Original title: Il pianeta errante

The third of the four “Gamma One” films directed by Antonio Margheriti/Anthony M. Dawson is one of the weaker entries in a series that was never really all that great. Hampered by the usual lifeless dubbing and cheap special effects, it wasn’t done any favours by hyperbolic American distributors who saddled it with the wholly inappropriate War Between the Planets title (the alternative Planet of the Prowl is much better). Anyone expecting some pre-Star Wars (1977) space war shenanigans are in for a massive disappointment – the original Italian title, which translates as The Wandering Planet, is more accurate and certainly more apt as the plot tends to wander about almost as much as the eponymous planet. Although not nearly as interestingly.

Earth is rocked by a series of violent storms and earthquakes. The United Democracies Space Command determine that the cause is a rogue planet wandering too close to Earth and alert the crew of the Gamma One space station commanded by Rod Jackson (Giacomo Rossi Stuart, credited as Jack Stuart). As well as trying to find a way to divert the planet, he’s embroiled in a messy romantic tangle – he’s engaged to the daughter of his superior, General Norton (Enzo Fiermonte), Janet (Halina Zalewska), but is really in love with communications officer Lieutenant Teri Sanchez (Ombretta Colli). Putting his feelings to one side, he leads a mission to the wandering planet and realises that it’s actually a living creature…

The limited charm of the Gamma One series (which also included  I criminali della galassia/The Wild, Wild Planet (1966), I diafanoidi vengono da Marte/The War of the Planets (1966) and La morte viene dal pianeta Aytin/Snow Devils (1967) – The Green Slime (1968), set aboard the space station Gamma 3 but isn’t a part of the series) lies in pulp SF roots and each of the films has plenty of intriguing ideas (some silly ones too – there’s “galactic wind” in this one), the realisation of which were beyond the scope of the budget and expertise of those involved. The idea of a giant organism the size of a planet is certainly a fascinating one, but little is made of it in Renato Moretti/Ralph Moody and Ivan Reiner’s script. It’s simply reduced to the status of a threat to Mankind that needs to be blown up as soon as possible and hang the consequences.

Nonsensical technobabble dominates the first half of the film (a deadening narration in the English dub required to fill in gaping plot holes is also a liability) and the love triangle is hackneyed, predictable and ultimately goes nowhere at all, slowing down an already anaemic story to a deathly crawl. When the astronauts finally stop fighting each other and talking rubbish, the film gets more interesting but it’s still a re-run of Margheriti’s earlier, non-Gamma One space opera Il pianeta degli uomini spenti/Battle of the Worlds (1961) – War Between the Planets, The War of the Planets, Battle of the Worlds…? American distributors were seriously lacking in originality in the 1960s…

Props, sets, costumes and effects shots are recycled from earlier films in the series – understandably so – but most of the cast is new. “Jack Stuart”/Giacomo Rossi Stuart assumes command of the station and would return for the final film in the series, though given how grumpy he is throughout one wonders how his Rod Jackson ever attained the rank of commander in the first place. The rest of the cast are there to make up the numbers really – Ombretta Colli is an insipid heroine, while Enzo Fiermonte, Pietro Martellanza and Goffredo Unger seem to have just been there for the paycheck and are just about good enough to earn it but nothing more.

For a film as light on plot as War Between the Planets it’s often a surprisingly confusing film, particularly in the middle act which seems to consist entirely of ballast to keep the waterlogged ship afloat. There’s a crisis on the space station, Rossi Stuart shouts a great deal and everyone looks terribly concerned about matters that often feel a bit obscure. The trip to the planet picks up the pace a bit but by then there’ll be previous few left in the audience to give a damn about any of it.

All four of the Gamma One films were shot back-to-back in just twelve weeks at the cramped Incir De Paolis Studios in Rome with funding from MGM who were looking for some cheap television films and sub-contracted Walter Manley of Manley Enterprises and Ivan Reiner to sort it out for them. You’ll find no mention of MGM anywhere in the credits but apparently, they were impressed enough by the end results to give them all theatrical releases in the States – War Between the Planets went out on a double bill with Paolo Bianchini’s superhero romp L’invincibile superman/Superargo and the Faceless Giants (1968). This was a remarkable leap of faith in films that clearly weren’t up to the job.

It’s impossible to tell with any certainty but there’s a chance – a small one perhaps – that Gene Roddenberry had seen the Gamma One films prior to creating Star Trek (1966-1969) as there are some undeniable similarities between the two series. Captain Kirk would have fitted in quite nicely among the crew of Gamma One and the idea of a huge, sentient planet would have been handled a lot better by Roddenberry and his writers.