Killer fungus threatens Earth
Returning from a mission to the newly discovered ice caves on the moon are Maj. Gordon Towers (William Leslie) and Capt. Dan Webber (Carl Crow). They are taking the samples they collected to Space Station X-7. When they get to the station Dan collapses. He is taken to the infirmary to see Dr. Hoffman (James Dobson). He then develops a high fever. Dr. Faith Montaine (Dolores Faith) is a civilian biochemist. She notices a welt on Dan’s leg that appears to be developing into a fungus. Before she can analyze the fungus, Dan dies. The fungus has enveloped his whole body.
Commander Col Frank Cromwell (Richard Garland) has been having difficulty lately commanding the space station. Dr. Hoffman believes he is experiencing “Space Raptures”. He refuses to notify General Knowland (Glenn Langan) on Earth of what is going on at the station. In the meantime, Faith has been trying to analyze the fungus when it begins growing out of control. She gets trapped in her lab until Towers shows up to rescue her from being attacked by the fungus. Towers tries to notify Earth to quarantine the station. Commander Cromwell has Towers, Faith and Dr. Hoffman locked up and charges Towers with mutiny.
The Commander tells Lt. Connie Engstrom (Pamela Curran) to contact Earth and tell them that Towers is under arrest and that he pulled a gun on him and tried to take over the station. Connie agrees but instead she sends the General the tape recording from the command center. The General realizes that something is wrong since guns have been outlawed in space for twenty years. She also reports that the entire space station is being overrun by the fungus.
Hoffman contracts the fungal infection and becomes ill. The fungus is running amok on the station and the Commander is running around fully in the grip of the raptures and is trying to destroy the station.
“Mutiny in Outer Space” AKA “Space Station X” was released in 1965 and was written and directed by Hugo Grimaldi and Arthur C. Pierce. This is not just low budget; this is bottom of the barrel budget. It’s like a cross between a soap opera in space and an early Dr. Who episode. Maybe like something produced by your local TV station back in the day. The production values were more in line with a movie done in the 50’s instead of the 60’s. You never do get to see the ice caves. I don’t think they had enough in the budget for paper-mache. They must have spent it all on artificial vines for the fungus. The sets are limited and the special effects are lame but there is a childish quality to the film that I liked. The sets are also small so there’s not much action. Like there wasn’t enough room in Mom’s basement. I still enjoyed it.
The movie is credited for being the idea for the Japanese/American venture “The Green Slime” (1969). Or was “The Green Slime” just a rip off of “Mutiny in Outer Space”? I guess it depends on which one you like better. I’m a little more partial to this one.