The Stranger

Typical ABC Movie-of-The-Week circa 1973 when some cheesy and some interesting Sci Fi films were produced rather prolifically. They are still way better than the crap that Sci-Fi Channel makes seemingly weekly for "Premieres".

This one was more or less a rip-off/remake of the much better Journey to The Far Side of The Sun(1969) which was made in England and Europe by Gerry Anderson. That film benefited from incredible FX work from Derek Meddings, a great score from Barry Gray and a good cast and had a haunting ending.

The Stranger doesn't have any of that. The plot-an astronaut Glenn Corbett-blown up in space-finds himself on a parallel earth, we learn it is called Terra(one assumes the play on the word "terror" as well as Terra meaning Earth) with three moons. He wakes up-a prisoner in what turns out is a mental hospital-to a very paranoid and not-giving-much-info hospital staff. Managing to escape he finds out he's on this creepy, alternate version of earth but ruled by a totalitarian government called The Perfect Order and is pursued by Cameron Mitchell, a ruthless agent of the secret police for this government. The agents drive around in ominous looking Plymouths(that do not sound like Earth cars) and wear these strange knit jackets with wide lapels and they've cautioned everyone that a dangerous mental patient has escaped and that he must be found. Our astronaut manages to evade capture by dressing like the inhabitants-who dress unfashionably drab sort of like old 60's Communist Russia. When he starts asking questions-such as a scene in a bookstore when he asks "What came before the Perfect Order?" suspicion is aroused and up pops Mitchell and his thugs who threaten the already paranoid citizens with "Ward E" a sinister mental asylum. They'll do anything to cooperate and earn "citizen points" rather than face the ominous Ward E so Corbett is off again in The Fugitive-style escapes. The evils of Ward E are illustrated when another administrator (Tim O' Connor) confides to Mitchell that he wonders if this visitor has something to say and maybe this "Perfect Order" is wrong. Later we see him sitting in the middle of a weird surrealistic room, in hospital clothing, completely docile and vegetative and Mitchell warns him over his shoulder how he has paid the price for doubting. Meanwhile our astronaut befriends a young doctor(Sharon Acker) who not only believes his story of coming from-and wanting to go back to-another earth-but seems to have feelings for him. Eventually she is captured and hooks up with him later saying she escaped. He wants to use this society's slightly better space technology (which is hinted at, by Perfect Order elders that they'll eventually use to invade Earth) to escape this madness. When they get to the launch facility, she implores him not to go(he's already put on a space suit) and in the struggle, she reveals she was in fact taken for "treatments" at Ward E and has been brainwashed to lead him back to the authorities. He sets off an alarm which incapacitates Acker(revealing the nature of the Ward E treatments)who crumbles, grasping her head and he attempts to get aboard the spaceship. She's recaptured and the last we see is Mitchell telling her she's failed and it's back to Ward E-forever-as she screams. The launch fails and he winds up, staring wistfully at the three moons, all set up for a TV series that never happened.

The biggest thing this film had working against it was lack of a budget. The FX are non-existent, space stuff is all stock and a shot of the Terra launch facility simply looks like Cape Kennedy/Vandenberg AFB footage at night. The three moons are nothing more than three balls just hung on string in front of a star field-very cheesy. It has the claustrophobic-shot-in-an-old-office building feel that many of those Made-for-TV'ers suffered from. Also, everything seems very convenient. He appears to have escaped into a regular New England-looking back lot town-that seems very near the space facility. It has a creepy moment when he takes the scarf off Sharon Acker's head to see her temple areas disfigured horribly from shock treatments, though I saw this coming a mile away, the fact she shows up inexplicably and with a head scarf on.

It was a film, very much of it's time that Gerry Anderson did much better earlier, but downplayed the political angle of it.

This movie takes the plot behind the sci-fi flick "Doppelganger" (an astronaut from our Earth crashing on a 'counter-Earth' on the opposite side of the Sun, and the Cold War totalitarian vibes on that world) and tries to turn it into a pilot for a TV series. However, the whole thing sank without a trace, and TV is probably better off for it.

Everyone here is perfectly adequate in a 'made for TV' way. Cameron Mitchell turns in his usual solid performance. So does Glenn Corbett (who seems to be a kind of poor man's John Saxon) who plays the rugged individualist whose very existence poses a threat to the foundation of the 'World Order' on counter Earth.

