A sinful waste of good actors. I saw this with my father in 1979 and we agreed then that it was the worst film we had ever seen. We have not changed our opinions since.
The airfix special effects, the purple blood, the attempt to circumvent zero-budget production-design with cheap sci-fi chicanery in the dialogue....above all the JUMP TO HYPERSPACE! ...in which a plastic model continues to pass tortoise-like in front of a black curtain with a few holes representing stars at exactly the same speed it was doing before.
Tear out your eyes before buying this, you'll be happier.
The Shape of Things to Come
1979
Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Thriller
The Shape of Things to Come
1979
Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Thriller
3.2Keywords: based on novel or bookscientistfuturerobotspacecraft
Plot summary
Earth's a devastated wasteland, and what's left of humanity has colonised the Moon in domed cities. Humanity's survival depends on an anti-radiation drug only available on planet Delta 3, which has been taken over by Omus, a brilliant but mad mechanic who places no value on human life. Omus wants to come to the Moon to rule, and intends to attack it by ramming robot-controlled spaceships into the domes. Dr. John Caball, his son Jason, Jason's friend, Kim, and a robot named Sparks embark on Caball's space battlecruiser on an unauthorized mission to Delta 3; to stop Omus.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Jack Palance as Omus
Carol Lynley as Niki
John Ireland as Senator Smedley
Anne-Marie Martin as Kim Smedley
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
The worst film I ever saw in a cinema
Reviewed by
Trashy and occasionally nonsensical
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME is a Canadian version of the famous H.G. Wells novel, although other than mankind colonising the Moon it seems to have little to do with that book. Instead it's a cheap and cheesy space opera, one of dozens rushed out in the wake of STAR WARS, and in terms of enjoyability, this can only be classed as so-bad-it's-good entertainment. A bunch of wooden actors work their way through cardboard sets and scenery while cheesy models stand in for space flight and the like. There are dumb robots ripped off from FORBIDDEN PLANET's Robbie and Jack Palance chewing the scenery in his own inimitable way as the villain of the piece. At least 'guest stars' Barry Morse and John Ireland have the grace to look embarrassed by their presence in this trashy, heavily dated production.
Reviewed by
So this doesn't actually have anything to do with the novel?
I had never known that H.G. Wells wrote a novel called "The Shape of Things to Come" until I saw the 1979 movie. Having seen the movie, I did a little research and found that the movie had practically nothing in common with the novel. It sounds as though the novel had a plot similar to "Nineteen Eighty-Four", and the 1936 version of the movie followed the novel more closely.
Looking at the movie on its own, it's pretty fun if totally silly. Jack Palance seems to be having a lot of fun as the man threatening to attack the moon colony. The robots - both good ones and bad ones - are the movie's particularly corny aspect. The whole thing comes across as a big excuse to be goofy, and so you'll probably enjoy the movie a lot more if you just accept it as ridiculous entertainment.