Pod People
Encyclopedia
The Pod People is a 1983 Spanish science fiction
film directed by Juan Piquer Simón
. A young boy discovers a lovable alien creature, but the alien's mother is on the prowl. The film was originally meant to be about evil aliens, but the producers demanded script alterations in order to cash in on the success of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
by featuring a child and cute, lovable alien. Director Juan Piquer Simón was dissatisfied with the final result. The film was largely forgotten until 1991, when it was lampooned by movie-mocking television show Mystery Science Theater 3000
.
and goes to investigate. He finds a stash of large eggs in a red glowing cave and begins smashing them. An unseen entity finds and kills the poacher, but not before he smashes all but one of the eggs. The mystery creature begins to take revenge, first on the hunters and then on members of a rock band that is camping in the mountains for the weekend.
Tommy (Óscar Martín), a boy who lives in a secluded house with his mother Molly (Concha Cuetos) and uncle Bill (Manuel Pereiro), also finds the cave and the remaining intact egg and brings it home, where it shortly hatches and grows rapidly until by the next day it is as large as Tommy. Tommy nicknames him "Trumpy", presumably due to the alien's short, elephant
-like trunk, and they become playmates. As the dangerous mother alien continues looking for her child, the rock band seeks out Tommy's house for medical care after one of their group, Laura (a female "friend" and apparent groupie
of the lead singer Rick), is struck from ambush by the alien mother and falls off of a short cliff. She eventually dies of her injuries.
Rick's friend Brian (Emilio Linder) and uncle Bill go to a nearby ranger station to use the radio but find the alien mother and the body of a second poacher there. The alien kills Brian, after which Bill flees back to the cabin in his SUV. The alien beats him home, however, and attacks and kills Tracy (a backup singer) in the band's camper
, an event Tommy witnesses through his telescope
. The survivors decide to hole up in the cabin until the next day.
Trumpy's mother sneaks into the house and kills Cathy (another backup singer) after she takes a shower. The other people in the house come running at the sounds of her screams and Bill fires a shot at the retreating alien mother and wounds her. Bill and Rick decide to pursue Trumpy's parent before she can escape. Rick takes a rifle and the two men go in pursuit.
Immediately after Bill and Rick leave, Trumpy appears, scaring Molly and Sharon. Molly grabs a rifle from a nearby rack and tries to shoot Trumpy, but Tommy protects his alien friend with his body and hustles Trumpy out the door and into the woods. Molly and Sharon give chase, searching for Tommy, Rick, and Bill in the gloom.
Eventually Trumpy and his mother reunite briefly before Rick and Bill find them. The alien mother attacks Bill, who shoots her once before being killed, then she is gunned down by Rick. Trumpy and Tommy disappear in the woods and say their goodbyes before Tommy reunites with his mother, Sharon, and Rick. The movie ends with Trumpy moving deeper into the woods and Tommy, Rick, Molly, and Sharon (the surviving backup singer) heading back to the cabin.
sign, smiling, and saying, "It stinks" became a recurring in-joke on MST3K.
The film was distributed in the U.S. by Film Ventures International
. In common with Cave Dwellers
, another Film Ventures release spoofed by MST3K, the opening and ending credits for The Pod People are superimposed over blurred footage from an entirely unrelated movie (in this case The Galaxy Invader
[1985]). The latter film would later be spoofed by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy for Rifftrax in 2011.
As part of E.T. Week, Internet reviewer The Cinema Snob (Brad Jones) ripped into it as the grand finale. He has also stated numerous times that the MST3K Pod People episode is his all-time favorite.
as part of the Collection, Volume 2 DVD set. The film itself has been released on DVD by Substance Films under the name Extra-Terrestrial Visitors, although the DVD is considered to be VHS quality at best.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film directed by Juan Piquer Simón
Juan Piquer Simón
Juan Piquer Simón was a Spanish film director most well known for directing the cult classic horror exploitation films, Pieces and Slugs: The Movie ....
. A young boy discovers a lovable alien creature, but the alien's mother is on the prowl. The film was originally meant to be about evil aliens, but the producers demanded script alterations in order to cash in on the success of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
by featuring a child and cute, lovable alien. Director Juan Piquer Simón was dissatisfied with the final result. The film was largely forgotten until 1991, when it was lampooned by movie-mocking television show Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
.
Plot
The film starts with three poachers preparing to enter the woods in search of game. One of the hunters sees something in the sky that he thinks is a meteorMETEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
and goes to investigate. He finds a stash of large eggs in a red glowing cave and begins smashing them. An unseen entity finds and kills the poacher, but not before he smashes all but one of the eggs. The mystery creature begins to take revenge, first on the hunters and then on members of a rock band that is camping in the mountains for the weekend.
