as the screenwriter hired to literally rewrite the project in a matter of weeks for juan piquer simon and executive producer dino de laurentiis, i had to combine earlier drafts by such diverse talents as colin wilson (great draft but literally 200+ pages of scientific jargon, accurate but deadly dull), a young duo who sold the pitch, etc.
the producers had already built the sets. i was flown to spain to 'rewrite' the script with a week's notice and had to scramble just to get a passport in time for the departure. in spain, i was told that each day, my writing would be read by dino via fax in the united states. if dino liked it?
the project kept going. if not? they pulled the plug, because they'd already spent a ton of dough on the sets and didn't want to waste any more on, you know, a writer.
finally, they liked what they read, because while it was ALIENS and the other underwater flix in 'hommage,' the real love and drive were for the Godzilla and 'bad' 50's SF flims which i missed so much. i tried to sneak in every reference i could to other films of these genres, because i figured this would be my best shot.
nobody cared that it was cliched, as it was shootable. i felt like quite a pro.
the film is undeservedly obscure. one of the editors cut FIVE EASY PIECES and worked on CONAN! the sound score by joel goldsmith is very good for a low budget film and ditto for the efx, far better than you would ever expect.
the story? utter nonsense, as folks have rightly critiqued. still, i would be remiss if i didn't say that in its own goofy way, the twisted logic of the story is as nightmarishly "incoherent" as a true nightmare (similar to the one i was living at the time attempting to write my way out this mess).
hope the notes helped!