Post by kmorgan on Dec 5, 2020 22:50:49 GMT -5
As promised over in the "kmorgan's selections" thread, here's the review I posted on the old Even Deeper Blurting board of "Brain from Planet Arous". It was originally posted probably in the late 1990s; I'll have to double check. I've made only minor grammatical edits, and left in some now-dated references. Hope you like it.
********
MY "BRAIN" HURTS
By
Kenneth Morgan
In this review, Kenneth Morgan looks at a movie manages to have two brains, yet little actual intelligence.
Over the decades, one part of the body has turned up again and again as a major player in science fiction. (No, I'm not talking about that part of the body, unless Penthouse does SF movies, now.) That part is the brain (though I think the head is probably a close second, with the hand placing third). The human little gray cells have been the focus of some pretty good science fiction works, like the classic "Donovan's Brain". Our subject for today is one of the bad ones: "The Brain From Planet Arous".
The story opens in the scenic, nuclear test area of Nevada. Two scientists, Steve (John Agar, as condescending as ever) and Dan (Robert Fuller, before he got his medical degree), start picking up intermittent readings of weird radiation (But then, isn't all radiation a little weird?) After briefly conferring with Steve's fiancée Sally (Joyce Meadows) over charbroiled hamburger sandwiches (and French-fried potatoes, no doubt), they head into the desert to check it out. Eventually, they come upon a dark, recently dug old cave. (SUGGESTED RIFF- Servo: "It's Ro-Man's old place!" Crow: "To live like the Hu-man!") They explore the cave and are quickly set upon by Gor, a floating, transparent alien brain with glowing eyes (like there's any other kind of alien brain) from the planet Arous. (SUGGESTED RIFF- "Special guest star: Observer's brain!") Dan is killed outright and spared the rest of the movie. Gor, however, immediately possesses Steve, for use in his evil schemes.
Steve/Gor returns to Sally's place and immediately starts pawing her. Gor, besides being meglomaniacal, is also quite lecherous (like 80% of all alien invaders). Sally fights off his advances with the help of George, her faithful dog. This being the Fifties, Steve's new interest in sex causes her some concern. So, she and her father John Fallon (Thomas Brown Henry) head into the desert and find the previously mentioned cave. Inside, they discover Dan's body and run into Vol, another floating, transparent alien brain with glowing eyes. Only Vol is a good guy, sent from Arous to capture evil Gor. Unfortunately, due to some kind of jurisdictional problem, Vol can only catch Gor when he's not in possession of Steve, which must happen once every 24 hours. So, in order to fool Gor, Vol advises Sally and John to act unaware of Gor's presence, then takes possession of George, in order to secretly keep an eye on things. (Makes sense, since George is the most intelligent character in the movie.)
Meanwhile, Gor starts flexing his telepathic muscles by blowing planes on visible wires out of the sky. (Oh, whenever Steve/Gor does this, the whole mental power thing is shown by having Agar wear that terrible set of contacts Crow wore in one episode back on TFNWSRN, along with a psycho-type grin, mad laughter and lots of scenery-chewing.) And, on his downtime, Gor regularly emerges from Steve body (causing Steve to writhe like he's getting a root canal without Novocain) to taunt him and, back in possession of hapless Steve, tries unsuccessfully to molest Sally. At one point, Steve/Gor is asked to check the wreckage of a plane he'd just blasted. When asked about the cause of the crash, Steve/Gor slyly answers, "Could be the beginning of the end." (SUGGESTED RIFF- "No, we already did that movie.")
Spouting some high-sounding nonsense about a great, new discovery, Steve/Gor meets a bunch of generals and demonstrates his power by destroying a fake town set up for a nuclear test (resulting in the use of conveniently placed stock footage). Immediately thereafter, there's this exchange:
Steve/Gor: "I know what you're thinking…"
SUGGESTED RIFF- "I'm boring and I wear bad contacts."
Steve/Gor: "…that I must be destroyed."
SUGGESTED RIFF- "That, too."
