06/13/2026
"They're not really bad, they're just stupid"
The late 80's were a-buzz with the 50th anniversary of Orson Welles' infamous Halloween 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds. It sparked a mini-Martian revival with a re-issue of the Topps Mars Attacks cards, a syndicated TV show (though it was mostly a legacy sequel to the '53 movie), and a couple of films were in the works to commemorate - er, cash-in on Mars mania... Martians Go Home ('89) and Martians!!! (or, as it would eventually be released: Spaced Invaders) in '90.
The movie's original reception was luke-warm at best, and Diznii quickly dumped it on Home Video where it was more-or-less forgotten for decades.
It's the sort of movie you'd see in the bargain bin with The Garbage Pail Kids or Howard the Duck. But with enough time spent on loitering on rental shelves and Cable, it's become something of a mini-Halloween cult classic that leans a bit closer to Ernest Scared Stupid than E.T., but still in a good way. -Pop
