Following the global devastation of the Robot Wars, the remnants of humanity fled Earth to establish New Washington, a domed city on the Moon. Society here is fragile, entirely dependent on Raddic-Q2, an essential anti-radiation miracle drug mined exclusively on the distant planet Delta 3.
Enter Omus (Jack Palance), a scenery-chewing cyborg-controlling tyrant who overthrows the planetary government on Delta 3, deposes Governor Nikki (Carol Lynley) and declares himself supreme emperor. To show the lunar politicians he means business, Omus hijacks a cargo vessel filled with the vital Raddic-Q2 drug and deliberately crashes it directly into New Washington. His demand is simple: absolute submission or let humanity slowly waste away from radiation sickness.
While cowardly politicians like Senator Smedley (John Ireland) lean toward appeasement, the brilliant and freedom-loving Dr. John Caball (Barry Morse, fresh off Space: 1999) refuses to bend the knee. Caball, his son Jason (Nicholas Campbell) and Smedley’s daughter Kim (Anne-Marie Martin) commandeer the experimental ship Starstreak to journey to Delta 3. Along for the chaotic ride is Sparks, a plucky, cylindrical robot originally built by Omus that has been reprogrammed to help the resistance.
What follows is an interplanetary voyage featuring aggressively low-budget special effects, questionable wardrobe choices (including spacesuits that make the cast look like baked potatoes) and bizarre planetary detours including an encounter with bleach-blond alien kids hiding in ordinary Ontario brush.
Despite the prominent billing in the title, the film has virtually nothing to do with H.G. Wells’s 1933 pioneering sci-fi novel (or William Cameron Menzies’s legendary 1936 film adaptation, Things to Come). Apart from lifting the title and a couple of character names, the script was hastily slapped together to cash in on the explosive, worldwide phenomenon of Star Wars two years prior.
The best part is when Jack Palance’s face is projected in the sky. I wish I could do that for real.
You can watch this on Tubi.
