Starship Invasions (1977)

In the summer of 1977, Star Wars came out and changed science fiction forever. A few months later, Canada released STARSHIP INVASIONS, and it did not change science fiction forever.

But it is magnificent in its own way.

Christopher Lee plays a villainous alien named Captain Rameses. Robert Vaughn plays a UFO expert trying to stop him. The flying saucers were modeled on real photographs from a 1950 UFO sighting — the Paul Trent case, one of the most debated in UFO history. Some of the alien imagery was drawn directly from the Pascagoula abduction account, which had only happened four years earlier. This is a film that took its source material very seriously. The universe did not return the favour.

It went through three titles - War of the Aliens, then Alien Encounter, then Starship Invasions - before settling on the one that sounds like it was named by a committee trying to ride every sci-fi trend of 1977 simultaneously. When it was rereleased in the UK, they retitled it Project Genocide, which is arguably a stronger choice.

It's a Canadian tax-shelter production assembled from bargain-bin grandeur, solemn flying-saucer mysticism, and the sincere belief that the world was ready for a serious UFO film. It was not ready. Star Wars had just happened.

None of this makes it less worth watching. It makes it more worth watching.