Conference noted::sf

                          -< Robinson Crusoe on Mars >-

>It starred Adam West of the old Batman TV series but his part wasn't very big.
>The main character was played by a actor who I've never seen or heard of before.
>Can anyone whose seen or heard of this tell me more about it.


I wouldn't exactly say the star was Adam West....


spoiler

Basically, a two man space craft is sent to Mars.  While orbiting, a near
collision causes the ship to crashland.  There were two survivors (one man,
one monkey).  The man was NOT Adam West.  He then proceeds to follow his
survival training etc, trying to find food, water etc.  His major problem 
is air at first.  After almost dying for the lack of it, he accidently finds
a way to make oxygen (heating martian rocks).  He then rigs up something
that will let him (partially) fill an oxygen tank he has with him.  he finds
he does not always have to breath the oxygen from the tank; he can get by
with booster shots of oxygen).

Next, he has to find water.  He notices that the monkey with him does not
seem to be in need of water.  He suspects the monkey knows where there is a
source of water.  He proceeds to feed the monkey salty paste until the monkey
goes off to get a drink.  While on the way to the place, the man falls through
the surface into an underground chamber... Here he finds water and a water
plant that can be used for food.  He does so.

After being on Mars for awhile, he discovers strange lights.  He investigates
and finds that there are aliens mining Mars.  These aliens are using slave 
labor to do work.  These slaves are controlled/tracked using two metallic
bracelets (one on each arm).  A slave escapes and joins up with the man, hiding
in his cave.  While there, the alien ships track the slave via the bracelets
and proceed to attack the cave (they apparently do not want any escaped slaves
running around).  The man and the slave are forced to leave the protection (?)
of the cave.  

They find an underground tunnel system which they follow to the (south?) pole
of mars.  During this time, the alien ships are still trying to kill the slave.
At the same time, the man is trying to get the bracelets off.  Eventually he
does.  They make it to the south pole and find that the alien ships have cleared
off.  It seems that a follow on ship has come from earth.  The movie ends there
with the presumption that the aliens are gone, never to return, the man, the 
slave, and the monkey are rescued.

-Joe

re: .1

I guess that was a poor choice of words on my part.  I meant that Adam West was
in it.  As I said before, the main character was played by an actor who I've
never seen or heard of before.  Also I've never seen the guy who played the
slave in anywhere before.  Adam West as I recall had a very small part in the
beginning.  He had died when his capsule crashed on the planet.  I was just
curious to know who played the main part and who was the slave?

k...

    I caught part of this on tape, but missed the conclusion because the
    program started half an hour later than TV Guide said it would.
    
    It was riddled with technical inaccuracies.  E.g., they were forced to
    abandon their orbital ship because a collision avoidance maneuver
    (precipitated by a flaming asteroid/meteor) forced them "into the
    reach of Mars' gravitational pull".  When the two escape pods were
    jettisoned, the ship was now in "balance" with the gravitational field
    and so remained in orbit.
    
    Worst was the idea that in order to use his microphone, the astronaut
    had to open his helmet.  Also amusing was the idea that he could
    breathe oxygen directly from a pressure tank (literally by holding it to
    his mouth) without a regulator; or fill a tank using a pump attached to
    the rock-cooking oxygen source by a y-connector (actually, this could
    have worked if the y-connector had suitable one way valves, so I
    suppose I should give them the benefit of the doubt...)
    
    Well, I guess that's why they call it "rocket science".
    
    len.
      

    "Robinson Crusoe" was played by Paul Mantee, a character actor who's
    popped up all over the place, most notably in television. The most
    recent thing I can recall him from (and the role that I most associate
    him with) was Detective Korassa in CAGNEY AND LACEY.
    
    "Friday" was played by Vic Lundin, who I've not heard of anywhere else.
    
    And don't forget the credit for Mona, which went to "The Woolly
    Monkey".
    
    --- jerry

    In spite of the technical inaccuracies, I rather liked this one.  
    It had awesome scenery (most of it was shot in Death Valley), and
    paid some attention to the psychological problems of the hero.  
    There was also some nice byplay between the Anglo astronaut and 
    the Indian-looking slave.  The astronaut was not an Omniscient 
    Technical Genius (see the earlier note on SF myths), but had to 
    work to meet his basic needs.  
    
    When I saw this as a kid, though, what really caught my eye was 
    the way the alien ships moved.  They would zip instantly from one place to 
    another and then just hover there humming.  They must have had 
    something to cushion against acceleration.  It looked eerie and 
    genuinely alien.  It's funny how such a little detail can be so evocative.
    Anyway, you could do worse on a Saturday afternoon.
    
    /jlr

    Did you notice that the alien space ships were dead ringers for the
    Martian War Machines in the George Pal version of "War of the Worlds?" 
    Perhaps there was a nasty surprise waiting for our hero when he got
    back to Earth...or maybe the budget just ran out!

    Good movie!  I know there are some "technical" problems, but remember
    this is an OLD Sci-Fi movie.  The first time I saw it I was in fourth
    grade (1969ish).  I liked it then and I still like it.  As was said in
    a previous reply, you could do worse on a Saturday after noon.
    
    Stu

    I have dim memories of this movie, and while adult technical criticism
    may be perfectly accurate, to me-as-a-kid, it seemed very realistic. 
    That an SF movie would bother about the breathability of Martian air
    was a giant step forward, never mind details like the pneumatics of the
    air tank.  I felt the slave was disappointingly human (a problem that
    persists in SF cinema), but the spaceships were, as .5 said,
    beautifully eerie.
    
