ESCAPE FROM GALAXY 3 starts out in a outer space setting, but most of the film's running time also transpires in a forested wilderness. Since it's an Italian production I suppose that the shoot was somewhere in Europe; and most of the actors have Italian names like "Fausto di Bella," while the director has a long pedigree in Italian action/exploitation films. This is one of the few times he attempted Italian space opera, which as I've commented before always seems to be more indebted to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers no matter what current films have become big box-office. Though there are a few STAR WARS tropes in GALAXY-- notably the idea of young space-saviors fleeing the wrath of a tyrannical regime-- one has only to look at the extravagant costuming of the villain Oraclon (seen above) to know that the film's main homage is to Alex Raymond. Not only is Oraclon (who is in no way oracle-like) dressed like a flaming version of Ming the Merciless, he even sports glitter in his beard. Nope, no sombre, samurai-armored overlords here.
Though GALAXY is idiotic from start to finish, it's generally a pretty lively film. We begin with evil Oraclon demanding the immediate surrender of the world of Exalon, including its orbiting space station. For some reason the king of Exalon is on the space station when Oraclon comes calling, as are the king's daughter-- who sports the name "Belle Star" (note the single "r")-- and a kick-butt officer named Lithan. The king bravely defies Oraclon's forces, which then overwhelm all the might of Exalon with ridiculous ease. Dismayed, the ruler sends his daughter and his kick-butt officer to summon help from their galactic allies. Thus the two young people escape while all of Exalon is destroyed.
Damage to the couple's ship lands them on an unknown world inhabited by primitive, light-skinned natives who wear toga-like garments and have no weapons more advanced than spears.The princess doesn't seem overly moved by the destruction of her planet and her king-daddy; she's fascinated by the primitive ethos of the natives, in part because the denizens of Exalon are immortal and don't normally bother with little details like food and sex. The toga-people aren't nearly as enthusiastic about the weird people who fall from the heavens, and they almost sacrifice the Exalonians. The aliens manage to make friends after Belle Star saves an innocent child from potential death.
The sequences in which Belle Star and Lithan wander about bonding with the natives and learning about sex are generally dull, even in the nude scene (women bathing, of course). Fortunately, Oraclon shows up and starts hunting for the fugitives. Unfortunately, he doesn't find them on his first pass, giving the Exalonians more scenes with dancing, athletics and other bucolic pastimes. By this time Belle Star and Lithan fall in love.
When Oraclon returns and endangers the natives, the noble fugitives surrender, and are taken aboard the tyrant's spaceship (recycled from 1978's loony STARCRASH). It's only at the climax that GALAXY-- sometimes marketed as "STARCRASH II"-- that this film gets as crazy as the earlier film. Oraclon announces that he wants to marry Belle and that he's going to condemn Lithan to slavery in the mines. Being a sport, he allows the young lovers one last, lingering kiss. This sex-play apparently activates in Lithan powers that are referenced nowhere else in the script, for he suddenly fires lasers from his eyes and sizzles Oraclon to a crisp. The tyrant's guards are beaten with yet more ridiculous ease, after which the sexy young things escape, taking the overlord's hostages with them as the spaceship is blown all to hell. The film ends with Belle and Lithan vowing to return to the happy mortality of that world that will later be known-- "AS EARTH!"
(And anyone who didn't see that one coming from a mile away doesn't deserve to call himself a science fiction fan.)
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