''Moontrap'' is an American 1989
science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
from Magic Films. Written by Tex Ragsdale and directed by Robert Dyke, it was released on April 28 at WorldFest Houston. A comic book adaptation, featuring the film's production notes, was released in the same year by
Caliber Comics
Caliber Comics or Caliber Press is an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, Caliber published over 1,300 comics in the decade following its inception and is ranked as one of America ...
. The cast features
Walter Koenig
Walter Marvin Koenig (; born September 14, 1936) is an American actor and screenwriter. He began acting professionally in the mid 1960s and quickly rose to prominence for his supporting role as Ensign Pavel Chekov in ''Star Trek: The Original S ...
and
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film ''Within the Woods''. He has starred in many low ...
as modern-day astronauts, with
Leigh Lombardi
Leigh may refer to:
Places In England
Pronounced :
* Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan
** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency)
* Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
Pronounced :
* Leigh, Dorset
* Leigh, Gloucestershire
* Leigh, Kent
* Leigh, Staffor ...
as an
ancient astronaut
Ancient astronauts (or ancient aliens) refers to a pseudoscientific hypothesis which holds that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Proponents suggest that this ...
from a forgotten human civilization. They face an alien invasion by a race of predatory
cyborg
A cyborg ()βa portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''βis a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. s.
Plot
On July 20, 1969, a robotic eye emerges from the lunar soil and observes the
landing module of the
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 (July 16β24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...
mission taking off.
Twenty years later, the
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
''Camelot'' encounters a derelict spaceship in orbit around Earth. Mission commander Colonel Jason Grant leaves the Shuttle to investigate. He discovers a reddish-brown pod and a
mummified
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furt ...
human corpse. Both are brought back to Earth, where it is found that they originated on the Moon some fourteen thousand years ago.
Shortly thereafter, the unattended pod comes to life. It constructs a
cybernetic body with parts from the lab and pieces of the ancient corpse. The cyborg kills a lab technician and exchanges fire with security guards before Grant destroys it with a shotgun blast to the head.
Using the last completed
Apollo rocket, Grant and fellow astronaut Ray Tanner go to the Moon on a search-and-destroy mission. They discover the ruins of an ancient human civilization. Inside, they find a woman in
suspended animation
Suspended animation is the temporary (short- or long-term) slowing or stopping of biological function so that physiological capabilities are preserved. It may be either hypometabolic or ametabolic in nature. It may be induced by either endogen ...
who identifies herself in a rudimentary fashion as Mera and reveals the name of the killer cyborgs the Kaalium.
They survive a Kaalium attack and return to the Lunar Module, with Mera wearing her own spacesuit, but the module is gone. The Kaalium also shoot down the
command module, leaving the astronauts stranded on the Moon. In subsequent attacks by the Kaalium, Tanner is killed while Grant and Mera are taken prisoner. The Kaalium head to Earth in a giant ship with the humans aboard.
Grant and Mera free themselves and find the landing module, which has been enmeshed in the ship's machinery. Grant supposes the module was the last piece of equipment that the Kaalium needed to complete their ship. He starts the module's
self-destruct
A self-destruct is a mechanism that can cause an object to destroy itself or render itself inoperable after a predefined set of circumstances has occurred.
Self-destruct mechanisms are typically found on devices and systems where malfunction could ...
sequence before he and Mera exit through a breach in the hull, using his gun's recoil as a propellant. The ship explodes after they have reached safe distance.
Some time later, Grant and Mera are shown as a couple living on Earth. Having learned to speak English, Mera explains that she was put in stasis to warn others about the Kaalium. Grant reassures her that the Kaalium have been defeated. Later, a Kaalium pod that survived the explosion is shown in a
junkyard preparing to build itself a new body.
In a post-credits audio clip, Grant speaks to a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
official about the possibility of any debris that may have fallen to Earth in the aftermath of the ship's explosion. The official dismisses his concerns and assures Grant that any debris from the alien ship would have burned up in the atmosphere.
