeat the tragedy!"

Notes
They ARE After Our Women -- One of the delightful features of The Mysterians is how blatantly the traditional abduction theme is treated. Usually, the aliens' interest in OUR women is implied or suggested. In The Mysterians, there is no innuendo. "We want to marry your women." The ancient inter-tribal conflict is made interplanetary. They need new women, so come onto our turf to take (by force) our sexually prime women. This means WAR!

Old Fashioned Protocol -- An interesting tip of the hat to the "old world" (especially old-world japanese culture) is that the aliens ask permission to marry our women. Granted, this might have been because Shiraishi convinced the Mysterian leader to be so polite as to ask for the women who might have simply stolen and ravaged. Still, it is interesting that they asked. Japanese culture placed great importance on honor. Women who were stolen and ravaged lost all honor. To have been asked for, kept the women honorable and therefore worth a world-scale war to rescue.

WotW: Japan -- There are many similarities between Paramount's 1953 War of the Worlds and Honda's Mysterians. The opening has a small town celebration interrupted. There is a big, hot pit. There is a towering war machine. They have heat rays which melt or destroy just about everything. The aliens seem invincible and aim to rule the Earth. Kayama's story is no mere copy, however. There are a great many differences too. More in keeping with the growing optimism of the later 50s, Earth does unite and uses its genius to defeat the invaders.

Models Mania -- Later japanese pulp-movies would scrimp on their models and give models a bad reputation. In The Mysterians, however, all the model work is great. Careful, and almost loving attention to detail is evident in the little tanks and buildings, etc. Many hours must have gone into the little hill village that is swallowed up by the earth, for instance. This movie is a model maker's delight.

Whither Moguera -- Before the Mysterians announce their "peaceful" intentions, they unleash their giant war machine robot. It's name comes from the japanese for mole. It's presence is a bit of a non sequitur, except that Toho was famous for its Kaiju (giant monsters), so japanese audiences may have expected one. Moguera does the usual Kaijiu duty of destroying a model town, though this seems almost an aside to the plot. The Moguera design is revived in a much later movie.

Heroic Sacrifice -- Also similar to Godzilla is the trope of the noble hero scientist who gives his life to save his homeland. Here, astronomer Shiraishi realizes that he had been played the fool by the Mysterians. They promised him a sort of benign scientific leadership of unstable mankind. He realizes that he's been duped and that the Mysterians simply want to dominate, rule AND take our women. Shiraishi turns on the aliens. He frees the women, then sabotages the base at the cost of his own life. In keeping with the archetype, the scientist who made his mistake, rectifies it via a savior's death -- a very japanese ethos.

Retro Rockets -- The two (or three) curious air ships, Alpha, Beta 1 and Beta 2, have a curiously retro feel to them. They look like rockets, but hover and move slowly, like zeppelins. They make a sort of whirring turbine sound. Their movements (especially traveling in wide arcs) and sound can't help but remind viewers of Flash Gordon's rockets from the early serials.

Bottom line? The Mysterians is well worth watching. It is a great example of the alien invaders theme, but has enough other story threads to add depth. Granted, the acting is a bit flat and the story can drag a bit at times. But for visuals, The Mysterians is eye candy worth the wait.

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (EvFS) is the flagship of 50s sci-fi B movies. It has all the hallmarks of a typical B movie: shot in black and white, much stock footage, low-budget props, etc. That said, EvFS is still the best of its breed. The acting is good (for the most part). Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation of the saucers is great. His saucers have more "life" than any model on a string could attain. The basic premise of hostile aliens invading the earth with flying saucers was a classic. EvFS would be a significant influence in Tim Burton's 1996 movie Mars Attacks.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) heads a nascent satellite program, but all of his satellites blow up or fall from orbit. A saucer buzzes Dr. Marvin and his wife as they drive to the base. Despite a call from Dr. Marvin's father-in-law (Morris Ankrum), they launch the next rocket. A saucer descends on the base. Troops open fire. The saucer is invulnerable, but one of the robot-like aliens is hit. The other alien-bots use heat beams to destroy the base. Only Dr. Marvin and his wife escape because they were in a deep bunker. The aliens came from a defunct solar system, intent on taking over the earth. They want earthlings to surrender peacefully so their new home won't be a ruin from the battle. Mankind is defiant. The aliens give earth 56 days to think it over. The time is used, instead, to develop an anti-saucer weapon. Dr. Marvin and staff develop a magnetic disruptor which makes the saucers unstable. When the fleet of saucers finally arrive over Washington DC, a whole fleet of disrupter-beam equipped Ford flatbed trucks is there to greet them. A mighty battle rages. Saucer heat beams destroy much, but the trucks take their toll too. Saucers wobble and fall into a variety of DC landmarks, including the Washington Monument. Finally, the last saucer falls. Earth is saved! The end.

