The Strange World Of Planet X (1956)
While experimenting with magnetic fields, two scientists inadvertently gain access to the fourth dimension - the unification of time and space - and, with others, are transported to the abstractly arid Planet X.
| Production company/ies | Written by | Directed by | Producer(s) | Designer(s) | Other notable credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATV | Rene Ray | Arthur Lane | Arthur Lane (Eps 1 & 3) Quentin Lawrence (Eps 2, 4-6) |
Acting credits
|
The Birmingham Weekly Post & Midland Pictorial of November 16, 1956 printed a feature on TV producer Warwick Ashton in which it states he portrayed "Inspector Fairbrother" in 'The Strange World Of Planet X'.
Episodes
- Episode 1 (September 15, 1956)
- Episode 2 (September 22, 1956)
- Episode 3: "The Unholy Threshold" (September 29, 1956) [The Birmingham Post]
- Episode 4: "The Dimension Discovered" (October 6, 1956) [Birmingham Gazette]
- Episode 5 (October 13, 1956)
- Episode 6 (October 20, 1956)
- Episode 7 (October 27, 1956)
IMDb only lists six episodes but seven episodes were listed in newspapers at the time.
Notes
In 1956, Rene Ray (born Irene Creese, September 22, 1911 - August 28, 1993), a stage actress who career spanned the 1930s to the 1950s, wrote a television serial which was produced by Associated TeleVision (ATV). It was ITV's first live science fiction serial.
The TV series was broadcast in seven 25-minute parts on Saturday evenings between September 15 and October 27, 1956 on ATV London and ABC Weekend TV. IMDb only mentions six episodes but newspaper listings confirm seven. Newspaper listings for the series did not tend to name episodes but the Birmingham Gazette of October 6, 1956 gives the title "The Dimension Discovered" to episode 4.
Ray novelised the series in 1957. In 1958 a film version was made. In the US it was known as Cosmic Monsters. The film has also been known by the names The Crawling Terror, The Cosmic Monster, and The Crawling Horror.
The plot of the film, however, differs from that of the series and the novel. Adapted by Paul Ryder and Joe Ambor, the story tells of a scientist creates ultra-sensitive, disruptive magnetic fields, which have unexpected side effects. Whilst attracting UFOs from outer space, this also brings a freak storm, blasts of cosmic radiation that penetrate the Earth's normally protective magnetic shield, and insects and spiders begin mutating into giant flesh-eating monsters.
In the news...
Raymond Bowers, writing in the Daily Mirror of September 15, 1956, said that the "biggest gun" in ITV's schedule would be The Strange World Of Planet X, which is aimed at blowing the BBC out of its strong position in the adult science fiction field - a position won, of course by Dr (sic) Quatermass." He added that writer Rene Ray was keeping the facts of Planet X a secret. Bowers had seen advance production shots, which featured "people melting like wax" and believed "Quatermass would feel at home on the place." Bowers added that Ray's scientists make the trip with 'Formula MFX': "advanced abracadabra giving them 'the freedom of time'". What does that mean, he asked? Rene Ray apparently replied, "Find out tonight."
John Minty, in the Birmingham Gazette of September 17, 1956 wrote after seeing the first episode: "My impression of the first Strange World Of Planet X instalment is of characters calling continually for other characters and of bad temper all round." Following the broadcast of the second episode, Moore Raymond wrote in the (London) Sunday Dispatch of September 23, 1956: "Surely the most bogus balderdash in the history of science-fiction is the new series called 'The Strange World of Planet X'. Rene Ray, best-selling authoress of romantic novels, is out of her dimension in this story of some scientists who send a rat far back in time and return it to the present day - only to find that they have a carnivorous amoeba on their hands. You don't get it? Neither do I - and neither did the members of the cast, judging by their half-hearted performances."
A correspondent in the Lancashire Evening Post of October 15, 1956 said of episode 5: "'The Strange World of Planet X' built up a certain amount of tension. and succeeded in creating a feeling of plausibility even in one who had not seen each episode." A photo of DAVID GARTH appeared in the October 18, 1956 edition of the Lincolnshire Echo, accompanied by the text: "People's hatred is the measure of David Garth's success in ATV's 'The Strange World of Planet X'. He plays the villainous scientist, says "Even my wife hates me in this part."
John Ross, in the Leicester Evening Mail of October 22, 1956, wrote of the sixth episode: "THINGS have reached a pretty pass in the Saturday night shocker, 'The Strange World of Planet X'. One of the characters has already become an ape-man. Won't somebody send for Dr Quatermass?"
In the Manchester Evening News of December 29, 1956, Max North looked back at the year and commented that: "The mystery serials on Channel Nine have shown astonishing consistency. 'The Strange World of Planet X' copied well from "Quatermass" without anything like the facilities."
