The Phantom Planet (1961) on Netflix
NR19611h 22mActionAdventureSci-Fi
In 1980, Earth's space wing keeps losing ships. Captain Frank Chapman investigates and is pulled down to a rocky asteroid, where he shrinks to the size of its tiny people.
- Netflix2.6/5
- IMDb3.9/103,682 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
By 1980, the United States Air Force operates bases on the Moon from its Space Exploration Wing and is preparing a Mars mission. Two-member Pegasus craft keep vanishing, and talk turns to phantom planets and space monsters. Captain Frank Chapman and his navigator, Lt. Ray Makonnen, are sent to look into it. A meteor shower damages their ship, and the two leave the cabin to repair it. A particle pierces Chapman's air hose and he blacks out. He wakes alone, cut off from the lunar base, and logs what happened as his crippled craft is dragged toward a rocky asteroid. On the surface he collapses and sees humanoids six inches tall; the visor is opened, he can breathe, and the atmosphere reduces him to their size. They take him below ground.
Cast
- Richard Weberas Lt. Ray Makonnen
- Al Jarvisas Judge Eden
- Dick Haynesas Col. Lansfield
- Earl McDanielas Capt. Leonard
- John Herrinas Capt. Beecher
- Mel Curtisas Lt. Cutler
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Phantom Planet (1961)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Richard Kiel's first credited film appearance was in The Phantom Planet as the captured Solarite; the masked monster costume used for the role means he is not identifiable.
- The Phantom Planet's interior spaceship sets, spacesuit helmets, oxygen backpacks and special effects had originally been made for the Ziv Company's science fiction television series Men into Space, broadcast on CBS in 1959.
- The Phantom Planet was adapted into a comic with some minor plot changes, its footage was used in a 2010 advertising campaign for the hotel chain La Quinta Inns and Suites, and the rock group Phantom Planet took their name from the film.
