"Final Days of Planet Earth"--Or, Just Watch to See Darryl Hannah as a Giant Ant!

Looking for a good B-movie sci-fi thrill? Well, "Final Days of Planet Earth," billed by the Hallmark channel as an apocalyptic three-hour movie "event," premieres this Saturday, October 14th. And of course, when I say good, what I really mean is "Gilmore Girls" movie good: so ridiculous you can't stop watching, great for laughs at the super-seriousness of a plot so silly it's worth settling in for the night with lots of take-out, junk food, and a readiness to "oooh" and "aaah" that the likes of the respectable Campbell Scott and Daryl Hannah agreed to star in it! Oh, what some celebs will do for a turn on any screen.

Former astronaut William Phillips (Campbell Scott) worries something big is up when people begin mysteriously disappearing from his city. But worse still was that strange disappearance of his entire crew from space several years before. And he's right to be concerned: The apocalypse is nigh, and it's arriving in the form of a giant ant-like creature--the alien "Queen"--that's taken over his former astronaut colleague Liz Quinlan's (Darryl Hannah) body. (I suppose it's fitting that the actress who made her name as a mermaid would take on other roles involving non-human-creatures.)

Rather than a "Left Behind"-style Christian apocalypse, "Final Days of Planet Earth" is strictly sci-fi in its end-of-the-world sensibility. So if you have nothing else to do this weekend, ask yourself: What Would Rory and Lorelai do? Pick up that phone to the nearest Chinese takeout place, open that Halloween candy a little early, and hunker down for some ongoing commentary you won't be able to resist as with each hour, the movie gets even more ridiculous.