Pinocchio in Outer Space was a 1965 Belgian film directed by Ray Goossens and animated at the Belvision studio.
Pinocchio, who has lapsed back into his old ways and was changed back into a puppet as punishment by the Blue Fairy, must become a real boy again.
Pinocchio decides the only way to do so is to stop Astro the Space Whale, who is smashing up satellites in the cosmos and is practically unstoppable. After singing a musical number and meeting the Fox and the Cat - who have become beatniks of all things - Pinocchio meets Nurtle the Twurtle, an alien secret agent, and together they team up to stop the whale.
The film only had 2 animators and was produced by Fred Ladd, better known for being one of the pioneers of bringing anime to the USA.
Pinocchio in Outer Space contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Time Period: While the buildings in Pinocchio's village resemble pre-20th century architecture, there's also the presence of television, space travel and a 1960s style Beatnik.
- Beatnik: The Cat is depicted as one complete with beret, dark glasses and goatee.
- Catchphrase: Appropriately for a science fiction character, whenever Nurtle gets excited or scared, he shouts the phrase "Ursa Minor!" (the proper name of the constellation the Little Dipper).
- Giant Enemy Crab: Tons of them on Mars.
- Giant Spider: Among the creatures inhabiting the caves under the Martian city are spiders the size of a large building.
- Insistent Terminology: Nurtle is a Twurtle, not a filthy Earth turtle!
- Jump Scare: While Pinocchio and Nurtle are exploring underground on Mars, Nurtle thinks he sees something moving in the shadows but can't make it out. He approaches to see what it is and a gigantic scorpion leaps out at him, terrifying both of them.
- Lost in Imitation: While this is meant to be a follow-up of sorts to the original book and it establishes Pinocchio turning back into a puppet as punishment for resuming his Bratty Half-Pint tendencies, the movie takes a lot of cues from the Disney movie, what with Pinocchio's design looking a lot like Disney's with hair dyed blonde and Peter Lazer's performance sounding similar to Dickie Jones' in places, the Blue Fairy having blonde hair and a Magic Wand and the Fox and the Cat looking healthy as if they were Karma Houdinis like Honest John and Gideon (unless they underwent an Unexplained Recovery from getting the handicaps they pretended to have through Laser-Guided Karma), and Pinocchio being mourned by his family and friends as his body is put in a bed before the Fairy resurrects him and turns him back into a real boy.
- My Car Hates Me: An IN SPACE! version. Pinocchio and Nurtle are trying to take off in Nurtle's rocket ship to escape from a trio of approaching Giant Enemy Crabs. As the crabs close in, Nurtle frantically pushes every button on the ship's control panel to achieve take-off, but fails. Finally, as the crabs are about to attack, the rockets finally work and the ship lifts off in the nick of time.
- Put Their Heads Together: A montage at the beginning shows Pinocchio changing from a good boy to a bad boy. In one scene he is nobly holding two angry boys apart. A moment later, he slams the boys' heads together.
- Recycled with a Gimmick: A loose re-telling of the 1940 Disney film version of Pinocchio, but with most of it happening in space.
- Scary Scorpions: While exploring below the surface of Mars, Pinocchio and Nurtle are chased by a gigantic scorpion.
- Sequel Hook: Just as the Fairy Godmother is glad that they'll have some peace and quiet with Pinocchio being human and out of mischief, another rocket ship whizzes past towards the Earth and the Blue Fairy rebuts that it won't be for long, before the narrator finishes the movie saying: "For Pinocchio, this is not the end..."
- Space Whale: Astro (replacing Monstro).
- Spinning Paper: After Pinocchio and Nurtle hypnotize Astro the Space Whale, an astronomer sees them guiding Astro back to Earth. A spinning paper appears with the headline "Astro captured". Two additional spinning papers appear, with headlines in Russian and what might be Japanese.
- That's No Moon: After leaving the planet Mars, Pinocchio and Nurtle see what appears to be an asteroid trailing a cloud of smoke. As they approach, the "asteroid" uncurls and reveals itself to be Astro, the gigantic Space Whale, and he's really annoyed at being woken up.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Pinocchio and Nurtle discover that the ancient Martians used radioactive food to cause animals to mutate into giants and that Astro the Space Whale destroyed the Martian city. Pinocchio comes up with the hypothesis that after the Martians mutated Astro into his huge form, he became angry at being held captive and turned on them, wiping them out.
- Upper-Class Wit: The Fox seems to have this.
