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Rating: 
Summary: Friedman's Folly
Review: "Screwball sci-fi" is a misleading label for SPACE THING; it's a boring pseudo-sex film whose only saving grace is a quartet of attractive starlets. Producer David Friedman says that SPACE THING was made because, as of 1967, no one had yet made a sci-fi nudie movie. But apart from the "outer space" setting, there is no legitimate science- fiction in SPACE THING. The derivative spaceship sets and costumes are really all that separate SPACE THING from, for example, BOAT THING or TRAIN THING. The narrative structure of SPACE THING is compartmentalized to allow for all the staple elements of Friedman's "adult" entertainment, but without a plot there's no purpose to anything that happens, beyond serving as mere spectacle. So SPACE THING unsurprisingly works best as a spectacle. The sex scenes are tepid and truncated, but the women are very pretty. The color print used by Something Weird is gorgeous. But since this film is of the substance and character of cotton candy, SPACE THING badly needs a second feature to bring the disc up to snuff. The HEAD MISTRESS/FANNY HILL DVD (a Friedman double-feature from Something Weird) is a much better value. This "special edition" is for Friedman/SWV completists and the most rabid (i.e., uncritical) sci-fi collectors only.
Rating: 
Summary: Sci-fi + T&A = Space Oddity!
Review: I love this DVD! Well, to be honest, I've only watched it with the filmmaker's commentary on, but trust me, you aren't missing much! David Friedman sits down with video distributor Mike Varney (sp?) to discuss the making of this obscure "nudie cutie," and Friedman is none-too-hesitant to call it the worst film ever made. He's not far off. As stated before, watching the movie without the commentary is needless, there's nothing to it really. Lots of T&A, some space ship models and some very bare sets (no pun intended). The stories that Friedman and Varney recount are the best part, from the history of the theaters this type of movie played in, to how Friedman got around the legalities of using the Starship Enterprise in this celluloid schlock. If you're a fan of bad sci-fi or T&A flicks, this is a definite must!
Rating: 
Summary: Sci-Fi On A Shoestring (And A G-String!)
Review: If you like to see big-breasted babes cavorting in the nude, you will enjoy this movie. If you like low-budget sci-fi with laughable special effects, you will enjoy this movie. If you like a story that makes some sense, however, you will not find one here. Even filmmaker Friedman, in his commentary, laments the lack of plot in this genre entry in the nudie-cutie field. He admits that if it were not a softcore effort, with only naked girls to provide interest, it would probably be considered a worse film than the classic Plan 9 from Outer Space. Ed Wood probably had a bigger budget on Plan 9 than Friedman had here! The special effects? Colored cotton balls for asteroids, and plastic models bought in a hobby shop for the spaceships, hung on thread to simulate flight. One of them is a model of the flying saucer from the TV series The Invaders and the other is a model of the good ship Enterprise from Star Trek, saucer section removed, and hung upside down! Friedman says he wasn't even aware that it was upside down while making the movie! Evidently he wasn't a Trekker. But he was a fan of the pulp magazines in his youth, in particular Amazing Stories (as was Steven Spielberg!) and Planet Stories. The latter especially because of its lurid covers which always featured a scantily-clad woman in danger from a horrible monster of some sort. He says he wanted to capture some of the sexy fun of those colorful covers, and to a degree, he did, by uncovering some sexy girls with impressive special effects of their own. The commentary is about the only interesting thing in the special features of this DVD. There's an overlong and somewhat boring gallery of poster art, repetitive and not too well done, a couple of short subjects, scene index, trailer, and that's about it. If you want sci-fi on a shoestring, and a G-string, this movie's for you!
Rating:
Summary: Sci-Fi On A Shoestring (And A G-String!)
Review: If you like to see big-breasted babes cavorting in the nude, you will enjoy this movie. If you like low-budget sci-fi with laughable special effects, you will enjoy this movie. If you like a story that makes some sense, however, you will not find one here. Even filmmaker Friedman, in his commentary, laments the lack of plot in this genre entry in the nudie-cutie field. He admits that if it were not a softcore effort, with only naked girls to provide interest, it would probably be considered a worse film than the classic Plan 9 from Outer Space. Ed Wood probably had a bigger budget on Plan 9 than Friedman had here! The special effects? Colored cotton balls for asteroids, and plastic models bought in a hobby shop for the spaceships, hung on thread to simulate flight. One of them is a model of the flying saucer from the TV series The Invaders and the other is a model of the good ship Enterprise from Star Trek, saucer section removed, and hung upside down! Friedman says he wasn't even aware that it was upside down while making the movie! Evidently he wasn't a Trekker. But he was a fan of the pulp magazines in his youth, in particular Amazing Stories (as was Steven Spielberg!) and Planet Stories. The latter especially because of its lurid covers which always featured a scantily-clad woman in danger from a horrible monster of some sort. He says he wanted to capture some of the sexy fun of those colorful covers, and to a degree, he did, by uncovering some sexy girls with impressive special effects of their own. The commentary is about the only interesting thing in the special features of this DVD. There's an overlong and somewhat boring gallery of poster art, repetitive and not too well done, a couple of short subjects, scene index, trailer, and that's about it. If you want sci-fi on a shoestring, and a G-string, this movie's for you!
Rating: 
Summary: Pajama Party In Space
Review: This is a poorly made adult space spoof from the late 1960s, and despite the fact that I normally like the Something Weird line, this one is probably best left on the shelf. The print of the film is much better than most films of this generation, and the color is excellent, but besides that and a few not unattractive girls, it does not have much to recommend it.
The acting here is very bad and the sets would have made Ed Wood blush. The movie begins with a guy fighting with his wife about the plausibility of some sci-fi magazines he was reading, then quickly he becomes a space refugee stranded in what appears to be a model of part of the USS Enterprise (from "Star Trek") but he refers to as a "small space canoe." We later learn that he was saved from a collision that killed all his crewmates by his "supersonic sneakers."
He pulls along this saucer that must be seen to be believed, and comes aboard. You will note that everyone is wearing some form of pajamas, including the cat-suited female Captain. Perhaps the biggest spectacle of the film is the hair on these women. (Well, that and the blue eye shadow.) We see a bit of life onboard the spaceship (do not miss the toast performed at mealtime!) and then realize that our protagonist is out to destroy this ship as they are sworn enemies.
Because of his sabotage, they are forced to land on an asteroid (which looks exactly like the desert of Southern California), which they all explore in gauzy gowns. They basically wander around the desert scheming against each other while bad pan flute music plays in the background, further annoying the audience. Before it is over we get to see a very bad ray gun effect, a game of space checkers (which is a clear rip off of the "Star Trek" three dimensional chess) and the power of a "micro atomic bomb!" The best scene in the film is when the protagonist looks longingly at a picture of his family. You will laugh so hard you may fall off the sofa.
The film comes with a commentary track from Producer David F. Friedman, who reveals, among other things, that the entire film was made for $17,000 and was shot on 35mm stock, which means the actors must have been very well compensated, indeed...
There are two shorts, "Roll Oh Robot" is a futuristic tale of a robot butler and the hilarity he causes (he has a unique vacuum foot attachment that would be kind of useful), and "Dance of Tomorrow" is a little musical nightmare you might have seen on MST3K, featuring ugly fashions, and even uglier cars.
Overall, this has some funny moments, most of which involve "special" effects, but there are better Something Weird titles out there.
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