Saturn 3 (1980)

There’s little love out there for Saturn 3.  In fact the whole thing is one big lacklustre misfire after another.

With a script by Martin Amis, a seasoned director in the shape of Stanley Donan and a strong cast of talent in Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keital and Farrah Fawcett it really should have been a lot better than it was.  The trouble is that not one of those names seems appropriately placed in connection with this sci-fi mish-mash of Frankenstein meets Beauty and the Beast on the moon of Titan. And then every production decision made thereafter seems to have been head-shakingly bad.

The space suits are equally curious affairs too.  While the suits seem to be standard and obvious run-ups by a perfectly proficient but unimaginative costume department, the helmets are almost Heavy Metal inspired creations.  But while you have to acknowledge the fact that they have a look all of their own they seem fantastically inappropriate and impractical both in the context of the story and for the actor to perform in.

So there you go, that’s Saturn 3; a B-Movie with pretensions to something greater but not even managing to be half the sum of its parts.  It’s a bit sad really but the saddest tale of all is that Hector the mad killer robot and quite possible best thing in the film spent his retirement stuck at the end of a roller coaster ride on a seaside pleasure beach.  From Titan all the way down to Blackpool; Now that is a long way to fall.

Steve