Grant Williams (Jim Davis) has just moved his family to a solar powered house in the Southern California desert area. Grant and his son-in-law, Richard (Christopher Mitchum), worked on the house while Grant’s wife, Ana (Dorothy Malone), his daughter, Beth (Marcy Lafferty), who is married to Richard, his son Steve (Scott C. Kolden) and Richard and Beth’s daughter, Jenny (Natasha Ryan) are on a vacation. Once the house is done the family is reunited and everyone heads for home. Richard has to go to work, so he leaves the family at the new house.
At the same time, a trinary supernova that happened 200 years ago is finally reaching the Earth. Effects from the supernova are being felt, particularly over the Williams’ homestead. A rift in the space time continuum appears and the house is being affected by the event. Near the barn Jenny finds a green glowing structure. The structure shrinks small enough for Jenny to pick it up and put it in her pocket. Alien spacecraft begin flying around the house. Small Alien creatures appear in Jenny’s room.
Soon after that more alien ships and lights fly around the sky. A vortex opens up and swirls around the house. The house and its occupants are sent to another time and place. Giant alien creatures appear and begin battling. The next time the vortex appears Jenny and Beth become separated from the rest of the family and disappear.
In the meantime, Richard finds out that the worst activity from the triple supernova seems to be centered over his house. He grows concerned about his family’s safety and decides to return home. He also ends up passing into the pull of the vortex.
“The Day Time Ended” was released in 1980 and was directed by John 'Bud' Cardos. It is an American science fiction time travel fantasy film.
The creatures that some are calling dinosaurs are actually alien monsters from a different space time. The special effects range from decent to primitive. Although the effects are not the best and the movie is not stellar, it did give up-and-coming artists somewhere to develop their craft and practice what they already knew. There were more people working on the visual effects than were in the movie. It’s a big venture for a film with not much in the way of plot.
Speaking of plot, it doesn’t really have one. The family gets sucked into a time vortex, and the movie is various weak reactions by the actors to whatever is going on around them. Since the acting is rather bad, the reactions are not all that believable. In addition, the ending is rather pat and bland.
The movie is more family oriented. If you liked “Hyper Sapien-People from Another Star” 1986 or “Jack the Giant Killer” 1962, or maybe even “Laserblast” 1978 you might like this movie too.