Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)

Planeta Bur (Planet of Storms)

Cast:

Basil "From Sherlock Holmes to this, I really need to fire my agent..." Rathbone is Professor Hartman
Faith "Prehistorc monsters are nothing compared to a Giant Octopus " Domergue is Marcia
John Bix is John the Robot
Gennadi Vernov is Andre Ferneau
Georgi Zhzhyonov is Hans Walters

What the box says:

A spaceship orbits the planet Venus, piloted by astronaut Marcia (Faith Domergue). On the surface two fellow astronauts, and a robot companion, set out on a voyage of exploration, observed from afar by Professor Hartman (Basil Rathbone). First they are attacked by prehistoric creatures, and then lose their robot companion in a massive volcanic eruption that consumes the planet.

Plot:

By 2020, the moon has been colonized. The next step on discovery is Venus. 3 rockets are sent However, one, the Capella is destroyed on the trip leaving the Sirius and Vega left on the trip. Aboard the Vega, Marcia is to stay aboard while Sherman, Kurn, and Robot John land on Venus. However, during the approach, the lose radio contact. The Sirius crew decides to attempt a rescue mission.

Suiting up, the Sirius crew takes some planet samples. A tentacle monster attacks Andre who is saved by the rest of the crew.

Killer plant that likes humans, must be Audrey's type...
They start heading towards the Vega landing site.

The Vega crew repairs Robot John when lizard creatures attack them. They start heading off toards the Sirius crew. In the miles between the crews, they encounter immobile dinosaurs and hear strange voices.

Ray Harryhausen wouldn't have had special effects like this around a movie...
The Vega crew gets sick. The Sirius guys are able to contact Robot John and order him to apply emergency first aid. Does not compute...I am not Robbie the Robot...

Dive-bombing pigeons don't seem quite so bad now...
A Pterodactyl attacks the Sirius air car which has to submerge to escape.

Marcia is pacing the ship in orbit when Professor Hartman from the lunar base orders her to stay in orbit.

Venusian sea, the Sirius crew explores and find the remains a of a civilization.

The Vega crew keep heading forward. They see a volcano starting to erupt and get trapped by the lava. Climbing on top of Robot John, they evade from being BBQed.

Robot taxis just never gained popularity...
Robot John's self-preservation is about to allow his to toss the crew off him , but they rewire the circuits. The Sirius crew hovers up in their air car and take the Vega crew off.

Both crews talk of the civilization and the creatures they encountered.

Next time on Venusian Trick My Hovercar......
Reaching the Sirius, they hear Marcia's message how she plans to land on Venus. They start to lighten the load on the Sirius for an emergency takeoff. when Venus starts to rain. Before takeoff, they get another message from Marcia who is still in the atmosphere. They activate the probe. Andre, the guy who kept hearing the Venusian, finds a model of a Venusian which looks like a human. The Sirius takes off...The narrator explains how the search for intelligent life through the universe continues.

What I say:

The past decade Mars has been getting all the good PR in sci-fi movies. By good PR just focusing on Mars and Martians, the days of the 1950s and 1960s seemed to have Venus on the brains. However, good science was left out of these movies. From the seas of Venus underneath the clouds to all the strange alien races. Talk about a kitchen-sink type environment. This Venus, has dinosaurs that stand still frozen almost as if they were rubber kid toys. The various strange killer alien plants that seem to think humanity is the tastiest plant food according to Audrey. What alien planet could exist without some kind of primitive aliens that attack the heroes?

Before probes were sent out in the solar system, Venus and Mars were always touted as mysterious planets where there could be life. Lizard Venusians, man-eating giant plants, volcanic eruptions...This movie was definitely trying to include all types villains in a sci-fi movie except aliens wanting to conquer Earth. Well, there are plenty of those aliens in better movies Earth Vs the Flying Saucers or all the evil martians in War of the Worlds.

Don't let it be known that this movie is actually Russian from the Cold War. Yes, Russia made asci-fi movie about Soviets exploring Venus However, a few years after Roger Corman got his hands on the movie dubbed and edited by a few minutes and we got Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet. Curtis Harrington directed Night Tide to some 1970s TV-movies like Killer Bees to Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell, and quite a few tv show episodes from the 1970s to the 1980s. Can't say I'm very sure what a director does when he's editing a foreign movie other than switching the dialogue and the few bits where Faith Domergue (who may be better known from the 1950s giant octopus classic It Came From Beneath the Sea. For the most part in this movie, she stands around looking worried on a rocket ship) and Basil Rathbone (popping up in a couple of scenes).

Robot John. With a name like that, somehow "Robbie the Robot" or just plain "Robot" doesn't quite sound as pathetic. Maybe the name was a key to his programming which was going to allow him to toss the 2 guys off him to preserve himself. Typical 1960s sci-fi robots were the ones with the twisted programming. No wonder, later movies had killer androids and robots (ahem Terminator...)...

Quotable Dialogue
"It's Lunar 7, Commander."
"I'm turning control over to Robot John."
"Can you imagine that? He's bashful..."
"We're being attacked by flying animal."
Morals of the Story
Venus is similar to Earth according to plant life.
Rocket controls need to analog dials.
Hover cars with clear dome tops are very stylish.
Robots need to be designed with toes.
Asmimov's laws of Robotic's aren't very popular in the future.
Triplets should be numbered not named.