Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) User Reviews

Where's They Buy Their Clothes?

[Hitchcoc · 2/10 · 15 April 2006]

Like many of the reviewers, I watched this after the "Prehistoric Planet" film. I was astonished that there were no changes to any of the previous footage, other than the Bogdanovich voice over and the disappearance of Faith Domergue (Marcia). What has been added is a set of blonde women who hold sway on Venus and worship a Pterodactyl. They have scallop shell bras and hip hugger pants with bell bottoms made of a sheer material. I do remember that Mamie Van Doren was really quite a good looking lady and these really are some attractive women. But they never really speak. They are telepathic. They are there to show that they actually caused much of what happened to the Astronauts in the previous movie. This had to be made for the drive-in crowd to neck and ignore, simply to fill space on a triple feature. It certainly wasn't worth much time and effort.

Corman and Bogdanovich Team up to Complete the Destruction of Planeta Burg

[mstomaso · 2/10 · 18 September 2007]

In 1965 Roger Corman produced Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, and in 1967 he produced (uncredited) Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (VPPW). But the similarities do not end there. Both films are essentially recycles of Planeta Burg, a great Soviet sci fi adventure from the 1950s. Most of the footage from both films - and ALL of the coherent and interesting footage - comes from the original Soviet film.

VPPW is Peter Bogdanovich's first directorial effort, and unlike some of his later films, it's entirely disposable.

It is not the first, nor the last, time that an American director essentially plagiarized a good foreign film, but it is among one of the worst examples of Ameicanization I have ever seen. Even compared to what was done to Gojira, La Femme Nikita, Wings of Desire and Open Your Eyes, this is close to an all-time low.

Like the previous Voyage to a Prehistoric planet, but less seamlessly, Bogdanovich simply took a little new footage and added it to the original film. The story is essentially an adventure set on the planet Venus, where two cosmonauts and a robot await rescue, and follows the cosmonauts and their rescue team through a series of harrowing adventures involving giant carnivorous plants, lizard men, and geological hazards. Planeta Burg also introduced a little mystery by showing some evidence that Venus may once have been inhabited by an intelligent species capable of producing works of art.

The most interesting aspect of Bogdanovich's retelling of this story is his exploration of this mystery. It seems that the last remnants of Venusian civilization are scantily clad telepathic women who worship, among other things, a Pteradactyl which their earthling visitors have murdered. These women have apparently figured out how to reproduce without men, and to produce cotton pants and hats for themselves out of Venus' barren wastelands, but are otherwise quite primitive. Remarkably, despite the fact that there do not appear to be any Venusian men, the gods the women worship are referred to as "him". You get the picture, yes?

The basic idea of examining the Venusian perspective on the events depicted in Planeta Burg was a good one. But this was, apparently, the only good idea involved in the design of this film.

This film is worth seeing if you ever felt compelled to see Mamie van Doren chewing on a freshly caught raw fish, or if you are a fan of Planeta Burg and just have to see how it has been butchered in this final act of cinematic violence. Otherwise, I can't recommend it.

The special effects are way below the quality of those which appear in the 1950s film, the added content is poorly acted, badly edited, and adds very little to the film.

Theological Revolution with hooters

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 4 January 2012]

Although Planet Of Prehistoric Women's mother film Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet had some interesting aspects to it, this one is a total dud. Unless of course all you want to see is Mamie Van Doren and those scantily clad Venusian babes. All of them Playboy playmates or could qualify for same.

Honestly if the earth people knew what was on Venus, they'd be rushing pell mell to get to the shrouded second planet.

This film is a re-edited version of the first film with some added footage of Mamie and her clan. It seems as though the earth astronauts have killed the flying reptile the Venusians worship as a god. Causing a theological revolution on the place.

Unless you like Mamie and those twin weapons of mass destruction she sports, I'd pass this one up.

First film for Bogdanovich

[rosscinema · 5/10 · 7 June 2005]

What do you get when you take 2 Russian sci-fi films and edit in scenes of beautiful blond hotties with clam shells on their breasts? You get this confusing effort that is really just a fledgling director's opportunity to get his foot into the door as a filmmaker from the always generous Roger Corman. Story involves an Earth spaceship that heads to Venus on a mission but when they arrive things go wrong and they are forced to crash land. Astronauts Alfred Kerns (Georgi Tejkh) and Howard Sherman (Yuri Sarantsev) along with their reliable robot John1 start to check out and explore this strange planet and discover that it's inhabited by hopping lizard creatures, brontosauruses, man-eating plants, and flying reptiles.

