Dorothy Stratten (nee Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten) was a working-class girl from Vancouver, British Columbia who became a model and, at the age of nineteen, was chosen as the Playboy Playmate of the Month for August 1979. She became Playmate of the Year the following year. Most Playmates tend to disappear from sight after their month in the spotlight, but Dorothy was widely regarded as being far more than just a pretty face. She was also regarded as a promising up-and-coming actress and had appeared in three films when, in August 1980, she was murdered by her estranged husband Paul Snider who was jealous of her relationship with the film director Peter Bogdanovich. (Snider committed suicide immediately after killing Dorothy).
I have never seen Dorothy's first film, "Autumn Born, or her third, "They All Laughed", her only appearance in a major Hollywood studio production. I did, however, see "Galaxina", when it was recently shown on a British movie channel, and I was left wishing I hadn't. The less said about its plot the better. It's supposed to be a comedy set on board the Intergalactic Space Police cruiser "Infinity" in the year 3008, and what plot there is deals with the ship's journey to the distant planet Altair One to recover a priceless stolen gemstone called the Blue Star, with a subplot about the love affair which develops between the ship's second-in-command Sergeant Thor and a beautiful female robot named Galaxina. This might seem to be a doomed romance, but we are solemnly assured that by the thirty-first century science has been able to create machines which are capable of feeling emotions. Actually, although Galaxina is supposed to be a robot, she doesn't look like one at all. In fact, she looks just like Playboy's Playmate of the Year for 3008. Assuming, that is, that Playboy still be published that far-distant date.
The film attempts to generate humour by parodying mainstream science fiction films and television programmes such as "Star Wars", "Star Trek" and the "Alien" series. Like some other spoof movies from this period, "Top Secret!" being another example, it uses a scattergun approach, not confining its parody to one sole genre. Besides sci-fi it also tries to send up Westerns and biker movies like "The Wild One" or "Easy Rider"; the inhabitants of Altair One are all members of biker gangs and worship a god known as "Harlee-David-Son". (I can't think what the origin of that particular name might be!)
The problem with aiming at so many different targets is that you will end up missing all of them. As Mel Brooks demonstrated in "Blazing Saddles" and "Spaceballs" it is possible to satirise effectively both the Western and the space epic. It is probably not a good idea to attempt both in the same film. All the humour in Galaxina is leaden and pointless; simply calling a character with odd-shaped ears "Mr Spot" rather than "Mr Spock" does not amount to a witty comment on "Star Trek". The quality of the acting is just as bad as the quality of the script. If the advanced technology of 3008 has been able to endow robots not only with consciousness but also with emotions you would not guess so from Stratten's performance. Galaxina might look like a beautiful woman but acts like a soulless machine. To be fair to Stratten, her co- stars, if one can legitimately use the word "star" about actors so lacking in star quality, are even worse. Their performances might lead one to conclude that the greatest triumph of thirty-first century science has been not to endow robots with a personality but to remove all traces of personality from the human race.
This was one of a number of low-budget science fiction films which were rushed out in the late seventies and early eighties to cash in on the sci-fi boom started by "Star Wars". Some of these, such as the British- made "Flash Gordon", are quite endearing, but some of them are every bit as bad as the worst of the "so bad they're funny" sci-fi films of the fifties such as the notorious "Plan 9 from Outer Space". "Galaxina" falls firmly into this latter category. Indeed, I would rate it as the worst post-1970 sci-fi film I have ever seen along with the equally dismal British "Inseminoid", also from 1980. The film is still remembered for the tragic fate of its leading lady. It does not deserve to be remembered for anything else. 1/10
I have never seen Dorothy's first film, "Autumn Born, or her third, "They All Laughed", her only appearance in a major Hollywood studio production. I did, however, see "Galaxina", when it was recently shown on a British movie channel, and I was left wishing I hadn't. The less said about its plot the better. It's supposed to be a comedy set on board the Intergalactic Space Police cruiser "Infinity" in the year 3008, and what plot there is deals with the ship's journey to the distant planet Altair One to recover a priceless stolen gemstone called the Blue Star, with a subplot about the love affair which develops between the ship's second-in-command Sergeant Thor and a beautiful female robot named Galaxina. This might seem to be a doomed romance, but we are solemnly assured that by the thirty-first century science has been able to create machines which are capable of feeling emotions. Actually, although Galaxina is supposed to be a robot, she doesn't look like one at all. In fact, she looks just like Playboy's Playmate of the Year for 3008. Assuming, that is, that Playboy still be published that far-distant date.
The film attempts to generate humour by parodying mainstream science fiction films and television programmes such as "Star Wars", "Star Trek" and the "Alien" series. Like some other spoof movies from this period, "Top Secret!" being another example, it uses a scattergun approach, not confining its parody to one sole genre. Besides sci-fi it also tries to send up Westerns and biker movies like "The Wild One" or "Easy Rider"; the inhabitants of Altair One are all members of biker gangs and worship a god known as "Harlee-David-Son". (I can't think what the origin of that particular name might be!)
The problem with aiming at so many different targets is that you will end up missing all of them. As Mel Brooks demonstrated in "Blazing Saddles" and "Spaceballs" it is possible to satirise effectively both the Western and the space epic. It is probably not a good idea to attempt both in the same film. All the humour in Galaxina is leaden and pointless; simply calling a character with odd-shaped ears "Mr Spot" rather than "Mr Spock" does not amount to a witty comment on "Star Trek". The quality of the acting is just as bad as the quality of the script. If the advanced technology of 3008 has been able to endow robots not only with consciousness but also with emotions you would not guess so from Stratten's performance. Galaxina might look like a beautiful woman but acts like a soulless machine. To be fair to Stratten, her co- stars, if one can legitimately use the word "star" about actors so lacking in star quality, are even worse. Their performances might lead one to conclude that the greatest triumph of thirty-first century science has been not to endow robots with a personality but to remove all traces of personality from the human race.
This was one of a number of low-budget science fiction films which were rushed out in the late seventies and early eighties to cash in on the sci-fi boom started by "Star Wars". Some of these, such as the British- made "Flash Gordon", are quite endearing, but some of them are every bit as bad as the worst of the "so bad they're funny" sci-fi films of the fifties such as the notorious "Plan 9 from Outer Space". "Galaxina" falls firmly into this latter category. Indeed, I would rate it as the worst post-1970 sci-fi film I have ever seen along with the equally dismal British "Inseminoid", also from 1980. The film is still remembered for the tragic fate of its leading lady. It does not deserve to be remembered for anything else. 1/10