Why is this movie fun?
It's hard not to enjoy this classic of 50s B sci-fi. It has everything a 50 sci-fi fan loves. The acting is reasonably good, the pacing is pretty good too, so even someone who isn't a fan of the genre could be suitably entertained.

Cold War Angle
EvFS is a classic allegory of Cold War tensions. A hostile force seeks to invade and take over. In the mid-50s, the threat from communism was never far from viewers' minds. The caustic Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev would say, later in 1956 "We will bury you!" would say later. When, in the movie, the earthlings decide to fight the saucers, an Army general says: "When an armed and threatening power lands uninvited in our capitol, we don't meet him with tea and cookies!" Such was American popular sentiment towards the threat of communism.

Notes
Stock Footage Fun -- amid the usual clips of P-80s and V-2s (Checkers!) and other military clips, are stock disaster clips. Storms, fires, destruction. For the sci-fi fan, there are also snippets recycled from earlier sci-fi movies. There are battle scenes cut from War of the Worlds ('53) and The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51).

Cheap Suit -- The aliens walk about in crude robot-like suits with faceless bullet-shaped helmets. The fit and finish of these suits is quite poor when you get a good look at them.

Alien Glimpse -- The brief scene in which the real alien (head) is exposed, reveals the taxonomy that would become archetypal: big head, tapering to a small neck, large almond-shaped eyes, tiny mouth. They're also said to weigh little, being fairly weak and frail. Of the many sorts of invading aliens seen thus far in the 50s, some were simple -- men in leotards Killers from Space, if not just plain people Devil Girl from Mars and Flight to Mars and giant humanoids: The Thing. A very few hostile (or at least frightening) invaders were not humanoid: Invaders from Mars and War of the Worlds. The alien in EvFS appears to be an early showing of what would later become the presumed "true" shape of alien life forms.

Bottom line? EvFS is well worth watching. Fans of 50s sci-fi will enjoy it. Family members of fans of 50s sci-fi can tolerate it. In many ways, it is the epitome of the B grade 50s science fiction movie.

This Island Earth

Like many 50s sci-fi movies, This Island Earth (TIE) has gotten a bad rap. It was lampooned in Mystery Science Theater 3000's movie, but it's really not a bad movie. Mockery isn't proof of fault. One can mock just about anything. TIE tried hard to be a grander epic about aliens and alien worlds. It must be admitted that it didn't quite reach its lofty goal. It's definitely a cut above the usual B movie, but not quite up to an A level. It is, however, a must see for a tour of 50s sci fi.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Cal Meecham sets out from Washington DC in his private military jet. He's on his way back to his California lab to resume work on turning common lead into fissionable uranium. As he comes in to land, his plane's controls go dead. A strange green glow takes over his plane and lands him safely. He decides not report it, as UFO sightings ruin careers. Back in his lab, he receives some miraculous small electrical parts from a mysterious Unit 16. He next receives an instruction manual from Unit 16 for a bizarre machine called an "Interociter." When completed, the Interociter receives a video message from a man with an unusually high forehead and white hair, named Exeter. He invites Meecham to join a group of scientists working on "world peace." The Interociter "kit" was the test to see if Meecham was worthy.
Flown to Exeter's estate by a pilotless plane, Meecham joins a collection of famous scientists, all of whom work in atomic research. The scientists are all cagy with each other, suspecting mind-control tricks by Exeter. Meecham, Carlson and Dr. Ruth Adams all decide to make a break for it. Carlson is killed by the Nutrino Beam. Meecham and Adams try to fly away in a small prop plane, but are pulled inside Exeter's flying saucer by a green beam. Exeter reveals that he's from the planet Metaluna. Meecham and Adams are being taken there to create uranium, which the Metalunars need for their planet's defensive Ion Shield. Another race, the Zahgons, are making war against Metaluna, steering asteroids and meteorites down onto the planet.
Once on Metaluna, it is clearly too late. The Ion Shield is failing and meteorites are raining down on the already ruined surface. Exeter takes pity on Meecham and Adams and helps them escape in his saucer. Before they get away, however, a worker drone (called Mu-tants) attacks and injures Exeter. It also gets aboard the saucer before they leave. While en route to Earth, the Mu-tant attacks Adams, but dies of his wounds. When the saucer gets to Earth, Exeter beams them down in the plane they had. He has no options, as his ship is out of energy. He crashes into the sea as a fireball. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
In TIE we have several tangents and twists to the advanced aliens story threads. These are fun to watch. The Metalunars are not quite evil and not quite good either.
The tale is sweeping in scope, with so many unresolved sub-plots that it gives the viewer plenty of stuff to ponder on, well after the movie is over.

