Journey to the Seventh Planet

I expected much worse, I wanted it to be fun. First time a film experience was ever spoiled by better than expected production values. For 1962 Denmark, this wasn't bad. The print I saw was pretty sharp and the colors were good. Special effects were about what youd expect.Kind of a lame role for John Agar, Id prefer him as a madman going space crazy and threatening the rest of the crew.Cerebral kind of story that you wouldn't expect from that era. Check out the vintage state of the art equipment, what was available then. I don't get the bizarre space helmets, they don't look functionable. Cool ending title song though. Its worth checking out for the nostalgic science fiction aficianados. Id like to see more antique 50s and 60s sci fi packaged on DVD

I have waited a long time to see this film on DVD, but finally got it. The sound quality is not that good either. However it did bring back memories of this frightening (to a 12 year old) movie. I have watched the DVD at least 10 times since I bought it. There are a number of slip ups in the film. The helmet visors do not form a seal around the helmets, but my favorite is the part after they have blasted the brain and are running in the forest. In one place one astronaut trips and falls down. As the other two pick him up, you can see a huge rip in his spacesuit and you can see his white underwear. I paid $11.00 for the DVD and it is well worth the price for this classic. Invisible Invaders is on the flip side so it is a very good deal.

Sometimes overlooked Sci-Fi from director/writer Sidney W. Pink. Special effects at times a little weird. No so spectacular, but this Danish film is worth your time spent. It is the year 2001 and countries of the world have gotten past their fighting and the United Nations is the governing body. Technology has progressed to allow more intense searches for life on other planets. A United Nations space mission will set out to land on and explore the planet Uranus. The crew is led by Captain Don Graham(John Agar). Upon landing the explorers do not find the surface as frozen and barren as they expected; but a thick, lush forest with a breathable atmosphere. It is not long until the crew begin to realize what they are finding on Uranus is a strange journey into their own minds. Agar's supporting cast includes: Carl Ottosen, Louis Miehe-Renard, Peter Monch, Ann Smymer and Greta Thyssen.

What is "Journey to the Seventh Planet"? Basically, a dubbed Danish sci-fi movie starring Shirley Temple's ex-husband. Simplistic, true, but it's nice brainless fun. The plot centers on a UN mission going to Uranus and finding a giant brain that manifests their thoughts. Of course, they're always thinking about hot women, so guess what they see! While this was obviously just intended as brain candy when they made it, in a way, it's taken on a new meaning. The movie happens in 2001, when all war has ended and multilateral ism reigns supreme. If only they had known of George W. Bush! Oh well. It's so weird how these movies take on new meanings, especially B sci-fi movies. Oh, and I've always wondered: is there any polite way to pronounce Uranus?

The movie's setting is 2001, when according to the opening monologue, "the planet earth is no longer racked by wars and threats of annihilation. Man has learned to live with himself." Really? A bit optimistic there! Anyway, the United Nations, the world's governing body (Yikes!), has undertaken missions to determine if life exists on the planets of the solar system. So far there has been no luck. The current rocket mission is to explore the surface of planet Uranus (pronounced as Ur-ah-nus), which has a cloud-top temperature of 200° Centigrade. After all, it's almost 1.8 billion miles from the sun! It emits a "strange radiation" and is not very dense, being composed of ammonia and methane. These facts do not faze the five men in a rocket ship who seem to land in a forest (actually an icy surface). It is obvious that little or no pre-landing preparation was accomplished, for there were no orbiting satellites, no unmanned probe, and no specific information gathering. Ah, details, details . . . After boring dialogue that consumes nearly one-half of the picture, the explorers finally depart their spacecraft with their rubber suits and headgear. They find weird happenings, like green plants that do not belong there; they lack root systems. Houses and windmills automatically appear when the spacemen think about them. It seems that the planet is using mind control to dominate the spacemen. The memories of the men are used to format illusions instead of the realities of the planet. They include the Danish pastries, er, alluring earth women who do not really exist on Ur-ah-nus. When Captain Graham (John Agar) is rescued after sinking in a quicksand-like substance (ammonia snow particles), he says rather haltingly, "I . . . am . . . glad . . . you were here . . . to pull me out." "Be careful," the boss wisely utters. The men do encounter a one-eyed Allosaurus – they think it's a rodent. It seems that one of the crew has a fear of rats. "That's it," utters the commander, "Our deepest and greatest fears are being dug up by our subconscious by whatever the power is out there and pitted against us!" The novice astronaut chimes in that it is not only the fears that are used but also the desires (cute chicks) as part of mind control. Oh, the tension! What to do? Before long the space heroes are smooching on the Danish pastries (Ingrid, Greta, Ann, Mimi). But time is running out for them to blast off from their optimum orbital position. If they miss it there will not be enough fuel to return to earth. Oh, the horror! Then they encounter other oddities, like the giant tarantula. They soon (not soon enough) encounter the telepathic Big Eye-on-Brain, which is exposed without any covering! Big Eye's sinister plan is to conquer the earth (HA HA HA HA HA). "You will submit, and I shall possess you." Oh, the pressure! Can they stop this maniacal alien? The ludicrous ending will not be revealed here. Darn! Directed and produced by the incomparable Sid Pink, who gave us "The Angry Red Planet" (1959) and "Reptilicus" (1961), this Danish honey was made on the cheap ($75,000). Filming could not have taken more than a few weeks. It shows: wretched dubbing, laughable dialogue, wooden acting, cheap sets, and meager production values. The film was sent to American International, who reportedly made several special effects changes before the American distribution to theaters. So aging is not an issue with this stinker, as it was awful at the very beginning! Hard to believe it was even worse than it is! John Agar, that creature from Earth, made such films as "Tarantula" (1955), "The Brain from Planet Arous" (1957), and "Attack of the Puppet People" (1958). Surprisingly he is only the second-in-command here. The other actors are better left unnamed.