But the low budget and low energy and inconsistent script and the lack of any real imagination in the set designs and cinematography keep this Sci-Fi adventure firmly tethered on the launch pad.

I'll give one example: in the original template for this pilot, ("Doppleganger"), the astronauts lose control of their landing vehicle in a thunderstorm, and crash their ship in a truly appalling sequence (it was obvious that their ship was never going to fly again). Then the two astronauts stagger helplessly from the smoking remains of their vehicle in the middle of howling rains and winds, only to be smacked down and overcome by faceless men yelling through loudspeakers.

In "Stranded in Space", the astronauts are sitting in their seats when buzzers sound, things start shaking, and the camera blurs into a blackout (and as a friend pointed out, it was pretty obvious that the actors were simply shaking themselves on their seats, the director wasn't even shaking the camera or the set). I've seen episodes of "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits" that took more effort to establish mood and setting than this made-for-TV mediocrity.

And that, in essence, is what's wrong with "Stranded In Space". No budget, no time, no imagination...just making the token gestures and hoping the sci-fi Fan Boys' imagination and enthusiasm will fill in the rest. Sorry, guys, it didn't work.

I'm sure that everyone here just finished their work on this one and walked away, and never thought of it again, except as a listing on their C.V. And that's what you, the viewer will do. You'll remember, if pressed, that you once watched a TV movie called "Stranded In Space", but it made no lasting impression on you, and you can't recall too much about it.

I watched this pilot movie for a television show that never came to be on the riff show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Apparently, it too received the same treatment as such other MST3K classic episodes Pod People and Cave Dwellers where we get a title sequence that comes from an entirely different film all together before being treated to the actual film. It is a rather misleading tactic and one has to wonder why they do it. In Pod People, the film they show actually looks like it might be better and more horrific than the one we get. In Cave Dwellers, the film they show looks more serious and older than the one we get. Here, we get a super science fiction looking show and what we get starts out somewhat promising and then kind of falters by really going nowhere all that special. From this film, it looks like the show was going to be a take on an earlier show, The Fugitive with a few science fiction elements, but not all that many considering it takes place on another planet. Basically, nearly everything thing is the same on this planet our hero finds himself on right down to the cars!

The story has three astronauts experiencing some trouble in space. One of them ends up in a hospital where there is something not quite right. Turns out, that he is not on Earth, but another planet where some sort of oppressive government which at first is trying to get information from the astronaut, but then switches to wanting to kill him because he may pose a threat to their 'perfect' society. He goes on the run and gets the aid of a nurse and a man who happens to help with the space program, but has disdain for the order so he and the astronaut devise a plan that may get him off the planet.

This made for an interesting episode of MST3K. Honestly, during the first section of film I was actually more interested in what was happening in the movie than their riffs as it played out rather good...at first. Then it never goes anywhere and just becomes "The Fugitive" only with the very light science fiction elements. Thankfully, their riffs were good when the story was going stale so it made for an entertaining episode of the show. I liked how they kept trying to get up and leave when the movie looked as if it were going off due to commercial.

So, it was not a totally bad film, but it just needed more. It was interesting up to a point and then it just became kind of a mess. It becomes guy on run and bad guys closing in and then guy finds a way to slip passed them. Pretty sure this one would not have lasted for too many seasons because there is only so much you can do with the premise. The government pretty much had a lot of people under its influence so it would have started becoming unbelievable say he had kept running into people who just happen to hate the order. So, probably for the best it was just a one episode wonder, the main bad thing about it though is no closure.

Way better than 3.5 stars. It's a pity that it was not made into a series. There are some parallels to 'Journey to the Far Side of the Sun', but a different story.

If I feel tired and desirous to not think much before trying to dose off, I put movies like this on. They are slow moving but entertaining enough for me to lie down and watch before drifting off. This movie is great for that.

The Stranger is a low budget TV pilot which ended up being just a made for TV movie. They do an excellent job of setting things up for a series. An astronaut believes he returns to earth but discovers he isn't on earth at all but imprisoned on an alien planet which happens to be Earth's twin orbiting on the opposite side of the sun. The government is an oppressive police state. The people are identical to humans except they are left handed. There is nearly no effort to make up for the limitations of the budget. The cars are all normal looking, offices, shops, the only thing that looks sci fi is Ward E which is like the Ministry of Love in 1984.

The acting is fine. The movie itself is unremarkable but it doesn't try to be amazing either. I can sit through it but its not interesting enough to be considered a compelling thriller.