The romantic interest of the heroic astronaut: the lady with microscopes in her eyes.
Perhaps a bit too earnest, Mutiny in Outer Space (1965) is a chronicle of the discovery of the first hostile pathogen in space – a fungus carried on specimens of ice retrieved from the Moon. It grows rapidly once exposed to the warm atmosphere of a human space station, and soon the crew is fighting for its collective life against a … hairy growth. Throw in a romance, a space station commander afflicted with the “space raptures” which has driven him into the arms of paranoia (rather than Lt. Connie), and who therefore believes the crew of space station is plotting against him, and there’s sort of half a plot here. The special effects are a disaster, but while the science is sometimes dubious, at least it’s not a complete joke.
But outer space horror requires more bang to the buck, and while the space raptures was a nice go, it’s a little abrupt to really work. Think of Alien (1979). The initial horror is the idea of little monster spawn insinuating themselves down your trachea and bursting forth from chest, right? Yet, what really put Alien over the top was the discovery that the owners of the ship, the Company, deliberately sent the crew into danger purely in the pursuit of a bioweapon which will generate more profit for the Company. In fact, the science officer, Ash, is revealed to be a cyborg, controlled by the Company rather than by the crew, and tasked with ensuring a specimen Alien makes it back to the Company labs.
In short, the crew has been abandoned by the Company, leaving them in a desperate situation in which most do not survive. The physical threat is shocking on its own, but the horror comes at the realization that mere profit has motivated the Company to abandon them. And that throws the humanity of the Company itself into question.
We don’t see that in Mutiny In Outer Space. Ground control does all it can to help, ultimately saving the day, but it means that the story is not as horrifying as one might hope. In fact, it turns into a “solve the problem” story, which is not as interesting as other forms of outer space horror have proven to be.
But that’s not to say it’s completely boring. The story has a few moments, and even throws in some cute wordplay. But it’s more of a dated curiosity than anything else.
