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What's a bad Sci-fi movie


RGronovius

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The other topic is very open ended, but what about a bad movie that actually had some mainstream injection molded plastic kits made for? I'm not talking garage resin, but old school MPC, AMT, Entex, Airfix, Aurora, etc.

 

For example, Entex's Galaxy Runner from Message from Space or MPC's Cygnus from The Black Hole.

 

1_988eb59a604f83327600c2cce6f5922a.jpg

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The other topic is very open ended, but what about a bad movie that actually had some mainstream injection molded plastic kits made for? I'm not talking garage resin, but old school MPC, AMT, Entex, Airfix, Aurora, etc.

 

For example, Entex's Galaxy Runner from Message from Space or MPC's Cygnus from The Black Hole.

 

1_988eb59a604f83327600c2cce6f5922a.jpg

 

 

Good idea, didn't think of that. It relates to model making very well! One thing though, "The Black Hole" wasn't a great film, but it wasn't a "Stinker" either. As it was primarily geared for a younger audience, it was Disney production after all, it wasn't terrible. I saw that when it when it came out, and some of the scenes were quite striking. The characters were very "Kid stuff", but Maximillian was rather sinister. Acting was "so-so", but a "bad movie", not sure about that.

 

The model was also very "so-so", but I have seen builders do some scratch building augments on it, a bit of lighting, and it's quite nice then!

 

Another good idea for a topic of this genre would be "Rate a mainstream Sci-Fi kit, hated it, loved it?" But you have a great concept here.

 

The Entex kit, Japanese issue, has no instructions, metal and resin/styrene, and pretty much Stinks!!:smiley30:

Only about 7 inches long, this is not a good kit, if you want something pretty.

 

Boriiiing...........:smiley21:

 

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Here's something worth mentioning, before I get back to the "Dungeon of Modeling", also known as the "Smurf Cave of Doom".

 

Not from the Movie, although they did make one, and yes, it's a stinker.:smiley30:

 

The "Lost in Space" Chariot kit, by the now defunct, "Lunar Models".

 

About 3.5 inches long, badly cast, horrendous parts that are all flashed together.

 

The top section, is almost as thin as the cellophane on a cigarette pack, almost impossible to work with. I was sent this thing as a client submission for a project, it was returned.

 

If you ever had the bad luck of trying to build this thing from Hell, you know of the agony of a truly "Awful kit".

 

And as a warning to future modeling generations, all Lunar Model kits are stinkers. You might as well scratch build something, and not waste your time.

 

That business went up for sale a few years ago, log, stock and barrel, no one bought it. Good thing.....:smiley21:

Edited by papasmurf
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The Japanese film BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE featured Earth space fighters that looked very similar to the then-new North American X-15. Aurora issued a reasonably accurate kit of this ship, complete with raised paint lines for the movie color design. So, we have a so-so action movie with a so-so model of the primary defense fighter. Now, to compound the accumulation of horrors, Aurora put this movie space fighter into a box that had a very good X-15 painting on it and had the nerve to call it an X-15. I rate this as the worst kit I ever bought (because of its misrepresentation), even worse than the Lunar Models kits I bought (which are mostly dreadful for other reasons).

 

I have posted two Lunar Models builds here on the Sci-Fi Forum. Page down to find the Forbidden Planet C57-D saucer (which I completed) and the 2001 Discovery Space Pod (a work in progress about to receive a major progress update). Extensive scratchbuilding to fix kit parts and details were required on both kits.

 

Ed

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The Japanese film BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE featured Earth space fighters that looked very similar to the then-new North American X-15. Aurora issued a reasonably accurate kit of this ship, complete with raised paint lines for the movie color design. So, we have a so-so action movie with a so-so model of the primary defense fighter. Now, to compound the accumulation of horrors, Aurora put this movie space fighter into a box that had a very good X-15 painting on it and had the nerve to call it an X-15. I rate this as the worst kit I ever bought (because of its misrepresentation), even worse than the Lunar Models kits I bought (which are mostly dreadful for other reasons).

