H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come



H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come is a 1979 Canadian science fiction film directed by George McCowan, and starring Jack Palance, Barry Morse, Nicholas Campbell, Anne-Marie Martin, Carol Lynley, and John Ireland.

Although credited as an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, the film takes only its title and some character names from it. The film's plot has no relationship to the events of the book, as it was a blatant attempt to capitalize on the popularity of such recent successes as Star Wars, and TV series such as Space: 1999 and Battlestar Galactica, although the film had only a fraction of the production budget of any of these.

With the earth rendered all but uninhabitable due to the "Robot Wars" and resultant plague, humankind has colonized the moon with a tres-70 discotastic society. Enter Omus, who has overthrown an outlying drug-mining colony and who wants to be installed as president and dictator-for-life of the human race; to this end, he crashes a robot-piloted ore ship into the moon colony, warning that drug shipments (apparently necessary for human survival, due to The Plague) will cease if he is not appeased.

There are only three people who seem to think that standing up to Omus is a good idea: John Cabal, an old colleague of the villain; his Skywalker-ish son Jason; and Jason's girl Kim, daughter of a senator. Adding to the mix is the robot pilot, whom Kim repaired and reprogrammed after the crash so as to become an ally -- and gaining the ability to teleport in the process. These four brave souls steal an experimental starship (which looks suspiciously like the USS Enterprise after being hit with a steamroller) and set out on a series of mini-adventures to stop the Evil Omus once and for all.


 * After the End: We will live on the moon.
 * Brown Note: A high-frequency sonic weapon which can literally pierce your brain like a knife.
 * Cow Tools
 * Follow the Leader: Emboldened by... well, I'm sure you can guess.
 * Heel Face Turn: the Robot Buddy, after being rebuilt by Kim.
 * Face Heel Turn: Subverted
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Barry Morse from Space: 1999 as John Cabal; but Jack Palance steals the show as Omus.
 * Huge Holographic Head
 * In Name Only: Takes more cues from Star Wars than from its own namesake.
 * Large Ham: What else can one expect from Jack Palance?
 * La Résistance: Governor Nikki's little Redshirt Army
 * Load-Bearing Boss: Shortly after Omus' defeat, his fortress collapses.
 * Magic From Technology: after the Robot Buddy is repaired, it inexplicably develops teleportation powers.
 * The Plague
 * Infant Immortality
 * Robot Buddy
 * Space Clothes