On a sneaky mission into a Chinese laboratory, photographs are taken of a Doomsday Device, which sends the US authorities into a panic, and the film into a flat spin.
Knowing that the Chinese have the means to disrupt the Earth's tectonic stability, a space mission to Venus is pushed forward. On the launch pad moments after a press conference, rank is pulled, and three of the crew are swapped out for three women scientists. Katie, Marion and Georgianna.
Blast off! The crew go through the motions of dealing with escaping Earth's gravity, in very comfortable massage chairs - like the coin-op ones you see in malls and cinema complexes.
Elements of the mission's schedule are once again bumped forward, and they are set on their trajectory towards Venus. The reason this is all happening, and the last minute crew change, is all unknown to the remaining, original crew.
Now safely underway, the crew get acquainted. Actually, it's more like, they start cracking on to each other. Not wanting to be treated differently, the girls didn't want any special favors or consideration during the two year mission - until two of the guys bust in on them getting into their space-casual clothes.
While discussing the reasoning behind the crew change - the addition of three women - Kirt, one of the crew, makes an off-hand comment regarding what they're supposed to do with three women on board. If your mind went straight to the gutter, your initial instinct was correct.They determine that with nuclear arms they way they are at the moment, and the possibility of 'Doomsday', there would be no home to come back to. Then a ham sandwich floats to the ceiling in a sudden drop of gravity.
Space ham making a break for it.The spaceship is now a race-saving ark.
Spending a lot of time in a towel, Katie is the first one to be approached. Kirt has a crack at at her with a degree of success. She falls into his arms - even though he does come across as a bit of a sex pest.
Unable to decide the shape of it's hull, the spaceship pushes on toward Venus ( see below ), and Marion is the next one to be chatted up. By the captain this time. Unfortunately, he was interupted by Katie in her night-dress.
A message from Earth, cut off mid-sentence, unsettles the crew. And rightly so. Looking through the scope back toward Earth, the captain sees images of flooding and destruction of major cities and towns. With some pretty good miniature sets I might add.
The Doomsday Machine had been activated.
Stunned, the crew are now faced with bits of exploded Earth flying towards them. Similarly to review #4, "Menace from Outer Space", the unplanned meteor dodging, lowers the spaceship's fuel tank considerably.
As much as she was into it before, Katie has decided that being, "The mother of a nation" isn't all it's cracked up to be. The captain announces that along with the fuel shortage, their job now seemed to be that of pro-creation.
However...
Just when the crew think things couldn't get any worse, they discover that the radiation levels from Earth's demise, over time, will render them all sterile. So much for rebooting the human race.
To ease the fuel crisis, the Doctor decides that culling both weight and people from the ship will get them safely to Venus. Just who was going to get the chop was left to a computer to decide. Three in total. With the results in, not everyone is happy, and Kirt decides that it's up to him to make the rules. The rules being that he and Katie should be the sole survivors.
The price for being a sex pest is being sucked out of an airlock. In an attempt to flee from Kirt's advances, Katie seeks shelter in said airlock. She paid for that idea along with Kirt. It also took care of the excess people problem. Only two more to loose and all would be well.
With the list of survivors known, the captain decides that the idea was crazy. "All or none" is basically the new law. He want's everyone to make it to Venus, and they'd do what ever they could to make it happen. In preparing the ship, they realize that they can't separate themselves from one of the fuel stages. It'll have to be manually released from outside.
Knowing that it would be to his death, Danny suits up. With a knowing nod between him and the captain, he exits the ship. Georgianna, knowing that only three can ultimately make it, she also suits up to help Danny out on the hull - he's having trouble detaching the two halves of the ship.
Sacrifice. Very noble.
Now free and jetting away, the remaining crew briefly mourn the loss. Back on the other hull, the two make light chit-chat to fill in time before their deaths. Mid-sentence, Danny spots a man-made capsule floating nearby. They head off to investigate.
The capsule was indeed man-made and still had power. Inside, they discover the freeze-dried pilot. Then nothing happens for a few minutes. Seriously, nothing happens. You are watching two people in spacesuits, in the dark, not talking and pretending to jump-start a command module.
With the power back on and communication re-established with the others, they, I think, plan a rendezvous. Things get confusing - more so - from here on.
With less than five minutes to go, I began to wonder how they we going to wrap the movie up, as the crew seemed to be in deep shit.
The answer came in the form of a voice over from Venus. Of course. The mysterious voice over the intercom tells "the last of man" that they shouldn't have trespassed on their patch of space. Basically Venus is off limits, and he tells them to jog on. He goes on to say that their journey has just begun, and more awaits them beyond the rim of the universe. Cross your fingers for a sequel - but don't hold your breath!
