Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966)

Director:

Arthur C. Pierce

Writer:

Arthur C. Pierce (writer)

Release Date:

15 April 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Action | Adventure | Romance

Tagline:

It's the battle of the sexes as savage planet women attack female space invaders!

Plot:

A spaceship crashes upon an unexplored planet, and the rescuers sent to search for survivors discover that decades have passed due to time dilation.

Plot Keywords:

MST3K | Amazon Tribe | Father Daughter Relationship | Interracial Relationship | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Wendell Corey	...	Adm. David King
Keith Larsen	...	Cmdr. Scott
John Agar	...	Dr. Farrell
Paul Gilbert	...	Lt. Red Bradley
Merry Anders	...	Lt. Karen Lamont
Todd Lasswell	...	Lt. Charles Anderson (as Todd Laswell)
Stuart Margolin	...	Chief
Kam Tong	...	Jung
Ron Stokes	...	Sgt. Allen
Adam Roarke	...	Harris
Paul Hampton	...	Wilson
Ronald Lyon	...	Sgt. Nevins (as Ron Lyon)
Sally Frei	...	Sally
Suzie Kaye	...	Ens. Stevens
Hans Wedemeyer	...	Jang

Also Known As:

Prehistoric Planet Women

Runtime:

90 min | West Germany:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12

Company:

Standard Club of California Productions Inc.

Trivia:

The original script by Arthur C. Pierce was called simply "The Prehistoric Planet", but producer Jack Broder later added "Women of..." to the title for marketing purposes. To justify this title change, brief scenes were filmed of three actresses in native garb, prancing and swimming semi-nude in the pond and waterfall on the planet. These scenes were only used in foreign release prints, but are visible briefly in the US trailer for the film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Tang's frozen parents clearly move in the ice, despite trying to stay still.

Quotes:

Lt. Red Bradley: You know me, I can light up a whole room.
[he laughs nervously]
Lt. Red Bradley: Just by walking out.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Sidehackers (#3.2)" (1990)

There's no women or prehistory, but there is a planet!

With a title like "Women of the Prehistoric Planet" I envisioned a Lost World type movie in which scantily-clad amazonian beauties ride dinosaurs, fight against half-animal savages and a harsh, unforgiving environment. But with only one women, some forced perspective lizards that com-bust on impact, and a bunch of white guys straight out of the U.S. Navy, one can only wonder what the creators of this movie were thinking when they came up with the title.

To be fair, there are some legitimate scientific ideas that are dealt with in the movie, even if the writers don't understand how they really work. For example, the writers were correct in saying that when you travel near the speed of light time slows down, so that a three week journey for the astronauts aboard the spaceship is perceived by those on the planet as taking eighteen years. However, the perception of the people down on the planet has nothing to do with the speed of the planet's rotation but the way in which the planet's matter distorts the space time continuum.

The real plot of this movie is that a spaceship (Cosmos III) is hijacked by the primitive Centurions (a.k.a., non-white people) who probably perform menial domestic services for the crew aboard the spaceship. The ship crash lands on an unexplored planet with only a few survivors. Another ship in the vicinity (Cosmos IV?), moving at nearly the speed of light, travels to rescue the survivors (a three week journey on the spaceship, but an eighteen year wait on the planet). Once on the ground a group of idiots looking like U.S. Navy officers are dispatched to find the crash site. Meanwhile, a beautiful Centurion girl (the ultra-sexy Irene Tsu as Linda) wanders off and encounters a mysterious stranger named Tang who is also a Centurion. Obviously, he's the son of the survivors of the crash eighteen years earlier.

The story of Linda and Tang is probably the most interesting aspect of this movie. Through their adventures together they fall in love but must still deal with the tension of growing up in two very different environments. The other aspect of the plot has to do with clumsy idiots falling off logs into acid pools and shooting at anything that moves with their ultra high tech .44 pistols. The ending of this movie will surprise no one.