Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Lensman (1984)

I just got a subbed/dubbed copy of this movie based on E.E. "Doc" Smith's long running series of the same name.  I've only ever read one of the stories, "Dragon Lensman" or something to that effect.  If I recall correctly I enjoyed it, but never have found more of the books.  And of course, I would have wanted to read them in order, thinking there would be a lot of continuity between the stories.  So glad I am over that sort of thinking these days.

So this was made in 1984, and apparently there is some dispute between Smith's estate and the studio which is preventing it from getting any kind of upgraded release.  As you can tell from these captures, the picture looks decent enough.

This seems to be an adaption of the first story, which is of course a fine place to start.  The animation is gorgeous and there's some great music along with some rudimentary computer animation present.  At least it looks that way to me.

The Lensmen are a sort of interplanetary police force, patrolling the galaxy in quadrants.  Each member has a powerful weapon he or she can use- that's the "lens" bit in the name.  They go around stopping various acts of villainy.

Hmm, this all sounds familiar to me... I don't know if they have an oath or not.  Our hero even gets his lens from a dying Lensman.  Obviously Gardner Fox had known of this series.  So far it's a good movie.

1 comment:

Chris Sobieniak said...

At least you liked it. It's usually considered a Star Wars wannabe the way the property was adapted for this film (some similarities, though not too blatant I feel). It's certainly a point A to B kind of film.