PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE

'''Plan 9 from Outer Space''' is a 1959 science fiction/horror film written, produced and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film stars Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi. The film also claims to posthumously star Bela Lugosi through use of archive footage, although Lugosi's character is primarily portrayed by chiropractor Tom Mason.
The plot of the film is focused on a race of extraterrestrial beings who are seeking to stop humans from creating a doomsday weapon that would destroy the universe. In the course of doing so, the aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect earth's dead as zombies to get the planet's attention, causing chaos.
By merit of its writing, unconvincing special effects, and multiple production errors visible in the final version of the film, ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' is sometimes regarded as a leading candidate for the title of "worst movie ever made." It has also earned Edward D. Wood, Jr. a posthumous Golden Turkey Award as the worst director ever.

Contents

Synopsis

Cast

History and development

Mistakes

Documenting the film

In other media

The colorised version

Other versions

References in popular culture

See also

References

External links

Synopsis

In the "Distant and unimaginable future year of 1968", while piloting American flight 812, Jeff Trent and his co-pilot Danny see a bright light flash before their eyes. A flying saucer hovers outside the airplane window. Meanwhile, after the funeral for the wife of an aged man, the town's two gravediggers are filling her grave. Suddenly, they hear a strange noise. Becoming alarmed, they decide to leave the cemetery, and as they turn to leave, they see a dead woman walking towards them with her arms raised. As she approaches, the gravediggers scream.
While absorbed in his grief over his wife's death, the old man walks out of his house and seemingly, into the path of an oncoming automobile. There is the screeching sound of car tires, implying the old man was run over, although his shadow is frozen in place at the bottom of the frame. At the funeral of the old man, two mourners discover the corpses of the gravediggers. The police come to the cemetery to investigate, with Inspector Daniel Clay in charge. While Clay is wandering around the cemetery, he encounters the female zombie, who is now joined by the corpse of the old man. Clay is killed by the zombies.
Meanwhile, Jeff Trent is curiously watching the cemetery with his wife, Paula, from their house, which just happens to be near the cemetery. He tells her about what he saw from his cockpit, and states that the U. S. Army has sworn him to secrecy about what he saw. Jeff suspects that whatever is happening in the cemetery is related to what he saw in the air. Suddenly, a powerful wind knocks Jeff, Paula, and everyone in the cemetery to the ground. They see a spaceship pass overhead. It lands in the cemetery.
In the weeks that follow, people begin seeing flying saucers in the sky; newspaper headlines report the sightings. Flying saucers are reported over Washington, D.C.. The military, under the command of Colonel Thomas Edwards, finally attacks the three alien spaceships. The spaceships momentarily float in the sky, then leave Earth undetected. Where have they gone? Colonel Edwards reveals that the government has been covering up the flying saucer visits to Earth, and he wonders if the alien visits are connected to other Earth disasters.
The aliens have returned to Space Station 7 for regeneration. While the alien ships are at the space station, their commander, Eros, delivers a report to the "Ruler". Eros informs the Ruler that he has attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact the governments of Earth. He tells the Ruler that to force the people of Earth to acknowledge his people's existence, he is implementing Plan Nine, which involves resurrecting people who have recently died by stimulating their pituitary and pineal glands. The Ruler orders Eros to continue Plan Nine. The three alien ships return to Earth.
Jeff is scheduled for another flight and is about to leave home again. Concerned for Paula's safety, he urges her to stay with her mother while he's gone, but she insists on staying where she is. She will lock the doors and be just fine, she says. Ultimately, Jeff's concern for Paula distracts him while he's flying.
Jeff's fear that something would happen turns out to be true; that night, the corpse of the old man rises from his crypt and sneaks into their house. Joined by the corpse of his wife and the newly resurrected Daniel Clay, he chases Paula through the cemetery. Paula collapses and is found by a passing motorist who drives away with her limp body. After losing Paula, all three zombies return to Eros' ship and it lifts off.
Lt. Harper returns to the cemetery with three police officers after hearing the story that the hysterical Paula has reported. They hear the sound of the spaceship leaving as they ponder the truthfulness of Paula's story. One of the officers reports finding an open grave that is now empty. A frightened officer is ordered to climb into the empty grave to determine its owner. They discover it is the empty grave of Inspector Clay.
At the Pentagon, General Roberts informs Colonel Edwards that the government has been receiving messages from the aliens. The general plays the last message, which has been translated into English by the recently invented "language computer". The general sends Edwards to San Fernando, California, where most of the aliens' activities have occurred.

