Those of you who remember the original Battle Star Galactica may remember Richard Hatch as "Apollo". Richard Hatch has also been behind a strong effort to make a new BG series
But back in 1983, he was an action star, at least for one movie, anyway.
Prisoners of the Lost Universe was it.
Of note: B-Movie regular John Saxon was also in this one as the overload, Kleel.
Of special note: both Peter O'Farrell (Malachai) and Ray Charleson (The Greenman) were also in "Hawk The Slayer". How's that for your resume?
Anyway, the story is as such: A quasi-mad scientist, Dr. Hatmann, a cute blonde reporter, Carrie, and some unlikey guy who happened along, Dan (Hatch) get transported to a a parallel universe by Dr Hatmann's new invention; one of roughly medieval technology level and a few new species around, like the Greenman and a bunch of midgets with flashing red eyes.
Yeah, it's an old story; it did remind me superficially of "Gor". Some happenstance contrives to send a few people from 'our world' into another universe, and there's an evil baddy who wants to ruin their attempts to get home, etc...One notable diffrence between PotLU and Gor is that in PotLU, the three never get involved in trying to overthrow the overlord for it's own sake.They really are just trying to survive and react to events as they happen to them and only really try to get home after all the conflict is over.
Now, because of different running timelines, the three end up being displaced in that Dr. Hartmann goes through maybe an hour at most but has been in the other universe maybe a year by the time the others show up. So they're off to survive and try to make their way back to their own universe, if they can. In the process, Carrie gets captured by Kleel, shortly after Carrie and Dan fall for each other(rather quickly, I might add). So Dan's mission is to rescue Carrie. Along the way he teams up with the Greenman (just think 'elf' and move along..), Malachai (a thief), and the Manbeast. Dr. Hatmann has already been in the word awhile and has managed to convince Kleel he's a sorcerer. Inventing gunpowder and pistols does most of the convincing, and he's working on higher explosives (like nitro-glycerin). Kleel, meanwhile, is attempting to put the moves on Carrie, none to successfully...Through it all, Richard Hatch is a martial arts expert swinging, kicking and generally showing that not only does our universe have better technology, we also fight better (and occasionally, dirtier)
In some respects, this was a pretty stupid movie. The special effects were..1983 TV level special effects. There were a lot of 'why?, what?' moments and some stuff that was pretty silly. Here's just some random thoughts on particulars.
The very contrived whistling sounds effect as some people fell over a cliff. Actually, there seemed a fair number of places where there were overdubbed sound effects that really seemed out of place. This one in particular near the beginning of the movie made me laugh
Dan and Carrie are introduced when they run each other off the road. We first learn that Dan is somehow into martial arts because the only damage and his only concern is that his Kendo Sword/Bamboo Stick is broken. Seems to have broken pretty easily given the accident. Seems he would've had it packed better. The scene, btw, set the stage of the two of them not liking each other, or rather, Dan not liking Carrie.
If I hear one more mad scientist talk about "showing those in the Halls Of Science" when talking about his invention....this would've been in place in a much older movie, but here it seemed a little contrived. They could've done a better job getting the three to the other world. In all this movies, you need some way to get the people from our world to the other; it doesn't need to be clever or plausible, but it should at least be quick and not overtly, annoyingly stupid.
Kleel ain't much of a warlord. He seems to have an army of about 20 men and his main city/fortress seems a bit small. Nor does his influence seem to bother the local populace much.
One thing that struck me is that Kleel maitains his minor-dictatorial control through the use of two (single shot?) handguns provide him by Dr. Hartmann. So um...was he the overlord before Hartmann showed up? If so, how did he maintain control? If not, why did Hartmann tdecide to throw in with him? This really didn't make much sense
In line with that, Hartmann seems really convinced that he's doing the right thing by arming Kleel, so that Kleel can establish some sort of stability to the region. This seems weird as a) Kleel seems a minor overlord at best and b) there doesn't really seem to be need for that kind of stability. So Hartman may be a physics wiz but he's a socio-politcal idiot.
Minor note: Writers need to think about what they put on paper and how it will be pronounced, I thought Kleel was "Cleo" until I saw the credits
and speaking of credits, when I read that "The Manbeast" (big brutish guy who doesn't talk and just swings a club around a lot) was played by some guy named "Philip Van der Byl", I laughed.
For some reason, watching Malachi and the Greenman laying boobie-traps through Kleels fortress reminded me of "A Team" a lot. And just who was on guard? Dan and Co do an awful lot of sneaking around in brightly lit hallways and never run across *anyone*.
and what mircale of science or magic allows Dan to pour several gallons of powder from a tiny bag?
Anyway, all that aside, I actually enjoyed this movie. For one thing, the actors all do a pretty good job; most of the major characters are veterans and do well, especially Saxon, who managed to put a little bit if humour into a fews spots "Kleel's law is fair.....hard, but fair". Some parts are pretty contrived or 'convenient', but it moves along at a good pace, never gets bogged down, and is pretty entetraining. The running gag of Dan, Malachai and Dan's watch is cute, if silly. Except for the ending scene that wraps everything up, this could've been a fairly decent pilot for a TV show.
In all, the movie got more right than wrong so is entertaining to watch if you just overlook the plot points that really don't make sense and take it for what it is
Post Edited (02-02-04 12:32)
