War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012)

A one-sheet poster.

"It’s like all colorful and fun holidays rolled into one!"

I love this movie. War of the Worlds: Goliath is a positively delightful and startlingly clever animated film. Incredibly skillfully done and rendered perfectly in 3D, it’s like all colorful and fun holidays rolled into one. It calls itself a steampunk adventure, and that is perfectly true. In every way the animation is up for the job. The 3D pops. The titles are wonderful, with sepia-tone images showing different eras—both terrestrial and Martian—appearing and dissolving, all to the lovely strains of  “Forever Autumn” in homage to Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

In fact War of the Worlds: Goliath is a perfect movie, making it one of the four Mars movies that are, in my view, perfect, in the same league as George Pal's The War of the Worlds (1953), Nigel Kneal's Five Million Years to Earth (UK title: Quatermass and the Pit), and The History Channel-Canada's The Great Martian War: 1913-1917.

 

 

 

Correction: Before I get into the story, I need to make this very important correction. In my book on page 192, I say, "If it wasn’t for the lame IRS subplot (thankfully brief), this would be a perfect movie."   This is in reference to a subplot about an Irish member of the team pictured in the poster above who has a brother with only one aspiration—to kill Englishmen, despite the Martians pounding and destroying all in their path. Initially I was troubled by this because I couldn't envision the IRA's priorities not shifting away from killing the English the very instant the Martians' heat rays started horribly disintegrating everything and everybody, clearly threatening our entire planet. However, due to a chance remark by my wife, and the resultant research, I've learned that during our real First World War (as opposed to the version that was about to break out in the movie and that was side-tracked by the Martian attack), when Germans were in fact mowing down English and French alike by the millions–quite literally—with their advanced machine guns and poison gas, the Irish Volunteers (from which the IRA later grew) took advantage of the distraction to kill and bomb and terrorize the English, creating a second front within the British Isles. My published remark was unfortunate because, had I realized that in this case that facts belie common sense, in my eyes this would have been then as it is now a perfect, completely satisfying movie on every possible level. Bravo, Mr. Pearson!  That said, here are some high-points of the story:

 

The conceit:  In 1898–99, as everyone knows, the Martians attacked earth and were defeated, and, of course, all their machines and other technology were left behind, which terrestrial engineers reverse engineered to remake the Earth’s future. However, there is always the fear that the Martians will return. In that event, earth’s nations have built an army of tripod war machines and huge zeppelins—A.R.E.S. (Allied Resistance Earth Squadron). Yet despite this universal dread, the nations of Europe are politically boiling over and World War I is about to begin. The A.R.E.S. international army is in the process of disbanding so that its individual soldiers can return to fight for their home nations.

 

The face of a Martian war machine.

But just then, the Martians do in fact arrive with super-souped-up war machines, A.R.E.S. stays together, and the machines royally battle it out. The earth’s greatest war machine, the Goliath, is put to the test. Fortunately, on the side of A.R.E.S. are Secretary of War Theodore Roosevelt, Professor Nikola Tesla, and a diverse crew of hero soldiers.

You know my opinion; now here are a couple of other perspectives (that are extracted from my book Mars in the Movies: A History by Thomas Kent Miller).

Enthusiast.

“From an animation and production standpoint, War of the Worlds: Goliath is a treasure trove, and very clearly a labor of love for the creators ... amazing, with the style best described as anime-inspired dieselpunk.”

—Sean Korsgaard on alternatehistoryweeklyupdate.blogspot.com

A glimpse of a Martian war machine.

 
Naysayer.

“[J]ust a few cereal commercials shy of a pointlessly cartoon marathon—violent, messily drawn and lifelessly dragging.”

—Martin Tsai in the Los Angeles Times  

(See the whole unnerving review here: http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/06/entertainment/la-et-mn-war-of-worlds-goliath-review-20140307

Martin  Tsai saw the same movie that Sean Korsgaard (just above) and I saw; how is it possible that Mr. Tsai could not recognize a true labor of love? How is it that he could actually go out of his way to diminish someone else's hard creative work?  I just don't get it.

