Spaced Invaders (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

SPACED INVADERS [1990 / 2015] [Blu-ray] Earth Will Never Be the Same! They're Hip! They're Hilarious! A Madcap Movie!For years, science has speculated on the existence of intelligent life in space... Now, there is living proof there is no such thing.It's a close encounter of the hilarious kind when five of the universe's coolest aliens crash-land on planet Earth! Piloted by an ultra-hip Martian, the cosmic crew ends up in a sleepy Midwestern town. Unfortunately, it is Halloween Night and the citizens mistake these spaced invaders for harmless trick-or-treaters. Instead of the global invasion they planned on, these misguided Martians bungle their way into a series of madcap misadventures! Get set for an outrageous blast of intergalactic fun and outlandish special effects in this wacked-out comedy-adventure!FILM FACT: During the end title music, there is homage to the TV series ‘My Favorite Martian’ as the first bars of the show's theme song are sung by one of the Invaders. During the scene where Martians accidentally launch the mortar-like "Scout in a Can" Captain Ziploc exclaims, "What in the name of Uncle Martin is that?" again, also a nod to the TV series ‘My Favorite Martian.’ For most of the film the deputy has a half sunburned face, which is a reference to what happened to Roy [Richard Dreyfuss] in ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’Cast: Douglas Barr, Royal Dano, Ariana Richards, J.J. Anderson, Gregg Berger, Wayne Alexander, Fred Applegate, Patrika Darbo, Tonya Lee Williams, Ryan Todd, Barry O'Neill, Adam Hansley, Casey Sander, Rose Parenti, Glen Vernon, Hal Riddle, William Holmes, James Eustermann, Justine L. Henry, Kent Minault, Jimmy Briscoe (Captain Bipto), Tommy Madden (Lieutenant Giggywig), Debbie Lee Carrington (Dr. Ziplock), Kevin Thompson (Blaznee), Tony Cox (Corporal Pez), Jeff Winkless (Captain Bipto voice), Bruce Lanoil (Lieutenant Giggywig voice), Joe Alaskey (Dr. Ziplock voice), Kevin Thompson (Blaznee voice), Tony Pope (Corporal Pez voice), Patrick Read Johnson (Commander/Enforcer Drone voice), Kirk R. Thatcher (Shortstuff voice), Patrick Brock (uncredited) and Orson Welles (audio broadcast) (uncredited)Director: Patrick Read JohnsonProducers: Caroline Pham, Djordje Zecevic, Jason Clark, John S. Curran and Luigi CingolaniScreenplay: Patrick Read Johnson and Scott Lawrence AlexanderComposer: David E. RussoCinematography: James L. CarterVideo Resolution: 1080pAspect Ratio: 1.85:1Audio: 2.0 Dolby Digital Ultra StereoSubtitles: NoneRunning Time: 101 minutesRegion: Region A/1Number of discs: 1Studio: Touchstone Pictures / Mill Creek EntertainmentAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: On the 50th anniversary of the Orson Welles' 1938 “The War of the Worlds” radio broadcast dramatization, and the Big Bean radio station DJ [Casey Sander] puts on the Long Player Album of the recording of the famous radio broadcast, and the signal happens to be picked up by a passing spaceship crewed by a lost unit of the Martian Space Navy, who are fooled into thinking that their comrades are mounting a mass invasion of the Earth and thus promptly zap down to Big Bean, in Illinois, in order to join in the invasion. Led by Captain Bipto [Jimmy Briscoe] who wears aviator glasses and a leather flying jacket, and whose voice bears a remarkable resemblance to Jack Nicholson's, The Martians accidently pick up the radio broadcast of Orson Welles' 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast dramatization, on Halloween Night and assume they are late for the invasion.While there is nothing Earth-shattering about director Patrick Read Johnson's first film, it is often very entertaining. ‘SPACED INVADERS’ makes hilarious silly fun of just about every outer space sci-fi film ever made, and throws in some Three Stooges-like mayhem for good measure. The simple yet creative story line concerns a small group of Martians, who are short green creatures with heads that look like watermelons, who believe they are supposed to invade Earth.Their broken-down spacecraft lands near Big Bean in Illinois, on Halloween Night. Sam [Douglas Barr], the town's new sheriff, and his daughter, Ten-year-old Kathy [Ariana Richards] who is disguised as a Martian, immediately recognises the invaders and becomes suspicious of everybody and at the same time has a sensible, Alice-in-Wonderland type quality about her, and is at the same time is joined by Brian [J.J. Anderson] who Alice asks him ''Are you a Martian?'' but Brian declares ''I'm a duck,'' who indeed is wearing a duck costume and finally we are joined by Mr. Wrenchmuller [Royal Dano], an old man whose farm is about to be repossessed on whose farm the Martians have crash-landed, who all three are out to help the Martians avoid the townspeople who want to kill them. "Prepare to die Earth scum," one Martian repeatedly tells the townsfolk, but Captain Bipto [Jimmy Briscoe] just wants to get home in one piece. The ensuing action allows for jokes