The film is about a mutiny aboard the generation ship known as the Southern Sun, whose pilot is the last chance to stop it.
Upon the first shooting day, it was announced to director David Winters that his father had passed. Being emotionally troubled and with a funeral to attend, Winters was unable to perform his duties and passed it on to his assistant director Neal Sundstorm. However, he was informed that the investors had agreed to the film only if Winters was its director, and could face litigation if he withdrew, hence his credit. After its release, Winters disowned the film.
The film has the reputation of being an amusing, unintentionally funny, and campy B-movie.
Plot
The Southern Sun is a generation ship, a spacefaring vessel that contains a large number of people, whose mission is to colonize a new world. Its voyage from its original homeworld (implied to be Earth) has lasted thirteen generations, so many of its inhabitants have been born and will die without ever setting foot on solid ground. This does not please the antagonist, Elijah Kalgan (John Phillip Law), who conspires with the pirates infesting the nearby Corona Borealis system and the ship's Chief Engineer MacPhearson (James Ryan). Kalgan hatches a plot to disrupt the Southern Sun's navigation systems and use the Enforcers, the ship's police force, to hijack the ship and direct it towards this system. At this point, the inhabitants of the Southern Sun will have no choice but to accept his "generosity".
Kalgan sabotages a key part of the ship just as an important professor's shuttle is on a landing trajectory. The loss of guidance control causes the shuttle to explode. The shuttle's pilot, Dave Ryder (Reb Brown), is able to escape, but the professor dies in the explosion. This sabotage seals off the flight deck for a number of weeks, which gives Kalgan the opportunity to attempt to wrest control. With the Enforcers in his hand, and with the flight deck out of commission, he holds the entire population of the Southern Sun hostage. Commander Jansen (Cameron Mitchell) and Captain Devers enlist Ryder's assistance, aided begrudgingly by Jansen's daughter Dr. Lea Jansen (Cisse Cameron), to regain control of the ship.
According to credited director David Winters, the casting of Reb Brown as the lead was due to the positive reviews he received for a previous film. While being offered the role, Brown asked Winters if he could hire his wife Cisse Cameron, for which he accepted. John Phillip Law was hired because of his credentials and to add extra marquis value. James Ryan and Cameron Mitchell were hired because they had good working relationships with Winters.[1]
Winters explained that on the first day of production, he received a call that his father died. Upon receiving the news, he passed on the directorial duties to his assistant director Neal Sundstrom, and took the first plane from its filming location in South Africa back to the United States.[1]
The funeral took a lot of energy from him, was emotionally distraught, and when it was done he decided to stay in the US to comfort his grieving mother.[1]
Eventually, the law firm in charge of the production contacted him to explain that on the contract with the investors, it was agreed that they would get a film directed by David Winters, and could sue if not delivered as such. Not feeling up to the task, Winters with producer Hope Holiday decided that he could stay in a hotel in Johannesburg for the remainder of the shoot and if any investors showed up he could go to set.[1]
Danny Reagan, in his review published in the Abilene Reporter-News, found it enjoyable and said it "is strictly B-grade sci-fi movie fare, but pretty good B-stuff. And B's usually are made for family viewing, as is this one".[2]
Mike Mayo wrote in The Roanoke Times that the film was comical and "high level camp". He graded it two stars and a half out of five. His consensus was that "for fans of alternative video. This one is a treat".[3]
In his review published in The Times, Tom Lounges gave it three out of five stars. While he thought the dialogue wasn't very good he said that the "film is never at loss for action and special-effect sequences". He found John Phillip Law's performance too campy, but liked the ones from James Ryan, Reb Brown, and Cameron Mitchell.[4]
A Variety reviewer who goes by the pseudonym "Lor" declared the film to be "an okay space saga" noting that "Cute model shots provide a patina of space opera section though the special effects are decidedly chintzy."[5]
The movie-mocking television comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 lampooned it. Writer Bill Corbett recalled "one of the movies that stood out for me was Space Mutiny. It was a South African film that was really fun and really dumb and gave us the gift of having a character killed off pointedly one moment and then, five minutes later, sitting back at her desk".[6]
Saga of a Fugitive Fleet Audio Drama
In 2020, the plot of Space Mutiny was adapted for an audio drama Saga of a Fugitive Fleet, that served as an unofficial continuation of the original Battlestar Galactica series. In the revamped Space Mutiny plot, Kalgan is the head of Fleet Security and stages a mutiny designed to divert the fleet from its search for the planet Earth, among other plot points. Original cast members Terry Carter, Noah Hathaway, Anne Lockhart, Sarah Rush and Laurette Spang participated. [7]
References
^ abcdeWinters, David (2018). Tough guys do dance. Pensacola, Florida: Indigo River Publishing. pp. 4348–4411. ISBN978-1-948080-27-9.
^Reagan, Danny (31 March 1989). "Two from AIP, and a very weird one from Vestron". Abilene Reporter-News: 2C.
^Mayo, Mike (26 April 1989). "A foursome of farces from the far side". The Roanoke Times: Extra: 1.
^Lounges, Tom (5 May 1989). "Aliens, lasers stir excitement in science fiction release". The Times: C-6.
^Variety's Film Reviews 1989-1990. Vol. 21. New Jersey: R. R. Bowker. 1991. pp. No pages. ISBN0-8352-3089-9.
