H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come
| H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come' | |
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Beyond the earth... Beyond the moon... Beyond your wildest imagination!
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| Directed by | George McCowan |
| Produced by | John Danylkiw (associate producer) William Davidson (producer) Harry Alan Towers (as Peter Welbeck) (executive producer) |
| Written by | Mike Cheda (adaptation) Joseph Glazner (adaptation) Martin Lager (writer) H.G. Wells (novel) |
| Starring |
Jack Palance Carol Lynley Barry Morse John Ireland Anne-Marie Martin |
| Music by | Paul Hoffert |
| Cinematography | Reginald H. Morris |
| Edited by | Stan Cole |
| Distributed by | Film Ventures International (FVI) (1979) (US) (theatrical) Astral Video (Canada) Blue Underground (2003) (US) (DVD) International Film Distributors (Canada) |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come is a 1979 Canadian science fiction film. Although credited to H. G. Wells, the film takes only its title and some character names from The Shape of Things to Come, Wells' speculative novel from 1933. The film's plot has no relationship to the events of the book. The book predicts events such as a Second World War and the collapse of social order until a world state is formed, whereas the film involves a high-tech future involving robots and spaceships. The film was an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of such recent successes as Star Wars, and TV series such as Space: 1999 and Battlestar Galactica, although the film had only a fraction of the production budget of any of these.
Sometime in the future, Earth is recovering from "The Robot Wars" that devastated the planet seven years earlier. Most of humanity now lives on the Moon within a domed city called New Washington, but their survival depends on an anti-radiation drug called Raddic-Q2 which is manufactured on the distant planet Delta 3.
As scheduled, Delta 3 sends a massive cargo ship with a supply of the drug, but the ship crashes into New Washington's dome and causes widespread destruction. The colony leader, Senator Smedley (John Ireland), and science advisor Dr. John Caball (Barry Morse), try to contact Nikki (Carol Lynley), the leader of Delta 3, but instead hear from Omus (Jack Palance), the "Robot Master," Caball's former apprentice, and the newly self-proclaimed Emperor of that world. Omus states that the crash was a deliberate attack and he demands the people of New Washington recognize his authority as their leader, or else he will send more ships with an invasion force of robots under his control.
Smedley refuses to give into Omus' threats and Caball suggests launching the Starstreak against him – an advanced starship designed for both space exploration and defense of the Moon colony, but Smedley goes against the plan since the ship has yet to be fully tested. Caball boards the ship anyway, and prepares it for launch, during which he accidentally exposes himself to a dose of deadly radiation while in the reactor room.
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