that are sometimes slightly dumb, but at the same time mildly funny and hilarious.What you get with ‘SPACED INVADERS’ is ET meets Monty Python, with a little subtle Hollywood crazy humour thrown in, and it is not as bad as it sounds. Kathy [Ariana Richards] takes on her role as the new kid in town with a joyful mixture of innocence and precociousness and declares that "They're not bad, just stupid," Kathy says of the Martians, and her father can't help but believe her. ‘SPACED INVADERS’ is definitely a fantastic silly spoof on the genre of alien films and sometimes edges on fine comedy, with a twist of silliness, but can be slightly uneven at times, but is definitely aimed at a targeted audience of 10 to 12-year-olds, but I feel it is also enjoyable for adults of all ages to enjoy with their children where I know they will definitely have a really good laugh throughout the film, as there are some really quirky funny characters, especially this hip aliens. SPACED INVADERS has all the elements of a very good sci-fi film; and one I really enjoyed viewing, even though some of the scenes get a bit silly and over the top, but overall it was a really enjoyable sci-fi comedy romp.Blu-ray Video Quality – ‘SPACED INVADERS’ is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. The 1080p image at times isn't as sharp as one would like, and frequently suffers from a little softness. This is never too distracting and the image presents the basics well enough, though with not much pizzazz so to speak, especially with any great detail, presenting general textures with relative ease but lacking the complexity of a finely-honed filmic presentation. The image is littered with evidence of wear in the way of speckles and stray vertical lines, and grain is thick. It is about what audiences have come to expect from Touchstone Pictures and Mill Creek Entertainment, a very serviceable but in no way dazzling presentation, but despite this, I still enjoyed is what I viewed of this Blu-ray disc.Blu-ray Audio Quality – ‘SPACED INVADERS’ is presented with a 2.0 Dolby Digital Ultra Stereo. The soundtrack is slightly flat at times, offering little range. Dialogue remains clear at all times, but despite this, it is still a fun time sound track. Sound is presented presents in a style with no drift or sense of space, making it, for all intents and purposes, more like a mono soundtrack. Sadly at times it fails to excite the aural senses. Various crashing and action effects fall flat, presenting the basic sound effect but nothing more. Ambience is practically non-existent, still despite this the dialogue is at least steady and never a struggle to hear. Despite some of my negative remarks, I still got to enjoy this sci-fi comedy romp.Finally, overall ‘SPACED INVADERS’ is a madcap zany sci-fi spoof film, that has loads of twists and turns to keep you amused throughout the 101 minutes running time. There is a lot worse out there for sure and it is all pretty by the book scenario, but at the very least the costumes and make-up effects were very passable. It’s not one of those B-movies where the acting is terrible and the sets are off and all that; it’s actually of pretty good production value. Visually it looks pretty cool, especially with all the madcap trick or treaters, aliens, spaceships, crazy characters, wacky contraptions and so on, and I mean all of those things in a favourable way. The use of the Orson Welles' 1938 “The War of the Worlds” radio broadcast dramatization is nicely done, the effects are fun in a retro sort of way and there are some real laughs to be had and I especially like the Martians blowing up a missile "grain" silo with their heat ray and of course is a reference I wonder to residents of Grover's Mill allegedly attacking a water tower during the 1938 broadcast and all getting buried in a mountain of popcorn. Best of all is the visual inventiveness of the sci-fi comedy film and someone certainly had an eye for detail on this very funny sci-fi film. The costumes and make-up work are great and look out for lovely little touches like the reclining Martian lady painted World War II style on the side of the spaceship. Certainly don't expect to be intellectually challenged by ‘SPACED INVADERS,’ but you can safely anticipate a lot of fun and frolics, if somewhat a perplexing real oddity of a sci-fi film. But despite it being over the top zany fun, I really enjoyed watching it and because it was made in 1990, the effects look slightly dated, compared if it had been made today, as well at times can become very cheesy laugh out loud comedy, but despite this anomaly, I had a really great fun watching ‘SPACED INVADERS,’ so give it a chance, as you will not be disappointed. This sci-fi comedy film kind of came and went upon its initial release, but is no doubt a guilty pleasure film for some, especially like me. Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film FanLe Cinema ParadisoWARE, United Kingdom

Great movie! Haven't seen in years so was very happy to get it and put in my collection.

