THE TIME GUARDIAN
The TIME GUARDIAN, Australia's first attempt at high-technology science fiction, is one of those unfortunate formula films betrayed by a serious misunderstanding of the genre. It follows the typical 'adventure film' graph : a battle in the first five minutes, a handsome hero who meets a beautiful girl, wretched villains and a fight for survival against time. But it neglects the more fundamental concerns of a plausible plot, character-defining dialogue, convincing acting and coherent direction.
The opening voice-over and titles tells us that, in the aftermath of global nuclear destruction in the 24th Century, one city survives by learning to travel through time. It is pursued by the villainous Jen-Diki, a race of cyborgs (part human, part machine) who, having no home of their own, are bent upon ransacking the City.
In the penultimate battle, Ballard (Tom Burlinson), the macho hero, is forced to blow up one of the City's legs (it has four). It cannot land in the next era, so Ballard and Petra (Carrie Fisher) are sent as the advance guard to build a mound of rocks for the City to land on. They are beamed into a pond near an outback town called Midas where they are immediately befriended by Aboriginal men doing a corroboree, then attacked by the Jen-Diki, who have followed them. Somehow they destroy the Jen-Diki time-travel device.
Petra is wounded in the battle but Ballard finds female companionship with a beautiful geologist, Annie (Nikki Coghill). Ballard and Annie then escape to where the City has landed. But despite having surrendered their time-travel device, Jen-Diki appear from every nook and cranny, besieging the City in the final showdown.