Thursday 21 March 2013

The Phantom Planet (1961)

A mysterious planet, miniature people, giant monsters, beautiful women and all set in outer space with an undaunted hero doing his darnedest to sort it all out.  B-Movie gold, me thinks or if you were born a little later, memorable Saturday morning cinema.
 





Of interest to the Trivianaut in me; this film appears to be using the same space helmets as were first featured in the 1959 TV series; Men into Space (Same back-packs too)  In 1977 one of these helmets would appear in the Mos Eisley Cantine in Star Wars IV.  I'm guessing it features in a few other places in between and we'll see if we can follow its journey.


Steve

6 comments:

  1. You definitely found the helmet between this and Men in Space...good sleuthing! I actually really love this movie and all its cheesy goodness! The scene where he's just been miniaturized and emerges from his now seemingly gigantic helmet is awesome! The MST3K gang did their thing with this one but it's one of the few films they pilloried that's also completely enjoyable on its own. I also think this is where I saw that helmet, not Doctor Who. Between the 50th anniversary, the new episodes starting on the 30th and the fact that I'm working on a fan film I've just had a lot of Who on the brain lately... :P

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  2. Who on the brain is a condition I've learnt to live with. There's a lot of it on the shelves to the right of where I type. One is rarely very far away from zygons, plastic or in thoughtform.

    On the subject of that helmet, I've found a post Star Wars appearence thats impressively obscure...coming up asap

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  3. Steven Moffatt is so resistant to bring back old enemies despite that the fans are shouting for it. I, too pine for the Zygons. I'm sure you've fantasized about what a good Zygon story might look like with a genuine New Who budget! I may be completely alone in this one, but I'd like to see the Terileptils return. The Visitation was just kind of okay, and the Terileptils were clunky and given little to do, but the stated concept of a race which prizes warfare and aesthetic beauty in equal measure is ripe for the more sophisticated modern treatment. Perhaps I'll write it meself!

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  4. I could see that. I'm not sure we've explored all aspects of the Nimon yet.

    That show's never going to run out of story ideas

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  5. There are further appearances if this helmet in the 1967 Mexican movie "Planetary Giants" and also in a 1961 episode of "Sea Hunt" (!!!!) called "Astronettes"

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  6. Thanks Nikk. If I can find some good stills I'll blog them. These helmets definitely did the rounds.

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