When a little film called Star Wars was released back in 1977, I was one of a seeming minority who didn’t go rush out to see it. Not that I didn’t want to, mind you. There were assorted issues and I was out of the loop for a bit in my movie viewing. It wasn’t until summer 1978 when a friend of the family popped by to ask if I was interested in going to see the film, which of course, I agreed to. We arrived to the theater late, walking in on the scene where Luke and his Uncle Ben are buying C-3PO and R2-D2, so that was disappointing. But we agreed to watch the film a second time and sat through the second part of the double feature, a rather unusual science fiction film from 10 years earlier called The Terrornauts. I’m guessing that whomever picked this as a good film to show with Star Wars had never seen either movie or just thought “well, it’s also a space flick sooooo…” (or something like that). Seeing movies in Times Square was very often bizarre like that, from what I understand and recall from a few odd occasions.
Anyway, the plot: a small team of scientists working for Star Talk, a UK-based organization dedicated to tracking signals from outer space in order to find life on distant planets, get a lot more than they bargained for when not only do they get that signal, aliens decide to yank their entire facility off the Earth and deliver it to their planet where there’s an interplanetary war about to take place. Guess who gets to stop that war with more war in the lowest budget manner (we’re talking Woolworth shower caps as a costuming option, folks). Yes, we sat through this flick just to see the other one and yes, when I told friends at school, they all laughed at me for seeing Star Wars over a year late.
The more amusing thing was around a year later, The Terrornauts started popping up semi-frequently on local TV, so I was able to introduce it to some new friends and yes, we hated it, but found plenty of amusement at the visual effects and general cheesiness of the film. At least they got in a shot that’s replicated almost exactly on the film’s poster art. On the other hand this wasn’t an interstellar epic like Star Wars or even a This Island Earth on a less than shoestring budget.There are plenty of good intentions here, it’s just that the execution is somewhat off the mark.
While the film is far from Amicus Productions better known films, it has it’s share of fans out there who grew up watching this on television, so nostalgia wins here. However, it’s pretty much forgotten these days, as it isn’t legally available on disc and the digital version isn’t 100 percent flawless when you can find it online. I also had the luxury back in the day to read the book the film is based on, Murray Leinster’s 1960 novel The Wailing Asteroid, which is a “hard” science fiction tale much more suited to a film with a much more robust budget. The goofy bit here is Murray Leinster is the name of the ship at the beginning of the 1978 film Starcrash, which I saw shortly after it’s release (on Times Square, of course). Yes, I’ll have to get to that film again one day in review form, but not for a while, as it’s so mind numbing and silly in a like-ably weird manner.
Anyway, this post is part of The Hammer-Amicus Blogathon IV, hosted by Barry over at Cinematic Catharsis and Gill from Realweegiemidget Reviews. I’m posting a few days early due to a few previous commitments, but make sure to pop on over to get a peek at the other posts. As for me? Well, I’ll be back sooner that later- it says so on my contract!
-GW
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 
Interesting review of a film I’ve never heard of and I’m not about to have my talk-to-text translator spell it!
I really enjoyed hearing about how you saw this film with a double feature of Star wars in times square no less! That had to be quite the experience!
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Network released this on DVD (and I think Blu Ray) in the UK, but since they went under, I think you can only get it on eBay and the like.
Ye Gods, it’s cheap! I saw it on TV as a kid in the 70s, and only saw it again when I got the Network disc. It’s terrible – but like a lot of bad movies, it’s actually (IMO) more watchable than many good films. Also, the cast is full of actors and actresses that I’ve been watching all my life, so it’s like a comfortable chair of a movie – undemanding.
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Ah, so there are copies out there, after all! I I checked a few times on eBay and didn’t see any for sale other than the VHS version. I just found it online after looking at sites that normally would/should have it, but removed the listing for some reason. Yes, it does at least get right to the point in terms of storytelling. I’d imagine a modern remake would be a half hour or so longer, just for padding out plot points and adding more visual effects. I actually felt bad for the poor robot at the end, but that’s probably just me…
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Fun review, Greg! I can only imagine how fun it must have been to watch films in Times Square, especially with a hyped audience. I guess the lesson about The Terrornauts is that anything Hammer could do, Amicus could do, cheaper. I’m sure it would still be fun to watch for a lark. Thanks so much for joining the blogathon!
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Took me too long to get to reading this review, but I’m beyond thrilled to find someone else who read The Wailing Asteroid. Pity me, because I read it *before* seeing The Terrornauts, and I was wondering how they were going to do the line of black holes sent careening toward their target. our heroes. I was young, and the option “They won’t” did not occur to me.
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That was my “thing” back then- go see the film, then read the book and if the music was good and available in some format, buy the soundtrack. Re-reading The Wailing Asteroid the second time a few years back just made me think the film’s budget was was quite skimpy and the scriptwriters figured they at least had a good story to tell despite it. Maximilian will seat you for dinner in three minutes…
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Greatly appreciated your reminiscences about the Times Square movie experience! I was one of those poor souls who waited in line for hours to see the first Star Wars. My mind was sufficiently boggled at the time, but my interest waned with each new sequel.
I’ve always admired the ambition and audacity of independent filmmakers to try to make epic space operas on nothing budgets. Of course it always helps if the aspiring auteurs have some basic sense of story, characters and pacing – then you can more readily forgive the cheapo effects. I don’t think I’ve seen The Terrornauts, and now I’m intrigued!
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That explains why I have never come across The Terrornauts while hunting down Amicus films. It’s a shame because a race of green Mr. Cleans looks like it could be some so-bad-it’s-good fun.
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It’s more quaint to me these days, but so tricky to track down. Those aliens only pop up for a few minutes!
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