 

I have posted two Lunar Models builds here on the Sci-Fi Forum. Page down to find the Forbidden Planet C57-D saucer (which I completed) and the 2001 Discovery Space Pod (a work in progress about to receive a major progress update). Extensive scratchbuilding to fix kit parts and details were required on both kits.

 

Ed

 

I remember the film, so many gadgets and laser battles! Yep, a Stinker :smiley30: , but I wasn't aware of a model kit being produced? I saw some of the updates on your LM Space Pod, the forward arms assembly and scratch building, excellent work!

 

Extensive everything is required on LM kits! Randy never seem to update the molds for his kits. At the very least, re-working the molds is required after 50, to a maximum of 100 impressions. If not done, you get worse and worse castings, hence, Lunar Model quality. It's an expensive process to re-do molds, but if you don't, the product starts to really go south very quickly.

 

I have built the 24 inch diameter Jupiter 2, the 24 inch Seaview, and the Spindrift, from Lunar Models. All kits had fairly serious flaws. The J2 had a huge misform, running though the entire top and bottom, saucer section. Fusion Core parts and Landing Legs were blobs of resin, nasty. The Spindrift, along with missing parts, did not fit together correctly, until I had rebuilt most of the Hull sections. The Seaview, actually the best of the 3, also required extensive "styrene surgery", and replacement of major hull sections to achieve a good fit. Even after all this, they did not meet expectations, and I chose not to sell them.

 

They hang from the rafters of my studio, dusty, but still there. Not good enough for my collection, or for sale, they are in perpetual "model limbo".

 

Good post Ed! :smiley20:

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While nowhere near the level of a Plan 9 from outer space, The Black Hole and Battle Star Galactica are not exactly good, but they did score models and action figure lines. In my opinion the model / figures were far superior to the actual movies / TV show.

 

I love them, but all those Japanese monster movies are hardly "good" movies.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Good idea, didn't think of that. It relates to model making very well! One thing though, "The Black Hole" wasn't a great film, but it wasn't a "Stinker" either. As it was primarily geared for a younger audience, it was Disney production after all, it wasn't terrible. I saw that when it when it came out, and some of the scenes were quite striking. The characters were very "Kid stuff", but Maximillian was rather sinister. Acting was "so-so", but a "bad movie", not sure about that.

 

I was a kid when this movie came out, about 14, maybe 15 yrs old. After having seen Star Wars as a 13 yr old, this movie was quite a let down. I liked the model kits. I built Max (still have him) and the Cygnus. That was an impressive kit, unfortunately, all that remains is some of the clear parts that formed the globe like bridge.

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Thinking about this topic, I can't remember any Sci-Fi movie so bad and with nothing to make it interesting (model miniature work, music, SFX, actresses, anything) as "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". These two tie in sheer God-awfulness - you have to watch them with a stiff drink or play 'em at a party where no one is really paying attention...

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  • 6 months later...

I've got one of the Message from Space kits and it is ALL styrene plastic. I've never seen a resin one (or were you referring to an Entex kit from the Black Hole?). If anything, the plastic kits done by Bandai for Message from Space were BETTER than the film (although Japanese live action production standards at the time were different from US standards, so WE may consider it a bad film when in Japanese circles it likely was not so bad). The two fighters (Comet Fire and Galaxy Runner) were done as kits and they had the classic late 1970s trend of being able to be built with pull back motors so they could roll on the ground. But the kits also had the option of being built as serious models without the toy features. The main ship Liabe, which I have in my collection can only be built as a serious model without the toy features and it looks great when done.

 

 

As for Battle In Outer Space, in the film the effects guys made X-15s that actually looked like they were more heavily based on the ole off scale Revell kit than anything else and to my knowledge, Aurora NEVER did an X-15 up in those colors. Yes they did an X-15 (which is not very accurate) but to my knowledge they only ever released it an X-15.

