STARSHIP INVASIONS

 

Since I wrote a post on END OF THE WORLD yesterday, I might as well do one on the other 1977 sci-fi flick starring Christopher Lee: STARSHIP INVASIONS. 

Lee plays Captain Rameses, the commander of a flying saucer and its crew who are sent to Earth to determine if the planet is suitable for conquest. Rameses's race needs a new home, since their planet's sun is dying. Before any plans can be implemented, Rameses must deal with an intergalactic league that has a secret base on Earth underwater. This league secretly watches over the Earth. Rameses and his crew attack and take over the base, but a league ship manages to escape and make contact with a UFO researcher named Allan Duncan (Robert Vaughn). The good aliens and Duncan join forces to fight Rameses and his incoming fleet, and stop the signal that is causing people all over Earth to commit suicide. 

STARSHIP INVASIONS is another low-budget science fiction feature that bites off more than it can chew. The production just isn't able to properly depict outer space battles and ship-to-ship dogfights. The worst aspect of the movie, however, is its timing. It was released during the same period as STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and those two spectaculars immediately made STARSHIP INVASIONS appear ridiculous in comparison. 

It's a bit unfair to compare this film with STAR WARS. STARSHIP INVASIONS was influenced by the UFO craze of the 1970s, and it also has a "Chariots of the Gods" aspect to it. (The good aliens inform Robert Vaughn that they have been observing Earth for thousands of years, and they were the ones who built the pyramids in Egypt. Captain Rameses also informs his crew that they are descendants of Earth beings.) A lot of the UFO urban legends are trotted out in the story, including the idea that aliens abduct dopey rural folk. All the spaceships, even the ones the good aliens fly, are similar-looking flying saucers (apparently throughout the galaxy you can only get the same basic make and model of transport). The good aliens have to hide themselves from humanity because we're too dumb and violent to accept them, etc. 

The best idea contained in writer-producer-director Ed Hunt's script is that there is a secret base under the ocean on Earth, a sort of rest area for intergalactic beings (the base is shaped like a pyramid). This rest area even has a reception room filled with young attractive females dressed in scanty outfits--not only does the intergalactic league believe in peace and harmony, they also believe in having a good time as well. All the aliens in STARSHIP INVASIONS wear form-fitting outfits that resemble workout garments (it appears that none of the aliens are overweight). Captain Rameses and his crew wear black outfits with a bizarre form of headgear (see picture above). The bad aliens have a winged serpent emblazoned on their uniforms, which makes them look like extras from either a sword & sandal epic or background soldiers from a kung fu picture. The base also comes staffed with a group of very clunky looking androids who wouldn't have passed muster in any episode of DOCTOR WHO being made at the time. 

It has to be said that despite having to wear this type of costume Christopher Lee still is able to maintain a commanding presence, but there's no getting over the fact that he looks distinctly uncomfortable in it. Lee's performance also isn't helped by the fact that the aliens communicate telepathically. The viewer is able to hear their thoughts through voice overs, but the actors playing the outer space beings are stuck having to stare glumly at one another. Even though we can hear Lee reciting Rameses's thoughts, he himself is not able to act while speaking--and believe me, that does make a difference. (Since we hear what the aliens are thinking anyway, what was the point of the telepathic powers? I assume it was just a way to make them more alien.) 

The only other recognizable name in the cast is Robert Vaughn. To his credit, he doesn't play down to the material. He makes his UFO researcher a relatable and believable figure. There isn't much to say about the other characters, who are all unmemorable. 

If STARSHIP INVASIONS had been made 5 or 10 years earlier, it might have been received better, but coming along with the likes of STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, it had no chance. The film made its American TV network debut fairly quickly (I even remember seeing commercials for it), but I'm sure it had very little impact. 

Christopher Lee would finally wind up in an actual STAR WARS film about 20-some years later--ATTACK OF THE CLONES. I wonder if while working on CLONES Lee thought about his mediocre 1977 sci-fi double feature. He probably was hoping that no one else on the set was thinking about them. STARSHIP INVASIONS not only gives one a sense of what low budget movie sci-fi was before STAR WARS, it also shows how deep the UFO craze was at the time. I'm surprised the movie didn't try to bring in Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster--it might have been a lot more entertaining if it had.