THE TERRORNAUTS

While spaceship  designs based on toys created by the American toy company  Pyro  could be seen in the British Swift Morgan comic of the fifties, Another Pyro toy design turned up in the low budget sci-fi film,' The Terrornauts'.

The Terrornauts, which premièred in 1967, was produced  by Amicus, better known for their portmanteau horror films. It was directed by Montgomery Tully.

The film was based on the 1960 pulp sci-fi novel, The Wailing Asteroid written  Murray Leinster, non de plume of William F Jenkins.

For anyone unfamiliar with the film, the action takes place at a British Radio Telescope installation . Dr Joe Burke ( played by Simon Oates) is an astrophysicist in charge of Project Star Talk.

He’s determined to find evidence of extraterrestrial life ever since he’d had a strange dream about visiting another world when he was a child. His uncle, an archaeologist had uncovered a black cube during a dig in France. He’d given it to Joe as a gift, who accidentally dropped it, smashing it to bits revealing the inside to be full of strange blue crystals. These crystals, Joe believed, had put the image and sounds of a strange twin mooned planet into his mind, and from then on he’d pursued a career in radio astronomy.

Needless to say, his assistant, Ben Keller (played by Stanley Meadows)  and his  secretary, Sandy Lund (played by Zena Marshall) think he’s just a dreamer.

He clashes with his superior, Dr Henry Shore (played by Max Adrian) who thinks he’s totally misguided and wants Project Star Talk shut down as he feels it’s a waste of money.

But one night strange signals are heard, sounds that Joe recognises from his childhood dream.  The signals emanate from a distant asteroid  only 20 miles across. Dr Shaw dismisses it, saying it‘s too small to support life. But Joe argues that the only way to find out is to send a message back.

Project Star Talk Radio Telescope

Note the Airfix Dock Yard Crane parts

Shore reluctantly agrees, and Burke begins to equip the telescope to send the reply.
But as costs spiral, a auditor from the Holmes Foundation, the organisation providing Star Talk‘s grant, Joshua Yellowlees (played by Charles Hawtrey) is sent to check the money‘s not being wasted.

Yellowlees, and another character, the installation's tea trolley lady, Mrs Jones (played by Patricia Hayes) are actually quite intrigued by the forthcoming transmission.

The signal is finally sent to the small asteroid. On it’s surface is a space station  being maintained by a sole robot. On receiving the signal a spacecraft is despatched to Earth and the point of transmission.

This model seems to be made up of kit parts but note the little sphere on top taken from an X-30 Space Explorer toy or maybe an X-60 Launching Truck. 

Hovering over the transmitter shed, the strange craft emit’s a beam which scoops up the shed from the ground and secures it in a bubble - like force field beneath the ship.

After travelling through space the five land on the asteroid and are introduced to the station’s robot.
After being given a series of tests to establish their intelligence they find out the reason for the station.

Long ago the galaxy was invaded by creatures known only as ‘The Enemy!’

Any intelligent races they encountered they would attack and reduce them to primitives.

The now abandoned  station was created by a long dead civilization as a giant fortress armed with missiles to fight back.

Cubes on the station similar to the one Joe had as a boy are filled with knowledge which is accessed by means of electronic skull caps. With the robot’s help they learn how to operate the station.

With the last of the station’s inhabitants long dead and The Enemy approaching the Solar System , Joe, Ben and Sandy are Earth’s only hope.

The invading ships loom towards the space station and Joe, Ben and Sandy prepare to launch missiles.

A space battle begins and The Enemy ships are revealed as none other than  Pyro Space Clipper’s (or as ‘The Terrornauts’ was filmed in Britain I would suspect they would be Tudor Rose toy versions made under licence from Pyro )

One by one The Enemy ships are destroyed, however the last ship, heavily damaged and on fire, hurtles into the space station following its lift off from the asteroid.

With the Enemy destroyed and with seconds to spare before the station explodes,the five jump on to a teleportation pad , or Transposer  aboard  the station and are instantly transported safely back to Earth.

I do admit I love this daft film, despite it's shortcomings. Simon Oates wearing a bathing cap and taking it all very seriously is priceless, and a monster costume seen in the film leaves a lot to be desired!

The use of toys in the special effects obviously betrays a shoestring budget and the sight of the space station floating through space with its rocket launchers flailing about doesn't help the willing suspension of disbelief, but some of the colourful sets are a retro joy. I love the Space Station control room set with it's huge circular window showing the asteroid's surface outside, and the Transponder set which is so simple. In fact I reckon that's what I like about this film. It's a colourful nostalgic Saturday morning matinee for the young and the young at heart.

The VHS cover