The War Of The Worlds
A fireball crashes into a mountainous area near a small California town, heralding the beginning of an invasion of Earth by beings from Mars, though no one realizes this yet. When Dr. Clayton Forrester, a physicist from Pacific Tech who happens to be vacationing nearby, takes a look at the object that survived re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, he hypothesizes that it must be hollow, since a solid meteorite of that size would have left a much larger crater. Forrester catches the eye of the local librarian, Sylvia Van Buren, whose uncle, the town’s church pastor, invites Forrester to stay with them while they wait for the object to reveal its true nature. But while two locals and a policeman keep a wary eye on the “meteorite” that night, an opening appears and a large, obviously artificial appendage emerges, appearing almost like a glowing red mechanical eye on a flexible stalk. When they break cover and approach it, that eye fires a beam of energy at the three men, incinerating them instantly and causing a power disruption in the nearby town. The townsfolk return to the crash site, and the appendage turns out to be just a small part of a flying Martian War Machine, a vehicle capable of surviving any human-made weapons. Even when the military is called in to direct its might toward the increasingly hostile alien device, its weapons are useless – and worse yet, other objects are landing in the hills nearby, and around the world, marking the beginning of the invasion in earnest. Forrester and Sylvia, seeking shelter in a house nearby, are trapped when another of the Martian “meteorites” slams into the side of the house. A different flexible eyestalk scans the house, and Forrester manages to disconnect it from its large, hose-like appendage; when a Martian leaves its War Machine to explore the house personally, Forrester attacks and injures it, managing to obtain some of its blood, which he and Sylvia then return to Pacific Tech so both the optical instrument and the blood can be examined by scientists. The President of the United States authorizes a nuclear strike against a nest of Martian War Machines, but their defensive shields allow them to survive the attack unharmed. The Martians begin advancing into major metropolitan areas, and everyone in Los Angeles is ordered to evacuate to safer, less densely-populated areas. Forrester and the other Pacific Tech scientists, with Sylvia’s help, begin packing up their lab so they can continue their attempts to find a weakness in the Martians at a safer location, but the throngs of people trying to escape the city overpower their vehicles, throwing away precious scientific equipment in their own desperate attempts to evacuate. Forrester and Sylvia are separated, and by the time they find each other again, it seems as though the end of human civilization is near – until something completely unforeseen causes the Martian War Machines to begin tumbling out of the sky helplessly.
screenplay by Barré Lyndon
based upon the novel by H.G. Wells
directed by Byron Haskin
music by Leith StevensCast: Gene Barry (Dr. Clayton Forrester), Ann Robinson (Sylvia Van Buren), Les Tremayne (Major General Mann), Bob Cornthwaite (Dr. Pryor), Sandro Giglio (Dr. Bilderbeck), Lewis Martin (Pastor Collins), Housely Stevenson, Jr. (General Mann’s Aide), Paul Frees (Second Radio Reporter), Bill Phipps (Wash Perry), Vernon Rich (Colonrl Heffner), Henry Brandon (Crash Site Cop), Jack Kruschen (Salvatore)
Commentary by: Sir Cedric Hardwicke
Notes: The makers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 “borrowed” the name of Dr. Clayton Forrester for the mad scientist antagonist who tortures first Joel, and later Mike, with bad movies for the first seven years of that show. Paramount Pictures embarked on the production of a TV series sequel to this film in the late 1980s, one of a pair of genre series filmed in Canada to form an ad hoc genre programming package to accompany Star Trek: The Next Generation (the other series was a TV series using the name of another Paramount film franchise, Friday The 13th, though in that case there was no connecting tissue between the storylines of series and films). Ann Robinson appeared to reprise her role of Sylvia Van Buren very briefly in the War Of The Worlds TV series, which sees the Martians overcome their vulnerability to Earthly bacteria.
LogBook entry and review by Earl Green
On a young planet called Earth, an alien intelligence – in the form of a large black monolith – tests the intelligence of a primitive race of primates. It also influences their development into a more ambitious and potentially more dangerous species. The monolith vanishes, having completed its task.
