Cyborg 2087

From the titular year, a cyborg called Garth A7 (Michael Rennie) is sent back in time to 1966 in order to stop an event that will lead to the subjugation of humanity. Garth A7 enlists the help of humans, while two super-soldiers from 2087 arrive to eliminate him.

The idea of a time-traveling cyborg, sent by a group of freedom fighters to stop a scientist from developing an advanced technology, is familiar indeed! James Cameron simply must have seen this movie. Even the scene when Garth A7 shows a scientist the proof that he's a machine is extremely reminiscent of a similar revelation in Cameron's T2! Of course, this film had neither the astronomical budget, nor the advantage of a Cameron to direct it. In spite of this, CYBORG 2087 is a lot of fun to watch, and deserves to be rediscovered...

Often dismissed as a "quickie" movie using a great deal of television elements, "Cyborg 2087" is a prime example of what Hollywood was trying to do between the late fifties and mid-sixties: get people (especially the kids) away from the television set and back into the movie theaters. This film tried (sometimes successfully) to combine two popular genres of t.v. at the time; westerns and science fiction. Half-human robots, having a "shoot out" in a western town using ray guns to rescue the girl (played by a former "Mouseketeer", no less). Listen for the Paul Dunlap soundtrack, which should be familiar -- it was used for several t.v. shows, movies, and even Hanna Barbara cartoons! Also, check out the "hip lingo" used by the teens.The sad part is to see classically-trained actor Michael Rennie trying to make a living wearing a silver spacesuit after being typecast as a "sci-fi guy" in "The Day The Earth Stood Still".

The term, cyborg, meaning cybernetic organism, relates to a human enhanced with mechanical parts, often robotic in nature.

Thus gave us the first glimpse into this genre. Albeit low budget (I mean, instrumentation from the future labeled with Dymo Label Maker Tapes?) and featuring actors who were at their peak not just a few short years before, including Michael Rennie, Klaatu from "The Day The Earth Stood Still" or "The Keeper" from "Lost In Space", or Warren Stevens, Doc Ostrow from "Forbidden Planet ("Monsters! Monsters from the ID!") and throwing the tem-oral twist of alternative time lines, this cyborg pre-dated "The Six Million Dollar Man" (and Martin Cadin's novel it was based on, "Cyborg"), the Jean Claude Van Damme dystopic future wasteland adventure, even Star Trek: The Next Generation's most relentless enemies, the Borg (sounds Swedish!...sorry. I couldn't resist).

Add to that the obvious Terminator references (and people still forget about Harlan Ellison's own legal action against Cameron due to similarities in his Outer Limits scripts "Demon With the Glass Hand" and "Soldier") and you have a low-budget oddity that hasn't made the rounds in the post-midnight TV info-mercial circuit in years, being swept aside by other B-Movie kings like the Band Brothers' Full Moon Productions or Bert I. Gordon's & Brian Yuzna's Lovecraft micro-epics.

It's always good to see Michael Rennie on screen in any role. He has appeared in a sci-fi films and TV series including his iconic role as Klattu role in The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) andThe Power (1968). Rennie has a strong screen presence and always manages to bring a good measure of style, class and poise to his various roles. Other appearances have included the sci-fi / fanrasy super hero TV series Batman, The Time Tunnel and Lost In Space.

Karen Steele who plays Dr. Sharon Mason began her career in the Oscar-winning Marty and may be recognised as one of "Mudd's Women" on he original series of Star Trek. It is a shame that her career didn't feature more prominent roles.

One face we do recognize is that of the stalwart Warren Stevens. He was a very dependable and versatile actor throughout the 1950s and 1960s who appeared in quite a few films and TV series. He played a space ship's physician in Forbidden Planet (1956).

There's no getting around the fact that Cyborg is a a low budget undemanding sci-fi film that just touches on scientists' responsibility for their creations and how we shape our own futures by the decisions we take. It tries a bit too hard to appeal to a teenage audience of the time and the fight scenes are rather long and tedious.

Michael Rennie of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" fame stars as Garth A7, a cyborg sent by a future civilization back to 1966. His mission is to make sure that the revolutionary "radio-telepathy" technique being engineered by Professor Marx (Eduard Franz, "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake") does not come to fruition. The thing is, in the future, this technique will be misused by evil minds and bring out about chaos. Once he is back in the past, Garth gets scientists Carl Zellar (Warren Stevens, "Forbidden Planet") and Sharon Mason (Karen Steele, "Ride Lonesome") to help him out, while being hunted by assassins dubbed "Tracers".

If this premise sounds familiar, it should: it was also utilized around this time by Harlan Ellison, as an episode of 'The Outer Limits' titled 'Soldier'. Of course, it would eventually be appropriated again, famously, by James Cameron for "The Terminator". While this ultimately upbeat diversion is nowhere near as atmospheric or grim as Camerons' film, it's certainly a reasonable bit of entertainment. Its obvious low budget and TV movie-like nature will inevitably invite descriptions like "cheesy". It does get positively goofy when, at one point, Zellars' daughter (Sherry Alberoni, "Nightmare Circus") and her friends (including a young John Beck of "Rollerball") groove to some hip tunes while he's trying to perform an operation on Garth. Various people get zapped by Garths' odd weapon, which really does no more than paralyze living things, rather than kill them. The music, while credited to Paul Dunlap, seems to consist of stock cues (such as one memorably used in "Night of the Living Dead"). Franklin Adreon (a TV veteran whose theatrical credits also include stuff like "Panther Girl of the Kongo") directs capably, if not stylishly.

The cast gives a straight faced go at this material. Rennie is good as a character committed to being ruthless in pursuit of his goal, yet who might just find some humanity after all. Wendell Corey ("Rear Window") is a sheriff, Harry Carey Jr. ("3 Godfathers") a pesky reporter, Adam Roarke ("Hells Angels on Wheels") Corey's deputy, and Jo Ann Pflug ("MASH") appears fleetingly at the outset as one of the people sending Garth on his way.

Lightweight and unmemorable stuff, yet it does show one a decent enough time, and should be interesting to see for fans of cult science-fiction.

Six out of 10.