MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1988 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Rock-bottom budget science fiction film has little or nothing to offer but some really intriguing science fiction ideas. If you disliked films like LIFEFORCE and PRINCE OF DARKNESS, you're going to really hate this one and I suggest you watch THE TERMINATOR again instead. Rating: +2.
One of the oddest science fiction films of the 1960s is CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS. It was an incredible combination of the very good and the very bad. It was made on a lemonade-stand budget. The sets were cheap, the acting incompetent. But the script had interesting ideas, mostly based on Jack Williamson's "Humanoids" stories. There was some decent drama that led one to believe this might have made a decent stage play. It has remained a "cult film" and a curiosity. It was quite unique until now. I think I have just seen my choice for the "Creation of the Humanoids" of the 1980s. It has a classy title, MUSIC OF THE SPHERES; it has some pretty heavy ideas. going for it. But the budget is bargain-basement; some of the acting and all of the special effects are terrible. Watch it carefully for ten minutes; if you are not intrigued by the film in that time, shut it off.
The film is set in a future perhaps a century from now. The superpowers have fallen apart of their own weight and after the chaos came an order controlled by huge biological computers, the largest of which is called the Beast. The computers have minds of their own and the only way they can be controlled or even communicated with is by having a specially selected human mind-meld with them. And it is important to have a human mind-meld with the Beast because the computer is being used to implement a project to turn three asteroids into solar cells that will beam a constant supply of energy via microwaves to Earth. But the Beast seems to be trying to prevent the project from going ahead. Do you think I am telling you too much? This much all comes out in the first five minutes or so and the ideas keep coming.
This is a Canadian film done in English and French with subtitles. The cost of the film was reportedly $C110,000 in 1983. That is almost certainly less than 1% of what a film like THE TERMINATOR cost, and that's low budget! Of course, the production values are dirt-cheap and the film needed a stronger ending. But ideas are cheap, so this film has more than you can take in on one viewing. Where did this thing turn up? Cable television's USA station ran it on a late-night counter-culture program called NIGHT FLIGHT. I doubt that one in a hundred science fiction fans will even like the film--be warned. But for the few who are willing to put up with its rough edges, I'd rate it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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