War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012)

Malaysia, Japan, USA. Anderson Digital. Tripod Entertainment, Finas, MSC, Mavcap, Barking Cow Media Group. Animated. C. 1.77:1. 85m.

CREW: Director Joe Pearson. Script David Abramowitz. Story Joe Pearson. Producers David Abramowitz, Mike Bloemendal, Joe Pearson, Leon Tan. Executive Producer Kevin Eastman. Score Luka Kuncevic. Animation Director Young Hwan Sang. Editor Toby Risk.

CAST: Adrian Paul, Adam Baldwin, Mark Sheppard, Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Gracen, Jim Byrnes, Beau Billingslea, Joey D’Auria, Kim Buckingham.

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/mars-in-the-movies/

https://www.amazon.com/Mars-Movies-Thomas-Kent-Miller/dp/0786499141

Man in Space on Disney+ now!!

Wonderful news!

All three of the inspirational Disney TV documentaries MAN IN SPACE are available now on DISNEY+

 “Mars and Beyond” (December 4, 1957 Disneyland Episode) Part 3

“Mars and Beyond—Man and the Moon” (December 28, 1955,Disneyland Episode) Part 2

 “Mars and Beyond—Man in Space” (March 9, 1955, Disneyland Episode) Part 1

The Children of "The Martian" (A continuation of Chapter Nine in the book)

As I indicated in the book Mars in the Movies, 2015’s straight-to-video Martian Land was produced and marketed by The Asylum production company as a The Martian wannabe. Whether you call it a knockoff or a clone or a masterpiece, it wouldn’t exist if early interest in Ridley Scott’s The Martian hadn’t shown that there was still plenty more ore (dollars) to be mined from The Martian’s veins. I also noted that some older quasi-amateur and hyper-low-budget Mars projects long consigned to memory have returned from the dead to see the light of a new day (mostly on streaming sites).

Included in the book Chapter Nine

Included in the book Chapter Nine

.The film trade has a very long history of this sort of thing. Indeed, in the context of the book and this blog, remember that 1950’s Rocketship X-M and 1951’s Flight to Mars were clear and unrepentant knockoffs of 1950’s Destination Moon. Then the 1953 re-release of the classic giant monster movie King Kong inspired into existence Ray Harryhausen’s giant monster movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which in turn inspired the giant ant movie THEM!, which provided the impetus for at least a dozen giant insect movies and any number of other giant creature movies.

Back in mid-2016, as my book was preparing to go to press, I became aware of four new Mars-related media projects pictured here available for viewing right then. Three of these projects I had in fact been able to view at the last minute, so in the spirit of keeping the book as up-to-date as possible, I included all of these films in a new chapter, "Chapter Nine: The Children of The Martian." 

Included in the book Chapter Nine

Included in the book Chapter Nine

Now it is early April 2021 and in these five years, I've found 46 more completed post-The Martian productions for theatrical release and TV (see graphic poster collage). The existence of all 46 of these films and programs is a direct consequence of The Martian's financial success. If you add the four other brand new ones that I was able to squeeze into the book at the last minute, that's 60 completed productions. Plus there are eight or ten announcements of projects that may or may not see the light of day.  Realistically, this compilation of titles and posters is a work in progress, as there doesn't seem to be an end in sight!  Which is a good thing, no doubt.

 

 

Still, here is an amazing thing! My book MARS IN THE MOVIES: A HISTORY covers Mars film and video productions for various media from 1910 to 2016. It so happens, that the number of those films equals about 100. (I say "about" because a few are a little fuzzy around the edges and it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what they are.) Well, do the math.  One hundred Mars movies in 106 years, followed by 60 in only seven years.

Speaking of "fuzzy" around the edges, check back at some point and you'll find I added a list of the movie titles that correspond to the posters above, because the resolution of the images, frankly, ranges from poor to just OK.

Therefore, to make an important point about how this snowball keeps getting bigger and bigger, I will include here posters of the wannabes, clones, and knock-offs that have been born since The Martian opened (actually even BEFORE because some of the projects were begun before the release of The Martian in anticipation of its success).