At a later meeting, Steve/Gor tells the generals and some diplomats that he should be made King of the World ASAP or else. They wuss out very quickly, say they'll check with their bosses about handing Steve/Gor the deed to the Earth, and Steve/Gor goes home. While this is going on, Vol tells Sally that, when Gor is not in Steve's head, the only way to kill the alien is by striking at some specific area of his exposed brain matter (rather than just blowing him to bits with a shotgun). Sally goes to Steve's lab and leaves him a blatant clue as to how to destroy the villain. With Sally hiding in the lab, Gor emerges from Steve for his daily "rub your face in it" session, completely missing said clue, proving that he's just too stupid to be allowed to run the world. Steve, however, sees it and the stage is set for a less than exciting finish, with a final twist that, while meant to be humorous, makes us dislike Steve more than we did Steve/Gor.
Okay, my first question when watching this movie was, "Why didn't they do this on the show?" (I can only guess they either couldn't get the rights to it, or they just couldn't take another John Agar flick.) This movie is perfect 'bot fodder, from the cheesy visual effects to the wacky script. (For example, Vol tells George, "Good dog", before possessing him. So, the disembodied brains of Arous have dogs on their planet? How do they walk them?) And while some of the actors try their best, they are overshadowed by the miles-over-the-top performance of John Agar when Gor possesses Steve. And, there's that good old MST standby, the Hero Who Doesn't Actually Do Anything Heroic. All Vol does is tell Sally some information she could've probably worked out herself and, when hiding in George's head, make a few barks to stop Steve/Gor from getting too fresh with Sally. Director Nathan Juran (the director of "Deadly Mantis" working under the appropriate pseudonym Nathan Hertz) tries a few inventive touches, but they don't dispel the fact that this is a really bad flick.
All in all, this is a great movie for home MSTing. Turn it on and you'll find the riffs flowing freely from your mind. And, since it runs about an hour and 15 minutes, you'll even have time to pop in the newly-released "Assignment: Venezuela" short (which is top notch funny stuff; I saw it at ConventioCon II) for the full two-hour experiment feeling.
Getting back to my original point, I'm thinking maybe it's time to try some other body part as a subject for these kinds of SF thrillers.
Then again, "The Upper Lip From Planet Arous" just doesn't have the right ring to it.
********
MY "BRAIN" HURTS
By
Kenneth Morgan
In this review, Kenneth Morgan looks at a movie manages to have two brains, yet little actual intelligence.
Over the decades, one part of the body has turned up again and again as a major player in science fiction. (No, I'm not talking about that part of the body, unless Penthouse does SF movies, now.) That part is the brain (though I think the head is probably a close second, with the hand placing third). The human little gray cells have been the focus of some pretty good science fiction works, like the classic "Donovan's Brain". Our subject for today is one of the bad ones: "The Brain From Planet Arous".
The story opens in the scenic, nuclear test area of Nevada. Two scientists, Steve (John Agar, as condescending as ever) and Dan (Robert Fuller, before he got his medical degree), start picking up intermittent readings of weird radiation (But then, isn't all radiation a little weird?) After briefly conferring with Steve's fiancée Sally (Joyce Meadows) over charbroiled hamburger sandwiches (and French-fried potatoes, no doubt), they head into the desert to check it out. Eventually, they come upon a dark, recently dug old cave. (SUGGESTED RIFF- Servo: "It's Ro-Man's old place!" Crow: "To live like the Hu-man!") They explore the cave and are quickly set upon by Gor, a floating, transparent alien brain with glowing eyes (like there's any other kind of alien brain) from the planet Arous. (SUGGESTED RIFF- "Special guest star: Observer's brain!") Dan is killed outright and spared the rest of the movie. Gor, however, immediately possesses Steve, for use in his evil schemes.
