ALL SCI-FI

Robert (Butch) Day · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 4:03 am Post subject: Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)

This picture of Lana Clarkson as Alpha Beta uses a dress that I wished Altair had worn!

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Common Sense ISN'T Common

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:18 pm Post subject:

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The spoof of Queen of Outer Space was pretty clever (and well deserved), but too many elements seemed to be ridiculing the good sci-fi films of the 1950s as well as the bad ones.

Like the goofy guy with the pet monkey. He was a dig at Dick Wesson in Destination Moon, along with a veiled reference to Journey to the Center of the Earth and the pet duck.

And the rocket we see the lower portion of on the Moon was also from Destination Moon, which would have been an admirable tribute . . . if this hadn't been a spoof of 50's sci-fi.

Ditto for the perfectly recreated costumes from Forbidden Planet, both the accurate uniforms and the sizzling sexed-up version of Altaira's outfit. They were all beautifully done, but frankly I'm always a bit bothered by the use of the real costumes from Forbidden Planet used in Queen of Outer Space.

Those great costumes aren't exactly honored by their use in that ridiculous movie just two years after the famous classic.

In short, this is a spoof which condemns both the worst and the best of the 1950s with equal irreverence. So its hard for me to enjoy. Sad

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Gord Green · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:53 pm Post subject:

Bud, I felt the pet monkey was more a dig at Paul Mantee's monkey from ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS.

This movie WAS silly, but I thought it a tongue in cheek homage to the best of 50's sci fi.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:05 pm Post subject:

Gord Green · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:39 pm Post subject:

The AMAZON WOMEN segments were obviously aimed at CATWOMEN OF THE MOON, not on DESTINATION MOON.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls the film absurd, but notes that it "qualifies as one of the most influential science fiction films ever made" as it influenced later films "in which astronauts discover decadent, all-female (or almost all-female) civilizations on other planets, including Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956), Queen of Outer Space (1958), Nude on the Moon (1961), [and] Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)."
Cat-Women was remade five years later (1958) as Missile to the Moon, also released by Astor Pictures.

Perhaps not exactly a "homage", but at least a lampoon ala MAD MAGAZINE would be a better description.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:18 pm Post subject:

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With all due respect, sir, the shots of the rocket on the lunar surface and the spacesuits the astronauts wear are clearly from Destination Moon — right down to the silly miniature the monkey wears! Shocked

The rest of the movie is obviously meant to be a spoof of Queen of Outer Space, with sets and female costumes drawn from that movie, and male costumes drawn from Forbidden Planet. None of the other "all female planet" movies are remotely similar to it.

For this reason, I object to the disrespectful treatment which two of the greatest 50s classic received. They are both equated with one of the worst sci-fi movies of that era — a movie which borrowed beloved props and costumes from the most revered film of the 1950s . . . just two years after it was released! Rolling Eyes

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Gord Green · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:26 pm Post subject:

Well, the spacesuits in CAT-WOMEN were similar.

But please understand, I'm hardly defending AMAZON from criticism , I simply see it for what it is, a silly lampoon of TV, movies and 70's culture.

It was hardly an opus!

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:01 pm Post subject:

scotpens · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:43 am Post subject:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:42 pm Post subject:

Eadie · Galactic Ambassador Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 1670

My generation has a name for this,

Mash-up.

Maurice · Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 3:34 am Post subject:

Well, these films are perhaps revered by us, but to a lot of people those movies are all silly. I don't think Amazon Women On the Moon had us as their target audience.
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"The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
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Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:07 am Post subject:

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Maurice, you hit the nail smack on the noogin!

Folks like me who object to Cat Women have a very different opinion of the films being spoofed than the "target audience" for which it was intended.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)