Plan 10 from Outer Space | |
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Directed by | Trent Harris |
Written by | Trent Harris |
Produced by | Walter Hart |
Starring | |
Music by | Fred Myrow |
Distributed by | Leo Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Plan 10 from Outer Space is a 1994 low budget science fiction film starring Karen Black as Nehor and written and directed by Trent Harris. [1] The film is a surreal satire of Mormon theology. The film has no connection to Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957) other than its title and the fact that both films feature aliens.
This film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994 in the midnight madness category. It also received the jury prize at the Raindance Film Festival in London in 1994. [2] [ better source needed ]
Parts of the film were shot in Salt Lake City and the Great Salt Lake in Utah. [3]
In 1853, Norman Talmage (Curtis James), a mad and disreputable early Mormon prophet, buried a bronze plaque near the shore of the Great Salt Lake. A century later, a young non-practicing Mormon Lucinda Hall (Stefene Russell) is attempting to write a novel about things in her daily life (like her panty-obsessed brother), but is constantly distracted by her bearded oddball neighbour (Curtis James) who likes to dance semi-naked with his curtains open. She accidentally discovers the artifact, called Plaque of Kolob, and becomes obsessed with uncovering its meaning. Eventually, upon deciphering it, she is sucked into a strange world, learning that aliens in beehive-shaped spaceships led by Nehor (Karen Black), the operatic queen from Planet Kolob, are on their way to carry out a grudge against Joseph Smith, with the ultimate goal of world domination. Fortunately, she has help from other people who work together to save Earth.
The Deseret alphabet is a phonemic English-language spelling reform developed between 1847 and 1854 by the board of regents of the University of Deseret under the leadership of Brigham Young, the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. George D. Watt is reported to have been the most actively involved in the development of the script's novel characters, which were used to replace those of Isaac Pitman's English phonotypic alphabet. He was also the "New Alphabet's" first serious user. The script gets its name from the word deseret, a hapax legomenon in the Book of Mormon, which is said to mean "honeybee" in the only verse it is used in.
The angel Moroni is an angel whom Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, reported as having visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel Moroni was the guardian of the golden plates buried near his home in western New York, which Latter Day Saints believe were the source of the Book of Mormon. An important figure in the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, Moroni is featured prominently in its architecture and art. Besides Smith, the Three Witnesses and several other witnesses also reported that they saw Moroni in visions in 1829.
The Mountain Meadows Massacre was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher immigrant wagon train. The massacre occurred in the southern Utah Territory at Mountain Meadows, and was perpetrated by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints involved with the Utah Territorial Militia who recruited and were aided by some Southern Paiute Native Americans. The wagon train, made up mostly of families from Arkansas, was bound for California, traveling on the Old Spanish Trail that passed through the Territory.
Kolob is a star or planet described in the Book of Abraham, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Several Latter Day Saint denominations claim that the Book of Abraham was translated from an Egyptian papyrus scroll by Joseph Smith, the founder of the movement. According to this work, Kolob is the heavenly body nearest to the throne of God. While the Book of Abraham calls Kolob a "star", it also calls planets "stars", and therefore some Latter Day Saint commentators consider Kolob a planet. The body also appears in Latter Day Saint culture, including a reference to Kolob in an LDS hymn.
Zina Diantha Huntington Young was an American social activist and religious leader who served as the third general president of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1888 until her death. She practiced polyandry as the wife of Joseph Smith, and later Brigham Young, each of whom she married while she was still married to her first husband, Henry Jacobs. She is among the most well-documented healers in LDS Church history, at one point performing hundreds of washing, anointing, and sealing healing rituals every year. Young was also known for speaking in tongues and prophesying. She learned midwifery as a young girl and later made contributions to the healthcare industry in Utah Territory, including assisting in the organization of the Deseret Hospital and establishing a nursing school. Young was also involved in the women's suffrage movement, attending the National Woman Suffrage Association and serving as the vice president of the Utah chapter of the National Council of Women.
Trent Harris is an American filmmaker based in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2013, IndieWire proclaimed Harris "The Best Underground Filmmaker You Don’t Know — But Should."
Jane Elizabeth Manning James, fondly known as "Aunt Jane", was an early African-American member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and traveled to Utah as a pioneer. She lived with Joseph Smith and his family for a time in Nauvoo, Illinois. She traveled with her family to Utah, spending the winter of 1846–1847 at Winter Quarters, and was among the first of the pioneers to enter the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. As a black woman, Jane was not allowed to enter the temple during her lifetime and petitioned the First Presidency of the church multiple times to be endowed and sealed. As a result of her requests she was adopted as a servant into the family of Joseph Smith through a specially-created temple ceremony. She was posthumously endowed by proxy in the Salt Lake Temple in 1979.
Latter Day Saints and Mormons have been portrayed in popular media many times. These portrayals often emphasize controversial subjects from the history and beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other branches of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Nehor is the founder of an apostate sect mentioned in the Book of Mormon around 90 BC in the first year of the reign of the judges. He teaches the Nephites that priests and teachers should be supported by their followers, and that all will be saved in the end. Nehor is brought before Alma the Younger for killing Gideon, a Nephite elder who argued with him. Alma accuses him of priestcraft and sentences him to death for enforcing his beliefs with violence. When executed, Nehor admits to teaching against the word of God.
Alissandru Francesco "Alex" Caldiero is a poet,polyartist, sonosopher, and scholar of humanities and intermedia.
Margaret Blair Young is an American author, filmmaker, and writing instructor who taught for thirty years at Brigham Young University.
Dee Hartford was an American television actress. She was married to Howard Hawks from 1953 to 1959. Her younger sister was actress Eden Hartford; her former brother-in-law was comedian Groucho Marx.
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1957 American independent science fiction-horror film produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in black-and-white in November 1956 and had a preview screening on March 15, 1957, at the Carlton Theatre in Los Angeles under the title Grave Robbers from Outer Space. Retitled Plan 9 from Outer Space, it went into general release in July 1958 in Virginia, Texas and several other Southern states, before being sold to television in 1961.
Zion National Park is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals, and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. The lowest point in the park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km2) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone eroded by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The park attracted 5 million visitors in 2023.
Karen Mayne was an American politician who served as a member of the Utah Senate from the 5th District. She assumed office on January 2, 2008, succeeding her husband, Ed Mayne. She won re-election for the 12th senate district after redistricting. On January 4, 2023 Karen Mayne announced her plan to resign office due to unexpected changes in her health. Delegates of the Utah Democratic Party held a special election on January 15, 2023, electing Representative Karen Kwan to fill her seat.
Thomas C. Christensen is an American cinematographer, film director, and writer best known for his work on films related to the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration, Gordon B. Hinckley: A Giant Among Men, 17 Miracles, and Ephraim's Rescue. He has made films about the Martin and Willie handcart companies who traversed the plains toward the Salt Lake Valley in late 1856. Christensen is also a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Since Mormonism's foundation, Black people have been members; however, the church placed restrictions on proselytization efforts among Black people. Before 1978, Black membership was small. It has since grown, and in 1997, there were approximately 500,000 Black members of the church, mostly in Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean. Black membership has continued to grow substantially, especially in West Africa, where two temples have been built. By 2018, an estimated 6% of members were Black worldwide. In the United States, approximately 1% of members are Black.
Sterling Gray Van Wagenen is an American film and stage producer, writer, director, and convicted sex offender. He is a co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, and, in association with his former cousin-in-law Robert Redford, he was the founding executive director of the Sundance Institute.
Melissa Leilani Larson is an American writer and playwright based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mormon literature critic Michael Austin described her as "one of the true rising stars of Mormon literature." Producer Jeremy Long described her as the "best playwright in Utah." Her plays commonly feature women in leading roles, and some center around the faith of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Rita Wright is an American museum director and art historian. Since 2012, Wright has been the director of the Springville Museum of Art. Before joining the Springville Museum of Art she was Curator of Art and Artifacts at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, UT. She sits on the worldwide committee for art selection for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.