Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Strange New World

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Strange New World

    Click image for larger version

Name:	cover.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	10.6 KB
ID:	383576

    Released by: Warner Archive
    Released on: 5/18/2010
    Director: Robert Butler
    Cast: Ford Rainey, James Olson, John Saxon, Kathleen Miller, Keene Curtis, Martine Beswick, Reb Brown

    Year: 1975
    Purchase From Amazon


    The Movie:

    It's not really all that surprising that Strange New World is eerily similar to Genesis II (or, if you prefer, Planet Earth) when you consider that both of these made for TV movies, patched together from television episodes that never really made it to air in series form, are culled from the work of Star Trek guru Gene Roddenberry. That said, where Genesis II and Planet Earth featured Roddenberry's guiding hand, this take on the source material does not. Instead, we get John Saxon in a red toga and Catharine Bach (wasted in an early supporting role with very little to do), among a few other interesting cast members (Martine Beswick being one.

    Saxon plays an astronaut named Captain Tony Vico who, along with compatriots Dr. Allison Crowley (Kathleen Miller) and Dr. William Scott (Keene Curtis), is put into suspended animation and sent into space for a long journey. While the three are frozen, the Earth is beat to crap by an asteroid storm. Mission Control, not wanting their ship to get pummeled by giant space rocks, reroutes it and a hundred and eighty years later the three travelers awake to find instructions from the organization they were employed by to thaw out some other people who were secretly put into suspended animation as well, which basically becomes their mission for a while.

    Once they drive their space car around and find the hidden, frozen folk they find a signal that somehow knocks them out, only for them to once again awaken in a bizarre marbled palace where everyone is dressed in togas. It turns out they've been captured by The Surgeon (James Olson) and his cult of nut jobs who are bent on rewriting medical science as we know it. Thanks to their incessant efforts to clone things, the citizens of the world are now susceptible to any and every virus out there and so they've built a decontamination shield to keep them safe. As luck would have it, what they need to set things right are blood samples from three healthy unfrozen astronauts, and wouldn't you know it, Vico and his pals just happen to fit the bill.

    From there the movie moves into 'second episode' territory as our heroes drive the space car through the desert only to run into a trap filled with weird animals and cavemen and nutty wildlife preserve owners. Allison gets kidnapped and it's up to the men folk to save her sweet ass before it's too late.

    Choppy, goofy and not very well made at all, Strange New World isn't very good, but it is pretty watchable, particularly if you have a soft spot for the dopey side of seventies science fiction. It's all very dated and not very well thought out or particularly logical, but hey, you get space buggies, girls in skimpy outfits, and papier-mí¢ché looking sets. That counts for something. Saxon is good in the lead, he's charismatic and enthusiastic enough in the role that even when the script is scraping the bottom of the barrel it's always watchable enough. This may be the very epitome of mindless, dumb, science fiction but it's a reasonably amusing time killer and an interesting relic of the era in which it was made. By the time the movie over with, it hasn't really gone anywhere or done anything all that interesting (a problem that likely stems from its origins as it had to have been written or at least developed for an episodic format rather than a feature length one) but it won't make you want to kick your DVD player.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Strange New World is presented in its original 1.33.1 fullframe aspect ratio demonstrating very nice color in a decent progressive scan transfer. There's some mild print damage but given the film's age that's understandable. The contrast levels look good, detail is stronger than you'd probably expect, and while there's a little bit of shimmer, this is otherwise a decent looking effort. The film has not been given any sort of restoration according to the Warner Archives website, but at least the elements used for this transfer appear to have been in pretty nice shape and this is definitely one of the better looking WB Archive releases this reviewer has seen so far.

    The English language Dolby Digital Mono track is obviously limited in range but the dialogue is easy to understand and the levels are properly balanced. There aren't any recurring problems with hiss to complain and generally the movie sounds alright.

    There's a static menu and some chapter stops, but aside from that, this is an entirely barebones affair.

    The Final Word:

    Strange New World isn't technically very good but it's entertaining enough thanks to a fun cast, some quirky costume design, and that skewed seventies version of what people back then thought the future would look like. The Warner Archive release is devoid of any extras but it looks and sounds alright.
      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    • Nemesis (MVD Rewind Collection) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: MVD Rewind Collection
      Released on: January 8th, 2019.
      Director: Albert Pyun
      Cast: Olivier Gruner, Jennifer Gatti, Tim Thomerson
      Year: 1992
      Purchase From Amazon

      Nemesis – Movie Review:

      Albert Pyun's 1992 film Nemesis takes place in the future of 2027. Here it's common for criminals and cops alike to ‘upgrade' themselves using cybernetic bits and pieces in an effort to make themselves more than human. In this world
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:22 AM
    • Bloodmoon (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: February 1st, 2024.
      Director: Alec Mills
      Cast: Leon Lissek, Christine Amor, Helen Thomson, Ian Williams
      Year: 1990
      Purchase From Amazon

      Bloodmoon – Movie Review:

      The directorial debut of Alec Mills, the cinematographer on such films as Polanski’s MacBeth and Return Of The Jedi, 1990’s Bloodmoon, a later period slasher film, is set around St. Elizabeth’s, an all-girls Catholic School
      ...
      03-07-2024, 03:55 PM
    • The Shining (Scream Factory) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Scream Factory
      Released on: March 12th, 2024.
      Director: Mick Garris
      Cast: Steven Weber, Rebecca De Mornay, Melvin Van Peebles, Courtland Mead
      Year: 1997
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Shining – Movie Review:

      Stephen King somewhat famously didn’t like Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of his novel, The Shining, so he signed on to work with Director Mick Garris on this three-part TV mini-series take which hit the airwaves
      ...
      03-07-2024, 03:50 PM
    • Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny (Shout! Factory) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Shout! Factory
      Released on: February 13th, 2024.
      Director: Liam Lynch
      Cast: Jack Black, Kyle Gass
      Year: 2006
      Purchase From Amazon

      Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny – Movie Review:

      Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny opens with a prologue where we meet a young man named Jables (JB, played by Jack Black) who, despite his strict religious upbringing, only wants to rock n roll. When his father tears down all of his posters
      ...
      02-29-2024, 06:17 PM
    Working...
    X