Cast
*
Walter Koenig
Walter Marvin Koenig (; born September 14, 1936) is an American actor and screenwriter. He began acting professionally in the mid 1960s and quickly rose to prominence for his supporting role as Ensign Pavel Chekov in ''Star Trek: The Original S ...
as Colonel Jason Grant
*
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film ''Within the Woods''. He has starred in many low ...
as Ray Tanner
* Leigh Lombardi as Mera
* Robert Kurcz as Koreman
* John J. Saunders as Barnes
* Reavir Graham as Haskell
* Tom Case as Beck
Reception
''Moontrap'' received negative reviews from critics. The movie holds a 29% rating on
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
.
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online β including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
gives the movie a 5 out of 10.
DVDtalk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
had a higher opinion of the movie, stating that for a low budget picture it often exceeds expectations. In its review of December 27, 1989, Variety stated "''Moontrap'' is a very entertaining though highly derivative sci-fi adventure ... this one's a goodie ... ''Moontrap'' is exciting and suspenseful."
Home release
A Blu-ray DVD was released on the 25th anniversary of the movie in September 2014. The movie had previously only been officially released on VHS.
Sequel
On April 17, 2011, Robert Dyke and Tex Ragsdale launched a fundraising campaign for a ''Moontrap 2''
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
that would be adapted into a movie. The project was intended "to act as a presentation device to show potential backers of the hoped-for film what it's going to be about. More effective than a script alone in that it not only tells the story but shows what the film will look like." However, due to lack of contributions the project was cancelled on June 1 of the same year.
In early 2014, another project was announced by Robert Dyke and Tex Ragsdale. On February 5, a
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
account was created for ''Moontrap Target Earth''. The first post said, "Watch this space for news about Moontrap Target Earth, now in pre-production with the original Moontrap creative team." Two days later, a post on the Moontrap Target Earth page confirmed the legitimacy of the new project: "Moontrap Target Earth is not a direct sequel to the original feature but, instead, a new stand-alone adventure." The plot is described as "an archaeological dig uncovers a long-buried spacecraft from an ancient, advanced human civilization. A young woman studying the ship suddenly finds herself transported to the Moon, to unlock an ancient mystery." Pre-production began in February and filming commenced in April at the Motion Picture Institute in Michigan.
The cast includes
Sarah Butler as Scout, the main character;
Charles Shaughnessy
Charles George Patrick Shaughnessy, 5th Baron Shaughnessy (born 9 February 1955) is a French actor. He is known for his roles on American television, including Shane Donovan on the soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', and Maxwell Sheffield on th ...
as Richard Kontral, the ruthless agent of a shadowy organization; and Damon Dayoub as Allen, an adventurer who joins a mission to expose a world-changing secret.
''Moontrap: Target Earth'' Twitter post on May 12, 2014
/ref> Other cast members includes Niki Spiridakos
Niki Spiridakos is a Canadian actress.
Filmography
*'' Dropped Frames'' (2004) as Lori Lane
*''Grub'' (2005; video) as Kuda
*'' Real Premonition'' (2007) as Debbie
*''Agenda'' (2007) as Luna
*''Blonde Ambition'' (2007) (credited as Nikki Spirida ...
, Tarick Salmaci
Tarick Salmaci (born February 28, 1972) is a Lebanese-American former professional boxer and North American Boxing Organization (NABO) middleweight champion. He was one of 16 boxers chosen worldwide to participate on season 1 of NBC's reality te ...
, Chris Newman, Jennifer Kincer, Jon Ager, Cara AnnMarie and D.B. Dickerson.
On February 7, 2017, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released ''Moontrap: Target Earth''.
References
External links
*
*
* {{Amg title, 33286
''Moontrap Comic Book Part 1''
1989 films
1980s science fiction horror films
American independent films
American science fiction horror films
American space adventure films
Films about astronauts
Films set in 1969
Alien invasions in films
Cyborg films
Moon in film
Films about ancient astronauts
1980s English-language films
1980s American films