Tommy (Óscar Martín), a boy who lives in a secluded house with his mother Molly (Concha Cuetos) and uncle Bill (Manuel Pereiro), also finds the cave and the remaining intact egg and brings it home, where it shortly hatches and grows rapidly until by the next day it is as large as Tommy. Tommy nicknames him "Trumpy", presumably due to the alien's short, elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
-like trunk, and they become playmates. As the dangerous mother alien continues looking for her child, the rock band seeks out Tommy's house for medical care after one of their group, Laura (a female "friend" and apparent groupie
Groupie
A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....
of the lead singer Rick), is struck from ambush by the alien mother and falls off of a short cliff. She eventually dies of her injuries.
Rick's friend Brian (Emilio Linder) and uncle Bill go to a nearby ranger station to use the radio but find the alien mother and the body of a second poacher there. The alien kills Brian, after which Bill flees back to the cabin in his SUV. The alien beats him home, however, and attacks and kills Tracy (a backup singer) in the band's camper
Campervan
A campervan , sometimes referred to simply as a camper, or a caravanette, is a self-propelled vehicle that provides both transport and sleeping accommodation. The term mainly describes vans that have been fitted out, often with a coachbuilt body for use as accommodation...
, an event Tommy witnesses through his telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
. The survivors decide to hole up in the cabin until the next day.
Trumpy's mother sneaks into the house and kills Cathy (another backup singer) after she takes a shower. The other people in the house come running at the sounds of her screams and Bill fires a shot at the retreating alien mother and wounds her. Bill and Rick decide to pursue Trumpy's parent before she can escape. Rick takes a rifle and the two men go in pursuit.
Immediately after Bill and Rick leave, Trumpy appears, scaring Molly and Sharon. Molly grabs a rifle from a nearby rack and tries to shoot Trumpy, but Tommy protects his alien friend with his body and hustles Trumpy out the door and into the woods. Molly and Sharon give chase, searching for Tommy, Rick, and Bill in the gloom.
Eventually Trumpy and his mother reunite briefly before Rick and Bill find them. The alien mother attacks Bill, who shoots her once before being killed, then she is gunned down by Rick. Trumpy and Tommy disappear in the woods and say their goodbyes before Tommy reunites with his mother, Sharon, and Rick. The movie ends with Trumpy moving deeper into the woods and Tommy, Rick, Molly, and Sharon (the surviving backup singer) heading back to the cabin.
Mystery Science Theater 3000
The film features the fictional pop band's performance of "Burning Rubber Tires", which was lampooned in a sketch on Mystery Science Theater 3000 for its unintelligible lyrics, specifically the chorus, "hear the engines roll now", which was interpreted by the MST3K cast as "hideous control now", "idiot control now" and other variations. The lead singer's after-song gesture of making the A-OKA-ok
An A-OK is both a saying, derived from okay, and a hand-gesture done by connecting the thumb and forefinger in to a circle , and holding the other fingers straight or relaxed in the air.Unicode symbol U+1F44C represents this gesture....
sign, smiling, and saying, "It stinks" became a recurring in-joke on MST3K.
The film was distributed in the U.S. by Film Ventures International
Film Ventures International
Film Ventures International is an independent movie production and distribution company originally situated in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1970s. FVI garnered a notorious reputation within the industry for producing films which were highly derivative of many blockbusters of the era...
. In common with Cave Dwellers
Cave Dwellers
Ator l'invincibile 2 is an Italian film that was made in 1984. The movie was written and directed by Joe d'Amato...
, another Film Ventures release spoofed by MST3K, the opening and ending credits for The Pod People are superimposed over blurred footage from an entirely unrelated movie (in this case The Galaxy Invader
The Galaxy Invader
The Galaxy Invader is a 1985 direct-to-video sci-fi film directed and co-written by Baltimore filmmaker Don Dohler. The monster in the film bears a resemblance to the titular entity from Creature from the Black Lagoon...
[1985]). The latter film would later be spoofed by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy for Rifftrax in 2011.
As part of E.T. Week, Internet reviewer The Cinema Snob (Brad Jones) ripped into it as the grand finale. He has also stated numerous times that the MST3K Pod People episode is his all-time favorite.
DVD releases
The MST3K version of the film was released by Rhino Home VideoRhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...
as part of the Collection, Volume 2 DVD set. The film itself has been released on DVD by Substance Films under the name Extra-Terrestrial Visitors, although the DVD is considered to be VHS quality at best.