In the meantime, thumbnails and trailers are happily available at The Mars Society—San Diego's film site, "The Mars Movie Guide," which is curated by Mars Society of San Diego's Gerry Williams:  https://marsmovieguide.com/

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

Devil Girl From Mars (1954)

Devil Girl from Mars’ statuesque Patricia Laffan proudly sports Ronald Cobb’s amazing costume for the Martian woman Nyah, comprising black vinyl, leather, form-fitting dark stockings, stylish boots, a shiny black skullcap, a flowing cape, and George Partleton’s startling contrasting makeup with dark lipstick. Altogether, she is the very picture of patronizing contempt (courtesy Wade Williams Distribution).

I love this movie. If I had to choose a dozen movies to take to a desert island for the rest of my life, this would be one of them. Many will find this a disturbing admission. “How,” some people would wonder, “could a sane man, a competent author, say such a thing about this movie ... in public even?”

Those who are familiar with this film will remember that the story seems to revolve around the kidnapping of earthmen to take to Mars for breeding purposes—which nearly all the summaries of the film focus on right from the outset. This point seems totally puerile, the nadir of low-budget B movie, and utterly inexcusable in the minds of most critics.

The spaceship from Mars.

Let me list some other reasons why some people 

loathe this movie:

 

• It is stage bound because it was adapted from 

a play, and nobody took the time to resolve that problem.

• The Devil Girl’s robot looks like a refrigerator, 

and her own costume looks like it might be a 

remnant from an S&M porn movie.

• The special effects are pure B-movie bologna.

• The characters are all stereotypes who do nothing 

but talk and talk and talk.

• The devil girl’s speeches are monotonous drivel delivered in a wearisome monotone.

• All the acting is second rate at best.

Needless to say, I disagree with all these arguments. In fact, I whole-heartedly believe they utterly miss the point.

First, for all practical purposes, that "collecting men" so-called plot is irrelevant. Little time and few sentences are spent on the business of collecting men. It is merely an excuse for the Devil Girl to act haughty and patronizing. This movie is important for its design—the way it looks. It must be watched with an open and inventive mind to be appreciated. Far be it from me to quote the blurb on the back of a DVD package, yet this one happens to be 100 percent accurate: “A beautifully crafted production, unique special effects, inspired production design....”

For instance, the shots of the exterior of the inn (probably a model) are evocative of the time and place and weather, all of which play important roles in the film. The interior of the inn is totally believable. The alien flying saucer, while in flight spinning impressively and also on the ground, is one of the best ever conceived for a science fiction film. Only Ray Harryhausen’s fleets of saucers for Earth vs. the Flying Saucers are better. (I’ve heard it said that Klaatu’s ship in The Day the Earth Stood Still is superior to Earth vs.; sure, on the ground it’s nice enough, but in the air it is only a blob of light.) Devil Girl’s exterior set on the moor in the yard in the neighborhood of the landed spaceship is breath-taking (combining a soundstage set and backdrop of a barren waste with a few twisted trees, a practical ramp, and a stunning matte painting of the bulk of the saucer), much as was so successfully accomplished in an equivalent scene in Forbidden Planet.

Special photo juxtapositions by Thomas Kent Miller; copyright © 2016-2017 by Thomas Kent Miller.
 On the left is a shot from Forbidden Planet. The foreground, the people, and the lower part of the spaceship (including the bottom half of the wide saucer) are real enough, but the entirety of the top half of the saucer and the night sky with two moons is a matte painting, On the right is a shot from Devil Girl from Mars which shows two people entering a spaceship by walking up a ramp; the ramp is real, as is the doorframe, but all the rest of the saucer is likewise a matte painting including the exterior walls surrounding the doorframe, the saucer element itself, and the down lights. (The Devil Girl saucer image courtesy Wade Williams Distribution.)

 

The standard half-sheet poster (courtesy Wade Williams Distribution)

 

 

 As breath-taking as much of this film is—then there is the Devil Girl herself!

