Mars Needs Women

Mars Needs Women is a science fiction film released in 1968,^{[dubious – discuss]} which features Tommy Kirk, Yvonne Craig, and Byron Lord. it was shot during a two week period. Due to poor lighting, parts of the film were made by undercranking the camera and having the actors move more slowly, sometimes shooting at 18 or 12 frames per second instead of the usual 24.^[1]

Mars Needs Women's premise is that a military decoding station has intercepted a message, only three words, "Mars Needs Women". As the plot unfolds it's revealed that Martians have a genetic deficiency that produces only male babies. They launch a mission to earth consisting of five Martians who recruit volunteer women to come to Mars. They meet strong resistance on the part of the Earth authorities.^[2]

There are long sequences taken from military videos (X-15 in particular) that pad the film. This movie is similar to Plan 9 From Outer Space, in that its perceived poor quality has garnered a cult following. Parts of the movie were filmed in Dallas. In particular, the Southland Life building is visible as the Martians drive among the humans. The film was directed by Larry Buchanan and produced by his company, Azalea Pictures.

The film was referenced by Frank Zappa on his album Zappa in New York (1977), which contains a song titled "Manx Needs Women", a pun on the inhabitants of the Isle of Man. Zappa was a fan of cheap monster and science fiction B-movies and he liked to reference these type of films in his music.

Audio clips from the film are used in the songs "Runnin' from the CIA" by Sloppy Seconds, "Pump Up the Volume" by M/A/R/R/S and "Mars" by Fake Blood.

The film was also referenced by the computer game Marathon on the network level Mars Needs Women. It is also the title of an early Meat Beat Manifesto song from the album Armed Audio Warfare and the B-side on "God O.D.".

The Dutch-Belgian rock singer Novastar wrote a song called "Mars Needs Women" on his album Almost Bangor (2008).

References

1. ^ Quarles, Mike (2001). Down and dirty: Hollywood's exploitation filmakers and their movies. McFarland. pp. 1354–135. ISBN 0786411422. 
2. ^ Roberts, Anna; Kłosowska, Anna (1998). Violence against women in medieval texts. University Press of Florida. p. 56. ISBN 0813015669. 

External links

• Mars Needs Women at Allmovie
• Mars Needs Women at the Internet Movie Database

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