Women of the Prehistoric Planet

Infobox Film
name = Women of the Prehistoric Planet


image_size =
caption = One-sheet for "Women of the Prehistoric Planet"
director = Arthur C. Pierce
producer = George Edwards
writer = Arthur C. Pierce
narrator =
starring = Wendell Corey
Keith Larsen
John Agar
Paul Gilbert
Merry Anders
Stuart Margolin
Todd Lasswell
Irene Tsu
music = Gordon Zahler
cinematography = Archie R. Dalzell
editing = George White
distributor =
released = April 15, 1966
runtime = 90 min
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:55143
imdb_id = 0061203

"Women of the Prehistoric Planet" is a 1966 film. It was featured in the first season of "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

Plot

A spacefaring crew from an advanced civilization is preparing to return home after an extended voyage. The crew includes "humans" (represented in the film by Caucasian actors and actresses) and "Centaurians" (represented in the film by Asian actors and actresses). The Centaurians have been rescued from their home planet after a (self-inflicted) devastation, and are being brought back with the spacefaring explorers with an expectation that they will be assimilated into their new parent culture. A theme of the film is acceptance between the "human" crew and their "Centaurian" guests.

One of the ships in the fleet is hijacked by a few of its Centaurian passengers and crash-lands on a prehistoric planet in the "Solaris" system. Countermanding HQ orders, the rest of the fleet returns to search for survivors after the crash. In the film's "twist", by the time that the rescuers (traveling at fast sublight speeds) are able to return to the planet, they are encountering the descendants of the original crash survivors - explained in a simplified version of time dilation. Linda, a Centaurian from the rescue ship, falls in love with Tang after he saves her from drowning. After fighting with the planet's indigenous species ('60s era special effects including giant iguanas meant to represent dinosaurs), Tang and Linda are marooned on the prehistoric planet - the latter revealed to be the captain's own daughter. In the film's coda, this savage and primitive planet is revealed to be the Earth.

Contextual notes

The film is notable today for being a product of its time (1966), exemplifying certain American attitudes that would be unacceptable in a current mainstream American film. These aspects form the basis for much of the humor in the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" treatment of the film.

The "Caucasians vs. Asians" theme is essentially a mid-1960s Americanized view of the American occupation of Japan after World War II. The exploration of the concept is somewhat progressive for the time of the movie's release - showing unreasoned prejudice among a few of the Caucasians against Asians ("Centaurians"). However, the portrayal of Centaurians in the movie is very stereotypical of the time, presenting the Asians as either submissives grateful for their rescue by the Caucasians, or as destructive rebels lashing out at the Caucasians for the rescue they have been provided.

The film is also notable for its stereotypical (possibly dated even by 1966) portrayal of women in the workforce/military as submissive figures (in tight shirts) with no greater ambition than finding a suitable husband. The male crew members (especially the character played by Wendell Corey) act in a leering and sexually aggressive fashion toward women crewmembers that was played for comedy at the time but would be regarded in Western countries in the 2000s as blatant sexual harassment.

DVD Releases

**The "MST3K" version of the film, accompanied by a short introduction by actress Irene Tsu (Linda), was released by Rhino Home Video as part of the 'Collection, Volume 9' box set.

References

*
* [http://www.mst3kinfo.com/episodes/epone.html Satellite News: "MST3K" Season 1 Episode Guide]
* [http://www.mst3kinfo.com/daddyo/di_104.html "MST3K" Episode 104 Info]