    Oh yes, they are the same as the George Pal Martians.  They are part of
    a grand tradition of cinematic recycling, best upheld by Robbie the
    Robot.  Robbie first appeared in "Forbidden Planet" and has been dusted
    off for other productions, such as "The Invisible Boy" and at least two
    episodes of "Lost In Space."  (He also made a cameo in "Gremlins.")
    
    The George Pal Time Machine also made a cameo in "Gremlins" and, of
    course, was explicitly honored in a short subject by Jitlov.  Its
    general design seems to have influenced a couple of other time machines
    in other cinemizations of the Wells novel.  In a tribute to the TARDIS,
    the time machine in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" disguises
    itself as a phone booth.
    
    Similarly, Robbie's design is echoed in the design of the "Lost In Space" 
    robot and Tobot the Great -- bubble head full of lit-up, moving machinery, 
    flanked by whirling, asymmetrical antennae.  And more robots than I can 
    count have inherited the synch-blink voice-lights, including KITT of
    "Knight Rider" and Johnny Five of "Short Circuit."
    
    There was a massive panel of blinky-lights in the computer EMERAC, a
    major prop in "The Desk Set," starring Hepburn and Tracy.  This, too,
    got recycled, appearing as a villainous computer in "The Invisible Boy"
    and as the shipboard computer in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea."
    
    Then there were the used spaceships in "Space:1999," copped from
    "2001," and partly responsible for the show's nickname, "Space: 1999,
    marked down from 2001."
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    OK, ok, I was unduly harsh, I have to admit I found the "mars-scapes"
    very effective, and I *did* watch as much of it as I was able to record
    (it was aired around 1 am).  I also thought that the twitch and hover
    space ship movement was an interesting variation.
    
    len.
    

So, was this movie out for sale on VHS video anywhere?  I have an old partial
copy of the movie from years ago....  I'll have to watch it again, but I
thought the alien ships, while similar to the Martian attack machines, were
sufficiently different, not 'dead ringers'.

The martian ship had the heat ray extension, it had glass like wing tips (for
firing the skeleton ray), the underside was relatively smooth.  The alien ships
did not have the HRE, did not seem to have glass on the ends, and the underside
had a crystaline circular cutout that was used to fire the 'mining' ray.  And
even though it has been a number of years since I have actually watched this,
I seem to recall that the alien ships seemed much more squashed (thinner) than
the martian machines.  So, now I will have to go watch the movie again :-).

-Joe

    
    	Hi Earl,
    
    	Suspect a small type in your .8 reply.  I think the robots name
    	was Tobor, not Tobot (robot spelled backwards, what else?).
    
    	Terry
    

    re .11 re. 8 - If I remember my Captain Video correctly, this happened
    because when Tobor was created the name stencil for labeling him (it?)
    was used wrong side up.  Of course, this would have actually resulted
    in his name being todo<mirror imaged R>, but it's the thought that
    counts.
    
    len.
    

    Re .11 & .12
    
    Right, I meant "Tobor," not "Tobot."  Perhaps there was more than one
    "Tobor," since the one I'm familiar with had no connection with Captain
    Video.
    
    ESW

    
    	Earl,
    
    	Agreed.  It's tough remembering what I had for breakfast let alone
    	a movie I saw in the late 50's, but I think it was "Tobor the
    	Great" and had something to do with Tobors' inventors son making
    	friends with the robot.
    
    	Terry

    Re .14
    
    My memory agrees with yours.  I saw it in the '60s, and thought at the
    time that Tobor exhibited a peculiar combination of remote control and
    independence.  Then there was the brain-wave-sensitive antenna that let
    him home in on the kid, Lassie-fashion, during the rescue scenes...
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    Back on the original topic...
    
    I too saw the movie at the saturday matinee's when I was just a lad.
    
    It's been on TV twice in the last year. Both times I missed it, though
    my wife saw it on the last viewing. Next time....
    
    Mike

    
    	I have been asking about this movie for years now, on a steady
    basis.  According to the place I rent from, it is not available yet.
    I wish it were!
    	I have put out the word with many of my friends to keep an eye out
    for it coming on any of the stations, TV, cable or satelite. My parents
    have satelite and there is a Sciencefiction channel that is in the
    works, and may already be operational. I would expect to see it pop up
    there.  You can bet I'll pay for that channel and try and request it.
    
    
    						Mark
    
    	

    G'day,
    	Just to correct a little nit re breathing from a tank with no
    regulator:
    
    This is actually possible - I know beacuse part of my advanced scuba
    diving course covered this as 'an emergency procedure when all else
    fails'
    
    (I have actually done it as well - basicly you crack the tank VERY VERY
    gently, place mouth over while looking down, and leave a gap at side of
    mouth. 
    
    Not actually something you would do every day.
    
    BTW Tank pressurised to 2500 P.S.I
    
    Stan.
    

    TBS (or is it TNT?) is showing this sometime this week at 1:05 PM; maybe
    tomorrow or Wednesday.  Check your local listings etc..
    
    There seems to be a bit of a science fiction orgy on cable this week
    and last. Last week TNT (or was it TBS?) ran double features each night
    (including RCoM), there was that Outer Limits marathon Saturday night/
    Sunday morning, and this week there's this afternoon matinee SF
    festival.
    
    len.
    

    Maybe its part of the UFO Conspiracy, and the government is having
    TV show more SF movies to prepare us for when aliens go public.
    Guess we'd all better check this out in the UFO (32014::UFO) topic...
    
    							Don

The UFOs conference mentioned in the previous note is actually spelled
'UFOS' not 'UFO' and is located (as of the time this is written) on the
system WIDGET::.   Hit KP7 to add the conference to your notebook.

Dave C.
mod, SF