Monday, March 19, 2012

MISSION MARS / Red Ram Productions - 1968

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our offering is one of my very favorite 'bad' sci-fi movies. For comparison, remember, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY came out the same year! It was released as ENDSTATION MARS in West Germany.

The music for this flick is great, one reason that makes it a Cult-O-Holic Favorite! And, we have a soundclip from it, so, push the big red 'GO' button catty-corner from the little yellow tweety boid, now, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's the theme song from our Dungeon Redo of... MISSION MARS!

Dudes ain't screwing around here, that's a freakin' Saturn 5 rocket!! Darren McGavin plays Col. Mike Blaiswick, Nick Adams plays Nick Grant and George De Vries plays Duncan. I love those old THE NIGHT STALKER episodes because of Darren McGavin, he was perfect as Kolchak. And, we totally love Nick Adams, here at The Dungeon!

They even use this famous stock footage of stage separation in reverse when they hook up with their supply capsule.

Okay boys, dinner is served!

After 6 months in space, the jumbo Campbell's Soup can finally comes to rest on the surface of it's destination, Mars.

No offense, but, for a low budget movie, the miniature sets of the Martian terrain kick royal ass, very convincing well-lit work! No real info on who created these sets, though.

In probably the most absurd moment, Nick finds (and, screams like a little girl when he does) the Russian cosmonaut they had seen flying through space earlier, stuck, standing up perfectly in the ground! Looks like he's giving them a high-five.

Back on Earth, Nick's girlfriend and Mike's pregnant wife chat with the project head, Cliff Lawson. The bikini babes are actually in this pool scene, not on the beach as the poster shows.

Back on Mars, the first sign that there just may be Martians on Mars!

For me, this thing dubbed a 'Polarite' is one of the best old school monsters created, there's nothing else like it, it's just plain cool!

Mike takes out the thing's heat-death ray! But, before long, another creature replaces it!

Classic shot as our three spacemen observe a new menace, a large silver Orb.

The mysterious Orb will not allow for them to take off, so, they must confront it!

Marco!..

Polo!!

Mike and Nick watch in horror as the Orb drags Duncan inside and eats him!

Mike has an interesting talk with the brain machine inside the Orb. Nick then sacrifices himself in order to blow up the Orb and destroy the Polarite creature... The Russian cosmonaut has miraculously come back to life and helps Mike launch their ship back to Earth!!

7 comments:

  1. WoW!

    VHS # 162, here I come!
    Thanks for the great synopsis and always great blog!

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  2. Where are the chicks in the bikinis on the poster?

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  3. Viva la Polarite!

    Good old VHS tape #162!

    Okay, I'll put up a photo with a girl in a bikini, sheesh!..

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  4. LOVE this crazy film! Haven't seen it in over 30 years! So where's the DVD?

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  5. Hi A - probably DVD-R at Trash Palace, Video Screams or Web Of Mystery - rare on VHS, not on DVD.

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  6. Great comment about the "polarite."

    It definitely is one of the better
    creations in sci-fi even if it
    doesn't move.

    Excellent title music captures the
    spirit/atmosphere of the 60s &
    you've got Darren McGavin & Nick Adams
    in the same movie!

    I don't know why this movie took the
    all-aliens-are-dangerous approach
    but I still love it.

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