Monday, April 9, 2018

A Quick Look: PLANET OF DINOSAURS (1977 - color)


   In retrospect it's kind of obvious that such a film would be made. Although the theme of prehistoric life in outer space was well traveled before (KING DINOSAUR, WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, etc), it seems odd so direct an approach as this didn't happen until 1977! The producer tried to do some research in making his independent epic, by noting that stop-motion-heavy creature films tended to have longevity at the box office and even longer continued life on television. So, a story about the crew and passengers of a space cruiser being stranded on a planet populated by dinosaurs seemed a perfect cash-in on all things dinosaur and space related. For whatever reason, though, the film inexplicably slipped through theaters almost unseen. Although it did have some television play, it didn't get near the exposure you'd think it would have. The film did slightly better on video. It slid into public domain, however, so there were several VHS releases and the film was later farmed for it's dinosaur footage by other independent productions. It's last major blip on the radar was as a subject for Rifftrax. It was a good idea, blending space opera and dinosaurs, but it just didn't find an audience. A good example of how even the seemingly perfect project can fail if the breaks are against it. (By the way, beware of more recent editions on disk, as they have souped up some of the special effects work -in pointless little ways, like adding blobs of light to the business end of firing ray guns. Those seeking the unadulterated version of the film can find several older VHS editions.)

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