Doomsday Machine (1972) on Netflix
Spies learn the Chinese government has a doomsday device set to trigger within 72 hours. The military takes over Astra, a mission to Venus, and replaces half its male crew with women.
- Netflix2.6/5
- IMDb2.6/101,592 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
A spy reports that the Chinese government has built a device able to destroy the planet, and that the key to it lies with Chairman Mao alone. It is to be set off in three days. In the United States, the space program is preparing Astra, a round trip to Venus that will take two years. With only hours left before launch, the military takes the mission over and moves the launch forward. Military alerts go into effect. Roughly half of the all-male flight crew is swapped out for women shortly before takeoff, one of them Russian. Astra lifts off with seven people aboard.
Cast
- Lorri Scottas Lt. Katie Carlson
- Mark Baileyas Major / Astronaut
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Doomsday Machine (1972)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Production of Doomsday Machine began in 1967 under Herbert J. Leder's direction, but stopped unfinished, likely for funding reasons, and the footage sat in storage for several years. Filming resumed in 1972 without access to the original cast, costumes or sets.
- The film's long final stretch, with an American and Russian astronaut boarding a derelict Soviet spacecraft, was shot after the unfinished principal photography without the original actors. Their doubles hide their faces behind opaque helmets, and the characters speak with different voices.
- The film leans on stock footage, including degraded NASA rocket film and effects shots from David L. Hewitt's The Wizard of Mars (1965, Hewitt credited for effects) and Gorath (1962), causing continuity errors such as the Astra's appearance changing throughout.