Cold War Angle
The Cold War is quietly in the background in TIE, but it's there. All those scientists were working in atomic research. Exeter offers Meecham a chance to work toward world peace (instead?) Also, the war between the Zahgons and Metaluna, especially the devastation on Metaluna, serve as a warning preview of future war. Others have commented that Exeter's recruiting of top scientists for his uranium project, was reminiscent to America gathering up the "free world's" scientists for weapons research.

Notes
Aliens Among Us -- A subtle element in the first half of TIE is the notion of advanced aliens living secretly among us.

No Smart Zombies -- The Metalunars' "Plan A" (they actually called it that) was to use The Converter to remove the free will of nuclear scientists. The goal was to produce scientist drones who would unquestioningly work to solve Metaluna's problems. In this, there's a subtle commentary on the world of government research project work. Exeter finds that "converted" scientists lose their initiative. That spark of inquisitiveness, such as what Meecham exhibited at the Interociter kit, was gone. The Metalunars could not make smart zombies.

Plan B -- Exeter wanted to try being Mr. NiceGuy and coax the scientists into doing the needed research. This may have worked, but Metaluna did not have the luxury of time to find out. Hence, the need to simply abduct Meecham and Adams and force them to do their work on Metaluna.

A Creature's Second Chance -- The costume for the insectoid "Mu-tant" creatures on Metaluna was proposed for the 1953 movie It Came From Outer Space but was rejected by director Jack Arnold in favor of the cycloptic potato-things. Perhaps the big brain bug-man was too obviously menacing looking for the advanced-but-benign aliens in It came.... But, like many sci-fi props, it went into "inventory", not the dumpster. The "highly advanced" quality of the aliens in It came... explains the incongruity of the Mu-tants having such big brains for supposedly menial laborers on Metaluna.

The Noble Alien -- Exeter is an interesting twist on the potential invader. He has sympathy for the earthlings. He's torn between his desire to save his home world, yet respect for Earth. His cohort, Brack, is more of the typical invader alien. Brack would just as soon "convert" everyone, and blast with the Nutrino Beam any who step out of line. Metalunaa's leader, The Monitor, is smug about their superiority and intention to take over Earth as their new home. Exeter argues that they could live in peace among the earthlings. In the end, Exeter gives his life to return Meecham and Adams to the Earth.

Two and a Half Years? -- The promotional posters proudly state that TIE took 2 and a half years "in the making." The final result does not look like 2.5 years of continual effort. Since the Mutant alien costume was created in 1953, it's possible that the idea and even some initial shooting began then. The project may well have gone "back burner" a few times. There are three very distinct "acts" to TIE, which lend themselves to big breaks -- Act 1:The early jet / lab / Interociter, Act 2: The Exeter estate, Act 3: To Metaluna and back.

Old Home Coming -- Make note of the house used as Exeter's estate. It was on Universal Studios' back lot and so got used in many movies. We'll see it again in Tarantula ('55) and The Creature Walks Among Us ('56). There are more in other genre too, such as westerns, etc.

Bottom line? Definitely check out TIE, and not the MST3K version. It's not one of the memorable epics of '50s sci-fi, but neither is it the failure that MST3K fame implies. It is one of the milestones of '50s sci-fi.