Notes: Actor Ed Bishop lent his voice to many genre animated series, including Gerry Anderson’s Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and an episode of the animated Star Trek series. He later appeared in the flesh in Anderson’s cult classic ’70s live-action series UFO as Commander Ed Straker, and appeared in the Big Finish Doctor Who Unbound audio story Full Fathom Five. Kenneth Kendall was a BBC newsreader in real life – the first person to do so on camera in the BBC’s history, in 1955. He parlayed that unique historical footnote into appearances – more or less as himself in his familiar job – on The Morecambe & Wise Show, Adam Adamant Lives! and numerous British-made B-movies. The only actors to appear in both this movie and its 1984 sequel are Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain. Director Stanley Kubrick had the elaborate sets built for 2001 destroyed immediately after production to make sure that they wouldn’t be reused in later films (such reuse being a common practice that he felt would cheapen 2001).
The future: vacationgoers flock to Delos, where, for a thousand dollars a day, they can experience the dangers and delights of bygone eras in one of three large-scale simulations populated entirely by robots – Medieval World, Roman World, or Western World. Chicago lawyer Peter Martin decides to give the old west a try, and meets John Blane, a fellow vacationer who has visited Western World in the past, on the hovercraft flight to Delos. When they arrive, they don appropriate old west clothes and are issued real six shooters, though they’re modified so the vacation-goers can’t shoot each other, only the robots. Outfitted for their new lives as lawless cowboys, Martin and Blane step into…
Cast: Yul Brynner (The Gunslinger), Richard Benjamin (Peter Martin), James Brolin (John Blane), Norman Bartold (Mediaval Knight), Alan Oppenheimer (Chief Supervisor), Victoria Shaw (Medieval Queen), Dick Van Patten (Banker), Linda Scott (Arlette), Steve Franken (Technician), Michael Mikler (Black Knight), Terry Wilson (Sheriff), Majel Barrett (Miss Carrie), Anne Randall (Daphne), Julie Marcus (Girl in dungeon)
Notes: The opening “TV interview” segment setting up the movie’s backstory was a very late addition to the movie, and was written by a non-union advertising executive due to a Writers’ Guild strike taking place late in production. Having scored a success with The Andromeda Strain (adapted from his own novel), Crichton made his big-screen directing debut here in addition to having written the script. (He had already directed a TV movie called Pursuit which had aired in 1972 on ABC.) With MGM calling the shots on casting, budget, and a final edit of the script, Crichton had only a month and a little over a million dollars to shoot Westworld. (Despite this, Richard Benjamin, better known for comedy roles, considers it one of his better movie-making experiences. Benjamin would go on to star in the ’70s NBC sci-fi spoof, 
Westworld also offers a rare non-
Electrical worker Roy Neary encounters the bright lights of a UFO as he investigates a town-wide power outage. He, like hundreds of other such witnesses, becomes fascinated to the point of obsession with the visitors, unable to shake visions of a towering mountain from his mind. Despite the government’s public insistence that nothing unusual has occurred, and his family’s embarrassment and discomfort at his behavior, Roy insists that aliens are trying to tell him – and humanity – something important.
