Captain Hamilton. Maverick space pilot. Shirker of authority, and plays by his own rules. Why? This is why.
Mankind's big decisions have been turned over to the world's brainiest computer - WIZ. Hamilton thinks that's insane, and goes about doing the exact opposite of what WIZ suggests is the right course of action.
Against their best judgement, the powers that be on Earth, send him to fly beyond the borders of known space to track an alien signal. Initially he's not too happy about it. His crew were hours away from shore leave.
Actually, they got so close to the edge of known space, that they cast shadows on the wall of it during a spacewalk.
Luckily - as with many of these movies - the air on the planet is the same as Earth's, and they set about waving the tail light from an old Mazda around, collecting samples.
One particularly avid crew member, disappears over a rocky outcropping for some rouge exploring. He discovers a glowing ball of energy - the source of the signals and perhaps a larger version of the glow ball from 'Galaxy Invader.' He gets clubbed to the floor by a metallic arm.
While searching for their missing crew-mate, they are set upon by members of the Blue Man Group.
These blue chaps had regressed into a primitive state. In the past, they'd designed and made machines to take care of the day to day running of their city, leaving them free to drink margaritas and lie about in hammocks. The problem was, the machines broke down, and the little fellows couldn't get them going again. Only one machine survived and now posed a threat to the locals.
The threat to the natives is a robot that could well be K-9's crazed half brother.
"Affirmative, I will destroy you"The robot's plan was to lure an intelligent race to the planet and make it replace a circuit board. This circuit board was crucial to getting the planet going again, as it was limiting the robot's memory banks - this was of course, a great big fib. Suspicious, Hamilton replaces the missing part.
Oh oh, the robot is now at full strength and wants to destroy Earth!
As clever as it is, the robot's main design flaw was a self-destruct button located on the front of his metallic body. In a 'David and Goliath' stroke of genius, Hamilton sling-shots a rock onto the button while the robot is laughing maniacally, thus ending it's grip on robo-life. It also sparks the destruction of the planet at the same time.
Now as strange as this film is, it had a very cool twist at the end. While unveiling it's plans to Hamilton regarding world domination, the robot would use the term 'Earthlings' a lot in a very condescending way. Once the crew escapes from the planet and all is well, Hamilton asks WIZ to give them an estimate of flight time before reaching home. WIZ replies with:
"Estimated time of touchdown, 30 hours...... Earthling."
Woah there! The evil robot zapped himself into the ship's computer seconds before the end of the film! Talk about a cliff-hanger! Did someone say, sequel?
No.
Also, one of the crew - the one that got clubbed earlier - gets possessed once he's back on the ship and goes on a killing rampage. The blue alien they brought back to the ship with them, sacrifices himself for the good of the crew, and they both get sucked out of an airlock.
Gadgetry: WIZ. The man-made computer that the human race was all to happy to put it's decision making faith into. Not to be confused with the retro arcade emulator with the same name. I've got one, it's cool.
Additionally, and much like how Stallone gets it on with Sandra Bullock in 'Demolition Man', there is a machine called the 'Cosmiclove'. A non-evasive erotic mind melder. Where's the fun in that?
Favorite quote: The re-voiced gasp of shock the guy has discovering the alien energy source.
Favorite bit: The special effects, the re-voicing and the robot menace. Also, the twist at the end.
Bottom line: Weird and slightly confusing. The movie carries a message about our growing reliance on computers and how we should trust ourselves. The paranoia of the media, regardless of the facts, was also quite well put across.
Bizarre soundtrack to. Especially the three second blast of the one about being out in space. Weird.
Oh yeah, here's the semi-transparent spacesuits the women crew members wore:
One thing I forgot to mention. The coolest name in the credits: Max Bonus.
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