The screen has never seen such a being before or since. Bill Warren in his Keep Watching the Skies! ventures his opinion of her statuesque appearance, “Ronald Cobb’s costume for Nyah was supposed to seem futuristic and classy, but all the black vinyl, and leather, the stockinged legs, the stylish boots, the black skullcap, the dark lipstick and the flowing cape put her firmly in S&M territory.” As you’d expect, I disagree with Warren’s final evaluation, but the rest is true enough. To my mind, she looks very cool, futuristic, scary, and alien.

Then, of course, there’s her behavior. At all times she struts and marches and stands at attention with her head held high and stiff. She is never any less than haughty, firm, contemptuous, brash, sneering, condescending, arrogant, smirking, and patronizing. Her tone is entirely dismissive of these mere earthlings.

Her entrances are the stuff of legend. Many times she enters the barroom through the French doors leading to the yard and the saucer, and every time it is majestic, dramatic, and rousing. Part of this effect is due to camera angles that are mostly looking up at her. Part is due to Patricia Laffan’s strong performance.

Special photo juxtapositions by Thomas Kent Miller; copyright © 2016-2017 by Thomas Kent Miller.
 Two of Nyah's majestic entrances (courtesy Wade Williams Distribution).

Warren also says, quite correctly, that she “plays everything with a cocked, superior eyebrow, impatient with these dreary Earth people.”

All that said, the Devil Girl is stunningly picturesque. Barry Atkinson, in Atomic Age Cinema, describes her as “lofty” and “mouth-watering,” terms with which I cannot help but happily agree. Above, I mentioned the wondrous design of the picture. Clearly Laffan’s character and costume are at the very heart of that design. Laffan wearing Ronald Cobb’s almost unprecedentedly exotic costume and George Partleton’s fully appropriate contrasting makeup is a wonder to behold.

The fact that following a couple of these eye-opening entrances Nyah announces that she needs men to take to Mars seems hardly relevant and not worthy of all the critical bother that focuses on those silly statements (which inevitably end with the picture being dismissed out of hand). Otherwise the film is practically perfect. Frankly, all this seems perfectly obvious to me, and I am dumbfounded that certain critics (actually most of them) are so short-sighted that they spend so much energy deploring the entire movie because they object to a few lines of dialogue or because they simply don’t recognize the craft and value implicit in this picture.

As to the other characters, they are all quite fine and well-rendered except Hugh McDermott’s Michael Carter, who often seems hysterical. Plus I very much enjoy the amount of time spent on the barroom set, as I find it and its roaring fire in the fireplace calm and comforting (the antithesis of today’s omnipresent nonstop chain-reaction car crashes).

Devil Girl’s exterior set of the moor in the neighborhood of the landed spaceship is breath-taking (combining a soundstage set and backdrop painting, which together "sell" the feel of the moor as dark and unsettling. This photo clearly shows the care with which the yard outside the French doors was designed; plus Nyah's robot Chani is more large and menacing than not (courtesy of Wade Williams Distribution).

Though it is clearly a biting backhanded compliment, the reviewer for the British Monthly Film Bulletin (1954) wrote that the “settings, dialogue, characterization, and special effects are of a low order, but even their modest unreality has its charm. There is really no fault in this film that one would like to see eliminated. Everything, in its way, is quite perfect.” That reviewer couldn’t be more wrong about “settings ... characterization and special effects,” but the last half of his statement is true enough. As I said, the joy in this film is its production design, effects, and Patricia Laffan’s performance.

There are only two things about this movie that disappointed me: the weak main title sequence that features an airliner exploding in midair, a scene that has nothing to do with the film, and also the extended barroom-type brawl towards the end that goes on unnecessarily long.

One final point. Do you remember the trick that screenwriter Edmund H. North pulled on us all in The Day the Earth Stood Still wherein he introduced a spaceman named Carpenter, who performed apparent miracles, who was betrayed by a member of his inner circle, and who then rose from the dead? (A prank North readily shares with genre film authority Tom Weaver for It Came from Weaver Five: “It was my private little joke. I never discussed this angle with [producer] Blaustein or [director] Wise because I didn’t want it expressed. I had originally hoped that the Christ comparison would be subliminal.”) I think the same sort of thing is happening in Devil Girl from Mars, but Nyah here is an unexpected and unforeseen version of Mary. Nyah is one pissed off Mary, the polar opposite of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Nearly every image of Mary shows her wearing a scarf covering her head, but Nyah wears a shiny black skullcap. 
.

