Review of Star Maidens

The planet Medusa, home to an advanced underground civilisation where women are the rulers and men are subservient, drifts into Earth's solar system, prompting Adam and Shem (Pierre Brice and Gareth Thomas), a couple of rebellious men to attempt an escape to our planet, on which they have heard men are free to be what they want to be, do what they want to do, etc. The series is an unsubtle, almost tongue-in-cheek, social parody based on gender role-reversal and, although goofily entertaining, has not aged very well (notably episode 8 'The Perfect Couple' which features incompetent 'women's lib' activists). The distaff cast includes Judy Geeson as Fulvia, a Medusan 'Supreme Councillor' and Adam's mistress, Christiane Krüger as Octavia, also a Supreme Councillor' and head of security, and Lisa Harrow as Dr. Liz Becker, an Earth female who gets bumped-up from 'second class' to 'first class' when she changes planets. Rounding out the main cast is Christian Quadflieg, Becker's resourceful 'boss' Dr. Rudi Schmidt, who gets simultaneously demoted and, being 'just a man', is never taken seriously by the Medusan potentates. Episodes toggle back and forth between a 'chase' plot on Earth as Fluvia and Octavia try to catch the two defecting malcontents, and various mysterious happenings and political intrigues on Medusa. Not surprisingly, episodes set on the dominatrixes' world are more interesting than those set on Earth. The acting is generally rudimentary (admittedly the cast is not given much to work with), most of the storylines are insipid and predicable (notably Shem's brief amour with an Earth woman), and the 'fish out of water' and 'role switching' shtick tires out quickly. Although everyone in the Universe seems to speak English, the film is a joint British-German production so there is a hodgepodge of accents amongst the extra-terrestrials. The special effects are surprisingly good with some interesting miniature and design work (the hallways of Medusa are colourful and 'futuristic' although completely impractical and unsafe). The costumes worn by the Medusan women are a highlight, blending the aesthetics of Felliniesque pseudo-classical fluff and cheesy 70's Euro-sci-fi peek-a-boo - the police are a highlight in their brightly coloured hot-pants and tight, midriff baring crop-tops. All in all, the show is dated and campy but will make entertaining, albeit eye-rolling, viewing for people who like that sort of thing. Too bad there is only a single season, as the final episode seemed to be setting up a 'bigger picture' involving a third, aggressive extra-stellar civilisation (as well as demonstrating that women, no matter how sexy their outfits are, just can't cut it when the going gets tough).