A fun sci-fi film with minimalist production values and special effects, both matching its budgetary constraints but with interesting ideas such as anti-gravity and magnetic fields. Unfortunately, it fails to launch far enough away from the world of 1950s film sci-fi and take the viewer into the brave new world of the future. Phantom Planet will, however grow on you after a couple of viewings, especially the colourised version.
Directed by William Marshall
Screenplay by William Telaak, Fred De Gorter, Fred Gebhardt
Story by Fred Gebhardt
Produced by Fred Gebhardt
Cinematography: Elwood J. Nicholson
Edited by Hugo Grimaldi
Music by Leith Stevens
Production company: Four Crown Productions Inc.
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 90 minutes
Journal of (former) Captain Frank Chapman (USAF Space Exploration Wing)
“Since the splitting of the atom only a few decades ago and through his god-given genius of science, man at last has succeeded in penetrating further and further into the unknown vastness of space. The moon has become the launching base for advance exploration. From this pivotal point astronauts at the risk of their lives set out to conquer nature's mysterious forces, yet many questions remained unanswered:
- What is his earth in relation to the inconceivable number of other worlds?
- Is his speed truly the fastest?
- His achievements the greatest?
- Or is he a mere unimportant piece of driftwood floating in the vast ocean of the universe?
- Could there be life similar to our own on other planets?
- Is it not possible that atmospheric conditions of relative environments control their shapes and forms?
- If so, would they be giants…. or could perhaps the opposite be true?
- Could their intellect have reached a scientific level far above man's dreams?
What then will the future reveal” should the story I am about to set down here somehow finds its way into the public domain, is believed and constitutes “only the beginning?”
Humanity had been drifting on a cloud of smug self-satisfaction since the first manned moon mission at the end of the 1960s. Since then we had established lunar bases and at the start of the 1980s we were on the eve of a mission to Mars. Suddenly just over a year ago things started going wrong.
On 16th March 1980 Pegasus 3 while on its last day of space reconnaissance research flight 361 for the US air force Lunar Base One and at 21 000 miles from the base, encountered a large planetoid object on a direct collision course with the ship. The uncharted planetoid had somehow failed to register on the ship’s long-range sensors. After Captain Leonard reported having lost control of the Pegasus, his ship seemed to have just mysteriously disappeared. Another spacecraft had inexplicably vanished seemingly without a trace and without a reason.
As rumors began to spread involving space monsters and phantom planets, I together with my navigator Lt. Ray Makonnen were ordered to investigate. Well, for me there went the Mars project for which I had been preparing!
All that was known was that there were two ships on routine missions both with flight controls and rockets in order having gone missing in less than a month with nothing within thousands of miles of their position. Despite all this, they somehow managed to crash into something that appeared suddenly on our radar big enough to be a planet and then the next instant it disappeared “against all theories of space.” This mysterious planet seemed to come and go at such speeds it was impossible to track.
There was nothing for it but to conduct a reconnaissance for “something out there that isn't supposed to be.” Otherwise, if this Phantom planet mystery wasn’t cleared up and the rumors surrounding it dispelled, there wouldn’t be any Mars project for me or anyone else to be on.
Lt. Ray Makonnen and I soon began our search aboard Pegasus 4. Our mission involved us charting the same course Pegasus 3 took. At 18 000 miles out at 270 degrees azimuth and 47 degrees ecliptic with our speed at 4.6 miles per second, we felt that we weren’t getting anywhere considering the fact that this mysterious phantom planet was dashing about all over the place. We therefore decided to change course. After all, “lightning never strikes twice in the same place” and all we could do was be patient even though we ran the risk of going nuts just waiting for something to happen.
Suddenly the electrostatic meters started going haywire. Lunar Base One then informed us that we were completely off course. We had entered a heavy magnetic field resulting in several instruments failing and with others about to fail.
With all this happening and despite an impromptu course change, Pegasus 4 sustained damage from a meteor shower, requiring Lt. Makonnen and I to go outside our ship to make repairs.
It was a fairly routine procedure to effect the required repairs, but as luck would have it a micro meteor struck and pierced my suit’s air hose rendering me unconscious.
Lt. Makonnen managed to repair the hose, but as we were at the entrance to the airlock hatch, he must have been fatally struck by a similar micro-meteor. Before being propelled into deep space, it seems that Lt.,... Ray had somehow managed to push me inside the ship and close the airlock hatch.
When I came to I found Ray gone and try as I might, I discovered I was unable to communicate with the lunar base. I then decided to record a log entry outlining what had happened and what course of action I would take now that Pegasus 4 was completely out of operation and that I was unable read my position.
The only choice I felt I had was to make a forced landing on a near-by asteroid that was somehow exerting a force on Pegasus and pulling the spaceship in towards it.
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