Special photo juxtapositions by Thomas Kent Miller; copyright © 2016-2017 by Thomas Kent Miller.

  (Nyah image courtesy Wade Williams Distribution. The Marian vision image is from The Song of Bernadette [20th Century Fox].)

Where Mary endlessly expounds about faith, love and compassion, Nyah is more interested in disintegrating poor specimens, kidnapping, and the destruction of the innocent. Where Mary is often surrounded by angels, Nyah has her enormous robot protector Chani. If wings are important to your image of angels (or of fallen angels), Nyah’s rippling cape calls to mind the giant wings wrapping the devil of Bald Mountain at the end of Disney’s Fantasia. Mary is soft and modest. Nyah is hard and flamboyant. As another point of interest, let’s not forget her flying saucer is made of organic metal that miraculously heals itself. I am not saying that the writers, producers, or director consciously or even unconsciously created this anti–Mary, but it is nonetheless interesting to me that such an interpretation is so easily possible. Also, while yes, I have specified strongly that the “snatching men for breeding purposes” plot element is irrelevant and ought to be ignored; still, if one were to give any credence to that notion, then Nyah, rather unvirgin-like, was collecting men to inseminate her and all her sisters on Mars.

Short summary: It is a cold wintry night, and in the large barroom of an isolated inn, the Bonnie Charlie, on the Scottish moors, a radio announcer explains that a meteor has fallen nearby. This is heard by a small boy, Tommy, and Doris, an employee of the inn. Tommy asks, “What’s a meteor?” and Doris responds, “I don’t know, Tommy.” We also hear that a world-famous scientist is on his way to examine the phenomenon. The elderly proprietress of the inn, Mrs. Jamieson, enters and curtly dismisses any idea that a meteor might be either interesting or important and tells Doris to get to work and Tommy, Mrs. Jameieson’s nephew, to get to bed. The professor, along with a reporter, Michael Carter, drive up to the inn helplessly lost and bitterly cold. Even though the inn is closed for the winter, they ask for and are granted accommodations. A white hot flying saucer, making a great deal of noise, lands in the inn’s backyard. They all busy themselves trying to understand what is happening while the saucer cools down. Then with a dramatic and stirring entrance, Nyah, an aloof picturesque woman from Mars in a minuscule black shiny skirt and a flowing cape, suddenly appears at the open French doors of the inn, startling everyone. She announces that her spaceship, which was bound to London, had a mishap and she needed to land here so the ship can repair itself. She also explains that her mission is to take back to Mars healthy earthmen to help propagate the Martian species, because the inhabitants of Mars are only women. She then busies herself by strutting around for a while, placing an invisible dome around the property, making threats, showing off her robot and its destructive rays. Eventually, the mere earthlings succeed in destroying Nyah and her spaceship.

Devil Girl from Mars (1954)

UK. Danziger Productions, Spartan Productions, Gigi Productions. BW. 1.66:1. 76m.

CREDITS: Director David MacDonald. Producers Edward J. Danziger, Harry Lee Danziger. Script James Eastwood. Based on a Play by James Eastwood and John C. Mather. Score Edwin Astley. Director of Photography Jack Cox. Special Effects Jack Whitehead. Special Visual Effects Bob Cuff. Editor Brough Taylor. Sound Editor Gerald Anderson. Art Director Norman Arnold. Production Manager Jack Martin. Miss Laffan’s Costume Designer Ronald Cobb. Sound Special Effects Bert Ross. Makeup George Partleton.

CAST: Nyah Patricia Laffan. Michael Carter Hugh McDermott. Ellen Prestwick Hazel Court. Robert Justin/Albert Simpson Peter Reynolds. Doris Adrienne Corri. Professor Hennessey Joseph Tomelty. Mr. Jamieson John Laurie. Mrs. Jamieson Sophie Stewart. Tommy Anthony Richmond. David James Edmond.

