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Morons from Outer Space
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMike Hodges
Written byGriff Rhys Jones
Mel Smith
StarringGriff Rhys Jones
Mel Smith
Joanne Pearce
Jimmy Nail
James B. Sikking
Edited byPeter Boyle
Distributed byThorn EMI
Universal Pictures
Release date
  • 29 March 1985 (1985-03-29)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£5 million[1]
Box office£1.5 million (in UK)[1]

Morons from Outer Space is a 1985 British comedy-science fiction film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Joanne Pearce, Jimmy Nail and James B. Sikking.

Plot

The story begins on a small spaceship docking with a refueling station. On board are a group of four aliens called Bernard, Sandra, Desmond, and Julian. During a particularly tedious period of their stay at the station, the other three begin playing with the ship’s controls while Bernard is outside playing spaceball. They accidentally disconnect his part of the ship, leaving him stranded while they crash into a large blue planet close by (Earth).

The aliens become instant celebrities on arrival, despite being able to bring no great revelation or technical ability to the people of Earth (as is central to the plot of many "aliens on Earth" films). They find a manager (Jones) and become wealthy more or less overnight, packing fans in auditoriums just to see them. Meanwhile, Bernard arrives on Earth via other means of transport. Despite being by far the most intelligent of the group, Bernard is not afforded any celebrity, and is in fact condemned to vagrancy and a brief stint in a mental hospital before reuniting with his fellow travellers near the end of the film. The others, fearing that the introduction of Bernard would lessen their popularity and celebrity, fail to mention that they had originally been travelling with a fourth.

Cast

Home media

The film was released on VHS and Betamax in 1986 and re-released in 1989.

It was released on DVD by MGM in 2001.

References

  1. ^ a b Alexander Walker, Icons in the Fire: The Rise and Fall of Practically Everyone in the British Film Industry 1984-2000, Orion Books, 2005 p35


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