*****SPOILER ALERT***** Earth sends another ship to Venus to find the two astronauts after radio contact is broken and when they arrive they find what may be proof of some sort of a civilization. This mission is headed by Andre Freneau (Gennadi Vernov), William Lockhart (Vladimir Yemelyanov), and Hans Walters (Georgi Zhzhyonov) and while they search for their comrade's they anger 7 telepathic blond sirens! The sirens are headed by Moana (Mamie Van Doren) and she informs her group (telepathically) that they must seek revenge on those responsible for killing their god Ptera which is a pterodactyl shot down by the astronauts.

The director of this film is credited as Derek Thomas but that's just an alias for Peter Bogdanovich who was given the chance to do something with two Russian science fiction films by filming some added footage. It appears that the only thing he managed to shoot were the scenes with Van Doren and the other lovelies as they either stared at each other on the rocks by the ocean (probably the southern California coast) or took a quick dip into the water. This is actually some sort of sequel to "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" from 1965 which had Basil Rathbone in it but most of the footage is taken from "Planeta Bur" and "Nebo zovyot" and has some shoddy dubbing put in for the story in this current effort. Two things come to mind as I watched this and the first has to do with the monsters they encounter on Venus and the lizard creatures are nothing more than human sized Godzilla's and the way they strangely hopped around made me think that the actors inside those awkward suits had a difficult time moving about. The rest of the monsters look like something they would eventually use in "Land of the Lost" on Saturday mornings. Secondly, the sirens! Aah..yes! Mamie Van Doren and her group of platinum blonde's! My first reaction when seeing them for the first time is that they look like The Golddiggers from "The Dean Martin Show" especially with their bell bottom slacks. They all wear securely tightened clam shells for bra's and I mention securely tightened because I craned my neck looking for as much as a quick nip slip but alas...no such luck. What distinguishes them from anything mermaid like is the fact that they all wear shoes even in the scenes where they're swimming and diving underwater. Bogdanovich has spliced together a sloppy looking film but I do have to admit that a weird atmosphere was created and the use of the fog machine is a nice touch because this oddity does have a unique quality to it. Most will say that this is merely another bad science fiction film but I tend to disagree and consider this more of a curio that gets a mild recommendation from me.

interesting sci-fi oddity

[junagadh75 · 17 May 2002]

"Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" concerns a party of cosmonauts attempting to rescue another group on Venus. Along the way they encounter prehistoric monsters and other perils, and there is an intelligent robot. This part of the film is really an excellently made Russian sci-fi film called "Storm Planet", while the other part concerns a band of telepathic Venusian cave girls led by Mamie Van Doren, who worship a pterosaur named Tera and watch the struggles of the cosmonauts from afar; this other part was spliced in by P. Bogdonovitch (at R. Corman's behest? I'm not sure), and is ridiculous camp. I've seen two versions of this film (not including the Russian original), one without the Van Doren sequences. Although it is regarded as a psychotronic/cult/camp type of film, the classiness of the original manages to come through most of it, and the pacing benefits from the exclusion of a stereotypically sexist subplot involving a female crewmember's misplaced patriotic zeal.

Wonderful rubbish

[ClearThinker · 1/10 · 10 May 2009]

This film is so awful it's brilliant.

The film is actually a re-edit of a Soviet science fiction film with extra footage of young American girls. Very low budget. The two sets of actors never actually meet.

All the voices are dubbed on afterwards. This covers up the fact that the astronauts are speaking Russian. The "Prehistoric women" communicate through thought waves, so none of them have to talk and act at the same time! I watched this on Sumo TV in the UK. The version I saw still had all the cinema adds spliced in. The adverts for ice cream, popcorn and hot chocolate were still there. There was also an advert for CocaCola.

The whole thing looks like someone had filmed the thing from the stalls on an old Cine camera. Picture blurred and fuzzy, colour almost bleached away.

