The Shape of Things to Come (1979)

**A slow, dull movie.**

A movie that feels like a Star Trek script that was thrown out for being too dull. There is just too little going on for too long.

The movie touts that it is based off of the H.G. Wells' story of the same name, though aside from some character names and the title, there is no other correlation.

The sets are cheap. The costumes are unremarkable. The robots are blatant knock off of the Lost in Space Robot and R2-D2, but without the pizzazz. The plot is plodding. Jack Palanace acts like he lost a bet and had to be there.

I'll give the movie that the two female leads, Carol Lynley and Anne-Marie Martin are attractive and the best actors that I've never heard of. Looking them up, they've been in far better movies. Watch those instead.

Also, the explosion _is_ cool.

If you still want to watch it, Rifftrax improves it greatly. Though as they frequently put it, "so bad it's still bad." It apparently has also been done by by the MST3K crew for season 13. I'd suggest picking which group of comedians you prefer and watch that, because watching a second time likely won't be worth it.

**_Practically any episode of Buck Rogers is a superior choice_**

Shot in the fall of 1978, this is a cheesy Star Wars knockoff that merely uses the HG Wells name as a selling point since the story has nothing to do with his 1933 novel. Meanwhile the robots in the story are variations on the Robot from Lost in Space.

I mention Buck Rogers because the sets, costumes and FX are comparable to that contemporaneous TV series. Also, Jack Palance, who stars as the villain here, also played the antagonist in one of the better episodes of that series, the two-part “Planet of the Slave Girls.”

Meanwhile Anne-Marie Martin plays the female protagonist (oddly credited as Eddie Benton), and she also appeared in one of the better episodes of that show, “Twiki Is Missing.” Unfortunately, whereas the Costume Designer for Buck Rogers was a genius who knew how to dress women to emphasize them in all their glory (not tawkin’ about sleaziness), the costumer for this flick fumbled the ball with both Anne-Marie and the lovely Carol Lynley. Don’t get me wrong, their costumes are a’right, but that’s about it.

For a quality low-budget Star Wars ripoff, check out Roger Corman’s entertaining “Battle Beyond the Stars,” which came out the year after this one. That said, this flick can be enjoyed to some degree if you’re able to roll with its all-around cheesiness, similar to a lousy Star Trek episode.

It runs 1h 38m and was shot in the studio in the Toronto area with location sequences done in Montréal.

GRADE: C-