| The Lost Planet | |
|---|---|
 Poster of chapter 5 | |
| Directed by | Spencer Gordon Bennet (as Spencer Bennet) |
| Screenplay by | George H. Plympton Arthur Hoerl |
| Story by | George H. Plympton Arthur Hoerl |
| Produced by | Sam Katzman |
| Starring | Judd Holdren |
| Cinematography | William P. Whitley (as William Whitney) |
| Edited by | Earl Turner |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Sam Katzman Productions |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | (15 episodes) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Lost Planet is a 1953 Americanscience fictionserial film 15-chapter serial which has the distinction of being the last interplanetary-themed sound serial ever made. It was directed bySpencer Gordon Bennet with a screenplay byGeorge H. Plympton andArthur Hoerl (who also wrote forRocky Jones, Space Ranger). It appears to have been planned as a sequel to the earlier chapterplayCaptain Video: Master of the Stratosphere and shares many plot-points, props and sets, as well as some of the same cast. However, the Video Rangers do not appear, and their uniforms are instead worn by "slaves" created electronically by Reckov, the dictator of the Lost Planet (Gene Roth) with the help of mad scientist Dr. Grood (Michael Fox) and enslaved "good" scientist Professor Dorn (Forrest Taylor).
Dr. Ernst Grood has succeeded in winning control over the planet Ergro as the first step in his desired conquest of the Universe.[1] Reporter Rex Barrow, his photographer Tim Johnson, Professor Edmund Dorn and his daughter Ella are all captured by Grood, who plans to make use of the professor's knowledge. With the help of the professor's inventions, Rex is able to free Ergro of Grood's domination, while Grood is sent on an endless voyage into space.
Unlike theCaptain Video serial,The Lost Planet has a female character, Professor Dorn's daughter Ella (Vivian Mason) who strides about the Lost Planet (Bronson Canyon) in a female version of the Video Ranger uniform. The hero is not Captain Video, but a newspaper reporter, Rex Barrow, played byJudd Holdren (who had previously playedCaptain Video andCommando Cody).
The Lost Planet was the last of only three science fiction serials released by Columbia.[2]
This serial was, despite the characters' names, essentially a sequel toCaptain Video, from whichstock footage was taken for this serial.[2]
It was originally known asThe Planet Men.[3]
Michael Fox recalled that writerGeorge Plympton would deliberately write lines that he thought the actors couldn't say such as "The atom propulse set up a radiation wall which cut off the neutron detonator impulse!"[4]
In the opinions of Harmon and Glut,The Lost Planet is a "rather shoddy, low budget space cliffhanger."[5][dubious –discuss]
Source:[6]
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)| Preceded by | Columbia Serial The Lost Planet (1953) | Succeeded by |