Newly reviewed: Planet of the Dinosaurs (1978), the low-budget classic known for its lifelike dinosaurs and not-so-lifelike cast. And I blame the current state of movie production for making me feel justified in using the word “classic” here.
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- About the Cabal
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- 01: Brainathon ’99
- 02: Bangs'n'Whimpers
- 03: Post-Apocalypso
- 04: Review All Monsters
- 05: Pretty Mad Scientists
- 06: Tainted Love
- 07: Days of Future Past
- 08: Secret Santa
- 09: Catch a Throwing Star
- 10: Four-Color Features
- 11: Big Bugs
- 12: Fish With Bicycles
- 13: Go Go Go-Go Boys!
- 14: paLe IMITATIONS
- 15: We're Gonna Need a Bigger Roundtable
- 16: Whoa… Deja Vu.
- 17: Month of the Living Dead
- 18: B-Masters Beach Party
- 19: Kinji Fukasaku – The Man No Genre Could Tame.
- 20: Home Video Holocaust – The Video Nasties
- 21: Father Dearest: Who's Your Daddy?
- 22: So Sorry…
- 23: Back to the Well
- 24: Another Month of the Living Dead
- 25: The Ottoman Empire Strikes Back
- 26: Rubber Soul
- 27: Shhhhhh
- 28: Month of the Alternative Living Dead
- 29: On Time & Under Budget
- 30: These Kids Today…
- 31: Mea maxima culpa
- 32: Stingathon ’09
- 33: 10,000 B.S.
- 34: Foot Notes
- 35: Don’t Touch That Dial!
- 36: He Conquered the World
- 37: Secret Santa’s Revenge
- 38: At the Movies of Madness
- 39: They Might Be Giants
- 40: The Other Elizabeth Taylor
- 41: The Dark Guys of London
- 42: Falling Stars
- 43: To Be or Not To Be! (Pilot Error)
- 44: Teeth and Tentacles
- 45: Brunoween
- 46: Howl of the B-Masters
- 47: It’s Alive!
- 48: Bad, Black and Beautiful
- 49: Don’t Quit Your Day Job
- 50: B-Mentia 15
- 51: Quelle Horreur!
- 52: Carradine, Thou Wayward Son!
- 53: Tall, Dark and Gruesome
- 54: Pets Gone Wild
- 55: The Bad Place
- 56: From The Bible To Barbarella
- 57: A Fistful Of Pennies
- 58: Hello, Dolly
- 59: No, Not That One!
- 60: Dr Terror’s House Of Honours
- 61: WTF!?
- 62: In The Key Of B
- 63: The Forgotten Dawn Of Horror
- 64: The Most Dangerous Roundtable
- 65: Room For One More
- 66: Were-WHAT?
- 67: The China Anniversary Syndrome
- 68: The China Anniversary Syndrome: Part 2
- 69: The China Anniversary Syndrome: Part 3
- 70: The China Anniversary Syndrome: Part 4
- The Links We Love
#1 by Blake Matthews on September 20, 2007 - 5:31 am
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I once gave the caveman epic “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth” the nickname of “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms: Year One” and this movie the nickname of “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms: I Needed the Money.”
#2 by El Santo on September 20, 2007 - 9:45 am
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“Without researching the topic (what do you think I am, some kind of film journalism professional?), I tend to think that this was the last great gasp of the stop-motion monster movie”
Well, there was that little thing called Clash of the Titans in 1981…
#3 by Blake Matthews on September 20, 2007 - 10:03 am
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And there were human-sized stop motion dinosaurs that appeared thereafter. I think “Creatures from the Abyss”, “Zeiram”, “Oblivion”, and some others featured stop-motion beasties. I guess like El Santo said, “Clash of the Titans”, and I’ll add “Q”, were among the last entries.
#4 by Nathan Shumate on September 20, 2007 - 10:23 am
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Jeez. I thought of Clash earlier in the day before writing the review, and then let it trickle out of my mind.
But PoD would be the last real stop-motion dinosaur movie, right? (Disallowing Q because it’s a madeupasaur.)
#5 by Blake Matthews on September 20, 2007 - 11:05 am
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Well, Galaxy of the Dinosaurs featured stock footage from Planet…. What about those softcore dino flix from the 90s (which I never saw), Dinosaur Island and Dinosaur Valley Girls? Stop Motion or Bad Puppets?
