Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star

A group of humanoid aliens travel to Earth after intercepting broadcast transmissions from radio and television establishing a base on the moon to observe humans. On one journey by the aliens to the surface, two alien children Robyn (Sydney Penny) and Tavy (Rosie Marcel) and a Trilat (three eyed creature with three appendages) stowaway on board and wind up on land near Aladdin, Wyoming in the hopes of proving to their people they can live among the humans. They encounter Robert "Dirt" McAlpin (Ricky Paull Goldin) while he checks for gaps in the fencing along his family's land and after learning they're aliens helps them by taking them to his Grandpa (Keenan Wynn) to ensure their safety as their Uncle Aric (Dennis Holahan) looks for them before their discovered.

Hyper Sapien: People From Another Star is a 1986 Science Fiction family film that like many similar films of the time was an attempt to capitalize on the success and popularity of E. T.. The film was initially announced as a project for director Michael Wadleigh who also wrote the script, but following his departure (with conflicting reports saying he was either asked to leave or he quick after frustration with the animatronics), Peter R. Hunt took over with Wadleigh replacing his writing and story credit with "Christopher Blue". The distribution was initially acquired by Tri-Star Pictures with the intention of giving it a July 1996 release, but Tri-Star later decided to release it in December of that year and gave it a limited theatrical run with most of its exposure seemingly having been through cable when it aired on outlets such as The Disney Channel. If I had to guess, Tri-Star also released the similarly E. T. inspired Short Circuit that year and they probably decided that would be the better bet in comparison to Hyper Sapien and you certainly couldn't fault them for thinking that because of all the E. T. knock-offs and clones of the 80s....this sure is one of them I guess.

While I say this is an E. T. clone, that's really only part of it because with the two humanoid aliens who come with the Trilat, it's also a little bit like Escape to Witch Mountain (only with no sense of urgency). For the first 70 minutes of the movie there's no real conflict and our characters mostly amble around the Canadian landscapes doubling for Wyoming engaging basically spinning their wheels until the movie rushes through a conflict in the last 20 minutes because rather than creating character or investment it's more focused on filling just enough time to go to "feature length". The aliens aren't particularly interesting or special with their gimmick of understanding humanity through TV broadcast something that was done much better in Explorers and while the Trilat Kirbi is somewhat unique in design with his three eyes and three limbs, he's not really all that interesting and does little aside from his appearance at distinguishing himself from other E. T. clones. The one element that I can say is genuinely good is Arthur B. Rubinstein's score for the film which has that sweeping feeling of whimsy many Spielberg inspired films strive for and to the film's credit the score does bring some life to that flat, conventional TV movie like approach of the film.

Hyper Sapien is a movie that feels like it was designed in the same manner as an architecture project or a utility system, it has a purpose that it needs to do and if it does it: it's a success. It's the kind of movie that challenges you to remember anything about it because it's such a banal and soulless product you can't even have much emotional response to it. At least with their worst E. T. knock-offs like the "so bad it's good" stupidity of Mac and Me or the grating annoyance of Nukie leave impressions on you, Hyper Sapien doesn't.

In this family friendly sci-fi movie an alien race, who look like humans, have set up a base on the dark side of the moon. Two alien girls stow away on a trip to Earth and decide to stay on the planet. They plan to prove to their elders that mankind is mature enough to be able to handle extra-terrestrial contact. They end up in the American mid-west and are soon in contact with some locals; meanwhile the captain of their ship pursues them.

This gentle natured yarn is difficult to entirely dislike. To give it a hard time would be akin to kicking a puppy. You would feel ashamed and always regret it. I would only be being honest if I said that it's not exactly great though. It has a Saturday late morning feeling to it, which is not a bad thing exactly but it never really goes anywhere too interesting either. The story boils down to a romantic sub-plot. You know that old chestnut - human boy meets alien girl. The characterisation is actually pretty decent which does help things a bit. While the petrol drinking, three-eyed and limbed alien pet is quite an impressive bit of special effects work all things considered. The plot-line overall never gets particularly exciting but it's charming to a certain extent.

The one thing that did amaze me a little bit though was when I was watching it I thought to myself that the little gap-toothed girl looked exactly like a child version of the ice queen surgeon from the British hospital TV drama Holby City. To my utter amazement I discovered later on that this was indeed the very same person, Rosie Marcel. It sure proves that old saying that little girls can grow up in very interesting ways

I bought this on laser disc years ago, and it has always been a favorite of mine. Many friends who watched it with me agreed. Anyone with just one romantic bone in their body will enjoy the girl boy interplay, especially if you like science fiction (as I do). The unusual pet they bring with them adds greatly to the story. The two 'alien' girls are cute, the effects are quite good and Keenan Wynn, in his 174th movie, his last role, plays a very likeable and understanding, openminded grandfather. I found it to be great fun and when I realized today that someone really tried to badmouth it badly, thought I had to give that a counter. It is not a cerebral piece, but most movies aren't. I am happy that I found it because I have never seen any advertising for it, which I found somewhat surprising. Also, it is something that kids can enjoy with its wholesomeness.

The film is not all that bad but it's really geared for the kids to much for me to really enjoy and not like and not as good as E.T. but it is somewhat enjoyable. If you have kids and like Sci-Fi (or your kids do) then this is an entertaining family film.

The film movie had it's moments of being okay (from adult perspective) and I'm sure if I watched this one as a kid I would have liked it. Actually I'm surprised I've never seen this one before but then again I was 14 in 1986 and this film is geared for a younger than 10 years old audience I believe.

I would recommend this movie for a family styled Sci-Fi movie night/day. I'm sure the kids would enjoy it with that 3-eyed, 3-legged monster thingy running around who's about as annoying as Jar-Jar Binks.

4/10

Film is typical for it's time period. It contains some decent character interactions which could have used a lot more work. Someone really dumped hard on this film and it's budget and it shows. Look past the awkwardness of everyone involved in this project and you might be able to ad lib into the story and it'll seem less awkward. It seems that the story had a lot of directions it wanted to go in and a lot of things it wanted to try to put into the film to create the time period and circumstances. I simply don't think it flows smoothly. Not sure if it was a screen play written from scratch, where the points got thrown in or if it was written from a longer story and we see someone trying to pull the highlights out of the bigger story. I think I am looking at this more critically now after watching it again off a disk set purchased then when I was young and it first came out. If memory serves me correctly, I enjoyed it a lot more before I knew a lot more. Now I see lots of little problems in the film that most likely could not be corrected during the editing. Maybe should have rated this a point or two higher; but, all things considered from decades of experience, just can't go that high. As another person says, I like the young love story and how it turns out.