OBLIVION
[Spoilers]
A film review by Captain Elmo
Copyright 1994 Captain Elmo
Directed by: Sam Irvin Featuring: George Takei, Julie Newmar, Carel Struycken, Musetta Vander, Meg Foster, plus the guys who played the villain, the hero, and the sidekick, and the actress who played Woody's wife on "Cheers" as the love interest Written (and Co-Produced) by: Peter David
OBLIVION is, simply put, the best low budget science fiction western comedy filmed in Romania by Full Moon Entertainment to be released theatrically this year. That pretty much says it all. If you don't like SF, Westerns, campy comedy, or low budget films, you're not the audience Full Moon is looking for. If you do, however, go nuts for all of the above, you're going to have a good time.
OBLIVION premiered in Houston as a Friday Midnight Movie at the annual Worldfest film festival before a healthy and very partisan crowd. The vast theater was about half full; Worldfest organizers indicated that a "few dozen" was the typical midnight crowd. Most of the cast, the director, and the writer were present to introduce the film and answer questions afterward.
The film itself takes place in the town of Oblivion (pop. c. 460; like any good Western, the population sign is used as a scorecard throughout the movie) on a planet which for lack of a given name we'll call Oblivion as well. Reptilian villain Redeye and his gang of caricatures shoot down Marshall Stone; they plan to run Oblivion and break up the Guild monopoly on the export of Draconium, an anti-technological element found on Oblivion.
Mr. Gaunt (Carel Struycken), the town's prescient undertaker, is naturally present to catch the Marshall as he falls dead. He then proceeds into the Badlands ("A nice place to visit, but you won't live there.") to inform the Marshall's estranged son Zach of his father's death.
Zach had just saved an Oblivion native (played as if an Amerindian) from a "skorp" (excellent animation and critter design). Said native had been bushwhacked by a group of desperadoes--wonder who they could be, eh?--who killed his family and stole his hoard of Draconium. Zach and his new buddy head back to town for the funeral.
Meanwhile, Redeye is taking over Oblivion. His gang is essentially G-Force--Leader, #2 guy, girl, weirdo, and big dumb guy--as run through a villainizer. The "Princess" character is Lash (Musetta Vander), an omnisexual whip-cracking leather queen. The weirdo is cliche-Spaniard down to his twirling hat-dance walk and castanet sound effects.
Miss Kitty (Julie Newmar in a Catwoman-esque role) expounds on Zach's estrangement from his father for the audience; turns out Zach couldn't take killing and couldn't follow in his father's footprints.
Miss Mattie, the widow shopkeeper and future love interest for Our Hero, and her friend, drunk old Star Trek-reference-spouting Doc Valentine (George Takei), are terrorized by Redeye's gang in Mattie's shop.
The Marshall's funeral is held, interrupted by a bingo game (it's Thursday). Zach meets Mattie--no sparks fly--and backs down before Redeye. Later, it is revealed that Zach is an empath and feels the pain of everyone around him.
Zach's sidekick confronts the #2 bad guy in Miss Kitty's bar; the thug is the only one he recognizes from the raid on his homestead. They armwrestle before a Mon-Ding, a vicious poisonous creature that can sense fear, setting up a painful comics-related pun. #2 guy is bitten and dies. In the ensuing brawl, cyborg deputy Stell Bar (Meg Foster) shoots and kills the big dumb guy, who is sufficiently dumb to forget that he's dead, get up, and shoot the deputy.
While Doc treats Stell (pain, agony), Zach watches helplessly as Redeye and his gang prepare to whip his buddy to death (pain, agony). Grimaces fly like bullets as Zach reels under the empathic pain. Zach confronts the villains, who grab hostages (the love interest and the buddy, naturally) and flee into the Badlands. Zach pursues. A fight breaks out. Redeye is torn to pieces by two skorps, but he regenerates, so he'll be back. Everyone is saved and we have a happy ending. Cue scenes from the already filmed OBLIVION 2: BACKLASH. Fans of Peter David will note the third appearance of gentlemanly bounty hunter Sweeney in O2.
The film isn't terribly exciting, but does succeed comedically. The characters are effectively campy and overplayed (particularly Gaunt, Redeye, and Lash), the sight gags and one-liners produce chuckles or groans. On the whole, this movie achieves exactly what it set out to achieve, but does not go beyond. It's a solid **1/2 (of 4); see it as a matinee or on video.
The cast and crew who were present for the Q&A afterwards were uniformly cheerful, enthusiastic, and talkative, despite the late hour. Director Irvin and writer David were understandably articulate; the actors were somewhat less so, although George Takei acquitted himself well with an impressive, theatre-filling voice and plenty of experience in this sort of discussion. Julie Newmar was the tallest one there--5' 11" or 6' 0", plus heels--and is still eye-catching in her 50s. The crowd was hardcore SF/comics geekdom, but managed not to be completely fanboy in its questioning.
Irvin is to begin editing O2 this week; Paramount is to see the final cut of OBLIVION and decide on its distribution. Irvin and David pointed out several times that word-of-mouth and direct inquiries to Full Moon's headman ("When will OBLIVION be coming to a theatre in my area?") are the best way of helping the movie succeed.
Takei is finishing up his autobiography for Simon & Schuster (now on its third extension, due May 15) but it may be delayed further by the recording of the second "Adventures of Captain Sulu" audiotape--writer David informed a surprised Takei that he'd been told Takei was doing the recording May 1st. Takei is not in ST: GENERATIONS (only Shatner, Doohan, and Koenig from the old series).
David is developing a television series for Nickelodeon. HOWLING MAD has been optioned by Joe Dante, although David's quick to point out that this doesn't mean much of anything. Full Moon is preparing a line of comics and an original OBLIVION series is a likely possibility; David would be happy to write one. In the meantime, he's continuing on SPIDER-MAN 2099, AQUAMAN, and the INCREDIBLE HULK for the forseeable future; he can comfortably handle three monthly series plus special projects. A STTNG novel, Q-SQUARED, is due shortly; this features Q and the Squire of Gothos. David also let slip that "Where No Man Has Gone Before" has significant impact on the storyline.
-- elmo (morrow@physics.rice.edu,morrow@fnal.fnal.gov)
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