Back at Space Station 7, days behind schedule, Eros reports to the Ruler. Visibly upset, the Ruler tells Eros he is taking two of the spaceships from his command. He orders Eros to show him the human, Clay, that they have brought with them from Earth. Clay, however, nearly chokes Eros, and is stopped only when Tanna throws her jammed electro-gun, which was guiding Clay, to the ground and Clay loses power. Impressed, the Ruler orders Eros to return to Earth and shoot the old man with a "decomposite ray", to eliminate him, then continue resurrecting dead people. The people of earth will be overtaken when they see the superiority of the aliens and their ability to resurrect the dead.
In California, the police, joined by Edwards, interview the Trents about their experiences with the aliens. Unbeknownst to them, the alien saucer has returned to the graveyard. While waiting by the police car, an officer encounters the old man. The old man chases the cop to the Trents' house, where they shoot their guns at the zombie, with no effect. The nearby aliens strike the old man with the decomposite ray, causing his body to decompose, leaving only his skeleton. Not knowing what to make of this, they decide to go investigate and they drive into the cemetery. Getting out of the police car, Jeff, Edwards, and Lieutenant Harper head out towards the light source, while Paula and one officer stay in the car. The three eventually find Clay's empty grave.
On board the ship, deciding they will have to kill these humans, Eros and Tanna send Clay to get Paula, at the police car, and then attempt to lure the other three to their spaceship. Clay kidnaps Paula. Meanwhile, seeing a distant glowing light, the other three head towards the ship.

At the ship, Eros allows them to enter, and they come on board with their guns drawn. Once inside, Eros tells the humans that his people first came to Earth to talk and to ask for their aid, but the humans wouldn't listen to their messages. According to Eros, the humans will eventually discover the "solarbonite", a bomb which has the effect of exploding sunlight molecules. Eros explains that a solarbonite explosion would destroy everything the sunlight touches, causing a chain reaction that would eventually destroy the entire universe.
Suddenly outside the ship, Clay arrives with Paula and Eros threatens to have her killed if they try to force him to go with them. The two cops also arrive and spot Clay with Paula. They realize their guns are useless and decide to approach Clay from behind with a big stick. Eros sees this and shuts off the ray controlling Clay allowing Paula to go free. The officers try to get on board the ship and a fight ensues inside between Eros and Jeff. During the fight, a fire gets started. Tanna tries to get the ship to power up. The humans leave the ship and it takes off in flames. The humans watch from below, knowing Clay can no longer be manipulated because the machine controlling him was destroyed in the fire. Eros and Tanna are trapped as the ship explodes in space.

Cast

★ Bela Lugosi - The Ghoul Man

★ Maila Nurmi (Vampira) - The Ghoul's wife

★ Tor Johnson - Insp. Daniel Clay

★ Gregory Walcott - Jeff Trent

★ Mona McKinnon - Paula Trent

★ Duke Moore - Lt. John Harper

★ Tom Keene - Col. Tom Edwards

★ Gloria Dea - Mourner

★ Dudley Manlove - Eros

★ Joanna Lee - Tanna

★ John Breckinridge - The Ruler

★ Edward Reynolds - Grave digger (uncredited)

★ Reverend Jim Lymon - Minister at Clay's funeral (uncredited)

★ Dr. Tom Mason - Lugosi Double (uncredited)

★ Paul Marco - Patrolman Kelton

★ Conrad Brooks - Jamie the cop

★ Carl Anthony (Wuco) - Patrolman Larry

History and development

Shortly before Bela Lugosi's death, the actor had been working with filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. on a horror film titled ''Tomb of the Vampire''.^[1] When Lugosi died, he had only completed a few minutes of footage, and Wood shelved the project. Eventually, Wood developed the story and screenplay for ''Grave Robbers from Outer Space'', planning to release it as Lugosi's final film. Wood hired his wife's chiropractor, Tom Mason, as a stand-in for Lugosi, even though Mason matched neither Lugosi's physical or vocal appearance.

Mistakes

Tanna and Eros leave Space Station 7, casting an obvious shadow as they go.

''Plan 9 From Outer Space'' is widely noted for having a plethora of obvious goofs.^[2][3] Some of the most glaring include:

★ When Jeff complains to his wife, Paula (Mona McKinnon), about having to hush up his UFO sighting, he calls her "Mona".

★ "Night" and "day" shots are interspersed constantly within the same scene (for example, the old man's corpse chases Paula Trent through the cemetery, with the scene switching between night and day nine times). One porthole on the alien spaceship shows a cloudy day (shown during a scene set at night), while the others show only blackness.

★ When the old man is killed near the beginning, he wanders just off screen, where his shadow is still clearly visible, and is apparently hit by a car. His shadow never moves.

★ Mason's attempts to hide the fact that he is not Lugosi are wildly unsuccessful. As an early version of Leonard Maltin's movie guidebook put it, "Lugosi died during production, and it shows."

★ In one scene, as his character is being riddled with bullets, Mason's Dracula cape unintentionally starts to slip off his shoulders and he quickly pulls it back into place.

