User Reviews

I writing a review as the only reason I took the time to watch the movie was related the reviews I had read.

In one review the main female character is noted as an Android. Nope, she's a synthetic human.

The "special effects" not Space 1999, they were better.

The story was more of a quarter baked notion, not even half baked. The story is like a frozen hamburger you put in the microwave for one minute and then eat. The whole story is contained in the first 15 minutes. She's a synthetic human that doesn't have rights as a person = slave. She wants to be free. She gets a hold of valuable information and then goes rogue. The company goes after her. She wins the end.

To state the story was a mess and thrown together would be giving these kinds of films a bad rep. It was so disjointed it's section was obvious and cliché but so off the wall you didn't know what the next transition would be from one video section to another. There are serious gaps, like the grand canyon, in plot points. The ship needs supplies for the trip, so the guy lays down to sleep; the next morning there's a fight and they take off without getting any supplies/fuel or anything. The woman has a chip in her head that will kill her in 72 hours after activation, so they go to a planet to the person that put her genetic code together to save her. The guy (Birkman) takes her there, hands her over while she's sleeping, the next morning they meet and agree to go to the planet where the alien ship for salvage is. What happened with the deadly chip? If there was a story board, then there would be five index cards in a freshman college paper format; Intro, 3 supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Suspension of disbelief: Nonexistent. For example, when they get to the alien ship for salvage there are blue skies with clouds like on Earth and a con trail from a jet plane in the shots. Near the beginning when they are taking off to get away from the big bad corporation she kills two guys; so the film took the time for her to dispose of the bodies by opening a bay door and throwing two obvious dummies to land on an obvious mat one at a time; like one wasn't bad enough.

Acting wooden & stupid. Directing would have been better by a 12 year old. Story Elementary school style.

There were a lot of low budget OK films in the 80s; this isn't one of them.

Doctor Who with Tom Baker has more story, better acting and directing; as well as better special effects than this movie and that was late 70s to 1981.

***I only watched due to the positive reviews. Save your time and watch anything other than this. Seriously not even so bad it's good; just pointless.***

2074: Corporations control the world instead of governments. Genetically engineered superbeing Pentan (Tracy Davis) serves her creator, Kuriyama Enterprises, as a corporate assassin and covert agent. Her latest mission involves finding an abandoned alien ship, the second that has crashed landed. The first made those that found it rich beyond their wildest fantasies; the kind of rich that can change Pentan's life.

The only problem is that because she's turned her back on her creators, a nanite bomb in the back of her head will kill her in just a few days unless scientist Robert Thorton (Rick Foucheaux) can save her.

Together with space jockey Harold Brickman (Hans Bachman), she plans on finding the treasure while avoiding the massive star cruiser Promethian and the killers who want her back. And oh yeah - instead of just pretending to have feelings, she's finally developing them.

Outerworld originally was StarQuest: Beyond the Rising Moon and if you had Sci-Fi back before it was SyFy, you may have seen it. Director and writer Phillip J. Cook took this shot on film effort and restored, remixed and added new digital video effects to improve the movie.

Cook's Gerry Anderson influence is all over this movie, as the ships look like they could come from Stingray or any other of his shows. As a kid, I used to stare in wonder at a book of spaceships that had art by Colin Hay, Chris Foss, Angus McKie and Peter Elson. This movie takes those gorgeous pieces of space fantasy art and makes them as real as possible (and as a low budget will allow). There were thirty hand-built sets and over 270 effects shots which were all achieved for around $175,000. That budget is the most science fiction part of this entire film as it's incredible that they were achieved for such a low price.

Pentan is the one who is strong and capable, yet unable to trust as she's never been programmed to. Brickman takes on the role that women usually do in science fiction, needing to be rescued and protected.

Plus, this is lean and mean. 78 minutes. More movies should be that length.

Beyond working for Don Dohler - and then working as a DP for Godfrey Ho on Undefeatable - I assume that Cook played tons of Star Frontiers. This is the second review of his films that I've claimed that he played a deep cut TSR game - Despiser feels so much like Gamma World it could be a module for that game - and if I ever get to speak to Mr. Cook, I plan on asking him tons of questions about the Legion of Gold and the Knight Hawks.

What I love about all of his films is that they return you to the joy and wonder of being a child. I get the same kind of sense of amazement that I received when I watched Starcrash at the drive-in. And even when people decry the story or the effects, I can't hear a single thing they say. This movie is beyond criticism. All I can do is tell you why it's important to me and ask you to watch it.

This "Effort" was made in the 80's.. but Geeze!

Checking through the limited Sci-Fi fare available on Netflix streaming download I finally had a chance to see this.

What is wrong with this movie? Maybe a better question would be "What went Right?"

Here is a list of what I think was wrong to very very wrong:

A totally incoherent music score.

Did anybody else catch the "Solaris" theme roll by?

It's like Gerry Anderson's Model shop collides with a 3D effects program that stumbles into a Roger Corman and the latest Robert Rodriguez film projects.

In order of WORSEness:

1. Overall Audio Quality 2. Musical score? 3. Actors? Scenes? 4.Script? Story? (I mean come on!) 5. Directing? (I mean ditto ditto!!) 6. Ships going "Pa-Tank" when they land. Just like they did when you played with them in the sandbox as a kid. 7. A character named "Brickman?" ala the James Cameraon Abyss movie. 8. So the main lead was this "Hot" Sexy babe. In the end you settled for an untalented, wooden, MILF with BIG HAIR?

9. Fighting Scenes = Bump & Fall Down.

10. What exactly was this film about again?

Now that film distribution is finally breaking through to the HOME Big Screen Internet Connected TV and your hand-held smart Phone.. I'd love to know if this movie is NOW making money?

How much did this 16mm epic cost in 1986? How much did it cost to re-edit it for today?

Is it making money? Is it making money Now?

Thanks,

GENE

Contains possible spoiler(s).

Several reviews mention how this is a very low budget movie. But look at what they did with that supposedly low budget. This is somewhat "made for TV" quality but the director scouted many locations which were used to maximum advantage to make a very good presentation.

There is some blue screen work which is not of the utmost quality but about average for the time it was made. That is not a negative, just a comment on the state of the art then.

The miniatures are obvious in some cases but well done. Many a toy store was raided, I expect, to get the various models needed and then lots of innovative painting ensued. There are some average to low quality mattes, too, consistent with a low budget. But also some traveling mattes or a good simulation of that process. Still, they are effective. That's what you have to do to make a low-budget movie.

The story gets off to a slow start, doing the back story but then takes off. Don't miss the first 15 minutes. The entire setup is there. And you get plenty of shots of a not-hard-to-look-at lead character.

There is a strange thought in the plot that the android could steal information then try to use that information for personal gain. And "she" thought that was legal and moral. It is a slight morality play in this regard.

The ending is somewhat abrupt and sappy. I was not totally satisfied with it. But I have seen worse.

However, even with the small faults, I can recommend this movie. You won't feel cheated.

Originally storyline, low budget movie but full of surprises such as the fight scenes around the asteroids, as well as the sound effects of the spacecraft and weapons, if I didnt know better, l would think a famous movie production company and former owner, pinched the idea and sound effects for his movie, which came out years later !!