Star Maidens
1 9 7 6 (UK/Germany)
13 x 60 minute episodes
Star Maidens was an Anglo-German co-production,
shot on 16mm film at Bray Studios in England with a budget of £50,000
an episode. Though basically a space-bound soap opera, it did provide
some interesting science-fiction concepts.
The series introduced the the planet of Mendusa where
the female of the species reigned supreme (and were all drop-dead
gorgeous in very revealing uniforms!) while the males took care of
domestic chores, nursery duties and other menial tasks. When Mendusa
entered the orbit of planet Earth, and word got around that it was a
planet ruled almost entirely by men, two of the most rebellious
Mendusan menservants managed to escape.
The first four episodes dealt with the arrival on
Earth of the two rebels, Adam and Shem (Gareth Thomas of Blakes 7),
and their constant endeavours to remain. In subsequent episodes the
action alternated between the two planets, resulting in each episode
having a self-contained storyline within the series.
 After narrowly avoiding being killed when
they crash-landed on Earth, the two renegade males appealed to the
authorities to allow them asylum from the pursuing women - but on
board the Mendusan ship Nemesis, Chief Security Controller
Octavia and Adam's mistress (and lover) Grand Councilor Fulvia were
already heading for Earth.
Fulvia wanted the return of her
runaway servant (who she treated more like a pet) and it wasn't long
before aggressive super-bitch Octavia was ordering several Earth
police officers about, expecting them to react like the men on her
home planet.
Meanwhile, after trying to communicate with a herd of
cows, (and following their lead by eating grass!) Adam and Shem
found their way to a large castle where they sought refuge. Unable
to resist their curiosity, Earthling Doctor Rudi Schmidt and Liz
Becker from the Astronomical Institute explored inside the unattended Nemesis.
Rudi accidentally triggered a device which blinded him, and the
panic-stricken Liz turned to the craft's occupants for help upon their
return. (They activated a medical droid who performed a brief
operation and a much relieved Rudi made a perfect recovery).
 Octavia then piloted the ship to the castle where she
had tracked Adam and Shem, and activated something called the
Nightmare Cannon - a weapon that feeds upon a person's fear - forcing
both men outside to plead for mercy. Unfortunately, before Nemesis
could land it was struck by lightning and damaged, and had to return
to space for repairs.
Octavia kidnapped the two scientists in the hope of
arranging an exchange for Adam and Shem (much to the annoyance of
Professor Evans on Earth, who was enjoying picking the alien's brains
in his quest for more knowledge).
Meanwhile Fulvia was drugged with
champagne and kidnapped by a foreign power who wanted the secrets of
Mendusa's advanced technology, while up on Mendusa Dr Rudi Schmidt
crossed swords with Octavia and was tried by a jury of computers and
sent onto the barren surface of the planet to join a work
detail.
While here, Schmidt organised a breakout and destroyed
the hovering patrol vehicle by reflecting its own ray back against it
with a mirror. The escape bid was foiled by President Clara, whose
pleas worked on the dumb male escapees as their conditioning caused
them to obey the women's orders and open the hatch to admit the
red-helmeted female security guards with paraguns - a ray gun that
causes temporary paralysis).
Octavia meanwhile ordered Liz Becker to be attached to
a bizarre machine called the sexometer, which worked on the mind - On
a large video screen we saw a muscle-bound, macho, blond guy, but Liz
rebelled and the image changed into a hideous snake. Octavia
boosted the power and restored the hunk until Liz changed it again by
sheer willpower. Over and over again it changed back and forth from
man to beast until the machine blew a circuit - Shades of Barbarella
. . .
 Down on Earth, Adam has rescued Fulvia and the pair
have decided to try and live together as man and wife (but in reverse,
with her working and him staying at home to do the housework), but
Adam tired of Fulvia's jealousy and called it a day. Packing his bags
and leaving her, he rescued the weak-willed Shem who had been
dominated by two women's libbers and forced to show them how to use a
paragun (most of this sequence was shot on a Barrat housing estate - a
sign that the budget was running out).
Back on Planet Chick, Rudi worked out that the rain
was disintegrating Mendusa's crust and it was only a matter of time
before all the Mendusans were killed, but Octavia refused to listen to
the good doctor - as their 'Prediction Computer' insisted there was
nothing wrong. Rudi ultimately had a new air purification system shut
down and saved the day.
In the end, Rudi and Liz were returned to Earth
in exchange for Adam and Shem (on the way home, Adam shot down an
age-old enemy of the Mendusans and saved Octavia's life. Reluctantly
she voiced her gratitude to the MAN who saved her . . . Ironic, huh?
TRIVIA NOTES
If Mendusa looked in many ways like a discarded Space : 1999
set, this is because the production designer was Keith Wilson (who
worked on both seasons of the Gerry Anderson series).
At first glance, the model sets looked quite impressive, but on
closer inspection it was revealed that they were made of everyday
items. Take for instance the model of the Mendusan city; It was
built out of every day objects like table tennis balls, plastic straws
and cotton reels. Unfortunately it was also obvious that a part of
this futuristic engineering feat was nothing more than an egg box!.
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