Planet of Dinosaurs

Planet of Dinosaurs is a 1978 science fiction film. Set in an unspecified future, the film follows the journey of Captain Lee and his crew after they crash land on a planet with similar life conditions as Earth, but millions of years behind in time. Encountering a wide variety of dangerous dinosaurs, the crew decides that its best chance for survival lies on finding higher ground and setting up a defensive perimeter on a higher plateau for refuge to wait for when or if their rescuers arrive. They soon encounter a deadly Tyrannosaurus and must figure out a way to defeat the creature and survive on the planet.

The film's director, James K. Shea, instructed most of the budget to be spent on the special effects for the film, which included an array of award-winning stop motion dinosaurs, leaving little money for props or even to pay the main actors. James Whitworth and Max Thayer had the most film experience of the actors. Modern reviews have generally been negative, although there is agreement that the stop motion dinosaurs were the most notable and enjoyable aspect of the film.

Plot

After a mechanical failure aboard the spaceship Odyssey, Captain Lee Norsythe (Louie Lawless) is forced to crash land on a planet with atmosphere and conditions much like that of Earth, although it is many light-years away. As the ship sinks into the lake that it landed in, communications officer Cindy (Mary Appleseth) realizes that she forgot the radio in the ship and attempts to retrieve it, with the assistance of fellow crew-member Chuck (Chuck Pennington). En route, Cindy is attacked and killed by an unidentified aquatic creature, prompting Chuck to return to shore without the radio.

Realizing that they are stranded, the remaining eight people aboard the ship decide that survival is their primary goal and begin to explore the planet that they have landed on. Derna Lee (Derna Wylde) slipped while going through a swamp dropping the laser gun that Mike (Max Thayer) had given her in the water rendering the gun unusable. They eventually come across a Brontosaurus, which leads them to deduce that the planet is following a similar evolutionary track as Earth, but is millions of years younger. Later, Charlotte (Charlotte Speer) determines that the plant life, especially the berries, is poisonous. After another dinosaur encounter, Lee decides that the best option is to climb the mountains and reach a higher plateau, where he believes the large creatures will be unable to reach them.

During the ascent, Nyla (Pamela Bottaro) slips and loses the entire supply of food rations, which Lee refuses to retrieve. Near a cave higher up the mountain, Vice-President of Spaceways Incorporated Harvey Baylor (Harvey Shain) discovers a nest full of eggs. After stealing an egg, Harvey is attacked and killed by a Centrosaurus. Soon after, much to ship engineer Jim's (James Whitworth) dismay, Lee decides to halt the expedition and settle at what he considers to be a defensible area. Lee expects to hold out until they are rescued, but Jim believes them to be trapped forever on the planet, and advises that they begin a new civilization. Lee triumphs and the remaining crew begin to build a defensive stockade around a cave. After several more encounters, a large Tyrannosaurus arrives and kills Derna, demolishing the stockade in the process.

The crew finally agrees with Jim that the best way to survive is to kill the predator. Their first plan, devised by Lee, is to attempt to poison the dinosaur by smearing berries on a dead Polacanthus and leave it outside of the Tyrannosaurus's lair. The plan backfires when the beast attacks from behind, killing Mike. Jim's plan is to set up large, wooden stakes and coat them in the poison, then lure the predator into them. After some initial troubles the plan works, killing the Tyrannosaurus. Years pass and the survivors have set up an agricultural settlement. Chuck and Charlotte now have a son. Charlotte wonders if they will ever be rescued, to which Nyla comments that it does not seem important anymore.

Cast

• James Whitworth as Jim
• Pamela Bottaro as Nyla
• Louie Lawless as Captain Lee Norsythe
• Harvey Shain as Harvey Baylor
• Charlotte Speer as Charlotte
• Chuck Pennington as Chuck
• Derna Wylde as Derna Lee
• Max Thayer (Credited as Michael Thayer) as Mike
• Mary Appleseth as Cindy

Species List

• Brontosaurus
• Stegosaurus
• Tyrannosaurus Rex
• Centrosaurus
• Allosaurus
• Struthiomimus
• Polacanthus
• Rhedosaurus
• Tylosaurus
• Unidentified Lizard
• Spider

Posters Only

• Triceratops

Cut/Scrapped

• Ceratosaurus

Gallery

Brontosaurus

Jim Aupperle gets The Tyrannosaurus Rex & The Stegosaurus Set for the Fighting sequence.

A spider in Planet of Dinosaurs.

Trivia

• In an interview on Tapatalk, visual effects artist Jim Aupperle stated that the plot of the film originally focused on the crew landing on a planet of giant insects. It was only after Aupperle's suggestion that they reworked production into Planet Of Dinosaurs.
  • Aupperle's passion was to create a film about dinosaurs since he was 8 years old.

• Of all the dinosaurs in the film, there is a 4-legged reptile that heavily resembles the Rhedosaurus from Ray Harryhausen's The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms; it makes a minor appearance having an encounter with the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
  • Ironically, this is because stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen gave the Planet crew permission to use the Rhedosaurus. Soon after, a new model of the B-Movie monster was created.

• There was another dinosaur called Ceratosaurus that was planned to make an appearance, But was cut out at the end. According to the book called “A Century of Stop Motion Animation”.

• The fight between the Stegosaurus & the Tyrannosaurus Rex is a little similar to the animated sequence from “The Rite of Spring” in the 1940 Disney Film Fantasia.

• Paleoartist, Sculptor, and Dinosaur Musuem co-founder Stephen Czerkas created the puppet models for the film. Each puppets he crafted took inspiration from the works of Zdenek Burian and Charles R. Knight.
  • According to Jim Aupperle--during an interview--Czerkas frustratingly destroyed the model casts after Planet of Dinosaurs did poorly at the box-office.

• Despite most of its characters having screentime, only three out of nine are revealed with surnames or maiden names.