Unfortunately none of the US actors ever went on to do anything of any significance. The leading lady, Mamie Van Doren, seems to have built her reputation around being a former Hollywood starlet who was supposed to be the next Marylin Monroe and spent five years dating Howard Hughes, from the age of 15! Directed by Peter Bogdanovich (Famous director and also Dr. Elliot Kupferberg in The Sopranos TV series)

Any prospective actor/producer/director should see some of this.

Near the bottom of my list.

[ChuckStraub · 3/10 · 13 October 2004]

There's not too much going for this movie. It has a poor plot and poor acting. At the start of the movie, the special effects seem promising but even this quickly disappears and reverts to much lower standards. It seemed to me that the film is far behind the quality of special effects available in 1968. It seemed to be several years behind the times. The actual quality of the film is even poor. The so called prehistoric women did not in the least look prehistoric. To me they just looked very strange. I didn't find this movie to be very interesting and would go as far as calling it boring. I've seen a lot worse but this film is definitely near the bottom of my list and is one that I would not recommend.

" I hear her voice and one day I will meet her there "

[thinker1691 · 3/10 · 23 March 2014]

The second time at bat Hollywood director, Peter Bogdanovich took a story written by Henry Ney and created a movie entitled " Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. " Upon viewing it, try not to laugh too hard at the many fallacies and inaccuracies in the movie. The star of the movie is one time sex goddess Mamie Van Doren who turned many a males' heads in 1968. The story is of a dreamy eyed astronaut who joins a rescue ship to the Planet Venus. Upon landing they immediately destroy a flying reptile whom the primitive women worship as their god. Thereafter the men are plagued by incessant rain, volcanoes, lava and floods. The team never meet the prehistoric woman, clad only in Bell-bottom skin tight pants and sea-shell bras. However, they do hear their siren call and continue to seek their comrades with a poor man's idea of a robot as a space aid. The movie is low grade and originally made by the Russians and were it not for the hot previews which promised it was for adults only, few would have attended it. As it is, the film is recommended to anyone too board to sleep and wants to stay awake. **

Unless you're a masochist, stay away from this one.

[bensonmum2 · 1/10 · 13 June 2006]

Is it possible to "rape" a movie? That's how I would describe Roger Corman and Company's treatment of the Russian film Planeta Bur. Taking footage from that film and adding some terrible sequences he filmed, Peter Bogdanovich created one fine mess of a movie. Other than the nonsensical narration he recorded himself, Bogdanovich's creative contribution to Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women appears to have been the film he shot of Mamie Van Doren and a half-dozen other women lounging on the coast of California. It's so cheaply done that there is no actual dialogue as shooting sound would have been too costly (not to mention these women probably couldn't act to save their lives). This footage was then sloppily edited with the Russian film to create this dull, pointless, plot less "thing" that has no entertainment value whatsoever. I don't know when I've been so bored and ready for a movie to end. It's excruciating. I like a lot of the low-budget, no-budget films of the 60s, but I would rather have a tooth pulled than sit through Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women again. Unless you're a masochist, stay away from this one.

"Awaken, John, awaken! Glow, John! Monitor, John!"

[moonspinner55 · 1/10 · 13 August 2017]

Film-buffs under the assumption there's a Peter Bogdanovich sci-fi flick from the '60s they somehow missed out on needn't drop everything to see "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women"--Bogdanovich didn't so much direct the picture under a pseudonym (Derek Thomas) as he did incorporate inserts into and lay a narration over already-existing footage. After a two man-one robot space exploration team runs into trouble on dinosaur-infested Venus, three astronauts from the Command Center blast off on a rescue mission. Most of the footage was lifted from the 1962 Soviet film "Planeta bur" (which had already been dubbed into English in 1965 as "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet", featuring new inserts of Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue). Bogdanovich also used special effects shots from a second Soviet film, "The Sky Calls" from 1959. It's an oddity, nothing more, one which proved merely a stepping stone for Bogdanovich and wife Polly Platt (credited as production coordinator) just before loftier projects came their way. * from ****

Bargain basement budget sci-fi

[michaelRokeefe · 2/10 · 15 January 2019]

This limited American International Television Release proves a movie can be made with the change in your pocket. Peter Bogdanovich is the "voice over" narrator and directs under the name Derek Thomas. Roger Corman is an "uncredited" producer. The film is thin with extra cheese. A rescue crew of astronauts land on Venus killing a creature resembling a rubber pterosaur that is worshiped by beautiful local women led by bombshell Mamie Van Doren. The women do not speak, but have telepathy and other superhuman powers. The cast also features: Aldo Romani, Roberto Martelli, Paige Lee, Mary Marr, James David, Pam Helton and Margot Hartman.

