Stranger, The
Entry updated 4 April 2017. Tagged: Film.
Made-for-tv film (1973; vt Stranded in Space). Bing Crosby Productions for NBC-TV. Produced by Alan A Armer. Directed by Lee H Katzin. Written by Gerald Sandford from his original story. Cast includes Sharon Acker, Lew Ayres, Glenn Corbett and Cameron Mitchell. 100 minutes. Colour.
While on a Space Flight, astronaut Neil Stryker (Corbett) suffers an accident, reviving just in time to make a crash-landing from which he escapes with minor injuries. Matters appear normal at first, but he begins to gradually realize something is badly amiss, and that he is being held against his will at the hospital. Escaping, Stryker discovers he is on a Counter-Earth which is a near-duplicate of Earth hidden on the opposite side of the Sun, as in the film Doppelganger (1969; vt Journey to the Far Side of the Sun), and learns this world has three moons. Called Terra, this planet is run by a world government of a dictatorial nature: Stryker is pursued by government agent George Benedict (Mitchell). Terra has a space programme similar to, but slightly more advanced than Earth's, and Stryker realizes that escape is possible. Aided by Dr Bettina Cooke (Acker) and Professor Dylan MacAuley (Ayres), he works toward this end but is foiled at Terra's version of Cape Canaveral, though he escapes capture. At the conclusion he is starting to make plans for another attempt.
This film was a pilot for an intended series which was not picked up. The original home video release contains a new introduction using stock footage from Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983). [GSt]
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