Everything about Plan 9 From Outer Space totally explained
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a
science fiction/
horror film written, produced and directed by
Edward D. Wood, Jr. in 1958, and released in 1959. The film stars
Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon,
Tor Johnson and
Maila "Vampira" Nurmi. The film also claims to posthumously star
Bela Lugosi through use of archive footage and a brief scene of the actor shot by Wood just before Lugosi's death in 1956, although Lugosi's character is primarily portrayed by
chiropractor Tom Mason.
The plot of the film is focused on a race of
extraterrestrial beings who are seeking to stop
humans from creating a doomsday weapon that would destroy the universe. In the course of doing so, the aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect Earth's dead as
zombies to get the planet's attention, causing chaos.
Because of its script, unconvincing
special effects, and multiple production errors visible in the final version of the film,
Plan 9 from Outer Space is often regarded as a leading candidate for the title of "
worst movie ever made". It has also earned Edward D. Wood, Jr. a posthumous
Golden Turkey Award as the worst director ever.
Synopsis
While piloting American flight 812 in the then-future of 1968, Jeff Trent and his co-pilot encounter a flying saucer. Meanwhile, two gravediggers are filling the grave of a deceased woman. Suddenly, they hear a strange noise, and decide to leave the cemetery. As they turn to leave, they see a dead woman walking towards them with her arms raised.
Absorbed in his grief over his wife's death, an old man walks out of his house and into the path of an oncoming automobile. At his funeral, two mourners discover the corpses of the gravediggers from the previous scene. Inspector Daniel Clay, along with several police officers, comes to the cemetery to investigate. Clay encounters the female zombie, who is now joined by the corpse of the old man. Clay is killed by the zombies.
Jeff Trent is watching the cemetery with his wife, Paula, and tells her about his flying saucer encounter, stating that the U.S. Army has sworn him to secrecy about what he saw. He suspects that whatever is happening in the cemetery is related to his UFO encounter. Suddenly, a powerful wind knocks everyone to the ground. A spaceship lands nearby.
In the weeks that follow, newspaper headlines report other flying saucer sightings. The military, under the command of Colonel Thomas Edwards, finally attacks the alien spaceships. The spaceships leave Earth. Colonel Edwards reveals that the government has been covering up the flying saucer visits to Earth, and he wonders if the alien visits are connected to other Earth disasters.
The aliens return to Space Station 7 for regeneration. Their commander, Eros, informs the Ruler that he's attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact the governments of Earth. He tells the Ruler that to force the people of Earth to acknowledge his people's existence, he's implementing Plan Nine, which involves resurrecting people who have recently died by stimulating their
pituitary and
pineal glands. The three alien ships return to Earth.
Jeff is about to leave home again for another flight. Concerned for Paula's safety, he urges her to stay with her mother while he's gone, but she insists on staying home. That night, the corpse of the old man rises from his crypt and sneaks into their house. Joined by the corpse of his wife and the newly resurrected Daniel Clay, he chases Paula through the cemetery. Paula collapses and is found by a passing motorist who drives away with her limp body. All three zombies return to Eros' ship, which lifts off.
At the
Pentagon, General Roberts informs Colonel Edwards that the government has been receiving messages from the aliens. The general plays the last message, which has been translated into English by a recently invented "language computer." The general sends Edwards to San Fernando, California, where most of the aliens' activities have occurred.
In California, the police interview the Trents about their experiences with the aliens. Unbeknownst to them, the alien saucer has returned to the graveyard. While waiting by the police car, an officer encounters the old man. The old man chases the officer to the Trents' house, where they attempt to shoot him, with no effect. The nearby aliens strike the old man with a "decomposite ray", causing his body to decompose, leaving only his skeleton. Not knowing what to make of this, they decide to drive to the cemetery.
On board the ship, Eros and Tanna send Clay to kidnap Paula in order to lure the other three to their spaceship, which he does. Meanwhile, seeing a glow in the distance, the other three head toward the ship.
Eros allows them to enter, and they board with their guns drawn. Once inside, Eros tells the humans that his people first came to Earth to talk and to ask for their aid, but the humans wouldn't listen to their messages. According to Eros, the humans will eventually discover the "solarbonite," a bomb that has the effect of exploding "sunlight molecules." Eros explains that a solarbonite explosion would destroy everything the sunlight touches, causing a chain reaction that would eventually destroy the entire universe."If you've the solarbonite, you've nothing!"
Outside the ship, Clay arrives with Paula. Eros threatens to have her killed if they try to force him to go with them. The two police officers arrive and spot Clay with Paula. They realize that their guns are useless, and decide to approach Clay from behind with a stick. Eros sees this, and shuts off the ray controlling Clay, allowing Paula to go free. A fight ensues inside between Eros and Jeff. During the fight, a fire is started. The humans leave the ship, and it takes off in flames. Eros and Tanna are trapped as the ship explodes in space.
