The DePaulia

Issue date: 5/22/09 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Columbia Home Video Peter Strauss as Wolff,, the hero of "Spacehunter".

Media Credit: Columbia Home Video Michael Ironsides as The Overdog.

The phenomenal success of "Star Wars" in 1977 resulted in the release of numerous science fiction films over the next decade. Some of them were great while others were forgettable. Amongst the gold such as "Blade Runner" and the junk like "The Black Hole" was a little gem of a film that got lost in the shuffle-"Spacehunter: Ad¬ventures in the Forbidden Zone."

"Spacehunter" fits the mold of your typical 1980s sci-fi films so well, never being too campy or too serious. Like other genre films from the time, it has your likable protagonists that are a little rough around the edges, the cheesy-yet-triumphant heroic theme music and explosions-a-plenty. When "Spacehunter" was released in 1983, it was a 3-D movie-but you won't need the blue-and-red specs to appreciate this fun film.

Set in the far-off year of 2156, "Space¬hunter" is about a star-faring salvage operator named Wolff. Gruff, roguish and up to his ears in debt, Wolff is your typical sci-fi antihero-sort of a poor man's Han Solo. Hoping to turn his finances around, Wolff takes on a dangerous assignment. Three women from Earth have crash-landed and are now stranded on a desolate wasteland of a planet named Terra XI. Wolff ventures out to save the three in order to receive the bounty of "3,000 mega-credits" for their safe return.

Of course, while Terra XI resembles New Mexico in many scenes, this is no walk in the park-or rather, no walk in the desert. The planet was originally an Earth colony, but became overrun with disease. It was then quarantined-cut off from the rest of the galaxy-and has since been torn apart by civil war. Fortunately, Wolff is not your ordinary junk collector-he's also a badass ex-soldier who doesn't like to follow rules.

Wolff travels to Terra XI and immediately has a run-in with some rejects straight out of the "Road Warrior" films. He learns that the three Earth women have been taken to "The Zone"-a hive-like fortress that is the lair of the planet's evil dictator, The Overdog. A hideous man-machine, The Overdog rules the planet with an iron fist-literally-and feeds off of the life-force of anyone who opposes him. Naturally, The Overdog most enjoys leeching vitality from women-young, beautiful Earth women, to be specific.

Soon after, Wolff meets a young orphan girl named Nikki, and begrudgingly accepts her help in guiding him to The Zone. At first, Wolff can't stand the young scavenger-he even seemingly tries to drown her in a scene that is much funnier than it sounds. Eventually, the loner Wolff warms up to Nikki and becomes protective of her.

Along the way to The Zone, Wolff and Nikki are thwarted by the likes of some of the strangest adversaries imaginable. They encounter outlandish villains like Amazonian water women, androgynous blob monsters and mutated, grenade-throwing children. Also a problem is Wolff's ex-comrade from the military - a buff dude named Washington-who tries to oust Wolff and claim the reward himself.

"Spacehunter" is an enjoyable movie if you like sci-fi of the slightly less serious variety, such as "Firefly" or even the original "Star Wars" film. It consistently walks the line between sober and silly-some¬times planting both feet on one side or the other, but never for very long.

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