Best Science Fiction Movies of 1965

A US government germ warfare lab has had an accident. The first theory is that one of the germs has been released and killed several scientists. The big fear is that a more virulent strain, named The Satan Bug because all life can be killed off by it should it escape, may have been stolen.

Dr. Steven Sorenson plans to tap the geothermal energy of the Earth's interior by means of a thermonuclear device detonated deep within the Earth. This experiment causes a crack to form and grow within the Earth's crust, which threatens to split the earth in two if it is not stopped in time.

Interstellar travel at sub-light speeds: the enormous distances, isolation from human culture and the aching loneliness of space are enough to drive the strongest personality insane. Better to block all memories of human contact and to program the 12-strong crew to accept only the reality they can see and touch within their spacecraft. But a child born on "the Station" becomes insistent on learning the truth about 'Outside'.

Scientist Doctor Who accidentally activates his new invention, the Tardis, a time machine disguised as a police telephone box. Doctor Who, his two grand-daughters, and Barbara's boyfriend Ian are transported through time and space to the planet Skaro, where a peaceful race of Thals are under threat of nuclear attack from the planet's other inhabitants: the robotic mutant Daleks.

A young man visits his fiancé's estate to discover that her wheelchair-bound scientist father has discovered a meteorite that emits mutating radiation rays that have turned the plants in his greenhouse to giants. When his own wife falls victim to this mysterious power, the old man takes it upon himself to destroy the glowing object with disastrous results.

The son of the inventor of a matter-transporter, which turned him into a monster when he tried to transport himself along with a tiny housefly, continues to pursue his father's experiment, while his own two sons attempt to extricate him, themselves and the family name from further disaster and scandal.

In this campy spy movie spoof Dr. Goldfoot (Vincent Price) has invented an army of bikini-clad robots who are programmed to seek out wealthy men and charm them into signing over their assets. Secret agent Craig Gamble (Frankie Avalon) and millionaire Todd Armstrong set out to foil his fiendish plot.

College whiz-kid Merlin Jones concocts a method for teaching advanced information to a chimpanzee, then creates a flying machine of his own design, ultimately raising havoc on the campus.

A chance discovery leads American mining engineer Ben Harris and acquaintance Harold to discover a lost city under the sea while searching for their kidnapped friend Jill. Held captive in the underwater city by the tyrannical Captain (Vincent Price), and his crew of former smugglers, the three plot to escape...

The survivors of a nuclear war are taken care of by robots called "fleshapoids." One day one of the fleshapoids runs wild, kills its "mistress," and hides in the home of a human female, for whom it begins to develop feelings.

Routine tests on a traffic accident victim lead to shocking discoveries when the man's blood is found to be unidentifiable and x-rays reveal a disc embedded in his brain. His fabulous tale of being an escaped prisoner from an alien spaceship takes a turn for the sinister when the hospital staff realise that they're under a state of siege...

". ..As though you were approaching earth as a god, from cosmic consciousness. You see the same things but with completely different meaning."

The inhabitants of Ganymede need to find mates from another world or they will become extinct. They soon discover a suitable breeding stock amongst the females of planet Earth.

Pinocchio tries to save the Earth from Astro the Space Whale

An expedition to the lunar ice caves contracts a deadly moon-fungus. Stopping en route they contaminate a space station with the fungus, which soon begins to take over the entire place.

When an atomic war on Mars destroys the planet's women, it's up to Martian Princess Marcuzan and her right-hand man Dr. Nadir to travel to earth and kidnap women for new breeding stock. Landing in Puerto Rico, they shoot down a NASA space capsule manned by an android. With his electronic brain damaged, the android terrorizes the island while the Martians raid beaches and pool parties

In 2020, after the colonization of the moon, the spaceships Vega, Sirius and Capella are launched from Lunar Station 7. They are to explore Venus under the command of Professor Hartman, but an asteroid collides and explodes Capella. The leader ship Vega stays orbiting and sends the astronauts Kern and Sherman with the robot John to the surface of Venus, but they have problems with communication with Dr. Marsha Evans in Vega. The Sirius lands in Venus and Commander Brendan Lockhart, Andre Ferneau and Hans Walter explore the planet and are attacked by prehistoric animals. They use a vehicle to seek Kern and Sherman while collecting samples from the planet. Meanwhile John helps the two cosmonauts to survive in the hostile land.

Andy Warhol’s screen adaptation of Burgess's "A Clockwork Orange”.

Jewel thieves quickly dispose of the loot when the alarm is raised, then track down the family upon whose truck they threw them, meanly interrogating them in the hope of getting them back.

"Genius" accidentally invents "goo" which causes living things to rapidly grow to an enormous size. Seeing an opportunity to get rich, some delinquent teenagers steal the "goo" and, as a result of a sophomoric dare, consume it themselves and become thirty feet tall. They then take over control of the town by kidnapping the sheriff's daughter and dancing suggestively.

The adventures of the Lemon Grove Kids in this Bowery Boys inspired kiddie film.

An evil brain from outer space unleashes monsters with deadly diseases on Earth with trying to conquer the universe. Superhero Starman must battle them all to save his planet.

Super criminals are planning to infiltrate Earth with mass nuclear destruction! Only Starman can defend civilization by thwarting evil!