Underrated sequel to an American remake of a worthy Soviet sci-fi film

[inews-2 · 8/10 · 22 June 2007]

You really can't appreciate Planet of Prehistoric Women (PoPW) if you don't know its roots. As you will have read in other reviews, much of PoPW is made out recycled footage from Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (VPP). VPP itself is the English dubbed version of the 1962 Soviet film "Planeta Bur" (Planet of Storms). I managed to get copies of all three and watch them in chronological order. As a fan of 50s and 60s sci-fi, it was a great experience.

A foundational "fact" which many overlook is that a very early theory about the solar system presumed that it formed from the outside in. The further planets were older in their "evolution" than the inner ones. Hence, Mars is often depicted as an older "dying" world, with an ancient civilization which seeks escape (usually to earth). Venus, in that vein of thinking, was younger than earth, less developed. Hence the idea that you'd find dinosaurs, volcanoes and primitive beings (the lizard men, not the blonds). The woman were theorized to be the feral remnant of failed colony of an advanced people who came to Venus from "out there..."

First off, the primary donor film, Planeta Bur (I had an English subtitled version) is much more of a "A" grade sci-fi film. Given that it was produced in 1962, it was a pretty strong effort. Much more akin to Forbidden Planet than Plan 9. The sets and effects are a huge step up from the B-grade stuff of the late 50s, early 60s. The rocket interiors, the seriously industrial robot, and the very cool flying car, were not low budget products.

Since the premise of PoPW is that it's a flash back, reuse of the Planeta Bur (PB) footage works. In fact, the premise of PoPW is that it's a sort of parallel story to that of PB (and by extension, VPP). In PB the cosmonauts only hear the mysterious female voice singing -- except for the little sculpture of a woman's face that Alexes finds at the last. PoPW explores that other side of the story.

Interspersed with the original PB footage (still using its English dubbing via VPP version), are new clips of the women we never see in PB. Now, I grant you they're an obvious sop to the teenage boy movie goer. They're all 20-something beautiful blonds. But, look past that. They represent the remnant of the lost civilization which the cosmonauts in PB hypothesized about. The blonds eating raw fish and worshiping a pterodactyl statue peg them as primitives -- even if remarkably well groomed.

The women in PoPW are cast as the cause of some of the cosmonaut's disaster situations: the volcano, the flash flood, which were unexplained in PB.

What continues to be left unexplored is the source of the mysterious singing voice. In PB and the English remake VPP, the mystery voice saves the cosmonauts, giving warning cries to bring rescue from the tentacle plant, etc. The women in PoPW are cast as agents of mischief, so are not that protectress (who is seen at the end of PB reflected in a rocky pool).

A curious feature of PoPW is that it splices in even more footage from yet another Soviet sci- fi film than VPP did. The rockets are completely different, but clearly still Soviet. The big red star on the tail fin is hard to miss. I've not located this other old film, but it looks cool too.

Some details within PoPW make it interesting. One is "Marsha". In PB, there was a female cosmonaut named Masha. She stayed in orbit and was the love interest of the square faced cosmonaut. Hers was a minor foil role. In VPP, she was replaced altogether (not simply dubbed) with new footage of Faith Domergue acting out the exact same role. Faith's name, along with Basil Rathbone's, had more marquee power. However, in PoPW, even Faith's footage is dropped. Instead, we're told (only once) that "Marsha" is a nickname for mission control. This is to explain the cosmonauts often calling to "Marsha" for information, etc. A bit lame.

One scene in PoPW makes no sense w/o knowledge of the prior films. When the cosmonauts think they've lost contact with earth, the square-faced cosmonaut cries out mournfully, "Marsha, dearest Marsha..." Obviously a bizarre response for not hearing from mission control, but not if you've seen PB. Just a little of the original leaking through.

Watch PoPW with an open mind. If you can, watch PB first, then VPP, then PoPW. Yes, it's a low-budget movie that (like many B-films) used prior footage to pad itself out. Here, however, instead of stock military footage, Corman used obscure Soviet A film footage. That keeps PoPW above the truly banal B films of the 60s.

Very Enjoyable-but cheesy!

