In 1989 a young independent film maker named Philip Cook shot his first feature film.  Originally produced under the title Pentan the name of the movie was changed to the more dynamic sounding Beyond the Rising Moon after completion but still didn't get wide distribution.  In 1995 the movie was first widely seen when it played on the Sci-Fi channel under the moniker Space Quest:  Beyond the Rising Moon.  Cook was never totally happy with the final product however and recently revisitied the film.  He redid the special effects, filmed some extras in front of a green screen to add into the film, and then re-edited the whole thing.  The result was fairly different from the original so in order to avoid confusion the name was changed once again, this time to Outerworld.  The feature has now made its way to DVD and though the movie does have its flaws, there are enough interesting aspect to make it worth screening.

Pentan (Tracy Davis) is a genetically engineered construct created by a ruthless mega-corporation to be both an assassin and a thief.  Originally designed to have no emotions, some were added to ensure that she would be able to pass as human and that has caused a problem.  After years of killing, Pentan has developed a conscience wants to stop harming people but her owners are none too keen to let their star covert operator retire.

For her next assignment Pentan is told to kill two couriers and steal the data they are carrying; the location of a crashed alien space ship, the second ever discovered.  The technology on the ship is worth several fortunes, and Pentan decides to double cross her employers and lay claim to the ship herself.  In order to do this however she need to hire a ship to take her to the wreck.

Luckily she runs into a man named Brickman (Hans Bachmann) who owns a space ship but is deeply in debt to the local thugs.  (Hmm, where have I heard that before?)  She convinces the Han Solo wanna-be to take her into space, and the pair start across the galaxy with the corporation thugs close on their tails.

Watching this film it is easy to tell that Philip Cook threw his heart and soul into the production.  Though it is a micro budgeted film (I believe he says in the making-of featurette that it cost $115,000 to make) the film looks better than many movies with much larger budgets.  Brickman's space ship looks like a real spaceship rather than a dressed up warehouse set, and the costumes for the space pilots and storm troopers were impressive for an independent film.  These all took a long time to fabricate and this attention to detail is one of the movie's biggest assets.  The fact that Cook went back and upgraded the special effects over fifteen years later also shows that this was a project close to his heart.  The added computer graphics look good and generally work very well.  Sometimes the CGI doesn't mesh as well as it should with the older footage but the places where it works well, such as the spaceship exploding at the end, make up for the few times it doesn't.  It is easy to see that Cook really tried hard on this film.

That's why I was disappointed that I didn't like it more than I did.  I would have loved to say that this was an overlooked gem, but I really can't.  To start off with, the script isn't that exciting.  With the ending and all major plot points easy to see in advance, there aren't any surprises in the film.  The only thing that is unexpected are that some of the scenes donut make much sense.  When section where Pentan turns on her employers is a good example.  Instead of just taking the data and running, something any other highly intelligent genetically engineered construct would do, Pentan shows up at the designated drop off point.  She just doesn't give the data to her contact signaling effectively telling them to start chasing her.  Of course they have a fail safe, a small bomb implanted in her brain.  The contact presses the button that sets off the bomb, but it takes three days to work.  WHY?? What an idiotic way to control someone.

In addition to this, the acting is very wooden and stilted.  Tracy Davis, who had reoccurring role on a soap opera previous to this movie, isn't really convincing as a lethal killing machine.  She tries to portray someone with no emotions, but she just comes across looking bored most of the time.  Hans Bachmann does little better as Brickman.  He looks lost most of the time and never really feels like a spaceship pilot who is supposed be living by his wits.

The dialog wasn't very convincing either and is a bit awkward at times.  "Do you trust me?" Brinkman asks Pentan at one point.  "Look at my hand." She replies.  "Look at it!  I've killed with that hand."  Because of the acting and weak dialog, it is very hard to relate to the main characters, something that I was never able to do.

On the positive side though, Philip Cook did do a good job directing, even if he wasn't able to get great performances out of his leads.  He knows how to set up a shot and this film looks much smoother than many of the independent slasher movies that were made in the late 80's.  This film shows that Cook has talent and it is a shame that he wasn't able to parlay this into a bigger budget feature.

Video:

The full frame image (preserving the movie's original aspect ratio) is pretty soft and grainy.  There are a few spots on the print also, but these are relatively rare.  These defects don't significantly mar the viewing experience however.  They just give the film a made-on-a-shoestring feel which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Audio:

The mono soundtrack comes across a bit better than the video.  It looks like the entire film was dubbed in post production.  Sometimes the lip movements don't match with the dialog perfectly, but this is only noticeable if you're looking for it.  The soundtrack is pretty clean, something that I wasn't expecting given the way the image looks, with no significant hiss or background noise.  While the movie would have been helped by a 5.1 audio track, especially during the space battle at the end, the mono track was adequate.

Extras:

This disc is really packed with extras.  The most impressive offering is the original version of the movie entitled Space Quest:  Beyond the Rising Moon.  This version doesn't have the improved special effects (you can see the wires on the model space ships and some of the matte effects are pretty crude) but offers some altered and extended scenes including a good sequence where Pentan talks Brickman into claiming the ship for her since she legally doesn't exist.  This edit has a different flavor from the feature presentation on this DVD and fans of the film will enjoy seeing how it has changed.

There's also a thirteen minute making-of featurette that mixes behind the scenes footage with new interviews with the cast and crew.  The notable exception is Tracy Davis who doesn't take part in the featurette.

The deleted scene reel lasts over eight minutes, and the amusing blooper reel is just a tad over three.  The disc is rounded out with a trailer for the film as well as galleries for conceptual art, behind the scenes stills and production stills.  Overall a very nice set of bonus features.

Final Thoughts:

This movie isn't horrible; it just isn't as engaging as it should be.  While Phillip Cook shows himself to be a competent director, the writing and acting left a little to be desired.  Though the movie is a little dated, this disc would make a good rental especially for fans of low budget SF flicks.