 

To me, the two subjects that might qualify for such a list would be the Armegeddon X-71 and Russian Space Station that Revell Monogram did in 1998. I wouldn't say Armageddon was a "bad" film as I enjoyed it, but it wasn't exactly science fiction in the strictest terms as it was billed as more of an action flick in outer space on an asteroid. The kits that Revell did weren't the greatest though. For the shuttle, all they did was stick parts in their normal space shuttle kit as opposed to tooling up an all new kit. The Russian station was the Mir kit(actually released a few months before the normal Mir kit was) with an extra set of modules tooled up for it. It seemed like Revell just phoned the models in and its no wonder the models weren't big sales successes for them.

 

Compare that with what AMT/Ertl did for the 1990s Lost In Space Movie. They went all out and tooled up two incredibly well done kits of the new Jupiter 2 and the Robot for it and had them out when the movie hit theaters. I built the Jupiter 2 kit and loved it. But the movie, while relatively successful (and which I enjoyed watching), wasn't quite the box office smash and franchise starter that people were expecting. So merchandising for it just seemed to die on the vine.

 

Now a surprising movie one could put on the list which had kits done for it was Star Wars Episode One, the Phantom Menace. Remember how the merchandisers all flooded the market with product for it because they were predicting cash cow sales successes in this new addition to the Star Wars Franchise? AMT/Ertl was part of that as they had four kits that came out when the movie did and others came out after. Remember how that product ultimately went unsold and how the movie wasn't as good as it could have been? A year after the film came out, AMT cancelled most of their planned followon kit issues (the last new one they did was the Gungan sub, which can be VERY hard to find as not a lot of shops carried it since they were still flooded with the other SWTPM merchandise) and eventually dropped the license entirely. I would say the sales dissappointment of the TPM kits likely almost sank AMT as a company and may have had a lot to do with them being sold to Racing Champions a couple years later.

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The fact that someone actually manufactured a model of the Blob isn't what I find "interesting". What I find most "interesting" is the price tag on that particular model.

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I've got one of the Message from Space kits and it is ALL styrene plastic. I've never seen a resin one (or were you referring to an Entex kit from the Black Hole?). If anything, the plastic kits done by Bandai for Message from Space were BETTER than the film (although Japanese live action production standards at the time were different from US standards, so WE may consider it a bad film when in Japanese circles it likely was not so bad). The two fighters (Comet Fire and Galaxy Runner) were done as kits and they had the classic late 1970s trend of being able to be built with pull back motors so they could roll on the ground. But the kits also had the option of being built as serious models without the toy features. The main ship Liabe, which I have in my collection can only be built as a serious model without the toy features and it looks great when done.

 

 

 

 

No one ever said the Message From Space kit was resin. No one ever said the Black Hole kits were resin either, so I don't follow your question.

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The Entex kit, Japanese issue, has no instructions, metal and resin/styrene, and pretty much Stinks!!:smiley30:

Only about 7 inches long, this is not a good kit, if you want something pretty.

 

Boriiiing...........:smiley21:

 

 

This is what I was referring to.

Edited by JMChladek
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  • 1 month later...

I was a teenager and was entranced by Star Wars. Great movie with some neat if not ill fitting kits.

 

I saw Black Hole and was really let down. So my vote goes to Black Hole. I bought the kits and they still languish unbuilt in the stash!

 

Now a couple of you guys have thrown out the name but no one mentions specificlly.. Plan 9. It did not have a kit made per say but the Lindberg/Glencoe/Atlantis flying saucer is used in the film minus the engines.

 

Honorable mention to, Lost in Space the Movie. Nice kits so so movie....

 

Max Bryant

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I'm impressed if Ed Wood used a prop as sophisticated as a plastic model kit. I always thought he was more of a two-pie-tins-taped-together sort of guy.

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MST3K destroyed Santa Claus...Martians! Great episode. Pia Zadora rules!

 

I agree! Great episode. Riff Tracks (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy) also did a good job on Plan 9. One of their best. They actually make that stinko worth watching.

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I'm going to go with Star Wars episodes 1, 2, 3 and 6. The prequels are famously bad but, in spite of liking it when it came out, Return of the Jedi is nearly unwatchable for me nowadays. A hokey retread of the first movie and a clear indication that from now on the movies would be promotional material for toys and other merchandise.

 

Cynical,

 

John

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