The is a all time classic family movie .they don't make cool movies like this anymore 😕

Was very glad to see this movie out on Blu-ray. Bought it at the same time as War of the Worlds, so it was fitting as these two movies are linked.One of the things that makes this movie notable is that it is a very early appearance of actress Ariana Richards before her memorable appearance in Jurassic Park. She was a pretty good actress at a young age and this movie shows it. This movie also features some good practical effects in the hilarious Martian characters. The animatronic heads were well done and show that good effects were possible before CGI took everything over.Plus, I think the movie itself is just funny. The Martians themselves have some pretty good lines and "Vern-Droid" is hilarious.The Blu-ray itself is fine. They could have done a better job restoring the picture, but it's watchable. Interviews with the cast and director are interesting. I also like that they provided a reversible Blu-ray cover. One side has newer art, and the other features movie poster art from the original release. I didn't like the new art, so I flipped it to the more classic look.If you like science fiction comedies with good practical effects, this is a good one to get.

So I originally saw this movie when I was a kid and had forgotten all about it. I recently stumbled upon it by accident when I saw the DVD version in a store locally. I instantly remembered how much I loved this movie as a kid and I got all of those warm nostalgic feelings and instantly looked to see if they had it on Blu-Ray.Well they didn't, and I was not even sure if it had even been released in Blu-Ray format so I had pretty much decided to buy in on DVD right there. Luckily, I resisted my overwhelming urge to have it right then and checked Amazon on my phone to see it was available in Blu-ray instead. To my great delight it was and it was cheaper than the DVD version in the local store.The only issue was could I wait the two days that it would take to arrive to my door with prime shipping. Well after deciding that I had probably waited over 15 years since I have last seen it I could probably hold out a couple more days.I ordered it on my phone and waited the two excruciatingly long days for it to arrive at my house. The day it was to be delivered I almost took the day off of work (just kidding).I opened the box with that happy Amazon smile on the outside and forced my wife and kids to all come down stairs and watch it. None of them had ever seen it by the way and not one of them seemed to share my excitement.I opened the package and put this cinematic masterpiece in my Blu-Ray player and cranked up my surround sound system. One hour and forty one minutes later my love of this movie was still as strong as I remembered it. My wife and kids loved it as well, maybe not quite as much as I do but they have watched it multiple times on their own since then so that’s a good indication.I will admit nostalgia plays a big part in my love of this film; it takes me back to my childhood where everything was just so simple. It is a great family movie that anyone can enjoy that does not take itself too seriously.If you enjoy movies from the 80s & 90s in the same vein as movies like The Goonies, Monster Squad and ET it is a pretty good bet you will enjoy this one as well.

One of my favorite movies from when I was a kid, glad Amazon had it.

This was bought for someone since it was their childhood favorite movie. It brought a smile to his face.

I love this movie! It’s a perfect example of hilarious stupidity. The characters are goofy looking and what a aliens would look like in the 40’s mentality but more so today. I have watched this movie several times and it makes me laugh every time. Can’t wait till next time!

I haven't seen this movie in like 20+ years, and even then it was on VHS. The movie is still very enjoyable, and despite a few instances of mild profanity I think this is a great family film if you want to watch something funny with a sci-fi twist. There is some film grain and occasional "dirt" and "hair" but for a movie that didn't really get a HUGE release back in the day, the Blu-ray quality picture and sound is very good. Worth the price if you're wanting to revisit this movie again, or just wanna sit down and have a good laugh.

The BEST family space invader video. Brilliant! Includes added bonus of how they did it and insider comments by lead role actor and child actress videoed 35 years later! Extraordinary! Great fun for kids and adults.

I loved this movie not for everyone though

I loved this film when it first came out. It's dated now but is such a funny film. Royal Dano is dead now but he was funny too.The delivery is good, packaging was fine.Thanks for a little bit of fun and nostalgia for just 90 minutes.

Saw this on video years ago so thought I would get it has dated but still fun to watch