Alien Attack

[RSS]

I was rummaging around preparing for our annual month of Halloween and this popped up, it's an awesome sell sheet for the Syndicated TV movie "Alien Attack" which actually was just two episodes of "Space:1999" glued together and sold as a feature film.


I cannot tell you how addicted to these things I was as a kid, I watched every single "film" that ITC cranked out in the early 1980s including stuff like "Cosmic Princess" (two more episodes of 1999), "Invasion UFO" (a real jumbled mess of "UFO" episodes stapled together) and really rare stuff like "The Champions".




Note how they try to sell this as a new concept, there is no mention of the series. I think Alien Attack even added newly filmed scenes (that stick out like a sore thumb) to try to frame it differently, it's not even set in 1999. After all that work I doubt a single person who watched this didn't know it was just two episodes of a show that had been cancelled five years before.

These types of things were a late night staple and I've got the bags under my eyes to prove it baby....

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[Bruce Banner]

They did that with some episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980 too, and released the results theatrically in some territories.

[Earth 2 Chris]

This practice goes back to TV's Golden Age. The Adventures of Superman had several theatrical films cobbled together from 3 episodes apiece...although I don't think they ever tried to sell it as anything but Superman.

I believe the Green Hornet series had episodes stitched together to capitalize on Bruce Lee when he went big.

Chris

[Figuremod73]

This would be a good chance to ask something I've wondered for years: Was some of the episodes of Buck Rogers done this way? I went to the movies every weekend in the late 70s/early 80s and swear I saw either the pilot of a 2 parter at some point.

I would have been about six i guess.

This would have been at a movie theater.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I think both Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica had theatrical releases of their pilots.

Chris

[Figuremod73]

That would explain why I was familiar with the show when it was on tv. It was one of the first shows I remember watching other than the live-action hulk and cartoons.

[palitoy]

I believe the Green Hornet series had episodes stitched together to capitalize on Bruce Lee when he went big.

In high school I had this poster above my bed:

[Bruce Banner]

I think both Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica had theatrical releases of their pilots.

Chris

They did indeed.

I saw the Galactica pilot theatrical release in Canada before the show aired on TV.
And the variations between the several versions are always fun to compare:

http://www.kobol.com/archives/bgdiff.html

Also saw the Buck Rogers pilot at the theatre well before the series aired, but for the Buck pilot there are fewer variations between the theatrical and TV versions. Most notably an epilogue which was tacked on to the TV version to set up the ongoing series.

Incidentally, Universal are finally releasing the TV version of the Buck Rogers pilot on DVD, as part of the standalone second season set of the show.
(Which sells for more than the full series set. Go figure.)

[Figuremod73]

The funny thing is I didnt see Star Wars or ESB until a number of years later. It was probably the broadcast premier. Buck Rogers is probably my first real exposure to science fiction.

It would nice if someone would make some effert and do a big screen version. Something that does the property some justice. I feel the same about Flash Gordon to. I like the 1980 movie but it, of course, it has its flaws.

[mego73]

Being a 1999 fan, I have Alien Attack on VHS, the framing scenes are ridiculous. I love it!

[Figuremod73]

I sat down and watched a few episodes of Space:1999 on youtube. I have never seen it. It's a pretty good show. I was half expecting a snooze fest but for mid 70s pre starwars i was impressed.

[ddgaff1132]

The BSG and Buck Rogers films go back to Glen Lawson (Larson???) Who produced them. I remember Battlestar Gallactic was Shown in theaters after being on TV to help build capital for the struggling TV show. Back then, I couldnt see the need to pay to see a movie that I had already seen on TV. Back then I would'nt appritiate the wide screen format or sound system. Too bad. Buck Rodgers, on the other hand was made prior to the show as a means to pay for the series in advance and promote it. NBC was very interested in the outcome of this venture back then. And of course the movie produced many stock shots for the following TV show.

[Bruce Banner]

The Galactica theatrical version was released in Canada in July 1978 (which is when I saw it, at the drive-in)... two months before the US TV broadcast of the extended pilot, which aired in September 1978.

(The same theatrical version was then later released in key US locations in May 1979.)

The success of the theatrical release of the Galactica pilot is largely what prompted Larson and Universal to do the same thing for the Buck Rogers pilot, which was released in theatres March 1979, with the series following in September 1979.