Marquee Attraction: Spaced Invaders
Release Date: April 17, 1990
Budget: $3 million
Domestic Box Office Gross: $15,369,573
Plot Synopsis
In a small town in Illinois, hapless intellectually challenged Martians invade. Mistaking the old broadcast of Orson Welles’ radio play of War of the Worlds as a call to battle, a small Martian crew thinks the battle is on Earth and attempts to invade Earth. The lost aliens also happen to invade on Halloween, which makes their overall presence seem less threatening.
After befriending Kathy, the daughter of the local sheriff, the Martians abandon their plans of conquering, because that was never going to be an option anyway, and thanks to Kathy’s persistence, they escape an evil robot and get back to space, where they belong.
Standing Ovation
This is the first movie that Ariana Richards appeared in, and I would like to think that it was her experience with this film that helped her get seen and enabled her to nab the Jurassic Park role. Sometimes appearing in the least popular films can bring actors the best roles.
Time for the Hook
The special effects are silly, they really make the film feel like a third-rate movie that was concocted in the backyard of some teenagers.
The cast is fine, but the characters such as Sam and Wrenchmuller are standard archetypes that get nothing special in development from the script.
The movie ends with a poop joke. Completely unnecessary, and silly.
Did You Know?
- The movie made over four million dollars on its opening weekend.
- The actors playing the Martians were virtually blind when they had their head pieces on.
- There is a subtle reference to the classic show My Favorite Martian, when the alien Giggywig mentions, “What in the name of Uncle Martin is that?”
- DeForest Kelley was considered for the role of Wrenchmuller. Thank God he did not get the part.
- This was Ariana Richards first film.
- The original title of the film was Martians.
- When the film was released on VHS, it had a trailer for the fabled and never released Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four film.
- Royal Dano had also appeared in another famous alien invasion film, Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
- There was a live action TV series in development in 1997, which went nowhere into production.
Best Quotable Line
Kathy describes the Martian’s best, “They're not really bad, just stupid.”
Casting Call
- Douglas Barr as Sam
- Royal Dano as Wrenchmuller
- Ariana Richards as Kathy
Production Team:
Directed by Patrick Read Johnson
Produced by Touchstone Pictures / Silver Screen Partners IV / Smart Egg Pictures
Written by Patrick Read Johnson / Scott Lawrence Alexander
My Critical Response
{Snub-Skip this Film, Lifeboat Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, Commuter Comforter-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Jaw Dropper– You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen, Rosebud Award– This Film is Cinema.}
The movie is not good. The fact that it links itself to Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre production of War of the Worlds and repeatedly uses the voice of Welles’ broadcast to try and bring legitimacy to the film makes Spaced Invaders a sad attempt at filmmaking. The movie is far too long for the small development of characters we get, and at one hour and forty minutes, that’s twenty minutes past the cutoff point of losing the interest of the audience.
The biggest problem that I had with the film is not the lack of character development or minimal casting for the characters, it’s the aliens. The Martians who are bent on conquering Earth end up being silly rejects that are incipiently stupid, and thus instantly annoying to the viewers. The Jack Nicholson voice of the one alien was also distracting.
It’s hard to connect with the film because for the most part, I cannot connect with the story or characters. The effects are minimal, the aliens are annoying, and the story is pointless.
I will say, Spaced Invaders would be a great candidate for a remake. With a bigger budget, better effects and stronger character development, the idea of the film works. The problem is, it needs a budget far greater than three million dollars.
Spaced Invaders gets the Snub Award. There’s a reason why this film is hard to locate, and this is a film best left in the vault of Disney.
Coming Soon
Next week we look back at The Crew.