During a period when the space race was in full swing, the concept of science fiction was experiencing a transition from the 50's themes concerning flying saucers with monstrous occupants to more realistic themes about human exploration of space. Planeta bur, while borrowing many traditional elements from the SF golden age period (monsters, eccentric locations) also contained many new innovations that made it seem in the very middle of such a transition.
Design of the space suits, the robot and the hover-car were far ahead of the time. The spaceships interior sets and the gadgets used by cosmonauts were highly detailed and well crafted too. There were also some philosophical themes about the expansion of life in universe. I was surprised by the dialog about the ancient astronauts, scripts on Egyptian pyramids and the idea that the religious gods may be a perception of the visitors from space by the primitive life forms, and that was a few years before the best- selling "Chariots of the gods" by Erich von Daniken came. It was also nice to see some elements borrowed from Asimov's "i, robot", for instance the odd behavior of robot john was clearly inspired by a short story where a robot was experiencing drunkenness and babbling nonsense (the short story's name was "runaround"). There were inspirations from the "three laws of robotics" of Asimov as well.
The film is not perfect and has a few weaknesses especially in the middle part where the pacing of events gets a little incoherent. Some interesting scenes are so quickly passed on that they cannot leave any effect on the viewer. The creatures, especially the hopping t-rex's were nothing but funny and distracting from the plot. Putting those weaknesses aside, the film has a good entertainment value and i recommend this film to anyone interested in the evolution of the science fiction genre.
Design of the space suits, the robot and the hover-car were far ahead of the time. The spaceships interior sets and the gadgets used by cosmonauts were highly detailed and well crafted too. There were also some philosophical themes about the expansion of life in universe. I was surprised by the dialog about the ancient astronauts, scripts on Egyptian pyramids and the idea that the religious gods may be a perception of the visitors from space by the primitive life forms, and that was a few years before the best- selling "Chariots of the gods" by Erich von Daniken came. It was also nice to see some elements borrowed from Asimov's "i, robot", for instance the odd behavior of robot john was clearly inspired by a short story where a robot was experiencing drunkenness and babbling nonsense (the short story's name was "runaround"). There were inspirations from the "three laws of robotics" of Asimov as well.
The film is not perfect and has a few weaknesses especially in the middle part where the pacing of events gets a little incoherent. Some interesting scenes are so quickly passed on that they cannot leave any effect on the viewer. The creatures, especially the hopping t-rex's were nothing but funny and distracting from the plot. Putting those weaknesses aside, the film has a good entertainment value and i recommend this film to anyone interested in the evolution of the science fiction genre.