The Pod People
| The Pod People | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Juan Piquer Simón |
| Written by | Joaquín Grau Juan Piquer Simón |
| Starring | Óscar Martín Concha Cuetos Manuel Pereiro |
| Music by | Michael Demer Librado Pastor |
| Cinematography | Juan Mariné Ricardo Navarrete |
| Editing by | Antonio Gimeno |
| Distributed by | Film Ventures International |
| Release date(s) | December 13, 1983 (France) April 17, 1984 (Madrid) November 26, 1984 (Barcelona) |
| Country | Spain France |
| Language | Spanish |
The Pod People (original title Los nuevos extraterrestres, literally The New Extraterrestrials) is a 1983 Spanish science fiction film directed by Juan Piquer Simón. A young boy discovers a lovable alien creature, but the alien's mother is on the prowl. The film was originally meant to be about evil aliens, but the producers demanded script alterations in order to cash in on the success of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by featuring a child and cute, lovable alien. Director Juan Piquer Simón was dissatisfied with the final result. The film was largely forgotten until 1991, when it was lampooned by movie-mocking television show Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film starts with three poachers preparing to enter the woods in search of game. One of the hunters sees something in the sky that he thinks is a meteor and goes to investigate. He finds a stash of large eggs in a red glowing cave and begins smashing them. An unseen entity finds and kills the poacher, but not before he smashes all but one of the eggs. The mystery creature begins to take revenge, first on the hunters and then on members of a rock band that is camping in the mountains for the weekend.
Tommy (Óscar Martín), a boy who lives in a secluded house with his mother Molly (Concha Cuetos) and uncle Bill (Manuel Pereiro), also finds the cave and the remaining intact egg and brings it home, where it shortly hatches and grows rapidly until by the next day it is as large as Tommy. Tommy nicknames him "Trumpy", presumably due to the alien's short, elephant-like trunk, and they become playmates. As the dangerous mother alien continues looking for her child, the rock band seeks out Tommy's house for medical care after one of their group, Laura (a female "friend" and apparent groupie of the lead singer Rick), is struck from ambush by the alien mother and falls off of a short cliff. She eventually dies of her injuries.
Rick's friend Brian (Emilio Linder) and uncle Bill go to a nearby ranger station to use the radio but find the alien mother and the body of a second poacher there. The alien kills Brian, after which Bill flees back to the cabin in his SUV. The alien beats him home, however, and attacks and kills Tracy (a backup singer) in the band's camper, an event Tommy witnesses through his telescope. The survivors decide to hole up in the cabin until the next day.
Trumpy's mother sneaks into the house and kills Cathy (another backup singer) after she takes a shower. The other people in the house come running at the sounds of her screams and Bill fires a shot at the retreating alien mother and wounds her. Bill and Rick decide to pursue Trumpy's parent before she can escape. Rick takes a rifle and the two men go in pursuit.
Immediately after Bill and Rick leave, Trumpy appears, scaring Molly and Sharon. Molly grabs a rifle from a nearby rack and tries to shoot Trumpy, but Tommy protects his alien friend with his body and hustles Trumpy out the door and into the woods. Molly and Sharon give chase, searching for Tommy, Rick, and Bill in the gloom.
Eventually Trumpy and his mother reunite briefly before Rick and Bill find them. The alien mother attacks Bill, who shoots her once before being killed, then she is gunned down by Rick. Trumpy and Tommy disappear in the woods and say their goodbyes before Tommy reunites with his mother, Sharon, and Rick. The movie ends with Trumpy moving deeper into the woods and Tommy, Rick, Molly, and Sharon (the surviving backup singer) heading back to the cabin.
[edit] Mystery Science Theater 3000
The film features the fictional pop band's performance of "Burning Rubber Tires", which was lampooned in a sketch on Mystery Science Theater 3000 for its unintelligible lyrics, specifically the chorus, "hear the engines roll now", which was interpreted by the MST3K cast as "hideous control now", "idiot control now" and other variations. The lead singer's after-song gesture of making the A-OK sign, smiling, and saying, "It stinks" became a recurring in-joke on MST3K.
The film was distributed in the U.S. by Film Ventures International. In common with Cave Dwellers, another Film Ventures release spoofed by MST3K, the opening and ending credits for The Pod People are superimposed over blurred footage from an entirely unrelated movie (in this case The Galaxy Invader [1985]). The latter film would later be spoofed by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy for Rifftrax in 2011.
[edit] DVD releases
The MST3K version of the film was released by Rhino Home Video as part of the Collection, Volume 2 DVD set. The film itself has been released on DVD by Substance Films under the name Extra-Terrestrial Visitors, although the DVD is considered to be VHS quality at best.