/Cast: Richard Dreyfuss (Roy Neary), François Truffaut (Claude Lacombe), Teri Garr (Ronnie Neary), Melinda Dillon (Jillian Guiler), Bob Balaban (David Laughlin), J. Patrick McNamara (Project Leader), Warren J. Kemmerling (Wild Bill), Roberts Blossom (Farmer), Philip Dodds (Jean Claude), Cary Guffey (Barry Guiler), Shawn Bishop (Brad Neary), Adrienne Campbell (Sylvia Neary), Justin Dreyfuss (Toby Neary), Lance Henriksen (Robert), Merrill Connally (Team Leader), George DiCenzo (Major Benchley), Amy Douglass (Implantee), Alexander Lockwood (Implantee), Gene Dynarski (Ike), Mary Gafrey (Mrs. Harris), Norman Bartold (Ohio Tolls), Josef Sommer (Larry Butler), Reverend Michael J. Dyer (Himself), Roger Ernest (Highway Patrolman), Carl Weathers (Military Police), F.J. O’Neil (ARP Project Member), Phil Dodds (ARP Musician), Randy Herman (Returnee #1), Hal Barwood (Returnee #2), Matthew Robbins (Returnee #3), David Anderson (Air Traffic Controller), Richard L. Hawkins (Air Traffic Controller), Craig Shreeve (Air Traffic), Bill Thurman (Air Traffic), Roy E. Richards (Air East Pilot), Gene Rader (Hawker), Eumenio Blanco (Federale), Daniel Núñez (Federale), Chuy Franco (Federale), Luis Contreras (Federale), James Keane (Radio Telescope Team), Dennis McMullen (Radio Telescope Team), Cy Young (Radio Telescope Team), Tom Howard (Radio Telescope Team), Richard Stuart (Truck Dispatcher), 
The planet Krypton is dying, but only one man, Jor-El, is willing to recognize that truth. To save his infant son Kal-El from the impending disaster, Jor-El sends him to Earth, where he is found and adopted by Kansas farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent. The boy, now named Clark, grows up in Smallville, hiding his amazing powers from the world…until his destiny calls him, and he moves to Metropolis, gets a job as a reporter for the Daily Planet, and befriends Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White. More importantly, he takes to the skies as Superman, defender of truth, justice and the American way – a role that inevitably puts him at odds with the criminal genius Lex Luthor, who has a grand scheme to make a killing in the real estate market… 
Cast: Christopher Reeve (Superman), Marlon Brando (Jor-El), Gene Hackman (Lex Luthor), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), Ned Beatty (Otis), Jackie Cooper (Perry White), Glenn Ford (Jonathan Kent), Trevor Howard (First Elder), Jack O’Halloran (Non), Valerie Perrine (Eve Teschmacher), Maria Schell (Vond-Ah), Terence Stamp (General Zod), Phyllis Thaxter (Ma Kent), Susannah York (Lara), Jeff East (Young Clark Kent), Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen), Sarah Douglas (Ursa), Harry Andrews (2nd Elder), Vass Anderson (3rd Elder), John Hollis (4th Elder), James Garbutt (5th Elder), Michael Gover (6th Elder), David Neal (7th Elder), William Russell (8th Elder), Penelope Lee (9th Elder), John Stuart (10th Elder), Alan Cullen (11th Elder), Lee Quigley (Baby Kal-El), Aaron Smolinski (Baby Clark Kent), Diane Sherry (Lana Lang), Jeff Atcheson (Coach), Brad Flock (Football Player), David Petrou (Team Manager), Billy J. Mitchell (1st Editor), Robert Henderson (2nd Editor), Larry Lamb (1st Reporter), James Brockington (2nd Reporter), John Cassady (3rd Reporter), John F. Parker (4th Reporter), Antony Scott (5th Reporter), Ray Evans (6th Reporter), Sue Shifrin (7th Reporter), Miquel Brown (8th Reporter), Vincent Marzello (1st Copy Boy), Benjamin Feitelson (2nd Copy Boy), Lise Hilboldt (1st Secretary), Leueen Willoughby (Perry’s Secretary), Jill Ingham (Perry’s Secretary), Pieter Stuyck (Window Cleaner), Rex Reed (Himself), Weston Gavin (Mugger), Steve Kahan (Officer 1), Ray Hassett (Officer 2), Randy Jurgensen (Officer 3), Matt Russo (News Vendor), Colin Skeaping (Pilot), Bo Rucker (Pimp), Paul Avery (TV Cameraman), David Baxt (Burglar), George Harris II (Patrolman Mooney), Michael Harrigan (1st Hood), John Cording (2nd Hood), Raymond Thompson (3rd Hood), Oz Clarke (4th Hood), Rex Everhart (Desk Sergeant), Jayne Tottman (Little Girl), Frank Lazarus (Air Force One Pilot), Brian Protheroe (Co-Pilot), Lawrence Trimble (1st Crewman), Robert Whelan (2nd Crewman), David Calder (3rd Crewman), Norwich Duff (Newscaster), Keith Alexander (Newscaster), Michael Ensign (Newscaster), Larry Hagman (Major), Paul Tuerpe (Sergeant Hayley), Graham McPherson (Lieutenant), David Yorston (Petty Officer), Robert O’Neill (Admiral), Robert MacLeod (General), John Ratzenberger (1st Controller), Alan Tilvern (2nd Controller), Phil Brown (State Senator), Bill Bailey (2nd Senator), Burnell Tucker (Agent), Chief Tug Smith (Indian Chief), Norman Warwick (Superchief Driver), Chuck Julian (Assistant), Colin Etherington (Power Company Driver), Mark Wynter (Mate), Roy Stevens (Warden)
