''The Prodigal Planet'' is a 1983 American

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

produced, directed and co-written by Donald W. Thompson. It is the fourth and final installment in the ''Thief in the Night'' series, based on an evangelical interpretation of

Bible prophecy Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy comprises the passages of the Bible that are claimed to reflect communications from God to humans through prophets. Jews and Christians usually consider the biblical prophets to have received revelations fr ...

and the rise of the

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, Antichrist (or in broader eschatology, Anti-Messiah) refers to a kind of entity prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ and falsely substitute themselves as a savior in Christ's place before ...

. Unlike the previous three films in the series filmed entirely in

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, ''The Prodigal Planet'' included filming locations in Omaha, Colorado, and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Plot

During the final years of the Antichrist's reign, a

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conven ...

has devastated the earth. The Antichrist and his

world government World government is the concept of a single political authority governing all of Earth and humanity. It is conceived in a variety of forms, from tyrannical to democratic, which reflects its wide array of proponents and detractors. There has ...

find their grip on power slowly slipping away as

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

's return draws near. One of the lead characters from the previous film, David Michaels (played by William Wellman Jr.), is now part of a growing underground movement of

believers trying to stay out of the government's hands and thus escape execution. The government is using underground agents to infiltrate this movement. David's mission is to take an RV across a nuclear-devastated landscape to

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, where he will meet with other underground believers to await Jesus Christ's final return. The earth by this time is populated by doomsday people,

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...

s as a result of the nuclear exchanges. After rescuing one of them, Jimmy, David leads him to Jesus Christ. Jimmy later bravely dies to save the others from Jerry, and leaves Jerry their temporary captive. Connie Wright (played by Terri Lynn Hall) is a government agent pretending to be a Christian. She rescues David from his internment at UNITE, then tries to get David to reveal the believers' secret hideout. Along the way, they rescue Linda and her daughter, Jody. Linda is a scientific researcher, brilliant, but terrified. Jody is a spoiled brat who, after being told off by Jimmy, begins to change. She even starts to slowly accept David's preaching. The same cannot be said of Linda, who is too rational a scientist to accept David's faith. But Linda is actually evidence of divine providence, because her scientific specialty is radiation. So as they travel through the war-ravaged nation, Linda's knowledge keeps them alive and provides crucial guidance. She feels guilty, though, because she was part of the team that helped create the mutant doomsday people. David suspects Linda of being a spy, since it seems that government agents always know where they are. But Linda is the only trustworthy one: Jody is discovered to have been transmitting their position inadvertently, and Connie did so deliberately. Connie is later picked up by a senior UNITE officer (dubbed "General Goon" by David in ''Image of the Beast''). They are soon killed as their van goes out of control and runs into a train. At the end of the movie, Jody accepts Jesus Christ as her Savior, while Linda still thinks about the matter, or at least she does not yet openly receive Jesus Christ on camera. The movie ends with a badly wounded and sobbing Jerry is shown in the ruins of the UNITE military base. Feeling defeated and regret for all he's done, he rips off his UNITE armband before he is killed when the base is then destroyed by explosions.

Cast

* William Wellman Jr. as David Michaels *Lynda Beatie as Linda *Terri Lynn Hall as Connie Wright *Thom Rachford as Jerry Bradford *Robert Chestnut as Jimmy *Cathy Wellman as Jodi *

Russell S. Doughten Jr. Russell S. Doughten Jr. (February 16, 1927 – August 19, 2013) was an American filmmaker and producer of numerous short and feature-length films. His film work is credited under numerous variations of his name: with or without the "Jr." suffix ...

as Rev. Matthew Turner

Production

Filming

Unlike the previous three films in the series that were filmed entirely in

, this one included filming locations in Omaha, Colorado, and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prodigal Planet 1983 films 1983 science fiction films American sequel films Christian apocalyptic films Films about evangelicalism Films based on the New Testament Films produced by Russell S. Doughten Films shot in New Mexico 1980s English-language films Films directed by Donald W. Thompson English-language science fiction films