This review might get a little weird, cuz i'm reviewing 3 movies that are kind of the same movie, one of which i technically haven't seen... But if opening a review with that doesn't bring the readers in, i don't know what will....
First, the movie i technically haven't seen... Though i've seen a pretty good chunk of it...
Planeta Bur (Storm Planet)
1962 - Russia
This is classic, golden age sci-fi... from da Ruskies! These dudes crash on a planet with their Robot, and another group of dudes come to rescue them. I'd love to get a copy of this untouched Russian classic, but so far i've had no luck. It is campy, but not hoaky, more emphasis on the "science" part of "science fiction", and it reflects the era in which it was produced. I have nothing bad to say about it... but read on...
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet
1966
And then came Roger Corman! Yes, THE Roger Corman... Somehow, Corman was able to buy the rights to Planeta Bur dirt cheap, and in the Corman tradition, proceeded to screw the whole thing up. He decided to make it more american and edit in new footage to make the story really suck. He also wanted some famous sci-fi faces, so he shot the new scenes with Faith Demergue and Basil Rathbone. Terrible dubbing, confusing edits, and the Faith story arc was just stupid... This was the first version i saw, and while it contains lots of the original footage so you can get an idea of what that movie must have been like, it still sucks ass.
http://www.dvddrive-in.com/images/t-...anetwomen2.jpg
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
1968
So, the previous incarnation just didn't take off... But Roger Corman had his finger on the pulse of America, so he knew what his mistake was... It was time to add SEX! So they take the sliced and diced version they'd made in '66, and add in MORE NEW FOOTAGE, this time with Mamie Van Doran! Yup, now there's scenes of Mamie and some other chicks lying around on the beach essentially watching the last movie...They never interact with anyone! They also cut out a lot of the dubbing and added a narrator and some pictures of futuristic spaceships taken right out of a planetarium... Corman is the king of crap. Long Live Crap!
http://www.dvddrive-in.com/images/t-...anetwomen3.jpg
And the really beautiful part? The company that released the 2nd two versions put them on the same side of a double sided DVD, without even a hint that you're basically buying the same movie twice... but at $.50 each, who really cares [img]biggrin.gif[/img]
10 stars!
The End
PS, there is also a movie called The Planet of Prehistoric Women, and although it has nothing to do with anything here, i would like to mention it stars the guy who played Quincy's plucky sidekick Sam...
<font color="#cd6600" size="1">[ April 30, 2004 11:32 AM: Message edited by: Joranthalus ]</font>