★ Criswell's opening narration redundantly informs the viewer how "future events such as these will affect you in the future." Immediately afterwards, he states that the story has already "happened on that fateful day."

★ In the numerous graveyard scenes, as characters brush against tombstones, the stones wobble and, in one case, fall over (e.g., the cross at the right side of the screen in an early scene).

A visible boom mike in a cockpit scene.

★ During a scene in an airplane cockpit, a flash of light from a flying saucer reveals the shadow of the boom mike. Also in this scene, the actress playing the flight attendant bumps into the curtain several times while waiting for her cue.

★ When Tor Johnson drops the girl in the cemetery, a pillow is clearly visible beneath her.

★ Most notably in the first scenes, string is clearly visible from the top of the wobbly saucer to the top of the screen. These same flying saucers cast shadows over the "space" backdrop.

★ There are many problems with the graveyard scene. The cop is holding his gun and scratching his neck, with his finger on the trigger, then points it at others (it has been said that the actor did this on purpose in an attempt to annoy director Ed Wood, but Wood did not even notice). Then a flash of light goes by (the UFO) and they all fall down. The guy on the far right falls down and knocks over a tombstone.

★ During the US Army attack on the UFOs, the rockets used are actually (and obviously) ground-to-ground mortar type rockets that practically cannot even fly at a required altitude to harm aircraft. Also the majority of the weapons used in the scene were never actually used in combat. Moreover, the footage is a segment of stock film that takes place in Korea.

★ When the saucers are first seen, it is just after sundown at the cemetery, yet, in the plane cockpit, the time is given as 3:45 am.

★ In the same scene, Col. Tom Edwards clearly casts shadow on the "horizon" behind him. The Colonel is also missing most of his rank identification items, while the Captain beside him doesn't have any at all.

★ In the scene where Inspector Daniel Clay's body rises out of the ground, the "grave" and headstone are clearly out of proportion to all the leaves on the ground.

★ The risen dead can clearly be seen breathing.

★ When Tor Johnson rises from the dead, the size of his tombstone changes dramatically from shot to shot. Also, when he rises from his grave, he is clearly having considerable difficulty getting up.

Documenting the film

The movie is the subject of a documentary entitled ''Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion'', which is notable for being 30 minutes longer than the movie itself. The documentary is included on Image Entertainment's DVD edition of ''Plan 9''. The documentary visits many locations related to the film, including the building with Ed Wood's former office at 4477 Hollywood Boulevard and what was left of the small sound stage used for the film's interiors which is down a small alley next to the Harvey Apartments at 5640 Santa Monica Boulevard.
Rudolph Grey's book ''Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr.'' contains anecdotes regarding the making of this film. Grey notes that participants in the original events sometimes contradict one another, but he relates each person's information for posterity regardless.
In 1994, Tim Burton directed a fictionalized biopic, ''Ed Wood'', which climaxes with the making and release of this film, starring Johnny Depp in the title role, Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, and Bill Murray as Bunny Breckinridge (who played the alien "Ruler" in ''Plan 9''). ''Ed Wood'' also featured frequent Wood cohorts Conrad Brooks and Gregory Walcott, both of whom appeared in ''Plan 9''.
In 2007, a documentary by Kevin Sean Michaels entitled "Vampira: The Movie", was produced chronicling Maila Nurmi's work with director Edward D. Wood Jr. and her role as television's first horror host.

In other media

The colorised version

As an ode to ''Plan 9'' being famously known as "the worst film of all time," prerelease copies of the colorised DVD release included this limited edition air freshener.

In 2006, Legend Films released a colorised version of ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' on DVD.^[4] Though the colorization process was largely done straight, unlike the campy bright colors used in the studio's release of ''Reefer Madness'', there were a few alterations. Legend had auctioned off the opportunity to insert new material into the film through two auctions on eBay. The first allowed the auction winner to provide a photograph that is digitally inserted into part of the scene between the Ghoul Man and Paula Trent. The second allowed the winner to have his or her name placed on a gravestone during a scene with Tor Johnson. The third alteration is at a point where Eros is punched and briefly turns green from head to toe.
Autographed pre-release copies of the DVD were made available in 2005, and the colorized version was also given special theatrical screenings at various theaters throughout the country, including the Castro Theatre.^[5][6] The DVD featured an audio commentary track by comedian Michael J. Nelson of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' fame, a restored black and white version of ''Plan 9'', a home video of Edward D. Wood in drag performing a striptease (Wood, in real life, was a cross-dresser) and a comedic feature narrated by Nelson detailing the "lost" Plans 1-8. The autographed edition also came with a limited edition air freshener.

