Cyborg 2087 (1966)

Starring Michael Rennie, Karen Steele, Wendell Corey, Warren Stevens, Eduard Franz
Directed by Franklin Adreon
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A cyborg is sent back in time to prevent a kindly scientist from revealing his method of radio-telepathy to the military, as in his time it has transformed the government into an oppressive regime.

Almost 20 years prior to The Terminator, we have Rennie as a cyborg with a not too dissimilar mission, although his aims are far more benevolent and he doesn't carry a lethal weapon.  Give screenwriter Arthur C. Pierce credit for coming up with the premise, and I wouldn't put his screenplay up against that later film's, although this one's a lot more in my wheelhouse.  As a low-budget offering from United Pictures, it may not be a great film, but I enjoyed it immensely, and there's a cast full of genre veterans, including The Day The Earth Stood Still's Rennie, Steele, who played Eve McHuron in Star Trek's famous "Mudd's Women" episode, Forbidden Planet's Warren Stevens, and Eduard Franz from The Four Skulls Of Jonathan Drake.  The special effects are sparse and unimpressive, but Rennie fits the bill as the emotionless future man who may have feelings after all.  I loved the fact that the film climaxes with a knock-down drag out fight between two cyborgs, in the style of a serial fistfight, which director Adreon had some experience with.  There were also a number of scenes that made me laugh, from the crazy dancing of Stevens' daughter and her friends, to an evil counterpart of Rennie's getting Steele to scream not by torturing her but by hanging her in midair by her knuckles and pushing her so she swings.  Composer Paul Dunlap also comes up with slightly goofy chase music for the cyborgs on Rennie's trail which adds to the fun.

The Astro-Zombies (1968)

Starring Wendell Corey, John Carradine, Tom Pace, Joan Patrick, Tura Satana
Directed by Ted V. Mikels
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A government project to create synthetic men to be sent into space is compromised when one of the project's doctors uses a criminal brain in one of the "astro-zombies."

Despite the presence of capable actors Wendell Corey and John Carradine, this is a Z-grade effort with weird touches of humor, including the opening and closing credits playing over unrelated footage of wind-up toy robots.  The screenplay awkwardly mixes three different sets of characters, each of whom have scenes having nothing to do with the plot, causing the film's focus and direction to meander all over the place.  It's not unwatchable, but not by much.

Women Of The Prehistoric Planet (1966)

Starring Wendell Corey, Keith Larsen, John Agar, Paul Gilbert, Merry Anders
Directed by Arthur C. Pierce
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A spaceship crashes on a primitive world when its alien passengers revolt against the human crew, but the planet's rotation will age the survivors 18 years before they can be rescued.

This film was released on a double bill with The Navy Vs. The Night Monsters, and like that picture, offers a low-budget sci-fi adventure, but this one fares a little better, benefitting from some interesting ideas in the script and direction from Arthur C. Pierce.  The aliens are played by Asian actors and actresses, differing from the rest of the Caucasian cast, and reinforcing the themes of integration, culture clash, and bigotry in the film.  Also, the screenplay introduces the concept that space travel at light speed could retard the aging that would take place on other worlds in a fresh and interesting take.  Attempts at humor fare less well, with Gilbert's wisecracking engineer offering many jokes that aren't that funny.  Nevertheless, it's a fun film which also offers a sweet love story for the Asian leads, a real rarity in films of this era.