trickyascupart

Right. Saturn 3 is one of those films that always seems to divide reviewers into the two old and trustworthy camps: "what a great picture" and "who the heck let this pile of manure be made?" And then, it has the ability to have a solid middle ground; the "nyah...not bad..." crowd. I have to say that I fall into this latter group. I first saw Saturn 3 when I was a teenager and was gripped by it. I remember thinking how cool Hector looked and the fact that he was also downright creepy. In the years before seeing The Terminator Hector, for me, was the archetypal maniac machine that will stop at nothing to kill you in a (probably) gruesome way. Okay, the film's saving graces: the overall design of the sets and costumes. Ignoring the rather bleak look of the corridors, the Saturn 3 station has that feeling of being futuristic but also familiar in a Holiday Inn-sort of way, and the launching area at the film's beginning, with that great big flaming hole image effectively acting as a rather cool backdrop. Benson's (and also James') space suits are very nicely done. They give off the distinct air of practicality, like a hyper-modern air force pressure suit, and also a sense of impersonality about them which becomes menacing with the addition of the dark face plated helmets. Adam and Alex's work-out gear, however, is very dated and it's also quite excruciating to watch their exercise routine. The ships aren't Star Wars Star Destroyers, but then they're not meant to be. The way I look at it, they were designed to look slightly other worldly and also practical. Benson's pod that he flies to Saturn 3 looks entirely functional and although it appears rather clunky and distinctly un-aerodynamic, it's worth remembering that in space there isn't any wind resistance so sleek lines aren't necessary. Unfortunately, because this was a full-sized prop for the actors to interact with the other ships do look like the models they are. Hector is a piece of design excellence. For a start, the actual costume is made from metal, instantly rendering the appearance of a real robot. The actual laboured gait and measured way of moving employed by the actor playing Hector (probably due to the considerable weight of the suit) is instrumental in convincing the viewer of his cybernetic credentials. What helps is that we see Hector being constructed and that can block out any ideas of the "man in a suit" mold, particularly in regards to the insertion of the brain tissue into (effectively) the torso of the costume. Finally, Harvey Keitel. His performance in this film is derided by many as being too over the top and hammy but I think that he actually saw the script for what it really was - eighty-odd minutes of comic-book fun. He had a ball with the Benson character and it's quite obvious that he knew he wasn't asked to do Shakespeare and play it straight. Kirk Douglas and Farrah Fawcett are a let down to be sure. It's evident that Kirk's entering his dotage and the idea of him being an action hero and hot stud when he's the same age as most of the audience's grandfathers is frankly ludicrous. And showing your sagging butt, Kirk? Should've kept those training suit bottoms on. Farrah does play Alex well when she's there to look good, but any semblance of the idea that she's a research scientist just doesn't compute. The film in itself is a bit of a hit and miss affair. It aims to be a sophisticated sci-fi thriller like Alien but the casting of Douglas and Fawcett certainly taint any idea of it being classed as a thriller. The music (what there is of it) is original, the direction so-so and the overall concept is there, but it fails to it the target spot on. An enjoyable piece of hokum to pass the time would be a fair review.

Okay, so Gerry Anderson is a genius, let's get that out of the way first. Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray, even Terrahawks were all in a league of their own. Anderson's patented "Supermarionation" technique was, for its time, highly advanced. The problem started when he branched out into the live action stuff, like Space 1999 and UFO. It just didn't work for me. Space Precinct came along when I was about 16, 17 years old and I loved it from the start. It didn't initially register that it was a Gerry Anderson product, I thought it was so great. It certainly passed forty-five minutes on a Wednesday evening (the slot previously belonging to Star Trek: The Next Generation) and I thought it worked well at the time. When the series was released on DVD I decided to buy it to remind myself of how good it was...oh dear, not quite what I remembered. The real snag with the series is that the ideas and the finished article don't seem to have gelled. There are some great ideas (the co-operation between the three different species represented by the heroes does not always extend to the lower levels of Demeter City, for example) in the series, but it's hampered by the fact that the producers didn't seem to know whether they were making something for pre-teens or young adults. For instance, in one episode the cops have to hunt for this centuries old creature with a penchant for killing nubile young dancing girls and which can "hide" in the bodies of living beings, while at the same time you have a sub-plot concerning two other officers discovering an alien orang-utan in a rubbish skip with predictably humorous and slapstick results. This completely destroys any serious credibility the main story had as these two buffoons lark about "Every Which Way But Loose"-style with this ET-monkey while their colleagues face death at the hands of an ethereal and downright scary adversary. A clearer mission statement would probably have made this show run for longer than two seasons, especially if it had been darker and grittier. That said, not a bad show in all. The execution of good ideas just wasn't up to scratch. Sorry, Gerry...not your best work.

I must disagree with Le Froque, who states that Naked Killer is banned here in Britain; I myself bought a copy of the uncut version some five years ago. It seems to be a common misconception that us Brits are too straitlaced when it comes to sex and violence but the opposite is true - yes, it isn't seen in everyday life but we've got more than our fair share going on behind closed doors.

Naked Killer is good film but the English subtitles are a nightmare. There are spelling mistakes all over the place, grammatical errors that would make even a proper meat-head jump up and down with anger and sometimes they don't even even follow the action. Having said that, they appear to have coined a new word, "sexiful", which I personally think is pretty neat - and my wife thinks "sexiful" is quite descriptive.