Movies - Being from Another Planet

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	Movies - Being from Another Planet

Being from Another Planet (originally released as Time Walker) is a 1982 B-movie. It was directed by Tom Kennedy and starred Ben Murphy, Nina Axelrod, Kevin Brophy, James Karen, Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Antoinette Bower, Sam Chew, and Shari Belafonte. It was featured in episode 405 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which first aired on July 4, 1992.

Plot

Professor Douglas McCadden (Ben Murphy), a California university professor exploring the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Tutankhamun, finds a mummy. Unbeknownst to McCadden, the "mummy" is an extra-terrestrial alien that was wrapped up and buried alive by the ancient Egyptians.

The body is brought back to the university, and McCadden has it examined by Dr. Ken Melrose (Austin Stoker) and X-rayed by student Peter Sharpe (Kevin Brophy) prior to a press conference about the discovery. While reviewing his X-rays of the body, Sharpe discovers that there are five diamond-like crystals situated near the "mummy's" head. Sharpe steals the crystals, makes another set of X-rays to cover his theft, and sells the crystals to students who are unaware of their origin. The second X-ray session, however, gives the body an excessive dose of radiation, which causes the alien to awaken from its state of suspended animation and arise from its sarcophagus.

At the press conference, the sarcophagus is opened to reveal that the "mummy" is gone. At first, almost everyone assumes that the disappearance is the result of a fraternity prank. However, Wendell J. Rossmore (James Karen), the president of the university, wants to blame McCadden for the "theft", so that he can give the directorship of McCadden's Egyptian expedition to Rossmore's flunkie Bruce Serrano (Sam Chew). Sharpe tries to blame McCadden's student Jack Parker (Robert Random) in order to shift suspicion from himself.

No one realizes that the "mummy" is busily tracking down the students who possess the stolen crystals. Because the crystals are actually crucial components of an intergalactic transportation device that will allow the alien to return to its home planet, the alien desperately wants them back.

Complicating matters, the alien is covered with a toxic fungus that causes human flesh to blacken and decay. After one of McCadden's students touches a patch of fungus on the sarcophagus and gets an infected finger, Melrose and his colleague Dr. Hayworth (Antoinette Bower) attempt to identify the fungus and impede its growth.

The alien reclaims its crystals in a violent manner, and, when a female student is brutally attacked in the presence of her boyfriend, Lt. Plummer (Darwin Joston) is called in to investigate the crime. As more students turn up dead or seriously injured, Plummer believes that he is on the trail of a serial killer, and he warns Rossmore and Serrano not to interfere with his investigation and not to cover up the incidents.

McCadden translates a hieroglyphic text, which reveals that Tutankhamun and his attendants, thinking that the alien was a god, touched it and were killed by its infectious fungus (thereby explaining why the alien was interred in the king's tomb). McCadden, having figured out that the "mummy" is an alien and having made the connection between the alien and the crystals, then traces the stolen crystals back to Sharpe, who admits to the theft and gives McCadden the fifth crystal.

In the film's denouement, McCadden, Parker, Rossmore, Serrano, a security guard, and the alien all wind up in the boiler room where the alien has set up its transportation device. Everyone arrives just as McCadden activates the device by placing the fifth crystal on it. The alien grabs the device, and its mummy wrappings disintegrate, revealing its true form. The security guard attempts to shoot the alien, but accidentally shoots McCadden in the shoulder instead. The alien takes McCadden's hand, and the two are apparently transported back to the alien's place of origin. A single crystal is left where the alien stood, and Serrano grabs it, only to have his hand blacken and burn.

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