Aaron1375 I watched this pilot movie for a television show that never came to be on the riff show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Apparently, it too received the same treatment as such other MST3K classic episodes Pod People and Cave Dwellers where we get a title sequence that comes from an entirely different film all together before being treated to the actual film. It is a rather misleading tactic and one has to wonder why they do it. In Pod People, the film they show actually looks like it might be better and more horrific than the one we get. In Cave Dwellers, the film they show looks more serious and older than the one we get. Here, we get a super science fiction looking show and what we get starts out somewhat promising and then kind of falters by really going nowhere all that special. From this film, it looks like the show was going to be a take on an earlier show, The Fugitive with a few science fiction elements, but not all that many considering it takes place on another planet. Basically, nearly everything thing is the same on this planet our hero finds himself on right down to the cars! The story has three astronauts experiencing some trouble in space. One of them ends up in a hospital where there is something not quite right. Turns out, that he is not on Earth, but another planet where some sort of oppressive government which at first is trying to get information from the astronaut, but then switches to wanting to kill him because he may pose a threat to their 'perfect' society. He goes on the run and gets the aid of a nurse and a man who happens to help with the space program, but has disdain for the order so he and the astronaut devise a plan that may get him off the planet.This made for an interesting episode of MST3K. Honestly, during the first section of film I was actually more interested in what was happening in the movie than their riffs as it played out rather good...at first. Then it never goes anywhere and just becomes "The Fugitive" only with the very light science fiction elements. Thankfully, their riffs were good when the story was going stale so it made for an entertaining episode of the show. I liked how they kept trying to get up and leave when the movie looked as if it were going off due to commercial.So, it was not a totally bad film, but it just needed more. It was interesting up to a point and then it just became kind of a mess. It becomes guy on run and bad guys closing in and then guy finds a way to slip passed them. Pretty sure this one would not have lasted for too many seasons because there is only so much you can do with the premise. The government pretty much had a lot of people under its influence so it would have started becoming unbelievable say he had kept running into people who just happen to hate the order. So, probably for the best it was just a one episode wonder, the main bad thing about it though is no closure.

gbcapp I can concur with the comments that production values were poor, but I still believe it would have been interesting as a variation on "The Fugitive". I can also see where it would not be believable for him to ever get home, since his best and only chance to get onto a spacecraft was in the pilot. Every Terran spaceport would be alert to him after this. Also, being on their toes, the Perfect Order would have been steadily improving their chances of catching Neil by imprinting his face in every mind. Now, that said, it could have been interesting if Neil discovered a totally different thing going on: the steady erosion and breakdown of the Perfect Order - a growing dissidence that the Order cannot deal with. The suspense would be: what happens first? Neil is caught, Ward E'd and killed, or the dissidence becomes organized and he's in the dilemma of staying out of it or helping it.The movie would have been helped if there were clues that the history of the planet was identical to Earth up to the time of WW2, explaining the similar technology, and if most of the cars seen were less popular and more unusual models, seen so often that they seem to be the preferred models. The three moons should have had some texture, some cratering and maria, and shifted position from night to night, so that at the end of the movie, one is missing and the other two are further apart. Also, there should have been at least a few "northpaws" - in a society that views right-handedness as being as sinister as our society used to regard left-handedness. (Maybe in Ward E, they fix people who are right-handed. Now, what if Bettina was right-handed but they let her pass, then they fixed her while doing the other conditioning, and Dylan wondered about it when she reappeared.)I noticed that all the guards - the rank and file - seemed to be "old guys" - in their mid to late 40s or early 50s - and thus old enough to remember pre-Perfect Order conditions. They look older than Benedict and Dr. Revere, so it looks like they cast guys happy for the work, not because they looked like young, well-educated supporters of the system.But I liked the touch of authoritarianism, and the perverse fact that it had solved poverty, crime and disease, but was ruthless against "thoughtcrime" (a "1984" term) that could cause such problems.

davros5-1 I actually had seen the last parts of this movie when I was a child. Thanks to the search feature of plots I was able to find out the name of it. For years I did not know the name, but the movie stuck in my mind. The ending left hope that the main character would get back to Earth eventually. It was a shame it did not make it to a series. This movie reminds me of Journey to The Far Side Of the Sun. Also known as Doppleganger. If you liked this feature the other one is worth a watch. It was done before The Stranger, but shares a similar plot. Yet different. I just picked up The Stranger off of eBay on VHS. Hope they make a DVD, but it is doubtful unless it comes out on Dollar DVD. A few pilots are making it on the budget DVD's and maybe this one will.

SanDiego Remake of the much better produced theatrical film JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN from 1969 (available on DVD) about an astronaut who lands on a twin Earth on the other side of the sun. This TV film has a good B-film cast including such sci-fi buff favorites as Cameron Mitchell (FLIGHT TO MARS available on DVD), Lew Ayres (1971 TV film EARTH II as well as Dr. Kildare in a series of films from the forties), Dean Jagger (X THE UNKNOWN available on DVD), and Sally Field's mom, Margaret Field (MAN FROM PLANET X available on DVD) to name just a few. Credits go out to the casting but isn't as fun as any of the other films mentioned and tries to start a TV series in the vein of 60's TV show THE INVADERS. By the way if you liked THE INVADERS, star Roy Thinnes is the star of JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN. THE STRANGER is more for sci-fi buffs than sci-fi fans.