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The Cat from Outer Space

The Cat from Outer Space

Comedy · Family · Science Fiction · 1978

A UFO is stranded on earth and impounded by the US government. Its pilot, a cat with a collar that gives it special powers, including the ability to communicate with humans, has eluded the authorities and seeks the help of a scientist in order to reclaim and repair his ship and get back home.

Movie details

The Cat from Outer Space

“A close encounter of the 'furred' kind!”

1978 Comedy · Family · Science Fiction 1h 44m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.0 / 10

6.3K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

67 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

58 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A UFO is stranded on earth and impounded by the US government. Its pilot, a cat with a collar that gives it special powers, including the ability to communicate with humans, has eluded the authorities and seeks the help of a scientist in order to reclaim and repair his ship and get back home.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Cat from Outer Space?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Norman Tokar

Written by

Ted Key

Ken Berry

Ken Berry

Frank

Sandy Duncan

Sandy Duncan

Liz

Harry Morgan

Harry Morgan

General Stilton

Roddy McDowall

Roddy McDowall

Mr. Stallwood

McLean Stevenson

McLean Stevenson

Link

Jesse White

Jesse White

Earnest Ernie

Alan Young

Alan Young

Dr. Wenger

Court is in session

Put The Cat from Outer Space on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Big-Idea Head

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.