Spaced Invaders

Infobox Film
name = Spaced Invaders


imdb_id = 0100666
writer = Patrick Read Johnson
Scott Lawrence Alexander
starring = Douglas Barr
Ariana Richards
Royal Dano
Gregg Berger
Wayne Alexander
director = Patrick Read Johnson
music = David Russo
producer = Luigi Cingolani
distributor = Touchstone Pictures
released = April 27 1990 (USA)
runtime = 100 min.
language = English
budget = $3,000,000 (estimated)

"Spaced Invaders" is a 1990 science fiction comedy directed by Patrick Read Johnson and starring Douglas Barr, Royal Dano and Ariana Richards.

Plot

As the armed forces of the planet Mars fight a vast interstellar war under the direction of imperious "Enforcer Drones", the idiotic crew of a small Martian spaceship intercepts a rebroadcast of Orson Welles' 1938 "The War of the Worlds" radio dramatization. Mistaking this for the real thing, they land the ship in a podunk, drought-stricken farming community (Big Bean, Illinois) and ineptly attempt to conquer Earth. Because it is Halloween, their appearance is taken to be very good costumes, except by a handful of locals who come to realize the truth, among them the town sheriff (Barr), his young daughter (Richards), and a crotchety elderly farmer named Wrenchmuller (Dano). In a comedy of errors, the Martians eventually realize they have made a horrible mistake, but the intransigence of their ship's resident Enforcer Drone threatens to cause a mass catastrophe. The sympathetic humans manage to destroy the Drone, and help the grateful "invaders" return to space.

Influences

The title of the flim is a play on the video game Space Invaders.

During the end title music, there is an homage to the TV series "My Favorite Martian" as the first bars of the show's theme song are sung by one of the Invaders.

External links

*imdb title|id=0100666|title=Spaced Invaders
* [http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/spaced_invaders.htm "Review of the movie at War Of The Worlds Invasion"]
* [http://www.spacedinvaders.net.ms "Fanpage containing summary, pictures, cast and fan-art"]