Galaxy of Terror (1981) · 8:18pm Apr 22nd, 2021
Pony Tale Adventures has been put out to pasture at the C&D ranch. It was a bit disappointing. The art assets, sound, and general introductory scenario were charming (at least on the safe for work version). It's a shame that we will never see the title make it to fruition. That said the end result wasn't a complete surprise.
Hasbro has pulled out the ban hammer on more than one fan made enterprise, especially those that draw funding. On top of that it had been pretty slow going on the development of the game. The creators (if I remember correctly) changed the software from RenPy to Unity. They had random scenes along the way as place holders including one at the time popular meme. They also, for awhile at least, were developing the game for multiple platforms including handheld and were also juggling making content that was both for the normal version of the game and the adult don't let your mom see this version of the game. There was also the addition of Patreon content and votes as to who else would be added. Suffice it to say this was going to be difficult to pull off if ever.
What I think is most disappointing is that a lot of this could have been, at least in my opinion, avoided. Your first goal has to be to complete the game. That means getting your plot, the events, and how the game functions in order first. Have it all completely mapped out. Stick with one type of coding software. Even if it is a bit limiting and you really want to do something else later on save that for the next game. Too many non-fan games have been derailed or made terrible by scrapping changing software part way through.
Stick with one game on one platform. Pick PC or Macintosh and go with that. You can add the other later if you want once done. If your game is going to be safe for work do that. If it isn't then do that. Don't do both. It wastes time, effort and resources. Also, be prepared to pay out of pocket for help. Patreon and the like while helpful, are one of the main things that are looked for by lawyers and will get you sent to the C&D ranch quick unless there's enough of a difference between the two products. Also, don't bother with high end we'll put you character in the game and have it do stuff and have dialog etc. Your initial goal has to be to get done as fast as possible as good as possible. This means cutting back on frills initially. The end result is a product that may not be all that you can do but, it might be what you could do at the moment.
Things like voice actors, other character inserts can be added later in patches and additional content. Similarly this goes for a hush hush patch to make the characters reskinned and named etc. the way you wanted them. Just don't put it on the site and keep it on the down low as a mod which is something that you have no control over really. These are all lessons folks have to learn especially when doing fan stuff of another IP. Hopefully the creators of this game learned some of them because there is talent there and it would be nice to see what else they might come up with.
Back in 1979 Alien was a huge hit at the box office. However, 20th Century Fox wasn't keen on sharing those profits with Brandywine productions the group that made the movie. Fox claimed the studio lost money on the movie. Thus a series of legal challenges came about and held up production on a possible sequel to the movie. As the court stuff went on other studios decided it would be a good idea to make their own versions of the movie to varying degrees of success. Galaxy of Terror is one of those efforts.
Galaxy of Terror is about the crew of the Quest who go on a rescue mission to find the missing crew of the Remus on the planet Morganthus. Once there they are picked off one by one in varied ways. Sometimes its by a monster, sometimes they just burst into flames, sometimes they just disappear from the story because ... reasons.
Of course, people should have known better than to go on any journey in which some of the crew include Sid Haig, Robert Englund and George Costanza's would be mother-in-law. I'm just saying that if I saw them I'd sign up for a different trip. Then again I might change my mind if I could have the seat Englund had on that trip. Taafe O'Connell had some nice legs. Ah the things you have to consider with intergalactic space travel.
This movie is one of those interesting cross sectional movies where you have some then famous TV actors like Ray Walston, Erin Moran and the previously mentioned Taafe O'Connell crossed with Englund and Haig. It's also noteworthy to say that behind the camera you had James Cameron as the second unit director and Bill Paxton working as a carpenter on set along with various other special effect and make up effects people who would work on a lot of popular films in the coming decades.
In fact James Cameron would take a lot of what he learned on the set of this and a previous short movie he'd made called Xenogenesis and incorporate them into Aliens a few years later. It helped that he had a bigger budget.
The visuals of Galaxy of Terror are in fact pretty darn good for the smaller budget as are some of the creature effects. The actors are game and honestly give solid performances. The weakest part of the movie is, honestly the script and story which don't do a good job of introducing the characters until it's time for them to die. A little longer of a run time might have helped flesh them out but when you're making a lower budget movie sometimes that's the best you can do.
Galaxy of Terror isn't the greatest movie ever made. However, it is entertaining with solid acting and effects. It also has one scene that involves Taafe O'Connell that I can pretty much guarantee was the reason why the movie was remembered. If you've seen it you know what I mean.
The Stats:
Dead Bodies: 13
Breasts: 4
Pipe Slamming
Tentacle Sucking
Death by Maggot Aardvarking
Crystal Death
Combustion
The old Hug and Poke from behind
Gut ripping with falling
Wire Squeezing
Head Popping
Stop Hitting Yourself
Psychic Fu
Red Head fu
Shadow fu
Gratuitous Flipping
Borrowed Battlestar Galactica uniforms
Shoutouts
Taafe O'Connell as Dameia for giving guys a couple of reasons to watch this movie.
Grace Zabriskie as Captain Trantor for the line, "Hang on to your shorts we're gonna dump."
Sid Haig as Quuhod for saying nothing until the line, "I live and I die by the crystals."
Robert Englund as Ranger the guy who figures out what's going on and ... I don't know.
Zalman King as Baelon for the line "Son of a cyborg!"
Check it out.
Hehe yes I did see it. Yes I do know exactly what you mean. Besides that I did like the movie. Sacred me a little as well if I can recall.
5504241
I can understand that! I think a lot of people I know if they've seen it saw it when they were younger and it does have a couple of freaky moments in it for sure.
I’ve seen it. I think. I’ve seen so many of the good / bad / goodbad movies from the 70’s and 80’s, courtesy of late night tv. Censored, of course, but still there.
5504461
For whatever it's worth it's short and it's on youtube.
5504440
That is true.