Film Review: Galaxina (1980)

SYNOPSIS:

Crew of interstellar police ship is sent to recover a mysterious crystal, the blue star. Sub Plots: The ships female android and a crew member fall in love. Alien is spoofed as as the captain gives birth to an alien who grows up on the ship thinking the captain is its mother.

REVIEW:

Science fiction ran the gamut in the 80’s from extremely inventive to just plain bizarre. “Galaxina” falls closer to the latter in this case. Featuring the lovely playmate Dorothy Stratten as “Galaxina the robot”, it is clear that Stratten was included for mere eye candy and sex appeal rather than to support a film with any real point. The film sparks some level of essence found in later sci-fi  series such as “Lexx”, though after about halfway in, most would wonder what the premise here is “supposed” to be.

As we open upon year 3008 on a police ship (the Infinity) in transit, we are presented that all too familiar Star Wars style intro scroll. The ship polices the galaxy with a small crew that consists of  Sgt. Thor (Stephen Macht), leader Capt. Cornelius Butt (Avery Schreiber) and space cowboy Buzz (J.D. Hinton). Add to that an Asian man and a pointy eared humanoid. Galaxina is the on board robot who serves the crew and runs things when they have to take on long journeys in cryo.

The team is assigned the task of recovering a crystal called the “blue star”, of which they must spend several years (27) in cryo before reaching their destination. A quick stop at the outer space brothel makes for an interesting low budget display of interstellar creatures that also seems curiously Starwars-y. It was clear here that portions of the film is meant to parody other more successfully releases of era namely…. Star Wars, Alien and Battlestar Galactica. The team reaches their assigned location under the name of “Altair One”, while Thor is caught up in his fascination for the seductive Galaxina.

Upon arrival on Altair One, Galaxina volunteers to scout ahead while the crew waits behind. Lucky for them as she also discovers that the aliens locally like feasting upon humans. Continuing on her adventure, she next encounters a group of Harley bikers who seem more interested in sacrificing Galaxina than anything. A rescue ensues relying on cheap humor to carry out the rest of the film. “Galaxina” the film seems to follow the path if intentional B-grade material which in result gives it a uniqueness unto itself.

“Galaxina” is a film that tends to make the best of what it has available to it. Odd sets, marginal costumes and the use of model based filmmaking pulls things together enough to make for an off beat sci-fi movie. At the heart of it all it really doesn’t amount to much more than what you might already see in a TV episode (aka Lexx series) (but has raised its bar in sex appeal).

The film was written and directed by William Sachs who gained some notoriety from his direction of the film “The Incredible Melting Man”. Beyond that, I can’t say I’ve seen anything else he was involved in. “Galaxina” was also one of those films i refer to as “awesome cover art, weaker product” releases which most likely attracted VHS shoppers at the time on box presentation alone.

“Galaxina” is now available from Mill Creek Entertainment on  bluray. The movie is part of a double pack but beats the hell out of old vhs copies. The quality is grainy in parts but still good enough to see the movie in a high def format. While it may not make your frequent play list, it still is worth its weight for the purpose of odd 80’s retro viewings.

Galaxina is available on bluray per Mill Creek Entertainment as part of a double feature pack. The film is highly restored making for a perfect 1st experience for this nutty 80’s space parody film.