Other versions

An unofficial theatrical version of Plan 9 was staged in the 2006 Toronto Fringe Festival. ''Plan LIVE from Outer Space!'' was written by James Gordon Taylor and featured well known Canadian comedians (most of them Second City alumni) such as Lisa Brooke, Aurora Browne, Brandon Firla, Chris Gibbs, Sandy Jobin-Bevans and Ron Sparks. The play was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award in 2007.
Eternity Comics released a miniseries in the 1990s entitled ''Plan 9 from Outer Space: Thirty Years Later!'' which served as an unofficial sequel to the film.^[7]
An adventure game of the same name was made in which the player must recover the film from Bela Lugosi's double, who has stolen it.^[8]
Those that preordered the video game ''Destroy All Humans!'', available for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 video game consoles, received a bonus DVD of ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' when the game was released. The game itself also features several references to the movie. A scene from the movie is also unlockable in the game, along with the complete film ''Teenagers From Outer Space'', but neither has any controls (play, pause, fast forward).^[9]
In 1997, David G Smith wrote and composed the music for ''Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Musical''. It received better reviews than the original film.^[10]
The film was never featured in the B-movie mocking comedy series ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. It has been reported that the reasons for this were the problem of running the commentary format of the series over the film's narrator as well as the fact that the film was already very well known, and the MST crew preferred more obscure films.^[11]
The film was, however, featured on the slightly similar show ''Steve Smith Playhouse'', in which Canadian comedian Steve Smith re-dubbed the dialogue of only one character in a B movie. The film was edited down to a half-hour with Steve Smith replacing the dialogue of Eros with his own voice with comedic results. In the episode, the plot centered around aliens reviving the dead with Viagra and controlling them with loud marching music.

References in popular culture

''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' has become widely recognized as infamously being considered the worst film ever made, and as a result of which, has been widely referenced in popular culture.

★ When the film ''Battlefield Earth'' was reviewed by ''the New York Times'', film critic Elvis Mitchell referred to it as being "''Plan Nine From Outer Space'' for a new generation."^[12]

★ The Bell Labs successor to the Unix operating system was named Plan 9 from Bell Labs in honor of the film.^[13]

★ ''Plan 9'' is referenced in two ''Seinfeld'' episodes. In "The Chinese Restaurant," Jerry, George, and Elaine plan to go see the movie following their dinner, but when plans fall through, Jerry refuses to see it alone. Jerry remarks "This isn't plans one through eight, this is plan 9! The one that worked! The worst movie ''ever'' made!" In "The Postponement," Jerry and Kramer see an advertisement on a telephone pole for a second chance to see it.

★ In the TV series ''X-Files'', Fox Mulder claims to have seen the movie 42 times, a reference to ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'',. He claims that the film is so incredibly bad that it shuts down the logic centers of his brain, allowing him to make intuitive leaps of logic, aiding him in his investigation of the paranormal. He called this the "Ed Wood Investigative Method".

★ The film is spoofed in the ''Mission Hill'' episode "Plan 9 from Mission Hill."

★ Rockabilly/surf band Department of Crooks (also known as Casino Crooks) released a CD entitled "Plan 9 From Las Vegas" in the late 90s.^[14]

★ Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 have a song called "Plan 9 From Outer Space", and also make reference to Ed Wood in their song "Hooray For Horrorwood" in the line "You can knock on Ed Wood but it won't do you no good."^[15]

★ The animated series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) feature an episode entitled "Plan 6 from Outer Space".

★ In the video game (2004) the X-nauts salute their ruler by crossing their arms in an X patter. The same way the aliens in Plan 9 salute their leader.

★ Glenn Danzig used part of the movie's name as his Record Company's name (Plan 9) when he was with The Misfits.

★ At 1998 Ukrainian psychobilly band Mad Heads release an album Mad In Ukraine which begin with words "My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space?"

★ Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory features Oompa Loompas that use a gesture to confirm arrangements with Willie Wonka. The gesture is the same as the aliens in Plan 9 from Outer Space use to greet one another.

See also

★ Films considered the worst ever

References

★ Sloan, Will. (April 2005). "Can Your Heart Stand the Shocking Facts About Kelton the Cop A/K/A Paul Marco?" Filmfax, p.88-89
1. Cult Movies, , Danny, Peary, Delacorte Press, 1981,
2. ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' mistakes, goofs and bloopers
3. Goofs for ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' (1959)
4. Alternate versions for ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' (1959)
5. What makes a bad movie? For starters, take a look at ''Plan 9 From Outer Space''
6. Ed Wood Festival Comes To The Castro
7. Plan 9 From Outer Space: Thirty Years Later
8. Amiga Reviews: ''Plan 9 From Outer Space''
9. Movie connections for ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' (1959)
10. ''Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Musical
11. ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' FAQ: Subtleties, Obscurities, Odds and Ends
12. `Battlefield Earth': Earth Capitulates in 9 Minutes to Mean Entrepreneurs From Space
13. The Art of UNIX Programming
14. Plan 9 From Las Vegas
15. Songs from the Recently Deceased > Overview

External links

★ ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' at Google Video

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