1967's "The Terrornauts" proved too ambitious for an Amicus budget, topping a dismal double bill with the only slightly better "They Came From Beyond Space," box office duds to ensure no further outer space adventures were forthcoming. The John Brunner script was adapted from Murray Leinster's 1960 novel "The Wailing Asteroid," the outline following Universal's "This Island Earth" of aliens securing aid from Earth to fight an interstellar battle that will save their galaxy. Hoping to learn something about other beings in the universe has been a lifelong ambition for Dr. Joe Burke (Simon Oates), ever since he received a curious cube as a child that inspired a dream of a world with two suns. The skeptical leader of Project Star Talk (Max Adrian) tires of their finances being drained away without results, allowing only three more months to discover concrete evidence from their intricate radio telescope. Immediately, a signal reaches them from a small asteroid repeating like an SOS call, prompting Burke to put together a transmitter to send an answer to the mysterious messenger, resulting in a ship arriving to transfer Burke and four others to the asteroid center manned by a lone robot (looking suspiciously like a rejected version of one of Dr. Who's Daleks). Various tests meant to confirm the visitors' intelligence and good intentions allow for them to decipher the secret behind the messages, an enemy force set not only to destroy the asteroid but also the planet Earth. Universal provided an adequate budget to bring "This Island Earth" to vivid life (even though the climactic view of the alien world is all too brief), but for this film Amicus started out with a decent script with a pitifully small budget that renders every action sequence downright laughable. The wires are clearly visible during space flight, the miniatures too obvious, the entire cast uninvolved, and one scene where Zena Marshall's exotic scientist is captured for a human sacrifice ends so swiftly and abruptly that it must have been done strictly to promise a colorful poster (reminding one of Cy Roth's inept "Fire Maidens of Outer Space"). A rather sad finale for 41 year old Zena Marshall, best remembered as the very first Bond Girl to bed Sean Connery's 007 in 1962's "Dr. No."
Review of The Terrornauts
