Coming Attractions: DARK STAR (1974) Theatrical Trailer

Not too long ago, I wrote about the Dark Star paperback novelization by Alan Dean Foster. That got me thinking that it was time to watch the movie again, and that reminded me that I hadn't yet posted the trailer to the John Carpenter-Dan O'Bannon sci-fi comedy here on the blog. So... here it is! Enjoy.

Coming Attractions: HANGAR 18 (1980) TV Spots

James L. Conway's 1980 UFO conspiracy thriller for Sunn Classics, Hangar 18, was released today on Blu-ray and DVD by Olive Films. As I've said, I missed it in the theaters when I was a teen, but I do remember seeing these commercials for the movie. They certainly piqued my interest! I kinda adore how the first spot above tries to pass it off as a documentary.

Coming Attractions: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND SPECIAL EDITION (1980) Theatrical Trailer

Today we've got the theatrical trailer for the controversial (at least, among some Star Kids) 1980 "Special Edition" theatrical presentation of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Now that I have the Blu-ray with all three of Spielberg's different CE3K cuts, it's fun to watch the different versions and compare them. In particular, I love watching Richard Dreyfuss' hair inexplicably change length - and style - when he boards the Mothership in this alternate version!

"Now there is more..." Indeed.

Coming Attractions: REVENGE OF THE JEDI Teaser Trailer

I'm sure everyone else has seen this video millions of times, but until today, I hadn't seen this Revenge Of the Jedi trailer since I caught the first re-release of The Empire Strikes Back in the theater. I remember being really, really excited for the third film...

Now, I just get a kick out of the "Wilhelm scream" sound effect used when the guy falls into the sarlacc (sarlaac?) pit.

Coming Attractions: FUTUREWORLD (1976) Theatrical Trailer

Following up on yesterday's great Westworld/Futureworld news, here's the original theatrical trailer for Richard T. Heffron's return to the Delos resorts, where nothing can possibly go wrong... again. Futureworld. Enjoy.

Coming Attractions: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) Theatrical Trailer

Hope you're all having a great weekend. For your nostalgic viewing pleasure, here's the original theatrical trailer for the other big science fiction classic of 1977, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

I haven't posted nearly enough about this fantastic sci-fi film on the blog over the last three years. It was highly influential on me back in '77, and its commercial and critical success re-ignited public interest in Unidentified Flying Objects, inspiring everything from Ed Hunt's low-budget Starship Invasions to Jack Webb & NBC's Project U.F.O.

Looking back on it 35 years later, the trailer is surprisingly dry & serious, with Columbia clearly determined to make sure that CE3K is not dismissed by audiences as mere "entertainment," but as a serious piece of cinema. Of course, it's both - terrifically entertaining and a great movie.

Coming Attractions: STARCRASH (1978) International Release Trailer

"From the Haunted Stars, to the infinite limits of the universe..." 

Today we've got an International release trailer for Luigi Cozzi's Starcrash (with Dutch subtitles). Unlike the U.S. trailer that was cut by Joe Dante for New World Pictures, this one features an appropriately pretentious narration and lots of dialogue from the film (Dante deliberately only used some of Plummer's less-goofy lines as a voice-over).

Still... we all know I love this movie, and it's fun to see this different trailer, especially as it includes the classic line: "Imperial battleship - halt the flow of time!"

Coming Attractions: PLANET OF THE APES (1968) Theatrical Trailer

Charlton Heston himself invites you to take a trip to the Planet of The Apes in this trailer for the first film in the popular 20th Century Fox franchise - which, before Star Wars, was, by far, the biggest sci-fi phenomon of the Space: 1970 era. This film spawned four theatrical sequels (and a couple of remakes, decades later), two television series, countless games, toys, comic books and other merchandise.

This is where it all began...

Coming Attractions: SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE in 3-D (1983) TV Spot

As I've mentioned before, I enjoy Spacehunter. To me, it's among the last of 70s-styled space opera, and along with Return Of The Jedi, it marks the end of the Space: 1970 era in my mind. Here's a terrific 60 second television spot for the film, trumpeting the 3-D aspect of the presentation. "The first movie that puts you in outer space!"

Coming Attractions: METEOR (1979) Theatrical Trailer

One of the final films from venerable B-movie studio American-International Pictures was Meteor, a (reasonably) big-budget attempt to cash-in on both the Irwin Allen all-star disaster thrillers of the early 70s and the late-70s interest in space and science fiction. Loaded with name stars, including Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Brian Kieth, Martin Landau (Space: 1999), and Henry Fonda (among others), directed by Ronald Neame of The Poseidon Adventure, and supported by AIP's largest marketing blitz ever, Meteor ultimately crashed and burned at the box-office, unable to recoup its production and marketing costs; a disappointing reception that contributed significantly to the downfall of the studio.

The movie itself is cheesy, undemanding fun (and I normally don't like to use the adjective "cheesy," but it seems to apply here), with a few particularly enthusiastic (or maybe, "hammy") performances, and a script creaking under the weight of some astoundingly banal dialogue. The miniature effects are especially underwhelming (wobbly, under-detailed models, over-lit and lacking any convincing sense of scale), especially considering this was a post-Star Wars genre movie competing directly with big effects films like Moonraker, The Black Hole and Star Trek - The Motion Picture. That said, some of the scenes of terrestrial destruction aren't too bad, and many of the practical effects (including a climactic flood of mud) are quite well executed.

