Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

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Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
Spacehunter: The Adventures in the Forbidden Zone movie poster
Directed by	Lamont Johnson
Produced by	Don Carmody John Dunning André Link
Written by	Stewart Harding Jean LaFluer
Starring	Peter Strauss Molly Ringwald Ernie Hudson Michael Ironside
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography	Frank Tidy
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	May 20, 1983
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Canada/ United States
Language	English
Budget	$14,400,400 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$16,500,000 (USA) (sub-total)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is a 1983 pulp, action-comedy, science fiction film. The movie stars Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Ernie Hudson, Andrea Marcovicci, and Michael Ironside. The film's executive producer was Ivan Reitman, (producer of such films as National Lampoon's Animal House and Ghostbusters), and it was directed by Lamont Johnson. The film had an adventurous music score composed by Elmer Bernstein.

When the movie came out in theaters, parts of it were shown in 3-D and the film became part of the 3-D movie revival craze of the early 1980's.

The movie is about a bounty hunter who goes on a mission to rescue three women stranded on a brutal planet and meets a vagrant teenage girl along the way.

[edit] Plot

Set the 22nd century, the film opens with the destruction of space cruise liner that collides with a meteor. The only apparent survivors are three beautiful women – Nova, (played by Cali Timmins), Reena, (played by Aleisa Shirley), and Meagan, (played by Deborah Pratt) – who get away in an escape pod and land on the nearest habitable planet. There, they are quickly accosted by the hostile natives and taken aboard a sail-driven vehicle resembling a pirate ship on rails.

In space, an alert goes out for the safe return of the women with a reward of 3,000 "mega-credits". A small time salvage operator named Wolff, (played by Peter Strauss), intercepts the message and heads to the planet. Joining him is his female engineer Chalmers, (played by Andrea Marcovicci), who learns the planet – called Terra XI – is a failed colony that fell victim to a deadly plague and civil warfare. Wolff risks the dangers believing the reward will solve his debt problems.

After landing on the barren world, Wolff and Chalmers set out in a 4-wheel drive vehicle called the "Scrambler". Soon, they join a battle in progress between a group of marauders (called the "Zoners") and a band of nomads (the "Scavs"). The Zoners take the women before Wolff can stop them and fly away on jet-powered hang-gliders. Wolff learns from the Scavs that the women were taken into "The Zone" which is ruled by "The Overdog" – their sworn enemy. Returning to the Scrambler, Wolff finds Chalmers has been "killed", however it is revealed she is really an android. Wolff continues on alone, but not for long as he soon catches a teenage Scav named Nikki, (played by Molly Ringwald), trying to steal his Scrambler. She convinces Wolff that he needs a tracker if he is to survive The Zone and Wolff reluctantly takes her lead.

In the meantime, the three women are taken before "The Chemist", (played by Harant Alianak), the chief henchman of Overdog who administers pacifying drugs to the girls and prepares them for Overdog's pleasure.

Meanwhile, Wolff and Nikki make camp, but soon come under attack by a strange plow-like vehicle. Wolff manages to disable the machine and learns the driver is a former military acquaintance of his – a soldier named Washington, (played by Ernie Hudson), who reveals he too has come to rescue the women. His only problem however, is that he crashed his ship and has no way off world. Wolff refuses to help his rival and leaves him to fend for himself.

Back in The Zone, the women are taken to see the Overdog, (played by Michael Ironside), who is revealed to be a hideous cyborg, almost entirely machine, with two metal claws for hands.

Still led by Nikki, Wolff gets into more predicaments – from being attacked by mutated blob-like beings, to strange mermaid-like women and their giant water dragon. He even loses his trusty Scrambler and is forced to continue on foot. Eventually, they are found by Washington and Wolff finds the situation reversed as he now begs his rival for help. Washington assists, but only if Wolff cuts him in 50/50 on the reward.

Wolff and Washington team up and sneak into Overdog's fortress where they find the Zoners entertained by captured prisoners forced to run through a deadly maze. Wolff spots the women being held in a cage and forms a rescue plan, but a bored Nikki, (who was left out the rescue for her safety), decides to snoop around. She is captured and sent into the maze. Wolff spots Nikki in the maze and tries to rescue her, but she uses her prowess to reach the end where Overdog congratulates her and drags her back to his lair. There, she is hooked to a machine that slowly drains her life energy. The energy in turn recharges Overdog. Wolff comes to the rescue and overloads the machine. The power feedback fries Overdog and thus causes cascading blowouts throughout the entire fortress. As the complex explodes, the three heroes, and the three rescued women, manage to get away.

In the end, Wolff invites Nikki to stay with him and she agrees since they made good partners.