In the 22nd century, the crew of the small deep space probe Palomino find themselves dangerously close to an enormous black hole. VINCENT, the ship’s all-purpose robot, spots the silhouette of another space vessel against the enormity of the black hole, identifying it as the U.S.S. Cygnus, the largest American manned deep space mission ever launched, which stopped reporting back home twenty years before. More intriguing than the discovery of the Cygnus is the fact that the enormous ship is holding its own against the black hole’s gravity. Trying to investigate the Cygnus, the Palomino is caught in the gravity field of the black hole and sustains major damage. Forced to seek refuge near the Cygnus, the crew discovers a field of zero gravity around the large ghost ship. An even bigger surprise awaits when the Cygnus lights up without warning, after failing to respond to numerous attempts at communication from the Palomino. Palomino Captain Holland, along with scientists Kate McCrae and Alex Durant and blustery reporter Harry Booth, explore the ship with VINCENT, but it soon becomes apparent that someone – or something – is leading them carefully to the bridge of the ship and keeping them from other parts of the ship. The bridge is populated by robed robots, much to the disappointment of Kate, whose father was part of the original Cygnus crew. An enormous red robot appears and threatens the crew, and VINCENT puts himself between his crewmates and the menacing machine. A voice from the dimly-lit captain’s chair calls the robot off, and welcomes Holland and his crew aboard. It is Dr. Hans Reinhardt, the Cygnus’ legendary eccentric commander. Reinhardt tells the story of the Cygnus encountering a disaster which forced the crew to abandon ship, and caused the death of McCrae’s father. Reinhardt also reveals that he has developed the anti-gravity field that allows the Cygnus to maintain its position to study the black hole, but in the course of further conversation it also becomes apparent that Reinhardt may be mentally unstable. And despite Reinhardt’s order to help the Palomino crew find parts to repair their ship, his robot Maximillian makes no secret of the fact that it would like nothing more than to turn VINCENT into scrap metal.
Dr. Heywood Floyd, the mission director of the Discovery mission, resigned after the ambiguous conclusion of that flight, a scapegoat for the U.S. government and the press to blame for the disastrous outcome. The Soviet Union offers Floyd a berth on a Jupiter-bound Soviet mission which will get to the derelict Discovery long before an American follow-up mission can be launched. Despite a precarious political standoff taking place between the two superpowers, Floyd talks the U.S. government into allowing him to go on the Soviet flight along with two other Americans – Walter Curnow, the Discovery’s original designer, and Dr. Chandra, the eccentric computer genius who created the HAL 9000 computer.
Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV is on the receiving end of a rare personal visit from a Navigator of the Spice Guild: his longtime hold over the life-extending, interstellar-travel-enabling Spice Melange may be at an end. The Navigators foresee a “problem” involving the son of Duke Leto Atreides, ruler of the planet Caladan, and chief competitor of the spice-mining operation run by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, ruler of planet Geidi Prime…and personal pick of the Emperor to mine the spice found only on the planet Arrakis, known informally as Dune. The Emperor’s concubine, a member of the telepathic Bene Gesserit sisterhood, sets about trying to learn about Atreides’ son, Paul. As the male child of another Bene Gesserit woman, Paul may indeed pose a great threat to the existing balance of power.