 

Post Script Re: Desert Island

In the first paragraph above, I said that Devil Girl from Mars would be among the dozen films I'd take to a desert island for the rest of my life. Here are my two lists. The first is drawn from all movies; the second is from science-fiction movies only.

From all movies:

Muppet Christmas Carol

Groundhog Day

Lifeforce

Final Countdown

Zulu

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

War of the Worlds (1953)

Lawrence of Arabia

Spartacus

Quatermass and the Pit

Devil Girl from Mars

My Fair Lady

 

 

 

 

From science-fiction movies only:

X the Unknown

Dune

Robinson Crusoe on Mars

Lifeforce

Final Countdown

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

War of the Worlds (1953)

Quatermass and the Pit

Devil Girl from Mars

Predator

The Crawling Eye

The Terminator

These are all chosen because I NEVER tire of watching them!

.

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

Complete Table of Contents of the BOOK—Mars in the Movies

I began this film blog in 2016 to supplement my book of the same title. As thorough as the book was, there still was a lot more I wanted to say about Mars movies, plus this blog gave me a chance to share some special color posters and other graphics and even videos. To date, only about one-quarter to one-third of the film titles below have been augmented and converted into blog posts. It is natural that I started the blog with my personal favorites—while being well aware that tastes differ and that there are people whose tastes are diametrically opposed to mine.

If anybody who reads this Contents blog post would like me to publish an essay here on any particular movie in the list below, leave me a comment, and I will get to it as fast as I am able.

NOTE: Titles already included in the blog are colored GREEN.

Table of Contents of the BOOK—
Mars in the Movies: A History

Acknowledgments vi

Foreword: “Enigmatic Mars, Take Me Home!” by Michael Stein 1

Preface 3

The Concept of This Book and Its Organization 8

Chapter One—The State of Mars Cinema Before 1950

Introduction  17

The Silent Era—

A Trip to Mars (1910)  18

A Message from Mars (1913)  19

Himmelskibet/A Trip to Mars (1918)  20

A Message from Mars (1921)  21

M.A.R.S. (1922)  22

Aelita—The Queen of Mars (1924)  22

The One Talkie—

Just Imagine (1930)  24

In a Class by Itself: A Radio Broadcast to End All Radio Broadcasts—

Orson Welles’ CBS Mercury Theater on the Air ­Radio-Play Adaption of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds (1938)  26

The Serials—

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (Mars Attacks the World) (1938)  28

