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Journey to the Seventh Planet [Blu-ray]
(Sidney W. Pink, 1962)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: American International Pictures (AIP) Video: Kino Lorber
Disc: Region: 'A' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:17:04.620 Disc Size: 17,737,939,768 bytes Feature Size: 17,072,259,072 bytes Video Bitrate: 26.09 Mbps Chapters: 9 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: April 5th, 2016
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.66:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 1574 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1574 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 256 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 256 kbps)
Subtitles: None
Extras: • Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas• Trailers - Journey to the Seventh Planet - 2:07, Donavan's Brain - 2:02, Magnetic Monster - 2:21 and Invisible Invaders - 2:00
Bitrate:
Description: Newly Re-mastered in HD! You Are in Space… Beyond Space! In futuristic 2001, the United Nations has sent a special team of scientists to explore Uranus. And what this interstellar crew discovers is a planet not unlike Earth-complete with a small Danish village filled with voluptuous women! But underneath the utopian veneer is a so powerful and so heinous that it's using the crew's memories against them so it can take their spaceship back to Earth-and conquer it! Wonderfully directed by cult producer, writer and director, Sidney W. Pink (Reptilicus, The Angry Red Planet) and featuring campy performances by John Agar (Invisible Invaders, Miracle Mile) and Greta Thyssen (Terror is a Man) with an amazing title song by Mitchell Tableporter (aka Teepee Mitchell). This Danish and American co-production is now considered to be one of the greatest cult classics of all time.
The Film:
Travelling by spaceship to the planet Uranus in year 2010, a group of astronauts are confronted with a mysterious being who resembles a brain but is "thousands of times more powerful," a bevy of pretty girls whom they may or may not have loved in a previous life, and, of course, the inevitable monster, a gargantuan rat. Made by the same people who gave the world Reptilicus (1961), screenwriter Ib Melchior and American scholck-producer Sidney Pink, this endearingly silly sci-fi movie was filmed in Denmark with a largely Danish cast. Hollywood actor John Agar and Greta Thyssen -- a former Miss Denmark who had doubled for Marilyn Monroe and appeared opposite The Three Stooges -- added a bit of box-office value to the otherwise mundane proceedings. Apparently filmed in English, the Danish actors speak their lines with utmost care and deliberation, presumably to make it easier for dubbing purposes. Carl Ottosen, who was hilariously inept in Reptilicus, hams it up with abandonment this time around as well. Rushing onto the cardboard set with dire news to report, Ottosen stops dead in his tracks, takes a deep breath, and delivers his dialogue ve-ry slow-ly and with much care. Excerpt from MRQE located HERE In 2001, after man has conquered space and discovered that no life exists on the moon, Venus, Mars, or Neptune, Earth's governing body, the United Nations, sends a five-man international expedition to explore Uranus. They land in minus 200° temperature in a beautiful but eerie land where they encounter women they knew in their past lives. Further exploration reveals that the planet is controlled by a mysterious evil Being that gives reality to all subconscious thoughts, fears, and desires: when one of the astronauts recalls his fear of rats, for instance, a huge rodent-like creature materializes. Realizing that they must destroy the Being if they are to escape from their past and return to the present, the Earthmen hunt down the creature in its hiding place in one of the caves below the surface of the planet. Since the creature can exist only in the near-normal subsurface temperature of the cave, the men destroy it by freezing it with liquid oxygen. One of the women from the past pleads to be taken back to Earth, but her image disintegrates en route. Excerpt from TCM located HERE
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. The single-layered Kino Lorber Blu-ray of Journey to the Seventh Planet looks surprisingly strong in 1080P. The effects are, predictably, modest but colors are vibrant and detail impressive - there are even instances of depth. There are minor speckles but the source is in decent condition. I noticed no noise - and the 1.66:1 aspect ratio looks solid in-motion. This Blu-ray gave me a better HD presentation than I was expecting.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :Kino Lorber use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track at 1574 kbps (16-bit) but the DUB'ing and sync is outrageously bad (which is probably accurate to the original with the Danish actors dubbed into English.) There are meager effects in the film - landing rocket, creature etc. The score is credited to Ib Glindemann and AIP regular Ronald Stein who has done more than his share of this genre (Queen of Blood, She Creature, It Conquered the World, Not of This Earth, Dementai 13, Spider Baby etc.) but like most of the film it's quite odd but sounds consistent and clean. There are no subtitles offered and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.
Extras : The audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas is golden and adds immense value t o this package. It's chock-full of detail and amusement. Magnificent. There are also trailers for Journey to the Seventh Planet, Donavan's Brain, Magnetic Monster and Invisible Invaders.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze March 12th, 2016
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