Galaxina
Galaxina | |
---|---|
Directed by | William Sachs |
Written by | William Sachs |
Produced by | Marilyn Jacobs Tenser |
Starring | Stephen Macht Avery Schreiber James David Hinton Dorothy Stratten Lionel Mark Smith |
Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
Edited by | George Berndt George Bowers |
Distributed by | Crown International Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $4 million[2] |
Galaxina is a 1980 American science fantasy-comedy film written and directed by William Sachs. Shot on a low budget, the film stars 1980 Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her husband shortly after the film's release.[3][4]
Besides its homages to and parodies of science fiction mainstays
A film viewed by the characters in Galaxina is a clip from the 1960
Plot
In 3008, the crew of the Intergalactic Space Police cruiser Infinity is on patrol duty in deep space. The ship is captained by the incompetent Cornelius Butt (Avery Schreiber) and his crewmen: his first officer, Sgt. Thor (Stephen Macht); pilot "space-cowboy" Pvt. Robert "Buzz" McHenry (J.D. Hinton); Maurice (Lionel Mark Smith), a black humanoid alien with pointy ears and bat wings; and Sam (Tad Horino), an Asian man who quotes Confucius. Also aboard is Galaxina (Dorothy Stratten), a voluptuous blonde android servant, and Rock-Eater, a rock-eating alien prisoner confined to the brig.
While the Infinity hides behind an
Later, the crew receive orders to proceed to the prison planet Altair One to recover a priceless stolen gemstone called the Blue Star; every time the stone is mentioned, an invisible heavenly chorus is heard by the characters. The trip will take the Infinity 27 years to complete, requiring that the crew enter cryogenic sleep. Before doing so, they make a quick stop at an asteroid brothel.
Galaxina remains in charge of the ship while the crew is in stasis. While alone, she reprograms herself to become more human. She learns to talk and disables her electrical defense mechanism. She visits Thor's sleep chamber periodically, embracing it and telling the sleeping Thor that she loves him. Later, the baby alien visits Butt's chamber and tampers with the controls. When the crew awakens at their destination, Butt emerges from his pod an old man with shaggy gray hair.
Thor is seduced by Galaxina and he falls in love with her. Although she lacks the proper hardware to have sex, she assures Thor that these components can be ordered from the android catalog. Thor can only fantasize about Galaxina until they return home and get her modifications.
The ship reaches Altair One and lands. Knowing that the local aliens are hostile to humans, Galaxina volunteers to go look for the Blue Star while the others stay on the ship. She walks into town and enters a "human restaurant," and discovers that this means the restaurant serves humans as food to alien creatures. There, she finds Ordric, the masked figure the crew encountered earlier. Ordric possesses the Blue Star and Galaxina attacks him. Galaxina discovers Ordric is a robot when she smashes his head open. Ordric is deactivated and Galaxina takes the Star.
As she flees the town, she is captured by a
Thor and Buzz, who have been looking for Galaxina, rescue her from the bikers and return to the ship. Ordric attacks and boards the Infinity as soon as they reach space. He takes back the Blue Star and confines everyone in the brig. The baby alien, now fully grown, sneaks onto the bridge and attacks Ordric. The creature, believing Butt to be its mother, goes to the brig and gives Butt the keys to the cell door.
The crew escapes the brig and rushes the bridge, finding that Ordric has been torn to pieces. While contemplating the reward they will receive for returning the Blue Star, they notice that Rock-Eater has eaten it.
Cast
- Stephen Macht as Sgt. Thor
- Avery Schreiber as Captain Cornelius Butt
- James David Hinton as Buzz
- Dorothy Stratten as Galaxina
- Lionel Mark Smith as Maurice
- Tad Horino as Sam Wo
- Ronald J. Knight as Ordric
- Percy Rodriguesas Ordric's voice
- Herb Kaplowitz as Rock Eater / Kitty / Ugly Alien Woman
- Nancy McCauley as Elexia
- Fred D. Scott as Commander Garrity
- George Matheras Horn Man
- Susan Kiger as Blue Girl
- Rhonda Shear as Mime / Robot
Production
Originally, the film was supposed to be shot in 20 days. Due to unforeseen bad weather, some sets could not be used and so the production lost a few days of filming. As a result, the producers demanded that scenes be cut to keep the shoot on schedule. Because these scenes are missing from the final film, director William Sachs calls the final cut "too slow paced", as he would have edited it in a faster style had he been able to include the scenes that were never filmed.[8]
References
- ^ "You searched for Robert%20Tanenbaum".
- ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
- ^ Brennan, Sandra (2009). "Galaxina (1980)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
- ISBN 0-7876-0615-4.
- Internet Movie Database
- ^ IMDB. "List of Crown International Pictures Productions (number 40)". IMDb..
- ^ Wollett, Steve (March 31, 2015). "Nerd Rage News: Interview with William Sachs". Archived from the original on May 31, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016..
External links
- Galaxina at IMDb
- Galaxina at the TCM Movie Database
- Galaxina at AllMovie
- Galaxina at Rotten Tomatoes
- Movie Trailer for TV