The Purple Monster Strikes (D–Day on Mars) (1945)  32

Flying Disc Man from Mars (Missile Monsters) (1950)  33

Zombies of the Stratosphere (Satan’s Satellites) (1952)  34

 .
Chapter Two—The Head of Zeus: Destination Moon (1950) 36

Chapter Three—Voyages to Mars

Introduction  45

Rocketship ­X-M (1950)  46

Flight to Mars (1951)  51

Jack Rabin (1914–1987) and Irving Block (1910–1986)  58

Conquest of Space (1955)  59

George Pal (1908–1980) by Gail Morgan Hickman  70

“Mars and Beyond” (December 4, 1957, Disneyland Episode)  71

The Angry Red Planet (1959)  76

Ib Melchior (1917–2015)  81

Battle Beyond the Sun (1963)  82

Mechte Navstrechu (1963)  83

Robinson Crusoe on Mars (196

Nathan Van Cleave (1910–1970) by Dirk Wickenden  89

Byron Haskin (1899–1984)  91

The Wizard of Mars (aka Horrors of the Red Planet) (1964)  93

The X from Outer Space (1967)  96

Mission Mars (1968)  96

The Astronaut (1972 TV Movie)  98

Capricorn One (1978)  99

The Martian Chronicles (1980 TV Miniseries)  101

Escape from Mars (1999 TV Movie)  103

Mission to Mars (2000)  105

Red Planet (2000)  108

Stranded (2001 TV Movie)  111

Crimson Force (2005 TV Movie)  113

Race to Mars (2007 TV Miniseries)  114

John Carter (2012)  117

The Last Days on Mars (2013)  120

Last Sunrise (2014 ­Straight-to-Video)  123

The Martian (2015)  125

Chapter Four—Invasions from Mars

Introduction  131

Haredevil Hare (1948)  131

The Thing from Another World (1951)  134

Red Planet Mars (1952)  137

Invaders from Mars (1953)  139

The War of the Worlds (1953)  145

Duck Dodgers in the 241/2 Century (1953)  153

Devil Girl from Mars (1954)  153

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)  158

The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963)  161

Queen of Blood (1966)  162

War of the Planets (1966)  165

Mars Needs Women (1967 TV Movie)  167

Five Million Years to Earth (aka Quatermass and the Pit) (1967)  168

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978 Rock Opera LP)  174

Star Crystal (1986)  177

Invaders from Mars (1986)  179

Sandkings (1995 ­Feature-Length TV Episode)  181

Mars Attacks! (1996)  183

Species II (1998)  186

Close Encounters of the 4th Kind: Infestation from Mars (2004 ­Straight-to-Video)  188

Destination Mars (2006 Straight-to-Video)  189

War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012)  190

The Great Martian War 1913–1917 (2013 TV Movie)  192

Chapter Five—Still More “Wars of the Worlds”

Introduction  196

War of the Worlds (TV series, two seasons 1988–1990)  196

H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds (2005 ­Straight-to-Video)  198

H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (2005 ­Straight-to-Video)  200
War of the Worlds (2005)

War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave (2008 ­Straight-to-Video)  204

Alien Dawn (2012 ­Straight-to-Video)  204

Chapter Six—Inhabited Mars

Introduction  207

Total Recall (1990)  208

Mars (1997 Straight-to-Video)  209

John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars (2001)  211

DOOM (2005)  212

Princess of Mars (aka John Carter of Mars) (2009 ­Straight-to-Video)  213

Red Faction: Origins (2011 TV Movie)  214

Martian Land (2015 ­Straight-to-Video)  215

Chapter Seven—Invasion of the Slapstick Comedies

Introduction  218

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)  219

The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962)  220

Pajama Party (1964)  221

Martians Go Home (1989)  222

Spaced Invaders (1990)  222

Rocketman (1997)  223

My Favorite Martian (1999)  223

Chapter Eight—Homages, Parodies, Satires, ­Send-Ups and Spoofs

Introduction  225

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)  225

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (aka Mars Invades Puerto Rico) (1965)  226

The Alpha Incident (1978)  227

Attack from Mars (aka Midnight Movie Massacre) (1988)  227

Lobster Man from Mars (1989)  228

Lost on Mars (2002 ­Straight-to-Video); Empire of Danger (2004 ­Straight-to-Video)  229

Scary Movie 4 (2006)  230

Interplanetary (2008 ­Straight-to-Video)  230

Cave Women on Mars (2008 Straight-to-Video)  231

Christmas on Mars (2008); A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips  231

Mars (2010)  232

Chapter Nine—The Children of The Martian

Introduction  234

Citizen Mars (2015 Web TV series)  237

Tom Sachs Presents: A Space Program (2016 art film)  238

Approaching the Unknown (2016)  239

Passage to Mars (2016)  240

The Space Between Us (December 2016)  241

Mars (Cable Channel Miniseries November 2016)  242

Appendix A: Animated Mars 243

Appendix B: Mars Episodes in Television Anthology Series (1951–1998) 246

Appendix C: Mars in the Movies Chronologically by Decade 249

Afterword 253

Bibliography 255

Index 261

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.

DOOM (2005)

Above is a most interesting happening. The top image is from the Internet. There were a few other equivalent images, but the top one was the best. The lower image, however, puts a different spin on all this. The bottom image is a screenshot made as I played DOOM well-calibrated on my iMac.  The difference is startling.  I like them both, though.  TKM

[NOTE:  Though my book, MARS IN THE MOVIES: A HISTORY, covered about 100 Mars film and video productions, you would not be surprised to learn that I liked some Mars movies better than others. When writing the posts for this blog, naturally I focused on my favorites—the 30 or 40 before this post on DOOM (see Table of Contents or Archive). Of course, that means that many subsequent posts will discuss films that are less well-regarded, beginning with DOOM.] 
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The first few moments of DOOM are the best it has to offer. These moments constitute the Universal Pictures logo that you’ve seen thousands of times. Typically, the word “Universal” enters the screen from the right and begins to encircle what the camera pulling back reveals to be the planet earth. When all is said and done, the “Universal” encompasses the equator of the planet, and then this logo fades into whatever is next. The logo for DOOM is exactly the same, except that it is not the planet earth that is revealed; it is the planet Mars. How cool is that? When I saw what was happening, I literally jumped out of my seat squealing with joy.