[MEwing4444 · 6/10 · 3 November 2005]

I saw this movie as a kid, around 1972 or so, and spent years trying to see it again. Yes, I know, I need a life. I finally found it on DVD in one of those 50 sci-fi movies for $20. The movie itself is pretty bad, but if one enjoys 'bad' sci-fi, then this one is perfect. I still can't figure out how they got their 'space-car' to float around like it did. It looked pretty real, as did a Brontosaurus, but the Pterydactyl looked very cheesy, like it was made by a bunch of 7th graders. Anyway, I watched "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet", then I watched "Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women" back to back. There must have been a gun to my head, I know. The movies use the exact same dubbed Russian "Planet of Storms" footage, but each movie spliced in their own additional footage, and the results produce 2 similar, but different story lines. "Prehistoric Planet" has Basil Rathbone in separate footage, as well as Faith Domergue in her own footage-they are in different space stations.....making for a clumsy (but enjoyable) plot involving rescuing the men on Venus. The robot seems to have a bigger role in this movie, although it is used to some effect in the other. "Prehistoric Women" has Peter Bogdanovich's voice-over narration, and the spliced-in women in clam shell bathing suits (Mamie Van Doren is the leader), who communicate telepathically. I found this one to be much more interesting of the two. The Earth men and Venus women seemed destined to meet each other, they look for each other most of the movie, but alas because it is separate footage, they never do! A somewhat surprise ending makes the movie that more interesting. I do have to comment on the eerie female singing/crying throughout the movies, made it pretty haunting. Also, some of the noises coming from the console of the space-ships sounds exactly like those heard on the original Star Trek TV show. Well, I probably spent more time talking about this movie than the production crew who actually shot the movie!

Sloppy Seconds

[wes-connors · 2/10 · 17 February 2010]

"A group of astronauts attempt to rescue a party stranded on the surface of Venus. In the process, they encounter numerous perils, including distinctly unfriendly prehistoric monsters. Their misadventures are watched from afar by a group of telepathic alien women who worship a pterosaur named Tera," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Director/narrator Peter Bogdanovich uses Andre Freneau (Gennadi Vernov) as story protagonist.

This is the second bastardization of the Russian science-fiction film "Planeta Bur" (1962). There are some good visual effects, carried over from the original movie, especially the cosmonauts' airborne planet surface vehicle. But, as astronomers knew, by the 1960s, this film doesn't really depict how a landing on earth's neighboring Venus could possibly look - if they'd have picked another Solar System, they might have had a classic.

The use of "Robot John" is one of several similarities to the TV show "Lost in Space" (appearing in 1965), especially the fourth and fifth episodes of that series. The Robinson family's "Robot" was intended to serve the same function; and, both teams of space travelers encountered "prehistoric" monsters, misguided robot helpers, spaceship weight problems, lost civilizations, and wildly unstable planetary climate changes.

The U.S. poorly dubbed this "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women", and cheaply inserted footage featuring busty Mamie Van Doren and several other tightly-clad blondes. How these women came to be living on Venus is wisely left to the imagination. The idea is loosely based on the original film's appearance of a mysterious female figure. "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" (1965) was the first, and better, American version.

** Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) Peter Bogdanovich, Pavel Klushantsev ~ Mamie Van Doren, Gennadi Vernov, Vladimir Yemelyanov, Georgi Zhzhyonov

Seen on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater in 1969

[kevinolzak · 2/10 · 29 November 2013]

Director Peter Bogdanovich had to start somewhere; following second unit work on Roger Corman's "The Wild Angels," Corman allowed the hardworking novice an opportunity to do a feature film utilizing the exact same Russian stock footage used by Curtis Harrington for his 1965 "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet," a 1962 entry titled "Planeta bur" (Planet of Storms). It's no stretch to assume that the first-time director just didn't have his heart in his work, as all of his newly shot footage features a dozen bikini-clad models not required to speak, everything narrated by Bogdanovich himself. There is no integration between the alien mermaids and the Russian characters, so the whole thing just sits there, aimlessly meandering from one crisis to another. Granted, I had just viewed Curtis Harrington's work on his "Voyage," so all the Soviet footage was already familiar to me, but at least Harrington had Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue actually communicating with the Russian astronauts, their scenes already dubbed into English. The blame here simply lies with Roger Corman, who felt the need for another retread rather than something truly original. "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" carries a 1967 copyright, and at least Corman was satisfied enough to grant Bogdanovich the freedom to do a feature starring Boris Karloff, who supposedly owed Roger two days work on a previous contract; we can all be grateful that the result was the superlative "Targets," shot in Dec 1967, an achievement that even "The Last Picture Show" couldn't top (some may feel free to disagree). Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater aired "Prehistoric Planet" only 3 times, "Prehistoric Women" 4 times (maybe it was the bikinis), all from July 1969 to July 1972.

