Mars Needs Women
Entry updated 4 April 2017. Tagged: Film.
Made-for-tv film (1967). Azalea Pictures/American-International Television. Produced and directed by Larry Buchanan. Written by Buchanan. Cast includes Yvonne Craig and Tommy Kirk. 83 minutes. Colour.
Dop (Kirk) is leader of an expedition from Mars whose mission is to procure five Earthwomen for breeding purposes. Having mysteriously broadcast "Mars Needs Women" to the US Space Agency, Dop and his four companions reach Earth: there follows a "battle" between US Air Force fighter jets and Martian flying saucers (UFOs which appear to be the lids of cooking pots), consisting almost entirely of stock footage of fighter planes. The invaders then land near Houston, Texas. Taking on the identity of a newspaper reporter, Dop soon encounters Dr Marjorie Bolen (Craig), an expert in space genetics who is his target. Inevitably Dop falls in love with her and abandons his mission, eventually returning to the Red Planet with his team but with no women. What is causing only males to be born to the Martian race remains unexplained.
Larry Buchanan (1923-2004) made several sf and Horror films, none very good; this low-budget effort is particularly dire. Kirk gives a very bad performance, and Craig's is only slightly better, far below her usual standards. There are several obvious scripting errors such as confusion over the natures of the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. Mars Needs Women is of minor note as one of the first films whose aliens desire human women for breeding purposes (see Exogamy); otherwise it offers little interest even to fans of trashy Cinema. [GSt]
see also: Cat-Women of the Moon; Mars Needs Moms.
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