#6 by Blake Matthews on September 20, 2007 - 11:33 am
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Sorry, Nathan. There’s “Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell” which has stop-motion beasties. Although I’m told that they’re madeupasaurs, too.
#7 by Nathan Shumate on September 20, 2007 - 3:16 pm
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It’s been a long time (too long) since I saw Dinosaur Island, but while there might have been some stop-motion, the majority of it was puppet and cable work, using John Buechler’s leftovers from Carnosaur. And Dinosaur Valley Girls… I dunno. It was on TV once, and I fell asleep 20 minutes in.
#8 by Blake Matthews on September 20, 2007 - 4:36 pm
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Judging from Greywizard’s review at the Unknown Movies, the dinosaur scenes of Dinosaur Island don’t seem to be of super quality (he said “more stop than motion”, I believe). I watched the trailer to Nymphoid Barbarian, but all of them are makeupasaurs.
#9 by Joshua Weiss on September 21, 2007 - 4:07 am
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I remember renting this movie for some theme video night back in my University days, and I also remember loving it from start to finish. How could you not at least mention the astronauts plan to dispatch the T-Rex?
#10 by The Rev. D.D. on September 21, 2007 - 6:57 am
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I’ve still got my tape of PotD I picked up at Target for cheap years ago. Pretty fun, but no 20 Million Years B.C. I do like the dinosaurs though, and the ridiculous death-by-styracosaur is a hoot.
Dinosaur Island has a brief, stop-motion brontosaur. The main dinosaur’s the same T-Rex mock-up and puppets they used on Carnosaur. I recall that the Deinonychus puppet from the same movie pops up once or twice as well. And that’s about it, if I recall correctly.
It may have been the last great gasp, but we did get ED-209 years later, and that was awesome. (We’ll ignore the stop-motion robotic drug dealer from the first sequel.)
#11 by Nathan Shumate on September 21, 2007 - 7:43 am
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How could you not at least mention the astronauts plan to dispatch the T-Rex?
Gotta leave some goodies for the viewers. I’ll just say this: A certain segment of readers will have Turok: Son of Stone flashbacks.
#12 by Blake Matthews on September 21, 2007 - 6:10 pm
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Hmm…looks like all of us forgot the last quintessential stop-motion dinosaur movie: Caveman with Ringo, Barbara, Dennis, and Shelley.
#13 by KeithA on October 3, 2007 - 10:13 am
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Was that before or after Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend or whatever that was called?
#14 by Nathan on October 3, 2007 - 10:20 am
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Baby wasn’t stop-motion,though. It was a frickin’ man-in-suit brontosaurus.
#15 by The Rev. D.D. on October 9, 2007 - 6:52 am
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Was there any suit work in that? I just recall the terrible, stiff and plasticine, albeit full-sized, models/puppets. And a couple of animatronic heads and necks that weren’t much better.
Once upon a time I liked that movie, simply because it had dinosaurs.
I also liked that horrible Godzilla cartoon, as I recall.
I was so young and naive then…though not naive enough to think Godzooky was a good idea. Even youthful naivety can only do so much.
#16 by Nathan Shumate on October 9, 2007 - 8:25 am
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Yeah, when Baby is stumping along, it’s some poor schmo on all fours trying not to look like an evolutionary dead end. Plus, as you noted, lousy animatronics.
#17 by KeithA on October 9, 2007 - 9:35 am
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I stand corrected. By the time Baby came out, I was a little old to see it. Plus, I heard it didn’t have any Sleestaks in it, so what the heck is the point? What the heck is the point of any movie that doesn’t have Sleestaks in it?
#18 by Nathan Shumate on October 9, 2007 - 9:45 am
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Sleestaks, ninjas, or poop-flinging monkeys. That’s the standard.
#19 by KeithA on October 9, 2007 - 10:19 am
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A poop-flinging Sleestak ninja?
#20 by Nathan Shumate on October 9, 2007 - 10:23 am
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I can get behind that.
#21 by The Rev. D.D. on October 10, 2007 - 8:50 am
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I haven’t seen it in years and years so I forgive me for not remembering the suitmation.
How about ninjas vs. Sleestaks, with a poop-flinging monkey for comic relief?
#22 by Nathan Shumate on October 10, 2007 - 9:04 am
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And Aquaman hovering around the periphery, waiting for a chance to make himself useful.
Gentlemen, I think we have just created the perfect movie.
#23 by The Rev. D.D. on October 11, 2007 - 8:59 am
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Someone get us a budget!