Cast
Credited
Uncredited
Donald A. Davis as Drunk
Johnny Duncan
Karl Johnson as Farmer Calder
Tom Mason as Ghoul Man with Cape Over Face
J. Edward Reynolds as Gravedigger
Hugh Thomas Jr. as Gravedigger
Edward D. Wood Jr. as Man Holding Newspaper
History and development
Shortly before Bela Lugosi's death in 1956, the actor had been working with filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. on a horror film titled Tomb of the Vampire. When Lugosi died, he'd only completed a few minutes of footage, and Wood shelved the project. Due to the low budget, most of the film was taken in one take, without editing, causing most of the mistakes to happen. Most notably in the first scenes, string is clearly visible from the top of the wobbly saucer to the top of the screen. These same flying saucers cast shadows over the "space" backdrop. Though the colorization process was largely done straight, unlike the campy bright colors used in the studio's release of Reefer Madness, there were a few alterations. Legend had auctioned off the opportunity to insert new material into the film through two auctions on eBay. The first allowed the auction winner to provide a photograph that's digitally inserted into part of the scene between the Ghoul Man and Paula Trent. The second allowed the winner to have his or her name placed on a gravestone during a scene with Tor Johnson. The third alteration is at a point where Eros is punched and briefly turns green from head to toe. The DVD featured an audio commentary track by comedian Michael J. Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame, in which he heckles, or "riffs" the film in a style similar to an episode of the series, a restored black and white version of Plan 9, a home video of Edward D. Wood in drag performing a striptease (Wood, in real life, was a cross-dresser) and a comedic feature narrated by Nelson detailing the "lost" Plans 1-8. The autographed edition also came with a limited edition air freshener..
Remake
On May 24th 2008 Darkstone Entertainment, an independent film company, announced that they'd be remaking Plan 9 from Outer Space to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original film's release. Simply titled "Plan 9", the remake will be a serious-minded retelling of the original story, paying homage to the spirit of Wood's film without resorting to camp or parody. The film will focus on the horror and science fiction aspects of the original, but will also be largely character-driven.
"Plan 9" is being made with the blessing and participation of Conrad Brooks, the sole surviving member of the original film's cast and crew. To go as a sister project to the remake, director Johnson and actor Brooks plan to do a commentary for the original film with a Q + A retrospective for its 2 disc DVD release with no set street date at the moment, however the new film is scheduled to premiere on September 9, 2009 (09.09.09) .
Other versions
Mystery Science Theater 3000
The film was never featured in the B-movie mocking comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000. It has been reported that the reasons for this were the problem of running the commentary format of the series over the film's narrator as well as the fact that the film was already very well known, and the show's crew preferred more obscure films. However, the film was included in live performances at the SF Sketchfest by The Film Crew, comprised of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 cast members Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. A commentary based on these performances was released for RiffTrax, advertised as a "Three Riffer Edition", due to the fact that Nelson's solo commentary for the film's colorized DVD release had already been sold as an audio file on the website. Many of the jokes from Nelson's solo commentary carried over to the new commentary.
Steve Smith Playhouse
The film was featured on the show Steve Smith Playhouse, in which Canadian comedian Steve Smith re-dubbed the dialogue of only one character in a B movie. The film was edited down to a half-hour with Steve Smith replacing the dialogue of Eros with his own voice with comedic results. In the episode, the plot centered around aliens reviving the dead with Viagra and controlling them with loud marching music.
Plan LIVE from Outer Space
An unofficial theatrical version of Plan 9 was staged in the 2006 Toronto Fringe Festival. Plan LIVE from Outer Space! was written by James Gordon Taylor and featured well known Canadian comedians (most of them Second City alumni) such as Lisa Brooke, Aurora Browne, Brandon Firla, Chris Gibbs, Sandy Jobin-Bevans and Ron Sparks. The play won a Canadian Comedy Award in 2007.
Eternity Comics
Eternity Comics released a miniseries in the 1990s entitled Plan 9 from Outer Space: Thirty Years Later! which served as an unofficial sequel to the film.
Video Game
An adventure game of the same name was made in which the player must recover the film from Bela Lugosi's double, who has stolen it. The movie was packaged with the game as a VHS tape.
Destroy All Humans
Those that preordered the video game Destroy All Humans!, available for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 video game consoles, received a bonus DVD of Plan 9 from Outer Space when the game was released. The game itself also features several references to the movie. A scene from the movie is also unlockable in the game, along with the complete film Teenagers From Outer Space, but neither has any controls (play, pause, fast forward).
Plan 9: The Musical
In 1997, David G. Smith wrote and composed the music for Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Musical. It received better reviews than the original film.
Gay Niggers from Outer Space
A movie called Gayniggers from Outer Space was also made as a reference to Plan 9.
References in popular culture
Because Plan 9 from Outer Space is widely considered the worst film ever made, it's referenced often in popular culture. When the film Battlefield Earth was reviewed by the New York Times, film critic Elvis Mitchell referred to it as being "Plan Nine From Outer Space for a new generation." The Bell Labs successor to the Unix operating system was named Plan 9 from Bell Labs in honor of the film. In the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Oompa-Loompas use the same gesture to salute Willy Wonka as the aliens in Plan 9 from Outer Space use to salute their leader. Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 recorded a song titled "Plan 9 From Outer Space". It appears on the album Songs from the Recently Deceased.
Plan 9 is referenced in two Seinfeld episodes. In "The Chinese Restaurant," Jerry, George, and Elaine plan to go see the movie following their dinner, but when plans fall through, Jerry refuses to see it alone. Jerry remarks "This isn't plans one through eight, this is plan 9! The one that worked! The worst movie ever made!"
Get more info on 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://plan_9_from_outer_space.totallyexplained.com">Plan 9 from Outer Space Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