As a video release, the film goes by "Escape from Planet Earth", which is much more fitting - as it was in the case of review #3, "The Atomic Brain". Yes there is a doomsday machine, but it's more about getting the hell outta there before it goes off... which it did.
I've drawn a graph, showing the progression of how good this movie is against the running time:
The production of the film happened in two stages. From what I could find out, the principle photography was completed in the late 1960's and then shelved. It was picked up again in the early 70's and filled out to it's current form. Why, during the second round, they changed the look of the craft is baffling: as is the whole film. The original one would have been easier to recreate. Starts out strong but fails soon after.
Gadgetry: The ship. It's ability to change from a pencil-like craft to a spinning space-station wheel shaped one is amazing. Without a word of a lie, the first one is the one they left Earth in. On the right, is supposedly the same ship...
Favorite quote: "Are they kidding? This is 1975!..." It's the future baby.
Favorite bit: Getting hoovered out of the airlock, and the method of distracting a guard dog: throw a cat over the wall.
Also, before B.J. Hunnitcut joined the MASH 4077th, he was a news reporter.
Bottom line: Huh?
As much as she was into it before, Katie has decided that being, "The mother of a nation" isn't all it's cracked up to be. The captain announces that along with the fuel shortage, their job now seemed to be that of pro-creation.
However...
Just when the crew think things couldn't get any worse, they discover that the radiation levels from Earth's demise, over time, will render them all sterile. So much for rebooting the human race.
To ease the fuel crisis, the Doctor decides that culling both weight and people from the ship will get them safely to Venus. Just who was going to get the chop was left to a computer to decide. Three in total. With the results in, not everyone is happy, and Kirt decides that it's up to him to make the rules. The rules being that he and Katie should be the sole survivors.
The price for being a sex pest is being sucked out of an airlock. In an attempt to flee from Kirt's advances, Katie seeks shelter in said airlock. She paid for that idea along with Kirt. It also took care of the excess people problem. Only two more to loose and all would be well.
With the list of survivors known, the captain decides that the idea was crazy. "All or none" is basically the new law. He want's everyone to make it to Venus, and they'd do what ever they could to make it happen. In preparing the ship, they realize that they can't separate themselves from one of the fuel stages. It'll have to be manually released from outside.Knowing that it would be to his death, Danny suits up. With a knowing nod between him and the captain, he exits the ship. Georgianna, knowing that only three can ultimately make it, she also suits up to help Danny out on the hull - he's having trouble detaching the two halves of the ship.
Sacrifice. Very noble.
Now free and jetting away, the remaining crew briefly mourn the loss. Back on the other hull, the two make light chit-chat to fill in time before their deaths. Mid-sentence, Danny spots a man-made capsule floating nearby. They head off to investigate.The capsule was indeed man-made and still had power. Inside, they discover the freeze-dried pilot. Then nothing happens for a few minutes. Seriously, nothing happens. You are watching two people in spacesuits, in the dark, not talking and pretending to jump-start a command module.
With the power back on and communication re-established with the others, they, I think, plan a rendezvous. Things get confusing - more so - from here on.
With less than five minutes to go, I began to wonder how they we going to wrap the movie up, as the crew seemed to be in deep shit.
The answer came in the form of a voice over from Venus. Of course. The mysterious voice over the intercom tells "the last of man" that they shouldn't have trespassed on their patch of space. Basically Venus is off limits, and he tells them to jog on. He goes on to say that their journey has just begun, and more awaits them beyond the rim of the universe. Cross your fingers for a sequel - but don't hold your breath!
As a video release, the film goes by "Escape from Planet Earth", which is much more fitting - as it was in the case of review #3, "The Atomic Brain". Yes there is a doomsday machine, but it's more about getting the hell outta there before it goes off... which it did.
I've drawn a graph, showing the progression of how good this movie is against the running time:
The production of the film happened in two stages. From what I could find out, the principle photography was completed in the late 1960's and then shelved. It was picked up again in the early 70's and filled out to it's current form. Why, during the second round, they changed the look of the craft is baffling: as is the whole film. The original one would have been easier to recreate. Starts out strong but fails soon after.
Gadgetry: The ship. It's ability to change from a pencil-like craft to a spinning space-station wheel shaped one is amazing. Without a word of a lie, the first one is the one they left Earth in. On the right, is supposedly the same ship...
Favorite quote: "Are they kidding? This is 1975!..." It's the future baby.
Favorite bit: Getting hoovered out of the airlock, and the method of distracting a guard dog: throw a cat over the wall.
Also, before B.J. Hunnitcut joined the MASH 4077th, he was a news reporter.
Bottom line: Huh?
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