Review of Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) by Martin M — 18 Dec 2009

Hoping to cash in on the back of Star Wars in the early 80s, this is a blatant attempt to rip off George Lucas' sci-fi saga, with little success.

Peter Strauss is a down and out space bum who intercepts a call for help from 3 earth women and has to save them from the clutches of the evil Overdog, with the help of Molly Ringwald and Ernie Hudson. The story is loosely put together as Strauss and co encounter various cheap looking aliens on their quest to the Forbidden Zone. Strauss does a decent Han Solo impression and Molly Ringwald is at least fun as his sidekick.

There are various nods to Star Trek and Mad Max along the way too but there's no denying they're going for the grown up Star Wars crowd.

B-movie king Michael Ironside hams it up in a strangely small role as the baddie Overdog, a kind of cross between Jabba the Hutt, Darth Vader and one of those grabbing machines you find at fun fairs. As a bad guy though, he's not nearly as menacing as Darth Vader, helped in no small part by the fact he doesn't seem to have any legs.

Everything about Spacehunter screams cheapness. From it's opening titles to the fact that all the viechles are blatantly tractors with bits glued to them, it all just feels like you're watching a rather naff TV movie and that you'd be way better off re-watching Star wars for the hundredth time.