A swiftly assembled musical fantasy movie made to capitalise on the mid-Sixties, British craze for gonks (a sort of soft, furry toy). Today it is of more interest for featuring music by such artists as Lulu, The Nashville Teens, and The Graham Bond Organisation.

The Robinsons, Earth's first family of outer space, head to colonize Alpha Centauri in their flying saucer, the Gemini 12, but crash land on an uncharted planet where they deal with its challenges and dangers.

In the year 2000 the spaceship Hope One sets off to find new galaxies for colonization. However, an encounter with an alien being and a swarm of meteorites sends the ship streaking off course into a sea of monsters on an uncharted world. Written by Jeremy Lunt

In the year 2015, a spaceship, the IC-1, travels through outer space looking for a suitable planet to settle on. The commander, Captain Ralston, is stern and brutal in which one cadet, Steven, plots a revolt to turn the leadership of the command over to him.

FTII Diploma film for acting students of 1964-65 by Ritwik Ghatak

In 1974, four astronauts, silver shoe-clad Dorothy, overweight Doc, goofy Charlie, and wooden Steve, crash land on Mars when taking readings, with only four days of supplies. They must try to survive on the surface, which is barren except for some canals with huge maggots with fins. After embarking through a golden igneous cavern, braving a storm and finding an unmanned Earth vessel, they discover a golden road which leads them to the unchanging ruins of what was once a beautiful Martian city. The Martians are modeled on the Flatheads of Oz, and their collective consciousness, the "Wizard," forbids them to leave until they perform a very small task...

Early adaption of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four as part of the Theatre 625 series.

American astronaut Frank Douglas mysteriously disappears from his spacecraft as it parachutes to Earth. He is apparently replaced by or turned into a large, radioactive, humanoid monster. A team of scientists and military men attempt to capture the monster.

Brought back to life by his grandson, a diabolical scientist with an unquenchable thirst for blood goes on a rampage. A revision of the Mexican horror film LA MARCA DEL MUERTE, considerably edited and with 20 minutes of new American-made footage.

After being dug up by two archaeologists, the preserved body of a prehistoric man returns to life and wreaks havoc.

An alien is dispatched from a faraway galaxy to take over the Earth by "duplicating" humans and creating a race of zombies.

Dr. Goldfoot schemes to use his Bikini Machine to kidnap a young man with infinite information stored in his head by the government.

The invention everyone is after is definitely of the science fiction type. It's a special tie-clip that when used with a pair of infra-red contact lenses enables the user to see through walls! The guy that stole them from the professor is putting it to good use by wearing it while playing poker and cleaning up! He should think bigger. The first thing Roger does when he discovers this little novelty is use it to spy on his girlfriend getting dressed! That's more like it. This film really gets around. We travel from the Riviera to Geneva to Paris to Casablanca (the Casbah no less), and to Copenhagen. We even get a tour of the Tuborg brewery. There's a prolonged gun battle amongst the giant beer tanks. Talk about product placement!

Science fiction short

Little Willy McBean joins up with a Mexican monkey named Pablo to travel back in time and stop the evil Prof. von Rotten from changing history.

The Doctor and his companions are pursued through time and space by the Daleks on the desert planet Aridius and beyond.

In England, 1066, the Doctor confronts a mysterious Monk who is attempting to change history.

The Doctor, Vicki and Steven arrive on an arid planet where they meet the beautiful Drahvins and the hideous Rills. Each has crash-landed after a confrontation in space. The Rills are friendly, compassionate explorers. The Drahvins are dull-witted, cloned soldiers, terrorised by the intelligent, warlike matriarch Maaga.

When the TARDIS arrives on the plains of Asia Minor not far from the besieged city of Troy, the Doctor is hailed by Achilles as the mighty god Zeus and taken to the Greek camp. He meets Agamemnon and Odysseus. Forced to admit he is a mere mortal — albeit a traveller in space and time — he is given two days to devise a scheme to capture Troy. Steven and Vicki, meanwhile, have been taken prisoner by the Trojans. Vicki, believed to possess supernatural powers, is given two days to banish the Greeks to prove she is not a spy.

A UCLA student film by Ronald Raley. Fellow UCLA student Jim Morrison (future member of The Doors) participated as the director of photography. A faux scientific film supposedly made by the "California Institute of Neuropsychiatry." An arrogant scientist, who also narrates the course of the "treatment," picks up a Hollywood street hustler and gets him to agree to a program of retraining. Using shock treatment, the patient is taught to loathe images of himself as a male escort and love the new personality created in the lab.

Captain Pike is held prisoner and tested by aliens who have the power to project incredibly lifelike illusions. The original pilot episode of the first Star Trek series.

On the planet Xeros, the TARDIS crew discover their own future selves frozen in time as exhibits in a galactic museum and must avert this potential future.

On the planet Dido, the Doctor, Ian and Barbara meet two survivors from a crashed spaceship who are terrorised by the monster Koquillion.

The TARDIS crew take up residence near Rome in 64AD, where Ian and Barbara are kidnapped by slave traders, and the Doctor's imitation of Maximus Pettulian sees him taken to the court of Emperor Nero where he inadvertently plays a part in deciding the course of history...

On the planet Vortis, the Doctor and his companions aid the butterfly-like Menoptra in their battle against the parasitic Animus and its mind-controlled minions, the ant-like Zarbi.

In 12th century Palestine, the Doctor and his friends are drawn into the holy war between the forces of King Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen ruler Saladin.