The second episode of the 1970s war-of-the-sexes space opera Star
Maidens opens with the thought: "space holds no
fury like a female planet scorned."
The question regarding such a comment, of course, is intent. Is
this series poking fun at such anti-woman proverbs? Or does Star
Maidens take such commentary seriously, and reflect it in its space-age
premise of a female dominated planet?
Given the other humorous aspects of the episode, I would suggest
the former interpretation. At some, hopefully intentional level, Star
Maidens seems to recognize the humor in applying broad, sexist language
to a “futuristic” science fiction epic.
The premise finds a rigidly, unthinking patriarchy (Earth) confronting a
rigidly, unthinking matriarchy (Medusa).
Our silly conceits about sex are, ultimately, reflected by
Medusa’s silly conceits about them. Can’t we all just get along?
This second episode of the 1976 series involves the Medusan pursuit ship Nemesis following
Adam and Shem to Earth.
The two escaped "domestics" have fled their space-age
parachute (a giant bubble of sorts) and head across the English countryside
looking for food. The men are happy to be "free at last," (they
actually speak those famous words) and walking around on a world where no woman
can "command them."
They soon encounter a cow pasture and see cows grazing...so decide
to eat the grass too. This doesn't speak well of their intelligence, but
further enhances the idea that Star Maidens is something of a
comedy, with a strong fish-out-of-water component.
Later, Adam and Shem happen across a farm and find apples to eat,
but not before a little Earth girl chases them off the grounds. They flee the
property by jumping over a tall brick wall in a single bound, pointing to the
fact that Medusa and Earth have different gravity, and idea later repeated on Galactica:
1980. This scene is actually quite funny, as it involves, again, Shem’s
ingrained fear regarding women. He is terrified when the young human threatens
to tell her mother that the stranger has stolen an apple. Shem veritable cowers
in fear at the thought, and one can’t help but laugh at his terror.
The women from Medusa -- Fulvia (Judy Geeson) and Octavia (Christiane
Kruger) -- land on Earth and meet with Liz (Lisa Harrow) and Professor Evans
(Derek Farr). The Medusan women demand the return of Adam and Shem, and bark
orders at the local police chief. When he tries to explain what is happening,
Octavia curtly tells him to "be quiet."
In the same sequence, Octavia utilizes superior Medusan weaponry
to immobilize another police officer. Their weaponry is a kind of
"paralysis" or "freeze ray," which is the equivalent of
turning a person to stone and thus the perfect weapon for a citizen of a world
called Medusa (after the character in Greek myth).
More genuinely humorous is the device that Fulvia uses to track
down Adam. It's called a "man finder,” and it hunts down a
man by his "scent." The theory being that each man
possesses his own specific scent. Apparently, men wander off quite a bit on
Medusa, and their overlords need to wrangle them…
The episode culminates with Adam and Shem riding around dirt roads
in a computer-controlled police car, and sending the earthbound police on a
merry chase. It all happens to the tune of a groovy seventies musical score.
It's like Doctor Who meets Smokey
and the Bandit.
It's
pretty clear from this second installment of the series that Star
Maidens has descended fully into tongue-in-cheek humor in
record time. I could mention again the moment wherein the none-too-bright
man-folk from Medusa sample grass along with generous cows. Or the moment
wherein the Nemesis ship lands in a wide-open field, two gorgeous alien women
disembark and none of the gathered earth people bat an eye, gasp, or react with
surprise or shock.
Nope. A conversation immediately begins about the Medusans
wanting their men back. It's like a conversation officials from two countries
might have over the subject of extradition. But officials from two
planets?
And the scene in which the caped, futuristic women from Medusa
enter a police station and start issuing orders...it's more of the same. It
plays as comedy.
Still, since (according to Fulvia in this episode...) "most
of outer space is very boring," I guess I can be grateful
that Star Maidens is as entertaining as it
is. However, “Nemesis” does not set one foot on advanced Medusa, and that means
the earthbound action is, almost by default, less interesting than it might be
otherwise.
Next week: "Nightmare Cannon."
