And today, for your weekend viewing pleasure, we present the theatrical trailer for Journey To The Far Side Of the Sun (a/k/a Doppelganger), the 1969 feature film produced by Gerry Anderson (Space: 1999). It's an interesting movie, with a dark tone and overall aesthetic that is very similar to Anderson's subsequent TV series, UFO.
In fact, a number of the props, costumes and musical cues from the film (most notably the "futuristic" automobiles) showed up on that series a year or two later, along with a few cast members.
I remember seeing this on TV when I was younger. I remember the part about the text being in reverse - so did that mean he was on a "mirror" Earth on that his brain had been tampered with? I think all the scary flashbacks must have been cut out. :o
ReplyDeleteNow I feel that something strange happened, that somehow I saw the film, but it was partly erased by sinister forces!
I saw some of this as a kid. One of those shows that you started watching half way through because you were watching some other crap that eventually bored you enough to make you get up off the couch and change the channel. Remember the time before remote controls. In my memory of it, it was like an intriguing dream that I woke up too early from and wished that I could go back to sleep to finish. In fact until I recently found this in our local library's collection, I wasn't completely sure it wasn't a dream. It kind of always haunted my subconscious, what if there really was a mirror Earth on the other side of the Sun. Would I be there. Would my other self be wondering the same things as I thought them...good stuff.
ReplyDeleteIf another Earth were on the other side of the Sun, then we'd no longer be classed as a planet! (The same IAU definition that demoted Pluto to "dwarf planet.")
ReplyDeleteActually, such a planet could not hide from us as our orbit is not perfectly circular. Remember Kepler's laws of planetary motion.
I first saw this maybe ten years ago and do not recall anything outstanding about it—except that it was a "test bed" for many things that later showed up in UFO. Always those great Anderson models and miniature effects.
I remember this from its explosive, yet downer ending.
ReplyDelete@ Metryq - I'm pretty sure no "space lawyer" would be able to get Earth or Htrae (Earth II?) demoted to dwarf planet status on the basis of the orbital region being "uncleared of debris"... since the "debris" in question would be the mirror planet.
ReplyDeleteAnd - Not only could Htrae not hide from us because of the shape of our orbit, but the presence of an object that big would perturb the other inner planets and be noticeable by that effect.
I saw this ages ago at the theater (re-release as part of a kiddie matinee in the early '70s) and have always loved it for the neat special effects, nifty near-future setting and the Barry Gray score. I also appreciate the seriousness with which it is all carried out. am undeterred by the fact, if you think about it at all, it makes no bleeping sense whatsoever.