Unfortunately, nothing that follows is 1/100th as interesting.
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Summary. When communications from the Olduvai research lab on Mars inexpli- cably ceases, the Rapid Response Tactical Squad arrives, unclear what to expect but finding hordes of demons from Hell. The task is to destroy the monsters before they find a way to earth.
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Furthermore, this is only a Mars movie by a technicality. Except for a few establishing shots zooming into the exterior of the lab facility, there is nothing especially “Mars-y” about this movie. There seems to be a lot of that going around: Much the same thing can be said about Watchmen, Martian Successor Nadesico—The Motion Picture: Prince of Darkness, and Mr. Nobody. The Mars aspects of these movies are too slight to gain them entrance into the pantheon of real Mars movies. I’m letting DOOM in on the strength of its Universal logo being a masterstroke.

DOOM, like Resident Evil, Wing Commander, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, is an action movie based on a popular and influential video game. In this case DOOM the game (1993) has the distinction of being universally considered the seminal, perhaps the first, first-person shooter game.

I wouldn’t let my son play with any first person shooter games in our home. Doubtless, when he was at his friends’ homes, he was able to conveniently forget our family’s rules.
There have been volumes of talk about whether or not these sorts of games influence the level of violence in the U.S.  I have my own opinion, but, in the long-run, the jury is out and likely to remain so for decades.

But this is not a commentary on the game. It’s about the movie that was released in 2005. I cannot speak to how true the movie is to the game, but I am happy to say that the first-person-shooter element is reduced to a mere nod at the very end.

Above I mentioned that DOOM is based on a video game and offered a few examples. However, Doom is not in the same league as those. The difference is that those films—Resident Evil, Wing Commander, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider—were colorful, well-crafted, lovingly stylized, and fun. DOOM, though, has nothing to redeem itself, aside from the already-mentioned classically new take on the Universal logo at the start.

DOOM (2005)

USA, UK, Czech Republic, Germany. Universal Pictures, John Wells Productions, Di Bonaven- tura Pictures, Doom Productions, Stillking Films, BPS Babelsberg Production Services, Reaper Productions, Distant Planet Productions. C. 2.35:1. 105m.

CREW: Director Andrzej Bartkowiak. Script David Callaham and Wesley Strick. Story David Callaham. Based on the Video Game DOOM by id Software. Producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, John Wells. Score Clint Mansell. Director of Photography Tony Pierce-Roberts. Production Designer Stephen Scott. Editor Derek G. Brechin. Casting Jina Jay. Special Effects Stan Winston Studio, Effects Specials DDT. Special Visual Effects Double Negative, Framestore CFC, Flash FX, AVC Productions, Cine Image Film Opticals, Thousand Monkeys.

CAST: Sarge The Rock (Dwayne Johnson). John Grimm Karl Urban. Destroyer DeObia Oparei. Samantha Grimm Rosamund Pike. Duke Raz Adoti. Portman Richard Brake. The Kid Al Weaver. Pinky Dexter Fletcher. Hell Knight Brian Steele. Goat Ben Daniels.

Formal Notice: All images, quotations, and video/audio clips used in this blog and in its individual posts are used either with permissions from the copyright holders or through exercise of the doctrine of Fair Use as described in U.S. copyright law, or are in the public domain. If any true copyright holder (whether person[s] or organization) wishes an image or quotation or clip to be removed from this blog and/or its individual posts, please send a note with a clear request and explanation to eely84232@mypacks.net and your request will be gladly complied with as quickly as practical.