''The Day Time Ended'' is a 1980 American science fiction film directed by

John 'Bud' Cardos John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

and starring Jim Davis,

Christopher Mitchum Christopher Mitchum (born October 16, 1943) is an American film actor, screenwriter, and businessman. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the second son of film star Robert Mitchum and Dorothy Mitchum. He is the younger brother of actor Jam ...

and

Dorothy Malone Dorothy Malone (born Mary Dorothy Maloney; January 29, 1924 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role ...

. The film was originally titled ''Earth's Final Fury''; this was changed to ''Vortex'', which was considered more likely to sell tickets. The final title came for unknown reasons.

Plot

A small family relocates to the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Ariz ...

to be closer to the grandparents of the family. Though there are news reports of a spectacular triple supernova and the young granddaughter has seen a glowing alien construction behind the barn, the family is at ease until, one night, a

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

soars overhead and appears to land in the nearby hills. Apparently, the triple supernova has opened a rift in space and time. The family finds that their electrical appliances no longer function, and the youngest daughter of the family has a

telepathic Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

encounter with an extraterrestrial. The grandmother, too, sees one of these diminutive creatures beckoning to her, but it soon vanishes. The grandfather, while trying to start the car, sees that a strange animal is approaching from the distance. The grandfather goes back inside and informs the family that something is coming; before long, a variety of horrific, alien monsters (all of these creatures being of a reptilian or amphibious nature) are proceeding to slaughter each other outside the house; some are trying to break in and kill the family. After a few moments, the UFO appears again and teleports the creatures to a different place. The family take this opportunity to escape to the barn. The family become separated from one another and each hides until sunrise, where they find that they have been launched thousands of years into the future. They meet up with the daughter, who had become separated from the family during one of the time-warp events. She tells them that everything is going to be fine now. After walking across the desert, they finally see a

domed city A domed city is a hypothetical structure that encloses a large urban area under a single roof. In most descriptions, the dome is airtight and pressurized, creating a habitat that can be controlled for air temperature, composition and quality, ty ...

in the distance, and decide to seek refuge there. The grandfather proclaims that there must be a purpose to all of this. The family walks towards the city.

Cast

Production

The film was originally conceived by script writers Steve Neill, Paul Gentry, and Wayne Schmidt. The three offered a script for another project to producer

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

, who thought it was too expensive to make but offered to produce a science-fiction film if it was based in one or two locations. The music score was done by

Richard Band Richard Howard Band is an American composer of film music. He has scored more than 140 projects, including '' From Beyond'', which won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Sitges Film Festival. Lately he scored ''Exorcism at 60,000 Feet' ...

, Charles' brother. It was his first orchestral score, going to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to record with New London Symphony. 45 to 50 minutes of music was recorded during the six hour session. Months later, record label

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer r ...

contacted Band to make it a digital

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, resulting it becoming the first digital soundtrack, beating out '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' by two weeks.

Release

The movie was released on

video cassette A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recordin ...

in 1997 under Charles Bands' Full Moon Studios as part of their "Cult Video" collection.

Reception

In ''Creature Feature'', the movie received 2 out of 5 stars, finding the effects nice and the cast watchable, but the story slight. Bill Warren from '' Fantasy Newsletter'' criticized the film for having no story coherence, as well as speaking negative of the stop-motion animation for having the wrong "movement-to-frame ratio", making the final result look like it was shot underwater. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' gave it one star, calling it "derivative" and "overly ambitious" while giving specific criticism towards its special effects and stop-motion animations. Alan Jones for '' Radio Times'' also gave it one star, comparing the special effects to cardboard while calling the movie a "crudely assembled affair". In 1980, Marcy Lafferty was nominated for "Best Supporting Actress" at the

7th Saturn Awards The 7th Saturn Awards were awarded to media properties and personalities deemed by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films to be the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror released in the year 1980. They were awarded on Ju ...

, but lost to

Veronica Cartwright Veronica Cartwright (born April 20, 1949) is a British-American actress. She is known for appearing in science fiction and horror films, and has earned numerous accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. As a child actress, ...

for '' Alien''.

''Mystery Science Theater 3000''

The film is one of six movies featured in Season 12 of '' Mystery Science Theater 3000''.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Day Time Ended, The 1980 animated films 1980 films 1980 science fiction films American science fiction films 1980s English-language films Films using stop-motion animation Films directed by John Cardos Films scored by Richard Band Films with screenplays by David Schmoeller 1980s American films