ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Disney magic . . . post Walt, when things got less magical and more silly. It's mostly a comedy, naturally, with sci-fi trappings and very familiar faces like Ken Berry, Sandy Duncan, Harry Morgan, Roddy McDowall, and McLean Stevenson.

Actually, the story isn't bad up to point, if you ignore the fact that instead of an interesting intelligent alien like Klaatu, we get a trained cat who poses for the camera while dialog is provided by Ronnie Schell off camera, who also plays Sgt. Duffy on camera.

The plot involves a malfunctioning alien spacecraft that crash lands and leaves it's pilot (the feline) desperately trying to make repairs before the government screws up his captured ship while trying figure out how it works.

Bumbling nice guy Ken Barry, fresh from Mayberry R.F.D, plays the only investigating scientists who comes up with good ideas about the advanced technology, and this demonstration of Berry's superior intellect causes the extraterrestrial fur-ball to take a likin' to him.

Sandy Duncan plays another scientist on the team, and we just know she and Ken are going to fall in love before the end of the movie, get married, and have a litter of little Mensa-bound geniuses.

The E.T. kitty has telekinetic powers and uses them to help a gambler win horse races and pool competitions so he can buy $120,000 of pure gold, which kitty needs to repair his spacecraft. (Remember when I said the plot was good up to a point? Well, this stuff is past that point . . . )

The happy ending will make you purr with gladness — naturally. It's Disney.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

This one is strictly for the tiny tots.

[Bud Brewster]

Maybe the problem was that they chose the wrong animal for the alien. Let's see . . . what about —

The Monkey from Mars! (Naw, that's no good.)

The Canine from the Cosmos! (Ummm . . . no. Too hard to say.)

The Beaver from the Black Hole! (No, no, no — that's sounds lewd!)

I give up. This concept is unsalvageable. You just can't make ordinary animals seem like aliens.

Well, with a few exceptions . . .







Hey, there's a thought.

The Otter from Outer Space!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

David, you otter be ashamed of yourself! Just get otter here before I call security.

Or maybe I otter just sick this guy on ya!



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[MetroPolly]

This one was a hoot for me.... when I was 10.

I sort of outgrew it. I saw it a little while back, and I have to say . . . it doesn't really hold up unless you're in the mood for campiness.

[Custer]

Okay, who needs a new avatar?





I am reminded of a fair, or similar event, which had a special tent with a sign saying "Water Otter" - if you went in, you were confronted with a kettle...

[Bud Brewster]

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If my ex-wife ever joins us, that would be the perfect avatar.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Even though I am not a fan of this movie, I have to say that the design of the exterior & interior of the alien/cat's space ship is a good one.

[Bud Brewster]

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Hey, you're right! This is terrific!





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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Great pix, Bud. Thank you.

The set design for the craft could easily have been used in a serious sf movie.

Sometimes when producers make a lighthearted or comedic sf movie or television show they think that the designs should reflect the intent of the production.

Hence we get funny/silly looking space ships, aliens, devices & so forth.

That formula doesn't always work to the advantage of a film or tv show.

[Bud Brewster]

[Bogmeister]

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For cat lovers and those also into sci-fi, here's the ideal pic, though you also need to appreciate Disney comedy.

A small spaceship lands in a farmer's field at night. We hear voice-overs as the pilot is told he has a limited amount of time to get to a certain spot for rescue. When the pilot exits the ship, we see that he looks just like a common house cat, with a fancy collar.

As expected, the military — headed by a loud general (Harry Morgan) — is on the scene very quick. The ship is taken away, but no one sees the cat stow away in the back of a jeep. We learn that the alien cat's collar, glowing when active, functions as some kind of door opener (telekinesis, actually). As the film progresses, however, we find out it has other powers . . .



That's the set up.

The alien cat soon finds an ally, a quirky physicist (Ken Berry) whose scientific theories the alien cat can relate to while eavesdropping on a meeting about the alien ship's propulsion drive (Berry mentions the "primal mainstream").

The cat can communicate with him via a form of telepathy. Berry nicknames his new friend "Jake" (the alien cat's actual name is "Zoonar J-5/9 Dorek 4-7").

Berry's other friend is played by MacLean Stevenson, a goofball who has to be taken into their confidence due to his betting experience. They need 120 grand quicklt for some gold — the spaceship's repairs — and the cat's powers can win football games for them (even games on TV!).

Sandy Duncan is a fellow scientist and possible love interest for Berry. The plot takes a ridiculous turn when the cat is accidentally sedated, so the stumblebums rush about trying to figure out an alternative to the football bets.



The central set piece and bet transpires to be a very oddball pool game, again dependent on the cat's telekinetic powers, but it fails to capture that funny outrageous aspect of previous Disney comedies (Now You See Him, Now You Don't, etc.).

The villain turns out to be a sneaky double agent played by Roddy McDowall, who catches on to the cat's abilities by spying on the heroes, but he reports to a higher-up, some pompous dude named Mr. Olympus (William Prince), who operates out of a luxurious cave hideout. They're after the cat's collar.

The heroes need to outwit both these villains and the military. The cat's ability to freeze people comes in very handy.

Actors and script are weak. For example, the heroes give up on the football bets even though they might have still won. The whole subplot with grand villain Mr. Olympus reduces the story to grade school shenanigans, as if someone watched too many James Bond movies.

In all, a promising first act is followed by a steady regression into banal nonsense. And, for the finale, the story for some reason went with a lengthy aerial sequence involving an old airplane and a helicopter. There's all this drama about the hero and his girl possibly falling to their deaths, but the cat is right there and can levitate them easily enough — or so I believed.

BoG's Score: 4 out of 10

Cat Trivia: actor Ronnie Schell had dual roles here — as an army sergeant (in a brief scene) and as the voice of Jake the cat



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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Bogmeister's review surprised me by being positive in some respects (he praised the more worthy aspects of the movie), as well as accurate. He defined the movie's faults — especially the way it went from "fairly entertaining" to "pretty silly" as the story progressed.

I've stated before that Andrew Bogdan's taste in movies leaned more towards the dark and serious films — especially compared to my own tastes, which lean more towards the optimistic yarns with at least a little humor.

That said, I salute Andrew for giving The Cat from Outer Space such a balanced and fair analysis.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Bud, your streamlining on the alien spacecraft is absolutely fantastic! Shame Disney did not consult you.

Fun Fact } The army base seen in the film was constructed on the studio's 708-acre Golden Oak Ranch property.