A group of humanoid aliens travel to Earth after intercepting broadcast transmissions from radio and television establishing a base on the moon to observe humans. On one journey by the aliens to the surface, two alien children Robyn (Sydney Penny) and Tavy (Rosie Marcel) and a Trilat (three eyed creature with three appendages) stowaway on board and wind up on land near Aladdin, Wyoming in the hopes of proving to their people they can live among the humans. They encounter Robert "Dirt" McAlpin (Ricky Paull Goldin) while he checks for gaps in the fencing along his family's land and after learning they're aliens helps them by taking them to his Grandpa (Keenan Wynn) to ensure their safety as their Uncle Aric (Dennis Holahan) looks for them before their discovered.
Hyper Sapien: People From Another Star is a 1986 Science Fiction family film that like many similar films of the time was an attempt to capitalize on the success and popularity of E. T.. The film was initially announced as a project for director Michael Wadleigh who also wrote the script, but following his departure (with conflicting reports saying he was either asked to leave or he quick after frustration with the animatronics), Peter R. Hunt took over with Wadleigh replacing his writing and story credit with "Christopher Blue". The distribution was initially acquired by Tri-Star Pictures with the intention of giving it a July 1996 release, but Tri-Star later decided to release it in December of that year and gave it a limited theatrical run with most of its exposure seemingly having been through cable when it aired on outlets such as The Disney Channel. If I had to guess, Tri-Star also released the similarly E. T. inspired Short Circuit that year and they probably decided that would be the better bet in comparison to Hyper Sapien and you certainly couldn't fault them for thinking that because of all the E. T. knock-offs and clones of the 80s....this sure is one of them I guess.
While I say this is an E. T. clone, that's really only part of it because with the two humanoid aliens who come with the Trilat, it's also a little bit like Escape to Witch Mountain (only with no sense of urgency). For the first 70 minutes of the movie there's no real conflict and our characters mostly amble around the Canadian landscapes doubling for Wyoming engaging basically spinning their wheels until the movie rushes through a conflict in the last 20 minutes because rather than creating character or investment it's more focused on filling just enough time to go to "feature length". The aliens aren't particularly interesting or special with their gimmick of understanding humanity through TV broadcast something that was done much better in Explorers and while the Trilat Kirbi is somewhat unique in design with his three eyes and three limbs, he's not really all that interesting and does little aside from his appearance at distinguishing himself from other E. T. clones. The one element that I can say is genuinely good is Arthur B. Rubinstein's score for the film which has that sweeping feeling of whimsy many Spielberg inspired films strive for and to the film's credit the score does bring some life to that flat, conventional TV movie like approach of the film.
Hyper Sapien is a movie that feels like it was designed in the same manner as an architecture project or a utility system, it has a purpose that it needs to do and if it does it: it's a success. It's the kind of movie that challenges you to remember anything about it because it's such a banal and soulless product you can't even have much emotional response to it. At least with their worst E. T. knock-offs like the "so bad it's good" stupidity of Mac and Me or the grating annoyance of Nukie leave impressions on you, Hyper Sapien doesn't.
Hyper Sapien: People From Another Star is a 1986 Science Fiction family film that like many similar films of the time was an attempt to capitalize on the success and popularity of E. T.. The film was initially announced as a project for director Michael Wadleigh who also wrote the script, but following his departure (with conflicting reports saying he was either asked to leave or he quick after frustration with the animatronics), Peter R. Hunt took over with Wadleigh replacing his writing and story credit with "Christopher Blue". The distribution was initially acquired by Tri-Star Pictures with the intention of giving it a July 1996 release, but Tri-Star later decided to release it in December of that year and gave it a limited theatrical run with most of its exposure seemingly having been through cable when it aired on outlets such as The Disney Channel. If I had to guess, Tri-Star also released the similarly E. T. inspired Short Circuit that year and they probably decided that would be the better bet in comparison to Hyper Sapien and you certainly couldn't fault them for thinking that because of all the E. T. knock-offs and clones of the 80s....this sure is one of them I guess.
While I say this is an E. T. clone, that's really only part of it because with the two humanoid aliens who come with the Trilat, it's also a little bit like Escape to Witch Mountain (only with no sense of urgency). For the first 70 minutes of the movie there's no real conflict and our characters mostly amble around the Canadian landscapes doubling for Wyoming engaging basically spinning their wheels until the movie rushes through a conflict in the last 20 minutes because rather than creating character or investment it's more focused on filling just enough time to go to "feature length". The aliens aren't particularly interesting or special with their gimmick of understanding humanity through TV broadcast something that was done much better in Explorers and while the Trilat Kirbi is somewhat unique in design with his three eyes and three limbs, he's not really all that interesting and does little aside from his appearance at distinguishing himself from other E. T. clones. The one element that I can say is genuinely good is Arthur B. Rubinstein's score for the film which has that sweeping feeling of whimsy many Spielberg inspired films strive for and to the film's credit the score does bring some life to that flat, conventional TV movie like approach of the film.
Hyper Sapien is a movie that feels like it was designed in the same manner as an architecture project or a utility system, it has a purpose that it needs to do and if it does it: it's a success. It's the kind of movie that challenges you to remember anything about it because it's such a banal and soulless product you can't even have much emotional response to it. At least with their worst E. T. knock-offs like the "so bad it's good" stupidity of Mac and Me or the grating annoyance of Nukie leave impressions on you, Hyper Sapien doesn't.