Space Probe Taurus (1965)

Takes itself way too seriously

From my favorite movies..

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This journey into outer space flick is fairly typical of the B movies, the low budget films that weren't supposed to be liked. As a result of being the low man on the totem pole, those involved made the most out of a little. That often resulted in the superior sci-fi flicks. Such is the case here. The overwhelming factor in these cases is the use of "credible characters in incredible circumstances", something I believe I was the first to use in critiques some thirty or forty years ago. Here, the astronauts are three men and a woman. They begin as seeming to be one dimensional, but that's where the writing, directing, acting team fool you. They gracefully become real characters, particularly the two supporting astronauts. I admit I usually pay more attention to the "supporting players", and usually it's the women who care about the romantic leads. The romantic lead pair go through this as a bit of a cliché, but show some dimensions in character near the end. All together, the quartet was superior to most of the "A movie" astronauts in credibility. The character of John Andros must have been the delight of the team making this film, and it's fascinating in the way they bring him along late, almost as an after thought, as though he would be just "hanging around". He is basically the story here, and I believe the story is told through his eyes, which I won't spoil by how it ends. There's a lot to like here. It is craftily directed. Despite the low budget and limited action, there's not a dull moment. It grips you throughout. That's some directing, writing, editing, acting, the who shebangs! There's even a terrific Gilligan's Island style dream sequence. A hidden gem. I probably won't put it on my top 20 sci-fi films of all time, but it's definitely in the top 40. Of course, as I noted before, this is more of a "man's movie" than a chick flick.

Watching 'Space Probe - Taurus' is a salutary reminder of how lucky American International Pictures were to have been associated with the gifted Roger Corman. Without Corman, what we get is perfectly competent but thoroughly routine and uninspired, without the budget to create convincing spaceships or even to plunder a Soviet sci-fi picture for its effects. And it's not even in colour. The crew is the usual combination of three middle-aged looking men to one hot chick; the hot chick in this case being the late Francine York as Dr. Lisa Wayne, who wears the same unisex coverall as the men, but unlike them accessorises it with silver go-go boots instead of the lace-up army boots the others wear (presumably the quartermasters back on Earth didn't have them in her size). The name of the ship is apt, as she resembles a piece of porcelain in this bullpen. Dr. Wayne is initially charmlessly cold-shouldered by skipper Hank Stevens (James Brown) because he hadn't wanted a woman on board, before he eventually mellows and charmlessly falls in love with her instead. (Ho Hum...) The early scenes resemble Season One of 'Lost in Space' when it was in black & white. It then becomes 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' when - forced to make an emergency landing on an alien planet - they end up on the bottom of one of its oceans, to be attacked by crab monsters and a cousin of the gill-man from 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon'.Considering how excited scientists get at the slightest suggestion of moisture in outer space, they take the presence of oceans on this new planet in their stride. Dr. Wayne's supposed to be a scientist, but when they encounter what are obviously enormous crabs her first question is to ask "What are they?" We're told early on that the equipment the ship can carry is severely circumscribed by weight, yet it fortunately turns out to include scuba gear. Naturally the new planet has a breathable atmosphere, but I wouldn't relish sharing my new home with crabs the size of elephants; presumably any other gill-men would be dealt with the way the settlers saw off the American Indians.Bearing in mind that this was made the year that Malcolm X was assassinated, the most striking observation made by anyone in the film is by Dr.Andros after they've just killed a hostile alien whose ship they'd been trespassing on. He makes a number of comments about the unlikelihood of different species being able to peacefully co-exist that are remarkably near the knuckle ("We've got enough troubles on Earth now. I mean we're barely keeping from killing each other off...pretty soon someone on Earth decides that we don't like the way they look...after all, one of us is going to be a minority group. And the next thing you know, Whammo, we're trying to blast each other out of existence."), and remain as scarily pertinent as ever over half a century later.

Don't listen to the naysayers and fifth-rate comedians..... this is a pretty cool sci-fi flick.A group four space travelers crash into an aquatic environment and find a population of big giant crabs lumbering around. It's time for one of the crew to go out and investigate, so the guy who cracks all the stale jokes gets to go (good choice..... he was a real Sominex salesman). Out in the sea, he finds a strange gill-man who looks really mean.Fair and fun movie, though dragged down a few times by all the jokes about the hot chick and a perfectly painful scene where the girl and the ship commander talk about 'love stuff', yuuccck! What a bore! OK film with costumes confiscated from 'The Wizard of Mars' (1964) and closing music lifted from 'Flight to Mars' (1951).

By any standard, the greatest movie every made.It's a WWII submarine movie, complete with sonar pinging.Plus Sea Hunt, with underwater grappling with a monster.The background music is in both major and minor keys.The sets are comparable with those of Star Trek.The dialog is minimal and nary a word is mispronounced.The computers beep and boop obligingly.There's a countdown scene, all the way from 10 to 1. The tension builds relentlessly.The technology is comparable to that in any garage.The Mystery Science Theater guys are not in any scene.The captain is considerate enough to spell out the new planet, "Andros I," for the preliterate.Best of all, the movie end reliably, each time it's shown.All things considered, the synergy is stunning. Stunning, I say.