'I'm gonna raise some more men, we'll bottle them up here and then smoke them out.'
Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
‘Yes, a world of torture and terror.’
1966’s Cyborg 2087 is not an especially bad film but it’s worth looking at, for reasons that will become apparent.
‘Oh marvellous’
We open with a glimpse of the breathtaking technology of the year 2087.
This is a time machine, sending The Day the Earth Stood Still’s Michael Rennie back to 1966,
but clearly not everyone’s happy about it.
'5... 4... 3...'
What’s going on?
‘Find professor Sigmund Marx, bring the professor to this command, if he resists, destroy him’
This Professor Marx works at future industries.
"Research today for a better tomorrow", I can’t wait to see that.
One of these in every household.
Ironically, Rennie’s Garth has timed his visit poorly because the Professor has left to prepare for a demonstration he is due to give.
‘Tomorrow at 9 o’clock the world id destined to learn of Professor Marx’ important breakthrough in radio telepathy.’
Garth apparently isn’t worried about revealing that he’s from the future to the Professor’s associate Dr Sharon Mason.
‘He’d be terrified to know the effect of radio telepathy on the world a hundred years from today’
Marx’s experiment is the starting point in a blending of man and technology that will lead all humans to be controlled by chips in their head.
‘Their thoughts controlled by the state’
Garth is here to stop that.
'And you are an agent from the world of the future’
but it’s not easy, he has been followed by other agents.
‘These agents are cyborgs programmed to find and kill’
Time travelling cyborgs sent back to stop Garth from changing the future.
‘Half human, half machine. Programmed to kill’
At this point, you may have spotted what makes this film interesting, it’s Terminator.
Or more accurately.
'As you can see, my transmitting equipment is built in’
It’s Terminator 2.
‘You are a cyborg’
Cyborgs like Garth are the tools of the state but...
‘Some of us were captured by the leaders of the freedom movement’
Something he proves to Sharon’s colleague Dr Carl Zeller.
Okay so he doesn’t cut the flesh off his arm but the principal is the same.
The only difference is that Garth has kept his own clothes,
and you never think about the importance of the first person a time traveller meets.
I need your clothes, your boots and… actually forget it.
Now the actual Terminators or Tracers arrive to hunt him down,
every bit as threatening as the T1000.
Yeah, these guys jogging through the movie are an issue.
Even as they demonstrate their superior strength,
they also demonstrate a baffling inability to walk around a car.
And they’re not the only problem.
‘Outta sight!’
Nothing makes the blood curdle like Hollywood’s attempts to be groovy.
#Hip music man. Can you dig that groovy music?#
This undermines the plot because you’re just thinking; yeah, installing a chip in these kids would be a massive improvement.
Haven’t you got anything better to do?
‘You know, jerking’
Okay.
The Tracers are following the signal from Garth’s chip which has led them here.
Problem being he left already.
Is there a delay on the chip?
Do they have to go to everywhere he went rather straight to where he is?
‘Well you certainly are in a mood.’
I am in a way because, this ought to work.
It’s not about budget, the absence of Arnold Schwarzenegger or even the clumsy action,
it’s just a bit off. Sharon is captured.
Wheee!
But the action-packed climax, is just a long 5 minutes of cyborgs hitting each other,
I don’t buy Sharon falling for Garth.
creating a love triangle with Carl.
Damn it I can’t compete with a cyborg.
I like the fact that Garth is willing to sacrifice Sharon to complete his mission.
‘One life is a small sacrifice to make if it could free tomorrow’s world of such monsters’
I don’t like the fact he then gives in to his own humanity.
Still it manages a very strong ending when Sharon wants to go back with Garth.
‘After nine o’clock you will have no memory of me, and all the things that have happened since I arrived will not have taken place’
and so...
‘What time do you have?’
‘It’s exactly nine o’clock’
That’s a good ending. Unfortunately it’s not the ending.
‘I must disappoint you, there’s be no demonstration today.’
We get a tedious seven minute coda.
‘I suddenly became aware that the improper application of such a system could result in a scientific and social disaster.’
Gripping. Now, I should say, it doesn’t add up, time travel pretty much never does.
Marx alone still remembers a man who will never exist and a future that will never happen
but I don’t think that would bother you if you didn’t have to sit through him droning on about it.
‘The consequences far-reaching. Possibly, far beyond our present understanding’
Cyborg 2087 came 2 years after Harlan Ellison’s Soldier, oft-cited as the inspiration for Terminator,
but it’s so close, you’ve got to wonder.
Whatever the case, it’s not the best movie, but it’s an interesting one.
'Nothing ever happens around here. Just a quiet peaceful little town.'
Thanks for watching. For more interesting stories, check out my books.
What other older sci-fi’s seem to prefigure films of the future, let us know in the comments below.
‘I must leave now.’ ‘I know.’