ridiculous rating

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

MISSION STARDUST is a very cheap and cheerful Italian science fiction B-movie with a cast that includes good and bad aliens, a race of killer robots, and plenty of flying saucer mayhem. It was shot on the sun-drenched Canary Islands. It seems to be posited as a kid's movie because it's too sloppy and laughable for any adults watching to take it seriously. The cast includes Eurospy veteran Lang Jeffries as the wooden hero and a minor appearance for Dakar, the black actor later to appear in the likes of ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS. The film features plenty of action and effects, but none of them are remotely believable, and the repeated shots of floating people and vehicles had me laughing out loud every time they appeared. Overall, it can only be described as a piece of so-bad-it's-occasionally-hilarious cinema.

The utterly astonishing Primo Zelgio has surpassed all previous efforts of directors of bad Italian sci-fi movies by making his the most boring of all, and how does he do that? By setting most of it on Earth in the sixties of course! I would have never thought of that.A bunch of astronauts head off for the moon for precious metals only to find a crashed alien ship there with an old dying man and an extremely smug woman who initially appears to be wearing two brillo pads on her chest. This smug alien thinks mankind are morons even though they have a ship that works and can cure the old man's disease, and therefore we are dragged kicking and screaming through another 'battle of the sexes' plot.To make things worse, everyone head back to Earth to cure the old man, but the local government are trying to attack the ship and there's some rich (and gay, it's suggest?) guy who wants the ship or something. I'm so glad Star Wars came along and gave the Italian film industry something decent to rip off, because these early sci-fi films are boring beyond belief.There are only two good aspects to this film: The terrible effects and the rubbery faced-alien robot guys who shoot lasers from their eyes. Of course to keep the film as boring as possible the director waits until the last fifteen minutes to start the action going, but by that point you'll be totally nodding off.

Due to a recent discovery of an extremely valuable metal on the surface of the moon a 5-man team commanded by "Major Perry Rhodan" (Lang Jeffries) is sent into space to obtain some of it and bring it back to earth. Once they prepare to land however their electronics and communications suffer interference which prevents them from contact with earth. Additionally, as they begin to patrol outside of their spaceship they notice a large alien spacecraft in the distance. Upon further investigation they encounter a robot which takes them inside the spacecraft commanded by a beautiful but condescending woman named "Thora" (Essy Persson). Along with her is a very ill, older gentleman by the name of "Crest" (John Karlsen) who desperately needs medical attention. Since the disease he has contracted (leukemia) is unknown on their home planet of "Akron", the decision is made to transport him back to earth for medical care as quietly as possible in order to prevent any governments from getting their hands on advanced technology. Now, having given a quick synopsis of the plot, I think it's only fair to state that I was unaware that this film was based on a European science-fiction novel. Because of that I cannot compare how accurate this movie was with regard to the book. I would also like to add that the version I saw was titled, "Mission Stardust" and from what I understand there are other titles it goes by as well. Likewise, it was initially filmed in Italian and dubbed in English which might lessen the effect to some degree. Further, this movie was filmed 36 years ago and as a result the special effects appear quite primitive compared to today's standards. Add in the fact that the character development needed a bit more work along with some rather poor acting on everybody's part and this film should probably merit a very low score. But in spite of all the flaws, this movie was actually somewhat entertaining. But only to a certain extent. Of course, in order to get any enjoyment from it a person will need to make some allowances. But that doesn't excuse the poor character development, the substandard acting or the rather vague outline. All things considered then I rate it as slightly below average.

*Spoiler/plot- Mission Stardust(4...3...2...1...Morte), 1967. Aitor planetary aliens have crashed on the moon, and Earth astronauts have found and volunteer to help them with medical and engineering assistance. They take the sick alien leader back to Earth to have a crime syndicate try to steal the alien advanced secrets. The aliens and Earthmen fight together to do the right thing in co-operation.*Special Stars- Lang Jeffries, Essy Persson, LIus Davila, Pinkas Braun, Stefano Sibaldi, John Karlsen.*Theme- Goodwill and help is universal.*Trivia/location/goofs- Italian, Spain, and Germany co-production. Experience: The 'Weiner Mobile' lunar car, hear the annoying 'alien' female vocal mood & scene incidental music with no musical instruments accompaniment. Watch for the Perry Rhodan sci-fi novels paring of international crime czar/spies and astronaut heroes.*Emotion- I have not heard to read any of the Perry Rhodan sci-fi novels. But I found their premise interesting and unique in this film. The added plot twist of espionage and crime to make this film more dramatic and enjoyable. There are some interesting alien robots featured in this film, also.*Based On- Perry Rhodan sci-fi novels.