Cast: Francesca Annis (Lady Jessica), Leonardo Cimino (The Baron’s Doctor), Brad Dourif (Piter De Vries), José Ferrer (Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV), Linda Hunt (Shadout Mapes), Freddie Jones (Thufir Hawat), Richard Jordan (Duncan Idaho), Kyle MacLachlan (Paul Atreides), Virginia Madsen (Princess Irulan), Silvana Mangano (Reverend Mother Ramallo), Everett McGill (Stilgar), Kenneth McMillan (Baron Vladimir Harkonnen), Jack Nance (Captain Iakin Nefud), Sian Phillips (Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam), Jürgen Prochnow (Duke Leto Atreides), Paul Smith (The Beast Rabban), Patrick Stewart (Gurney Halleck), Sting (Feyd Rautha), Dean Stockwell (Dr. Wellington Yueh), Max von Sydow (Dr. Kynes), Alicia Roanne Witt (Alia Atreides), Sean Young (Chani), Danny Corkill (Orlop), Honorato Magalone (Otheym), Judd Omen (Jamis), Molly Wryn (Harah)
Eugenics Wars mentioned in Space Seed, supposedly in the late 1990s. Happily enough, such events have not taken place, and a similar inaccuracy, though it didn’t exist when the movie was first released, now occurs in Star Trek IV. Though in 1986, while the story was being written and filmed, there was still a Leningrad and still a Soviet Union, those officially ceased to exist in 1991 with the advent of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the city of Leningrad was promptly restored to its original name – St. Petersburg. Early drafts of the story split Dr. Gillian Taylor into two characters – the marine biologist we saw in the movie, and an idealistic schoolteacher, a character written for comedian Eddie Murphy. The two characters were combined in later drafts of the screenplay, and in any case, Murphy was busy with another Paramount film at the time, The Golden Child.
A U.S. Navy nuclear sub, following an unusual sonar echo deep in the Atlantic, suffers an unexplained power loss that leaves it powerless to avoid a collision with the wall of a sub-oceanic trench. The sub plummets into depths it was never meant to descend, takes on water, and the crew is killed. The Navy commandeers a deep-ocean oil exploration rig operated by Benthic Oil, trying to beat a hurricane to the coordinates of the downed sub. Ed “Bud” Brigman, in charge of the Deep Core underwater platform, is less than thrilled when he learns that he and his crew will be taking orders from the Navy for a rescue operation, but he’s even less pleased when his ex-wife Lindsey joins the Navy SEALs who are paying a visit to Deep Core. The cocksure leader of the SEALs, Lt. Coffey, suffers from high-pressure nervousness syndrome as a result of the dive to reach Deep Core, and slowly loses control, growing violent and paranoid. Upon reaching the submarine, Coffey finally reveals that the vessel was carrying hundreds of megatons of nuclear weapons, giving Deep Core’s divers cause for concern – especially when they find that something other than the dead crew inhabits this part of the ocean. Another power loss occurs, and one of Bud’s crew sees something so startling that it renders him comatose. Lindsey also sees something, but she is unable to describe or explain it.
Cast: Ed Harris (Ed Brigman), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Lindsey Brigman), Michael Biehn (Lt. Coffey), Leo Burmester (Catfish De Vries), Todd Graff (Alan “Hippy” Carnes), John Bedford Lloyd (Jammer Willis), J.C. Quinn (“Sonny” Dawson), Kimberly (Lisa “One Night” Standing), Captain Kidd Brewer Jr. (Lew Finler), George Robert Klek (Wihite), Christopher Murphy (Schoenick), Adam Nelson (Ensign Monk), Richard Walock (Dwight Perry), Jimmie Ray Weeks (Leland McBride), J. Kenneth Campbell (DeMarco), Ken Jenkins (Gerard Kirkhill), Chris Elliott (Bendix), Peter Ratray (Captain), Michael Beach (Barnes), Brad Sullivan (Executive), Frank Lloyd (Navigator), Phillip Darlington (Crew Member), Joseph Nemec III (Crew Member), Joe Farago (Anchorman), William Wisher (Bill Tyler), Marcus Mukai (Anchorman #2), Wendy Gordon (Anchorwoman), Paul Cross (Young woman), Thomas Duffy (Construction worker), Chris Anastasio (Truck driver), Emily Yancy (Woman reporter), Michael Chapman (Dr. Berg), Tom Isbell (Wave reporter), Super Sea Rover (Big Geek), Mini Rover Mark II (Little Geek)