Loved it as a kid...

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 23 May 2005]

This used to pop up often in the late 1970s on a local TV station. It played mostly on Saturday nights--late. I was in high school at the time and this movie was perfect after a night of studying. Now it wasn't a good film but it had a very nice, dreamlike quality to it. I don't remember much of the plot--just the women in clamshell bras and bikinis and the robot.

Seeing it today it's boring, pointless and a total waste of time. The plot doesn't make a lick on sense and (to be nice) Mamie Van Doren can't act. Of course the other Venusians (or whatever the hell they were) weren't much better. Some of the special effects are pretty good--but they were taken from a Russian film (which is purportedly 100 times better than this)! So this isn't even a remotely good film...but it still remains a peaceful childhood memory for me. It might work for you after a long day working and studying. In all fairness I can only give this a 1.

voyage to the planet of prehistoric women

[welkerlots · 18 January 2007]

Probably one of the more haunting experiences and viewings as a child I remember because often it was aired at alternative times by it's previous venture, "Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet". I remember feeling confused as to the differences, but by far, "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" presents the better use of the original Russian footage. The closing scenes with the women surrounding their "new god" the lava-destroyed robot, "John", are simply eerie in contrast to the previous scenes from the 1962 Russian film. The voice-over dialog by Mamie Van Doren, while "hokey" in parts, sets the mood perfectly. To appreciate this film for what it is, one needs simply to view it ALONE...in the quiet dead of night. It gets under your skin and stays there. One of the more noteworthy and curious (in my opinion), albeit "lessor known" of Corman's "cut and paste" classics.

101% awful! It makes PLAN 9 look like Shakespeare!

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 25 March 2007]

There really is nothing about this movie that speaks of quality or intelligence. I am not exaggerating to say that many teens could make a better film with the same budget--which appears to be about $3.89! Everything about this film is cheap and awful. The "color" in the film is provided by tinting--making everything look rather green. The wonderful outer space shots are actually pretty crappy and were lifted from a Russian movie. The acting is staccato throughout--with everyone talking pretty much like robots. And don't even get me started on the scientific aspects of the film--such as the extreme gravity that would crush anyone, the overwhelming heat (making water impossible) and the lack of atmosphere that make a Venus landing all but impossible. None of this seems to matter, though, as astronuts walk about with ripped space suits and scantily-clad nymphs run around with scallop-shell bras! The Venusian amazon women, by the way, don't talk but speak without moving their lips--probably since the film appears to have been filmed using an 8 mm non-sound camera. Also, they don't interact in any way with the men--it's like three separate movies were spliced together! In fact, the women just stand around in their go-go pants and stare into space or worship a dead pterodactyl. The only redeeming aspect of this is they are semi-attractive (as 60s Venusian Lesbians go). As for the amazing underwater scenes, it consisted of filming a home aquarium and super-imposing the astroidiots into the scene!! Oh, and should I even bother to mention that the "monsters" are sillier than the rubber-suited ones used in Godzilla films?! Overall, the film is just a total and inept mess with no redeeming qualities and is VASTLY OVER-RATED with a score of 1.7 on IMDb. It is SO bad that I really think it's worse than PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE--and would be nearly as much fun to laugh at with your friends it if weren't so gosh-darn dull! Don't say you weren't warned!!!

By the way, this movie was originally a Russian film. Then in 1965, segments from the Russian film were inserted into a film called VOYAGE TO A PREHISTORIC PLANET. This combination of Russian film and not too horrible American-International clips produced a bad but at least watchable film. Then, three years later this pile of dung was created. IF you watch VOYAGE TO A PREHISTORIC PLANET, you'll see many of the same scenes you see in this one except the earlier film also features clips with Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue--neither which have to do in the film. Plus, VOYAGE TO A PREHISTORIC PLANET has no scenes with silly curvaceous blondes cavorting about senselessly thanks to the genius(?) of an uncredited Peter Bogdonovich!