Stranger from Venus

Somewhat unfairly, this movie is sometimes called a cheap knock-off of The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51). Actually, this low-budget British movie does have a little life of its own. It's more of an offshoot than simply a low-budget remake. There are many similarities, one of which is inescapable -- having Patricia Neal as the female lead. But there are several differences too. These are noted in the Notes section below, but overall, the basic plot premise is the same. A stranger comes from outer space, hoping to deliver a message to the leaders of earth. "Be very careful with this nuclear power thing you've just invented. You're about to become a menace to other planets." This remake was done with almost no special effects and barely anything that could pass for action. It would not be hard, at all, to imagine Stranger from Venus (SFV) as a stage play set mostly in the inn's lobby. Nonetheless, the result goes down a few alleys that The Day the Earth Stood Still did not.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Amid some reports of a UFO, a stranger arrives at a rural English inn. He has odd behavior, but otherwise looks normal. The ship that dropped him off caused a woman's car to crash (bright lights blinded her), but he has miraculous healing powers, so she survives unhurt. The stranger (who never does give a name) finally tells everyone (about six people) that he is there to prepare the way for messengers from the planet Venus. Everyone believes him, more or less. The woman, Susan, (played by Patricia Neal) has a fiancee who is a bureaucrat. The government cordons off the area so that no one can get in to find out more, or get out to tell what they've seen. This way, the rest of the country is kept ignorant. The government conspires to capture the returning Venusian ship when it comes to pick up the Stranger and deliver the official messengers. They hope to learn of the advanced technology for their own nationalist benefits. Meanwhile, the stranger and Susan begin to have feelings for each other. The meeting with British officials did not go well, as he can read minds and knows of their duplicity. They lay out a magnetic trap to disable the ship when it lands. The stranger warns them that any foul play will mean the mother ship will simply destroy all life on the earth. Susan's scheming fiancee redeems himself by returning the stranger's stolen communication device. The stranger warns off the ship just in time to prevent its capture, but this also strands him on the earth where he cannot stay alive much longer. The movie closes with him sitting alone by a pond, fingering Susan's scarf lovingly. The camera looks away, and then back. He's gone. (Venusians just vanish when they die). The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing a remake of TDESS is fun, if only to see what the writers kept from the original story, and what they changed. Patricia Neal's performance is not remarkable, but her playing the female lead (again) gives the remake a kinship to TDESS.

Cold War Angle
As in TDESS, the message is that nuclear arms are a huge threat. Mankind is being told to step back from the brink before it's too late. That feeling that the world was teetering on the edge was quite pervasive in the 50s. Movies which dealt with this brink had a resonance with audiences.

Notes
What's the Same? -- What did SFV have that TDESS did too? A stranger who comes to earth to deliver a warning about mankind's reckless nuclear ambitions. He's mild, kindly, though a bit stoic. He's a healer. He and the female lead develop a bond. The earth risks destruction if it misbehaves. Earth men are an untrustworthy bunch. The stranger cannot stay.

What's New? -- In SFV, there is no robot like Gort (or any robot at all). The stranger is not really the official messenger, but a mere landing coordinator. (He still delivers the message anyway, though) He doesn't die and come back to life. He actually develops a romantic interest in Patricia Neal (they kiss), rather than the purely platonic relationship between Klaatu and Neal. The stranger came from a specific place we've heard of. The stranger doesn't leave on the ship. The ship leaves him, stranded on a world in which he cannot survive for long.

Asteroids' Secret Revealed -- One interesting bit from SFV is that the Stranger says the asteroid belt is actually the debris from a planet whose civilization failed to heed the Venusian's warnings and continued to play fast and loose with weapons of mass destruction. SFV is clearly in the cautionary tale sub-genre. Planet Earth, don't let this happen to YOU!

Budding Conspiracy -- The cultural notion that governments were covering up the truth of UFOs was gaining traction. In SFV, the area around the stranger's landing site is sealed off by the British government. No info in, no info out. In the movies we've seen thus far, governments (usually through the military) will take charge of an alien landing situation, as in TDESS, or Invaders from Mars ('53), but there had been no attempt to cover it up. SFV may be one of the first movies to depict government as controlling and suppressing the truth about an alien landing. This is a notable shift for "government" from protector to conspirator.

Faint Christ -- Where Klaatu was a much stronger allegory for Jesus, (see notes on TDESS, 1951), the Stranger has only a few of those traits. This weakens the character noticeably. The addition of the understated romantic link moves the Stranger character further from Christ model (unless you subscribe to that Jesus and Mary theory). Unlike the Christ-like resurrection and departure to the heavens which Klaatu had at the end, the Stranger is left behind to die. The writers may have approached the Jesus analogy from the other side of the coin. The TDESS writers focused on the deity side. Christ rises from the dead and goes up into the heavens. In SFV, the writers may have focused on the humanity side of Jesus. Christ suffers death as a man to save others.

Bottom line? SFV is an extremely low-budget film with almost zero special effects. If you like lots of rockets or saucers or creepy aliens or explosions, SFV will frustrate or bore you. There is a LOT of standing around and talking. However, if you liked TDESS for its premise, SFV may interest you as an exploration of paths TDESS did not take.