As mentioned above, Meteor was fairly heavily marketed with a tie-in paperback novel (which I still have around here somewhere, I think), a Warren Collectors' magazine, a Marvel Comics adaptation, an arcade pinball machine, and even a Viewmaster reel! Needless to say, I'll be posting more on this flick one of these days...

Coming Attractions: WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS (1978) Theatrical Trailer

And... speaking of warlords Of Atlantis (as I was in the last post), here's the theatrical trailer. Looks like fun to me!

Coming Attractions: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND: THE SPECIAL EDITION (1980) TV Spot

Here's a neat 30 second TV spot for the controversial (at least, among some Star Kids) 1980 "Special Edition" theatrical cut of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. "Now there is more..."

Coming Attractions: OUTLAND (1981) Theatrical Trailer

And, for those who don't remember the movie very well, here's the theatrical trailer for Peter Hyam's Outland. Featuring a great cast - Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen - and a fine score by Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek - The Motion Picture, Alien, Logan's Run, etc.), Outland is one of my personal favorites from the latter part of the Space: 1970 era. As noted yesterday, the movie will be receiving an HD Blu-ray release from Warner Home Entertainment in July.

Coming Attractions: GALAXINA (1980) Theatrical Trailer

The theatrical trailer for the 1980 Crown-International (alleged) comedy, Galaxina, starring the late Dorothy Stratten.

Coming Attractions: THE BLACK HOLE (1979) TV Spot

Here's a fun, 30 second TV spot for Disney's 1979 space epic, The Black Hole. Enjoy!

Coming Attractions: JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (1969) Theatrical Trailer

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.

ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (1975) & RETURN TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (1978) Double Feature TV Spot

In 1978, Walt Disney Productions re-released their G-rated space kids-on-the-run thriller, Escape To Witch Mountain on a double bill with its sequel, Return From Witch Mountain. Here's a 30-second TV commercial for that telekinetic double feature. Obviously, these movies were childhood favorites, in large part because I saw them at the drive-in with my family. Even then, though, I wished that we'd seen a lot more of their flying saucer and learned more about their people.

For the record, I actually enjoyed the 2009 update - I thought the kids were quite good, Dwayne Johnson was likable enough, and I have a serious crush on Carla Gugino - but I don't believe I ever saw any of the various other remakes and spin-offs done for television in the 80s & 90s. There was a short-lived TV series, too, right? Or am I misremembering? (I must be - I can't find one on the IMDb....)

Coming Attractions: AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1976) Theatrical Trailer

At The Earth's Core was another of the John Dark/Kevin Connor 70s adventure films based on and/or inspired by the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs. As with the others - The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot - the film starred stalwart Doug McClure. In this case, though, he was joined by the stunning Caroline Munro (Starcrash's Stella Star, herself) and the always awesome Peter Cushing (Star Wars' Garnd Moff Tarkin) in a loose adaptation of the Burroughs classic, which I watched again last night on DVD.

Set in a savage, Stone Age jungle within the hollow Earth, the film version of At The Earth's Core eschewed the dinosaurs and primitive mammals of the novel in favor of utterly fantastic monsters portrayed by men in rubber suits and animatronic 'bots. Truth be told, I actually dig these goofy monsters, and am kinda glad the filmmakers went that way with the beasties. The two best things about the movie, though, are Caroline Munro as Dia the Beautiful ("Dian" in the book) - and the realization of the heroes' subterranean "Iron Mole" vehicle, which has a gorgeous, Victorian aesthetic to its design and features. The third best aspect of the film is Cushing's delightfully scatterbrained portrayal of Professor Abner Perry. 

I'll write more about this film one of these days, because corny as the Dark/Connor films were, they were among the more high-profile genre movies of the era. I remember really wanting to see them whenever they played at local theaters and drive-ins, and am still annoyed that I never got to see Warlords of Atlantis... and still haven't.

Coming Attractions: BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970) Original Theatrical Trailer

Here's the trailer for the first Planet Of The Apes sequel, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes. When I first saw this movie as a kid, it really freaked me out. The mutants flat-out terrified me, and the explosive ending simply blew my little mind and disturbed the hell out of me. Then, for a long time, this was actually my favorite of the films, probably because of the apocalyptic ending and the film's overall nihilistic tone. I also dug the effects of the underground ruins and James Franciscus' more action-driven hero.

Nowadays, I like Conquest best among the sequels, but I'm still very fond of this one (all of them, actually). Enjoy.

Coming Attractions: PLANET OF DINOSAURS (1978) TV Spot

Here's a fun 30 second TV Spot for the 1978 stop-motion sci-fi epic, Planet of Dinosaurs... in "Cosmic Color!" (Was color really still a selling point in '78?)  I actually reviewed the DVD of this movie shortly after launching this blog, back in 2009. Several of the effects artists and technicians on this film went on to work on Jason Of Star Command and The Empire Strikes Back! Enjoy!