Interesting, puzzling, and dreadful

[neil-476 · 3/10 · 9 February 2011]

Yes, it is interesting to read the story of how surplus footage of a Russian sci-fi movie got inter-cut with newly shot footage and capped with a voice-over from Peter Bogdanovich (also directing, and then starting to make his way in this world which we call the biz of show).

Yes, it is enterprising, and shows the ingenuity with which someone can take some source material which is perhaps unusable on its own but which has some potential and, thereby, moves towards making a whole which is greater than the sum of the parts.

Yes, it explains why what is obvious some fairly well financed production values sit in a movie which is equally obviously dead cheap. It explains why there are some well matched sound effects but no synchronised dialogue: the story is told in voice-over. It may even (though not necessarily explain why the print which appears on TV contains just enough colour value to leave you with the thought that perhaps this was once a colour original.

But make no mistake: no matter how ingenious, how fascinating the story behind this film, the movie itself is perfectly, absolutely, irredeemably dreadful to the point of unwatchability (unless you like watching interminable hours of indentikit blonde women in slacks swanning about on rocks as waves break behind them. And believe me, the appeal palls quickly).

Drive-In fare

[jlgreenjr · 5/10 · 28 July 2006]

This movie is just like "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet". The two films use the same film footage and much of the dialog is almost identical."Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" was released three years earlier in 1965. Both films have the same robot and the same volcanic eruption. The difference is in 1965 it was a standard space flick. Basil Rathbone is the scientist who keeps tabs on the spacemen's activities from afar. The "Prehistoric women" movie has a group of telepathic blond women. They never meet the Astronauts. The astronauts find a relic that proves their is life on Venus. I forgot mention that that in both films they travel to Venus. It's is fun to watch the two films to see the similarities. If you have to choose one, it doesn't matter which you choose. Both films contain most of the same footage, with a few exceptions.

"Well I don't know about you fellas, but I'd like to see Venus."

[classicsoncall · 2/10 · 15 April 2006]

The voice over narration at the start of the film describes itself as a 'fantasy of the future'. In this case, it was a future three years beyond the 1965 version of basically the same movie - "Voyage to The Prehistoric Planet". Minor alterations are merely cosmetic, this space mission takes place in 1998, while the prior film occurs in 2020; none of it makes any difference, and if you can hold on long enough, any sense.

The science employed is utterly ridiculous as well. For one, the rescue team that follows the first mission decides on it's own that they're going to blast off for Venus. Considering that the flight itself probably would have taken months, the stranded team is shown pretty much just hanging out waiting for something to happen. Curious though why the second trip to Venus was named Flight #87.

Maybe it was the Venusian atmosphere, but the prehistoric women seemed pretty listless as well. Beach bathing on those rocks must have been rather tedious. I wonder how the screen test for this one might have gone - try on these sea shells and look bored. You're hired.

Since the earlier film is already on my Top 10 Worst list, I can honestly catch this flick a break and rate it twice as high as it's predecessor, so it's a two. Credit the extra point for the telepathic Venusian blonds led by Mamie Van Doren. Oh, and a neat touch for naming their pterodactyl 'Terra', a little more creative than John the Robot.

A Real "Space Oddity!"

[MetalGeek · 2/10 · 4 March 2010]

