Film Credits

Written & Directed by: Larry Buchanan

Starring: Tommy Kirk, Yvonne Craig, Byron Lord, Roger Ready, Barnett Shaw, Neil Fletcher, Chet Davis, Ron Scott, George Edgley, Dick Simpson, Don Campbell, Bob Hazlett, Ann Palmer, Gordon Bulow, Bill Thurman, Pat Cranshaw, Claude Earls, Sally Casey, Bob Lorenz, Sylvia Rundell, David England, Terry Davis. The Martians: Mr. Kirk, Warren Hammack, Anthony Houston, Larry Tanner, Cal Duggan. The Women: Miss Craig, Pat Delany, Sherry Roberts, Donna Lindberg, "Bubbles" Cash

Review

Mars Needs Women is one of those totally weird late 1960's low-budget science fiction tax write-offs directed by the infamous Larry Buchanan. Buchanan -is generally considered by most film scholars and science fiction fans as one of the worst directors of all time, and showed us his stuff in such other wonders as The Naked Witch, The Eye Creatures, In the Year 2889, Zontar: The Thing from Venus, Mistress of the Apes and The Loch Ness Horror. Personally, though, I think his films are a complete hoot, especially Mars Need Women, but I warn you in advance that your viewing mileage may vary. Mars Needs Women is exactly the type of film that TV's Mystery Science Theatre 3000 makes fun of regularly (if it hasn't shown up there already, if probably soon will), and your enjoyment of it definitely depends on how much you like low budget, science fiction films that fit into the "AAA" category: awful plot, awful acting and awful special effects.

The basis for Mars Needs Women is in the title itself ­ the men of Mars need some women. Why? Because the Martian race is doomed to die unless they get a new influx of different genetic material. The Martians, led by Dop (former Disney star Tommy Kirk), come to Earth to personally select appropriate women subjects, who will then be placed under "sleep freeze" in order to survive the trip back to Mars. The Martians make themselves known to the United States military fairly early on, but much to the chagrin of Col. Page (Byron Lord), our armed forces are completely powerless against them. The Martians look exactly like humans, and thus are able to blend in with the general populace without anyone being the wiser. They hypnotize people to get what they want, and visit such thrilling places as a gas station, the 60's equivalent of a strip bar, and a college. Wow ­ those locations are definitely worth travelling millions of miles to see! Before long, Dop finds himself becoming attracted to scientist Dr. Marjorie Bolen (Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig), and slowly begins putting the Martian mission in jeopardy.

For the duration of the film, Tommy Kirk usually just stands around in silence trying to look ominous, while Yvonne Craig tries her best to sound enthusiastic about her role. Byron Lord, on the other hand, spends most of the time running around screaming at everyone, eyes bulging out, looking like he'll have a coronary at any second if he continues... Needless to say, the pacing is abysmal, and some of the scenes are just plain weird or too long. For example, one sequence set in a planetarium filled with schoolchildren just never ends (Dop finishes narrating a presentation piece on the planet Mars after the planetarium's audio tape breaks). The effect are minimal, and what little there is isn't what many modern filmgoers would call good. The few shots you see of the Martian spaceship somewhat resembles (in a distant sort of way) a $2.00 version of the "Proteus" from Fantasic Voyage. Okay, after reading all of the above, many of you will call me crazy for actually liking the film, but I'm exactly the sort of person who enjoy this sort of stuff ­I take absolutely no responsibility if you pick up this film and don't find it to your liking.

Mars Needs Women was released on laserdisc on June 11, 1997 through Image Entertainment and Orion Home Video. Despite its extreme low-budget roots, the print Orion has provided for their Mars Needs Women is very good considering. Originally filmed in 16mm, the image is relatively sharp and free from blemishes, and the color transfer is generally strong and vivid. The quality of some individual segments in the print does depend upon the type of footage used, i.e. whether it was newly shot for the film or of the "stock footage" variety (was there ever a time when "stock footage" didn't look like stock footage?). However, while I serious doubt the print could ever possibly be better, Sony's pressing does the transfer harm ­ it features a fair amount of video noise that always coats the image, making it seem fuzzy and always "moving." Since the film runs under 90m, side two is in CAV with steady still frames.

The CX-encoded digital monaural soundtrack is nothing to get yourself excited over, but it is adequate for the presentation. The quality varies to some degree and it is often on the heavy-sounding muddy side, but all of the dialogue is perfectly understandable.

Mars Needs Women contains 21 listed chapter marker ­ 1 for the opening logos, and 20 for the actual film (chapter #22 features color bars). The disc does not contain closed captions nor is it Table of Contents encoded. The original jacket artwork from the film is pretty bad, featuring the planet Mars and a spaceship that looks completely different from the one seen in the film (it's round in the film, and looks like a long rocket on the cover). The jacket also features 5 color shots, a "digitally remastered" tag, and some liner notes by film historian David Del Valle. The liner notes mostly comprise of some minor reminiscences by Tommy Kirk about the film ­ the $25,000 budget the four-week shooting schedule, his career and Yvonne Craig.