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A weird looking spaceship (looking something like a paddle-steamer)
approaches Moonbase Alpha 1 on earth's runaway moon, & a voice asks
Alpha for help - no, demands help, since whoever-it-is has already taken
over Alpha's computer. Soon Alpha's commander Koenig (Martin Landau),
chief physician Helena Russell (Barbara Bain) & chief scientist
Bergman (Barry Morse) are invited over to the spaceship ... only to find
an old & frail man, Companion (Leo McKern) & an all powerful ship
computer, Gwent (voiced also by Leo McKern), & Companion claims he has
once programmed Gwent as an extension of his own self, but Gwent has grown
way too powerful, become insane, & soon condemned Companion to be his
companion on his travels through space. But now Companion is dieing, &
before long he's acutally dead, & Gwent demands Koenig, Bergman &
Russell to be his new companions, & he even demands that all his
requirements (mainly energy supplies & the like) are met as well.
After the Alphans start a futile attack, they have to give in to
Gwent's demands, as he seems quite capable of destroying the moonbase.
Then though Koenig makes an important discobvery: Gwent is blind (though
surprisingly he had no problems to shoot the attacking spacecrafts out of
the air), & so via monitor can silently communicate with Alpha. And
another thing, Gwent's power supplies are running down, so Alpha launches
another attack to drain Gwent of his energy, & when they finally give
in to his demands, Koenig refuses to put the power cells into place. Gwent
makes more threats against Koenig & the moonbase, but he is so drained
of energy that instead of putting them into action, he goes to sleep (?!),
an opportunity which Koenig, Russell & Bergman seize to escape.
When later Gwent awakens again & finds himself power- &
companionless, he commits siucide by flying into the next set of lunar
rocks.
Quite some fun here: an almost anachronistic looking alien spaceship,
the usual great miniature work, explosions aplenty, a silly, not really
thought through story, and a computer that (repeatedly) laughs maniacally.
What more could you want ? (... well, actually, there are quite a few
things, but that's besides the point.)
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