Roger Corman's skills at quick-buck film-making are legendary and need no introduction to B-movie fans, but still, you have to particularly admire the tricks that ole Roger pulled off to make this one come together. Back in the '60s he bought the rights to a Russian made sci-fi film that nobody saw called "Planet of Storms", cut it into bits, added some new shots and dialogue, and re-edited the whole mess into two separate movies!! 1968's "Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women" (phew, that's a mouthful isn't it?) is the second of two films using "Planet of Storms" footage (the other being "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet," without the "Women") and it tells the story (told via flashback) of an ill-fated space voyage to Venus, where one set of astronauts crash lands on the planet; they (and the second team sent to rescue them) are then beset by volcanic eruptions, floods, man-eating plants and giant lizard attacks. These pheonomena are apparently controlled by the "Prehistoric Women," a group of pterodactyl-worshipping, scantily-clad blondes who sit atop a mountain causing all of the "invaders'" woes via telepathy. Since the astronauts' footage all comes from the Russian film (hence the film being told in voice-over/narration style, which covers up the fact that all of the actors were speaking Russian), they are never seen on screen at the same time as the Prehistoric Women, whose scenes were shot and inserted into the existing film by then-newbie director Peter Bogdanovich under a pseudonym (Bogdanovich, of course, would go on to direct such acclaimed, high brow classics as "Paper Moon," "The Last Picture Show" and "Mask" during the '70s and '80s - but hell, I guess everybody has got to start somewhere!). The end result may not make a whole hell of a lot of sense, but it's actually quite clever how Corman was able to tinker a whole new story out of two separate sets of film. The "Prehistoric Women" (a group of seven or eight Space Babes led by then-fading '60s blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren, who still looks quite fetching here in a seashell bra and tight white slacks) only appear in about a quarter of the film's run time, yet they got top billing because Roger knew that teenagers were going to be sucked in by the promise of T&A in the title...the clever bastard!!! Whatever it cost to make this movie, I'm sure Roger made it back in one weekend on the drive-in circuit. I wonder what the makers of the original Russian film thought of the "re-editing" of their work, but then if the film hadn't passed through Corman's and Bogdanovich's hands we probably wouldn't be talking about it today. Slow moving and awkward as it may be, "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" is still an enjoyably terrible slice of Z-Grade cinema at its best (or worst, depending on how you look at it). The film is available on DVD at a dollar store near you in a scratchy, washed out public domain print (the color on my copy is so bleached that the movie nearly looks black and white), which only serves to increase the surrealism factor of this odd little movie. God bless Roger Corman, and God Bless America.

This is a masterpiece

[lraineyshanor · 10/10 · 11 August 2021]

This movie is so well crafted. This fact can be seen in the immense amount of thought put into the beautiful, minimalistic costumes, and the realistic props. It isn't easy to predict the future, but boy did they nail it. The mannerisms are so out of this world that I almost didn't recognize them as human! And not to mention the immense scale of the tech- I only hope that we can achieve space refueling stations like the ones exhibited in this exquisite film. 10/10 will watch again.

A Fantasy of the Future

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 16 March 2008]

In 1998, six months after the collision of a meteor and subsequent explosion of a rocket sent to Venus, the team composed by the astronauts Kern (Georg Tejkh) and Sherman (Yuri Sarantsev) with the robot John (John Bix) is launched to explore Venus. They arrive in the Space Station Texas for refueling but they have problems while landing in Venus. Without communication, another rocket is launched with Commander Brendan Lockhart (Vladimir Yemelyanov), Andre Ferneau (Robert Chantal) and Hans Walter (Georgi Zhzhyonov) to rescue the first team and explore the planet. They use a vehicle to seek Kern and Sherman, but they are attacked by a flying reptile. They kill the animal without knowing that it is worshiped and considered the God Terah by Venusians women that use their powerful connection with nature to destroy the invaders. Meanwhile John helps the two cosmonauts to survive in the hostile land.

I have not the chance to see the original Russian movie "Planeta Bur" (1962), only the cheesy and silly "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" (1965). In 1968, the now famous Peter Bogdanovich in his second work as director, used again the footages of the remake, entwined with new sequences with gorgeous actresses and released "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women". The story is not bad, in spite of having flaws with the reference to Marsha, and I found the IMDb Rating totally unfair. Unfortunately "Planeta Bur" has not been released in Brazil, but I expect to have the chance to see this movie one day. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Viagem ao Planeta das Mulheres Selvagens" ("Voyage to the Planet of the Wild Women")

Only if you are at a loose end!

[driftdog · 4/10 · 16 July 2021]

Well, where to begin! It's in colour, has sound and, well that's where the positive pretty much ends. The scenery is sometimes believable as another world. The outfits are squarely of the time in sci-fi terms. The acting quality is on a par with other B movies of the day. Now the equipment, transport and the like. The rocket ship's are truly amazing. In one scene they resemble a V2 rocket, another a ICBM and after the first rocket refuels it is a totally different ship! The robot sort of resembles Robi Robot from Lost in Space.

Ok, it truly is a B movie however I sat through to the end and won't over recommend it but if you are at a loose end it is definitely one you can say "I've seen that"!!!