Without restoration Futureworld looks dated on DVD

Michael Crichton's low-budget sci-fi movie Westworld, in which robotic servants go berserk in the idyllic future holiday resort Delos, has a richly deserved cult status. The same can’t really be said for Futureworld, the almost forgotten sequel which was released three years later in 1976.

Directed by Richard Heffron and made up partly from concepts excised from the original script for Westworld, Futureworld sees two investigative journalists, played by Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner, visiting the new Delos, a futuristic resort in which robots, holograms and space simulators all play a part in the entertainment. Yul Brynner reprises his Westworld role as the gunslinger, in a largely redundant cameo.

Although it has some light-hearted moments, largely courtesy of a sympathetic engineer played by Stuart Margolin and his robot side-kick, Futureworld largely fails as a thriller due to a predictable plot about replacing politicians with robots, some unconvincing effects, a wooden performance from Fonda, and Danner (mother of Gwyneth Paltrow, of course) being altogether too mumsy to portray a sexy heroine. Still, for sci-fi completists, it's just about worth seeing. Trivia fact; much of the shooting was done at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

This DVD release couldn't be more basic; even the chapter menus are pretty plain. Still, the sleeve artwork is nicer than that of the R1 release of a few years ago. Unfortunately there's been no effort to restore the movie - the picture is fairly grainy and spotty, though colour and contrast stand up fairly well, and sound is a clear if uninvolving PCM stereo. As for extras, you're asking for the stars...

Optimum Classic, R2 DVD, £15.99, on sale February 16th
HCC VERDICT: 2/5