This week's target: Queen of Outer Space (1958)
Directed by: Edward Bernds
Written by: Charles Beaumont and Ben Hecht
Genre: Science Fiction

Today we journey back to a strange time... a time when things were not as they are now. No, things were much different back then. Space, for instance, was not the vast stretch of boring emptiness that we now know it to be (and that was depicted so well in 2001: A Space Odyssey). No, at that time space was a place where Bold Adventure was always just around the next asteroid field, and the interstellar vaccuum was thick with strange alien creatures waiting to pounce upon unsuspecting, pointy-chinned spacefarers. Why, even the very planets themselves were different and bizarre. No bleak, inhospitable, lifeless hunks of rock awaited intrepid explorers in those days. Instead, astronauts were much more likely to find alien civilizations at every turn, most of whom seemed to spend the bulk of their time planning ways to get rid of those annoying Earthlings, who threatened galactic security and peace with their warlike ways and their atomic bombs.

I speak, of course, of the 1950s.

The 1950s were an interesting time, due to thei--

((I wanted to write a philosophical section here detailing the change in attitude that took place in the 50s which led to the "cultural revolution" of the 60s, and how that change in attitude is what ultimately gave us this film. But I got bored.

So you get jack-diddly-freakin'-squat.))

Back to the review. Laying aside our non-existent philosophical discussion, let us examine the box of this film, which I picked up on video a while back at the local Wal-Mart. The front of the box is mostly taken up by the title, which is printed in big block letters. Stretched across the top of the word "QUEEN" is the star of our film, Zsa Zsa Gabor, in all her pulchritudinous glory. In the background behind her we see a rocketship heading for the stars. This rocketship is, shall we say, strategically placed in relation to Ms. Gabor's body. Ah, there's nothing like good old-fashioned sexual symbolism to get the blood pumping!

I have seen this film once before, but it has been a while, so I go now to watch it again. I shall return.