[Susan Foreman]

Yes, it is supposed to be the 'worst film ever made', but that is only by people who take everything that was said by the Medved Brothers as gospel. Personally, looking past the dodgy acting, the continuity errors and the wobby sets, I seriously would challange that accusation.

Completed in 1957, the film is an anti-war movie, making many intelligent statements regarding nuclear weapons and the fact that the Planet Earth runs the risk of destroying itself. Although these issues were subtley addressed in other movies of the 50's, such as 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' and 'This Island Earth', 'Plan 9' was much more up front and blatant about things.

Consider one of the dialogue exchanges in the film:

"Colonel Tom Edwards: Why is it so important that you want to contact the governments of our earth?
Eros: Because of death. Because all you of Earth are idiots.
Jeff Trent: Now you just hold on, Buster.
Eros: No, you hold on. First was your firecracker, a harmless explosive. Then your hand grenade: you began to kill your own people, a few at a time. Then the bomb. Then a larger bomb: many people are killed at one time. Then your scientists stumbled upon the atom bomb, split the atom. Then the hydrogen bomb, where you actually explode the air itself. Now you can arrange the total destruction of the entire universe served by our sun: The only explosion left is the Solaranite."

or:

Colonel Tom Edwards: ...Why, a particle of sunlight can't even be seen or measured.
Eros: Can you see or measure an atom? Yet you can *explode* one. A ray of sunlight is made up of *many* atoms!
Jeff Trent: So what if we *do* develop this Solanite bomb? We'd be even a stronger nation than now.
Eros: [with disgust] Stronger. You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!

Now, put that kind of rational with what we are seeing in parts of the world nowadays. A better bomb makes a nation a more powerful place. Edward D. Wood was 50 years ahead of his time.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing gets overlooked because of the fact that Bela Lugosi died and was replaced by a chiropractor, or because zombiefied Tor Johnson emerges from a grave which is only about 6 inches deep...and then he knocks over his headstone!

The kind of people who are extremely happy and gleeful to point out the mistakes in 'Plan 9' are the kind of people who get extremely defensive when anyone points out the mistakes in 'Star Wars'