Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Sci-Fi Action	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1983
Running Time	89:46
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Lamont Johnson
Studio Distributor	ViaVision	Starring	Peter Strauss Molly Ringwald Ernie Hudson Michael Ironside
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Elmer Bernstein

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     The year is 2136: when an escape pod from a stricken star liner crashes onto Terra Eleven with three beautiful Earth girls on board a reward for their rescue is offered. Down on his luck, and broke, space tramp Wolff (Peter Strauss) answers the call. Terra Eleven is a forbidding, plague riddled planet, with rock and desert, mutant life forms, scavengers and monsters all ruled over by the half man / half machine Overdog (Michael Ironside) from his scrap-metal lair in the midst of the Forbidden Zone. Wolff arrives on the planet to find that the three Earth girls have already been captured by Overdog’s men and taken to his lair. Reluctantly picking up young female waif Niki (Molly Ringwald) and teaming with old acquaintance Washington (Ernie Hudson), Wolff sets off for the Forbidden Zone to rescue them.

     Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone had a disrupted production with its director and co-writer Jean LaFleur replaced by Lamont Johnson during filming. It is a blatant attempt to cash in on the Star Wars films and was deliberately released a week before Return of the Jedi. Wolff is a Han Solo type character, Niki is not a princess, although Wolff calls her ‘princess’ at one stage, Wolff’s ship’s computer emits R2D2 beeps and whines, Ernie Hudson was cast because he looked like Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) and the score by Elmer Bernstein owes a lot to John Williams. Peter Strauss is OK, although he is no Harrison Ford, but Molly Ringwald, prior to her roles in The Breakfast Club (1985) and Pretty in Pink (1986), tends to shriek a lot and is extremely annoying. Michael Ironside can be a cold and convincing villain, such as in Total Recall (1990), but here he is wasted under heavy make-up and a half machine body. But is Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone that bad, or bad enough to be good?

     Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is cheap and cheesy with a climax in Overdog’s patched together junk filled lair that is more Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome than Star Wars (although I accept that Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was made a couple of years later). The real problem is that Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone takes a long time to get to the climax as along the way our heroes face random encounters with a diverse range of mutants, monsters, Amazons and scavengers in a variety of different environments as well as bickering amongst themselves. It is as if the film’s writers just dreamed up “cool” opponents and situations without rhyme, reason or coherent thread. This imaginative approach can sometimes work: some of the vehicles are wonderful creations such as the steam powered bull-dozer operated by Washington or the railway locomotive with sails looking like a ship under full canvas moving on rails across the desert. The fights are loud and colourful with frequent explosions and laser shots; one of the best action sequences is when that train engine is attacked by men on motorbikes and powered hang gliders.

     Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone will never win any awards for acting, story, originality or dialogue, but it is cheesy good fun, outlandish, and never takes itself seriously. It is never cringingly bad so it is not in the so bad it’s good category; in fact, if you put your mind into neutral and go with the flow there is a lot to be entertained by.

Video

     Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone was filmed in 3-D but was released in theatres in both 3-D and “flat” versions. Although there is some dispute, the IMDb indicates that the 3-D version was in the 2:35:1 aspect ratio, while the flat version was 1.85:1. This DVD is 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced and NTSC.

     This print does not look cropped, nor is there really any of the usual 3-D objects flying at or past the camera. The colour has been strongly manipulated to show mostly a very red planet although at times the sky was lime, other times green. The most natural looking sequences were the day for night scenes with good detail and blue skies! Other times detail could be hazy. This film does not have the clean and pristine machines and sets of Star Wars; everything, including Wolff’s ship, the various vehicles, sets on the planet and Overdog’s fortress lair are jerry built, dirty and decrepit, full of junk and pipes. The same can be said for the costumes, which are dirty and ragged. While shadow detail can be indistinct, blacks are solid, skin tones reasonable given the manipulation, brightness and contrast consistent. Other than some motion blur, this was a clean print.

     No subtitles are provided.

     The layer change at 64:04 was neatly placed at a scene change.

Video Ratings Summary

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Shadow Detail
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Film Artefacts
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Audio

     Audio is English Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps, surround encoded.

     In fact, although a 2.0 track at a low Kbps, this was surprisingly enveloping. Right from the opening titles there was music and shooting stars in the rears; later there were explosions, crowd yells, shots and debris. Dialogue, especially from Molly Ringwald, was not always clear, but I doubt one misses anything important. The score by Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Oscar winner for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)) is lively and John Williamsish, which is understandable and adds to the fun.

    Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Nothing. The silent menu offers only “Play Feature” as an option.

     The Region 1 US DVD of Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone was released almost 20 years ago but the film now seems only available on Amazon Prime. In any case that DVD had Dolby Digital 4.0 audio and only trailers for other films as extras. Buy local.

     As far as I know Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone has not been available previously in this region. It is cheap and cheesy but by no means the worst 1980s cash in on Star Wars around. Indeed, if you are in the mood it is entertaining and outlandish enough to be funny. And, now available here on DVD and Blu-ray from ViaVision, it may just end up as a cult classic!

     The video and audio are fine. There are no extras, but there is nothing available elsewhere either.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall