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The setting: 23rd century post nuclear war holocaust society.

The surviving population suffers from a decreasing birth rate.

The human race is headed for extinction.

People have become dependent on humanoid robots ('clickers') for assistance.

The 'Order of Flesh and Blood' fear that the robots will take over and supplant human beings.

The Order tasks itself with preventing the robots from becoming too human and with ensuring that human beings remain dominant.

A scientist experiments with creating human replicas that have genuine emotions and memories.

Two central characters, Kenneth Cragis and Maxine Megan form a close relationship and make a discovery that will call into question all that they thought they knew about the basis of their society and themselves.

The Creation of the Humanoids is basedon an original story and screenplay written by Jay Simms. The film had possibly been shot in the summer of 1960 under a working title This Time Around or This Time Tomorrow.

The film's limited budget only allowed for basic painted sets with painted background scenes and costumes consisting of jumpsuits. However, the film itself was shot using colour film. Lighting and camera angles were used effectively to add some interest and feeling of quality and atmosphere to make up for the basic nature of the sets and the film's lack of action.

The makeup used featuring the somewhat disturbing metallic-looking Humanoid eyes involved the use of large reflective scleral contact lenses. The lenses were provided by Dr. Louis M. Zabner, an optometrist who pioneered the use of contact lenses to change actors' eye color. These lenses were made of a hard plastic and were uncomfortable to wear and needed to be removed frequently. In addition, instead of requiring the actors playing the humanoid parts having to shave their head, their hair was concealed under latex rubber head coverings applied with glue.

Eyebrows were also stuck down flat and putty applied to cover rough textures. Finally, the actors' heads were painted all over with blue-gray greasepaint and rubber gloves of the same color were worn.

The musical score ("Electronic Harmonics by I. F. M.") consists of electronically generated sounds and wordless female vocalizing which gives the film that classic science-fictiony feel.

Instead of relying predominantly on action, The Creation of the Humanoids is driven largely by intelligent dialogue that explores ideas and issues that are especially relevant to our time over 60 years later as we rush headlong into a technologically dominated world that is having and will continue to have major implications for human civilisation.

How responsible will we be for the creation of a new technological life-form, one that will eventually become self-aware or sentient. This will inevitably raise moral issues surrounding the treatment such beings designed by humans specifically to serve humans.

Another issue explored in the film is that of identity. For instance, what does it mean to be human in a world where the distinctions between artificial humanoid robots and humans seem to be almost non-existent?

The Creation of the Humanoids highlights the fear held by many people of the potential dangers surrounding the development of technology in terms of its possible implications for human survival. Will we end up losing our very humanity as we become increasingly over-dependent on our technology?

As suggested by the film, our creations may evolve beyond our control and virtually love us to extinction as they fulfil their programming that impels them to act for our benefit, overriding all other considerations. Perhaps our technological creations may form the next stage in human evolution whereby the limited biological human employs technology to gain virtual immortality and goes on to continue the human legacy.

A Red Chinese "doomsday machine" capable of destroying the surface of the Earth!

A plan to use the Doomsday machine within a matter of days!

A manned U. S. space mission to Venus, 'Project Astra' taken over by the military!

Nearly half of Astra's all-male crew replaced by women! But Why?

The Earth completely destroyed in a global cataclysm!

Is the human race doomed to extinction?

What of the crew of the Astra as they journey to Venus?

Production of Doomsday Machine began in 1967 under Herbert J. Leder's direction. The titles under consideration were, Armageddon 1975 and Doomsday Plus Seven. Production halted before the film was completed and e for several years.

Most of The Doomsday Machine was filmed in 1967 but ack of financing resulted in it not being completed until 1972 minus the original cast members. The unfinished footage lay in storage during the intervening years. Lee Sholem was hired to direct the new footage.

It was intended that the climax would to take place on the surface of Venus but due to insufficient funds the ending was hastily rewritten to be set inside a spaceship.

No your ears weren't deceiving you as they picked up the familiar tones from the soundtrack of the 1950's classic, Forbidden Planet (1956). Now there was a film!

The Doomsday Machine is a film with obvious sloppy production standards relying heavily on stock footage, NASA rocket footage, special effects shots from David L. Hewitt's The Wizard of Mars and is replete with numerous continuity errors. For instance, just how often can one spaceship change in appearance throughout a film? Then there's LONG final segment featuring the abandoned Soviet spacecraft that was shot after the unfinished principal photography without the participation of the original cast. Suddenly, their spacesuits appear to be different from those shown just moments previously. In addition, their faces remain hidden behind their opaque helmet visors and the characters now speak with different voices. The excruciatingly slow pacing of the sequence is merely an exercise in padding.

At least it finally ended....albeit abruptly.

The 1960s Cold War.... A flying saucer..... American and Soviet Russian teams in Communist China!

What on earth (if not from Earth) connects these seemingly disparate elements?

A test pilot is about to have his perspective on life irrevocably altered as he becomes one of the "more than 5,000,000 persons who claim to have actually seen unidentified flying objects" and for whom "no explanation is necessary" while "to all others no explanation is possible."

Some viewers might raise the point that the film feels more like a throw-back to sci-fi films of the 1950s and compare it unfavourably to such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps, but at least the film has an engaging plot with a good mixture of entertainment, action, pacing, drama and some humour. It doesn't seem to be laying claim to being a 'work of art' that's in search of a good story to tell and which could result in audiences nodding off or losing the will to live! And yes, the film is peppered with stereotypical elements in terms of gender and Cold War national and ethnic cliches, but so what? It is easy enough to treat it as a snap shot of a particular time in history and consider whether or not we really have made that much progress in almost 60 years. After all, we've yet to "meet 'them' face-to-face!"