Steve/Gor returns to Sally's place and immediately starts pawing her. Gor, besides being meglomaniacal, is also quite lecherous (like 80% of all alien invaders). Sally fights off his advances with the help of George, her faithful dog. This being the Fifties, Steve's new interest in sex causes her some concern. So, she and her father John Fallon (Thomas Brown Henry) head into the desert and find the previously mentioned cave. Inside, they discover Dan's body and run into Vol, another floating, transparent alien brain with glowing eyes. Only Vol is a good guy, sent from Arous to capture evil Gor. Unfortunately, due to some kind of jurisdictional problem, Vol can only catch Gor when he's not in possession of Steve, which must happen once every 24 hours. So, in order to fool Gor, Vol advises Sally and John to act unaware of Gor's presence, then takes possession of George, in order to secretly keep an eye on things. (Makes sense, since George is the most intelligent character in the movie.)
Meanwhile, Gor starts flexing his telepathic muscles by blowing planes on visible wires out of the sky. (Oh, whenever Steve/Gor does this, the whole mental power thing is shown by having Agar wear that terrible set of contacts Crow wore in one episode back on TFNWSRN, along with a psycho-type grin, mad laughter and lots of scenery-chewing.) And, on his downtime, Gor regularly emerges from Steve body (causing Steve to writhe like he's getting a root canal without Novocain) to taunt him and, back in possession of hapless Steve, tries unsuccessfully to molest Sally. At one point, Steve/Gor is asked to check the wreckage of a plane he'd just blasted. When asked about the cause of the crash, Steve/Gor slyly answers, "Could be the beginning of the end." (SUGGESTED RIFF- "No, we already did that movie.")
Spouting some high-sounding nonsense about a great, new discovery, Steve/Gor meets a bunch of generals and demonstrates his power by destroying a fake town set up for a nuclear test (resulting in the use of conveniently placed stock footage). Immediately thereafter, there's this exchange:
Steve/Gor: "I know what you're thinking…"
SUGGESTED RIFF- "I'm boring and I wear bad contacts."
Steve/Gor: "…that I must be destroyed."
SUGGESTED RIFF- "That, too."
At a later meeting, Steve/Gor tells the generals and some diplomats that he should be made King of the World ASAP or else. They wuss out very quickly, say they'll check with their bosses about handing Steve/Gor the deed to the Earth, and Steve/Gor goes home. While this is going on, Vol tells Sally that, when Gor is not in Steve's head, the only way to kill the alien is by striking at some specific area of his exposed brain matter (rather than just blowing him to bits with a shotgun). Sally goes to Steve's lab and leaves him a blatant clue as to how to destroy the villain. With Sally hiding in the lab, Gor emerges from Steve for his daily "rub your face in it" session, completely missing said clue, proving that he's just too stupid to be allowed to run the world. Steve, however, sees it and the stage is set for a less than exciting finish, with a final twist that, while meant to be humorous, makes us dislike Steve more than we did Steve/Gor.
Okay, my first question when watching this movie was, "Why didn't they do this on the show?" (I can only guess they either couldn't get the rights to it, or they just couldn't take another John Agar flick.) This movie is perfect 'bot fodder, from the cheesy visual effects to the wacky script. (For example, Vol tells George, "Good dog", before possessing him. So, the disembodied brains of Arous have dogs on their planet? How do they walk them?) And while some of the actors try their best, they are overshadowed by the miles-over-the-top performance of John Agar when Gor possesses Steve. And, there's that good old MST standby, the Hero Who Doesn't Actually Do Anything Heroic. All Vol does is tell Sally some information she could've probably worked out herself and, when hiding in George's head, make a few barks to stop Steve/Gor from getting too fresh with Sally. Director Nathan Juran (the director of "Deadly Mantis" working under the appropriate pseudonym Nathan Hertz) tries a few inventive touches, but they don't dispel the fact that this is a really bad flick.
All in all, this is a great movie for home MSTing. Turn it on and you'll find the riffs flowing freely from your mind. And, since it runs about an hour and 15 minutes, you'll even have time to pop in the newly-released "Assignment: Venezuela" short (which is top notch funny stuff; I saw it at ConventioCon II) for the full two-hour experiment feeling.
Getting back to my original point, I'm thinking maybe it's time to try some other body part as a subject for these kinds of SF thrillers.
Then again, "The Upper Lip From Planet Arous" just doesn't have the right ring to it.