MASTERS OF VENUS (1962) – BRITISH CINEMATIC SERIAL

MASTERS OF VENUS (1962) – A year before Doctor Who came to British television this 8-part movie serial played theaters as part of the viewing block for Saturday Morning Cinema Clubs.

Our British cousins could drop their kids off at theaters for a few hours of tame entertainment from such “clubs” while they themselves shopped or ran other errands.

The Childrens Film Foundation produced several such serials into the 1970s.

Because Balladeer’s Blog reviews items that range from mild and child-friendly to blood-soaked and transgressive, let me make it clear that Masters of Venus, directed by Ernest Morris, is just fine for family viewing.

It’s available on DVD and streaming, so you could get it to enjoy with the kids or grandkids (“aliens” as the one and only SP Wilcen calls them). Some versions keep the story separated into all 8 15-minute episodes, complete with the teaser for the next week’s installment, while others jam the whole thing together. Among the jammed-up versions, some are complete at nearly 2 hours in length and others are trimmed down to 93 minutes or 72 minutes. 

THE STORY – The fictional British space program is preparing an expedition to Venus. The man in charge of the project is Dr. Ballantyne (Norman Wooland), whose children Jim (Robin Stewart) and Pat (Mandy Harper) ride their bikes to visit the rocket base one day.

The base comes under attack by mysterious Men in Black (I’m serious) armed with ray guns that shoot knockout beams. Security guard after security guard falls to the Men in Black, who turn out to be Venusians who don’t want Earthlings visiting their planet.

Jim and Pat ultimately hide from the intruders in the project’s rocket the Astarte, where the black-garbed Venusians knock out the two pilots before the vessel winds up launched prematurely. The rocket seems destined to be lost in outer space until the two pilots regain consciousness and reorient the vessel for its original destination of Venus. 

Hilariously, the pilots and the kids survive on strawberries and cream during their long journey. (You can insert your own “comes the revolution” joke here.) Our heroes successfully reach Venus, penetrate the thick mists surrounding the planet and land safely. A large crater leads to the futuristic underground civilization of the planet.

It turns out the Venusians are really former inhabitants of Atlantis back on Earth, who, before the civilization sank beneath the waves, fled the planet to settle down on Venus. The former Atlanteans terraformed parts of Venus and have been living happily enough – except for their culture’s built-in “racial” conflict.

There are 6-fingered Venusians and 5-fingered Venusians, and back on Earth the 5-fingered race were bigoted against their 6-fingered fellows. Here on Venus, the roles reversed over time, and now the 6-fingered citizens are oppressing the 5-fingered ones.

Marla, one of the 6-fingered Venusians, is played by THE Zienia Merton, who went on to appear with William Hartnell’s Doctor in the Marco Polo episodes of Doctor Who, then years later on Space: 1999 as regular cast member Sandra Benes. She also appeared in Help! and Tenko. 

Ferdy Mayne himself plays Overlord Votan, the ruler of Venus, while hostile Venusians led by Kallas (George Pastell) still don’t trust Earthlings and want our heroes killed or imprisoned. They also plan to use the ship Astarte to carry a virus back to Earth to decimate the population.

Talk of atomic destruction is also bandied about, but in the end the good guys survive, the bad guys are defeated, and Venusians learn that people should not be judged based on how many fingers they have. (I’ve been saying that for years, dammit!)  

Masters of Venus can appeal to the kid in all of us. Jim and Pat are child prodigies when it comes to science, so they basically serve as their own proto-Doctor Whos in the adventure. The serial can be enjoyed both straight-up AND to get a kick out of the cheap special effects and outdated science.

The individual episode titles: Sabotage, Lost in Space, The Men with Six Fingers, The Thing in the Crater, Prisoners of Venus, The Killer Virus, Kill on Sight and Attack.