Star Odyssey (Italian: Sette uomini d'oro nello spazio / Seven Gold Men in Space) is a 1979 Italian film directed by Alfonso Brescia. The film is also known as Space Odyssey, Metallica and Captive Planet in other video markets.
Contents
Plot summary
In the year 2312, a group of aliens auction off insignificant planets and the winner of the auction for Sol 3 (Earth) is the evil despot Kress. He soon flies to "Sol 3" in what is the first contact with beings from another planet for those living there. Kress starts gathering humanoid slaves using his robot army to sell them to his evil counterparts.
Defending "Sol 3" against the new owner is the kindly Professor Maury and his ragtag band of humans, one of whom wears a Spider-Man t-shirt, and robot friends. Maury and his defenders set out to reclaim the planet from Kress and his cyborg army. Their plan is to destroy the metal of the alien ship, called Iridium (or etherium), after discovering its weakness.
After being defeated and retreating from the planet, Kress resells the planet at the space auction for a profit.
Production
Star Odyssey is one of five low-budget Italian space opera films produced by director Alfonso Brescia (under the pseudonym Al Bradley) in the wake of the success of Star Wars. It is the fourth installment in the cycle, following Cosmos: War of the Planets (1977), Battle of the Stars (1978), and War of the Robots (1978).
The production heavily re-used miniature effects, models, and costumes from Brescia's previous feature, War of the Robots. To save costs, the film utilized low-budget props; a review in Popular Mechanics noted that the "light-sabers" featured in the film were merely cardboard swords coated with fluorescent paint.
Reception
The film received highly negative reviews for its technical quality. Bill Gordon of Worst Movies Ever Made found the special effects poor and characterized the narrative structure as confusing. Similarly, Popular Mechanics dismissed the film as a "dreadful trashpile", while TechRadar described it as alternating between "insufferable or hilariously bad" depending on the viewer's mindset.
Cast
Yanti Somer as Irene
Gianni Garko as Dirk Laramie
Malisa Longo as Bridget
Chris Avram as Shawn
Ennio Balbo as Professor Mauri
Roberto Dell'Acqua as Norman
Aldo Amoroso Pioso
Nino Castelnuovo as Lieutenant Oliver "Hollywood" Carrera
Gianfranca Dionisi
Pino Ferrara as the Warden
Aldo Funari
Cesare Gelli
Robert Hundar as the Auctioneer
Claudio Undari
Filippo Perrone
Franco Ressel as Commander Barr
Massimo Righi
Silvano Tranquilli
Roberto Messina as the Referee
Benito Pacifico and Nello Pazzafini as the Card Players
Claudio Zucchet
Reception
"Creature Feature" found the movie to be an example of sci-fi so bad it has to be seen to be believed, giving the movie two out of five stars. Popular Mechanics noted the movie was a dreadful trashpile. Techradar found the movie either insufferable or hilariously bad, depending on your mood.