A small group of astronauts land on Uranus, but to their amazement the iced filled planet is filled with sprawling woodlands and picture perfect weather that resembles where they're from, Denmark. Soon beautiful women are magically appearing and small town steads crop up, but it's just too good to be true. Then the men find out that all of this is a mirage created by an alien force that taps into their minds to create the illusions. What a plain, unexciting and psychedelically goofy Danish b-grade Sci-fi clunker. Its kiddie stuff all round, despite the enthusiasm (drop off acting) and the intriguingly unusual concept. Think of "Solaris", but only bare bones. Nothing about it seems to gel and the execution is ponderously weak by Sidney Pink. The fractured story is laughable mumbo jumbo that doesn't slow down, but just doesn't get up too much. The astronauts' hunger for knowledge… uh, well what the alien created leaned more towards girls being on mind. Sure, there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't do a lot when the same repetitive actions occur one after another. But despite that there are some imaginative (if somewhat droll) ideas amongst some very trippy visuals. It's purely a mind trip. It's too bad the performances are extremely wooden, as they could have camp this one up for a better affect. John Agar and Greta Thyssen were okay. The best of the lot would have to be the giant green brain (the ruler of Uranus) and its hilarious voice over. At least the corn that came from it raised a smirk, compared to the expressionless and quite stiff dialogues that spewed out of the mouths of the astronauts. The effects used; animation. Was quite tacky and bottom of the barrel stuff, but at least it was colourful and the cardboard sets are one-note. An incredibly cheap space adventure foray that has a few moments and a smoothly laced title song, but despite an injection of good will, it's quite dour for most part.

This 1962 disaster was reportedly described by the director as "almost unreleasable," and after seeing it, I can understand why. I honestly thought "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was the worst movie I had even seen, but now I'm not so sure. I cannot believe a film could be more horribly conceived or ineptly carried out than this one. The acting and dubbing add up to a total embarrassment, and you watch this thing more in amazement than interest. The plot line concerning a monster drawing out the spacemen's thoughts to create a world for them is not a bad idea, although it has been seen in various sci-fi vehicles over the years. The production values doomed this one and the acting buried it. The corny song at the end was totally out of creative synch with a film that never had any synch to begin with. John Agar was the only bright spot in this film, but even he could not save it. The film was made in Denmark, and it is my feeling that it should have stayed there. ##

Filmed in 1962 this movie was clearly ahead of its time. Essentially, the United Nations is in control of the Earth and space exploration has gone all the way to Saturn. So it's up to the spaceship "Explorer 12" to scout out Uranus. Five men undertake the journey and land in a lush forest which isn't supposed to be there. Not only that, but several beautiful women are there as well. Realizing that their minds are being read they come to the conclusion that there is an alien presence on this planet and because of certain events they become hostile to it. Now, even though I personally like science-fiction films of this era, I think it's only fair to state that this film is very campy and the special effects are clearly not up to today's standards. Likewise, the acting was second-rate and the dialogue left much to be desired. But if a person has a little imagination I think they might enjoy it, all things considered.

Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962) clearly served as the inspiration for Star Trek: The Original Series, and independently displayed some of the same ideas that we find in Polish sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem's novel "Solaris" (1961), which has been the basis of not only two Solaris movies but also a slew of other rip-offs, incl. such films as The Sphere and Event Horizon, which all use the "monsters from the Id" gimmick. Journey to the Seventh Planet did it first (although it can also be argued that the idea originated in Forbidden Planet from 1956), and for this, and its Star Trek-like qualities, its historical significance and influence are firmly cemented as nothing short of gargantuan. As a movie, the ideas hold up but the acting and the dialog do not. My rating: 7 out of 10.

I bought this double DVD recently and liked it very much, and then after watching it for like the 2nd time, I started to wonder, why didn't they name this movie Journey to URANUS, and I finally got the joke, I laughed my butt off! They maybe should have titled it Journey to Neptune... But I like Journey to the Seventh Planet just fine. The whole Sci-Fi genre should be proud of these diamonds in the rough and the DVD which had two movies on it cost me only $9.99, which I thought was a very fair price to take a Journey to URANUS! Oh Yeah thats What I am talking about. I bought this double DVD recently and liked it very much, and then after watching it for like the 2nd time, I started to wonder, why didn't they name this movie Journey to URANUS, and I finally got the joke, I laughed my butt off! They maybe should have titled it Journey to Neptune... But I like Journey to the Seventh Planet just fine. The whole Sci-Fi genre should be proud of these diamonds in the rough and the DVD which had two movies on it cost me only $9.99, which I thought was a very fair price to take a Journey to URANUS! Oh Yeah thats What I am talking about.