Review of Barbarella, Queen Of The Galaxy

Introduction

The stuff of many a boy`s fantasy. Allegedly.

This film is pure sixties weirdness at it`s best, Jane Fonda floating around in weird (lack of) clothes, mutant children and the mad scientist, Duran Duran (the band was named after the character!)

It`s your standard Sci-Fi. or is it? Barbarella (Jane Fonda) has to recover a new weapon before it destroys humanity (standard stuff). This turns out to be a pleasure organ that kills by orgasm (not quite what one might expect)

Video

I`m in two minds really, on one hand this is a DVD and should therefore ooze technology and coolness but on the other we have a classic movie made before they could spell technology.

They`ve obviously done little to clean up the print which has more dust and speckles than a madman with a copy of Photoshop but it is anamorphic widescreen and very colourful. My overriding feeling when watching was that I was in an old cinema watching a classic film.........

So, no special effort made, but the video quality is more than good enough and you could almost say the dust was part of the experience.

Audio

The audio is Dolby Digital mono and seems to have transferred fairly well, bit muddled in places but you could always understand all the dialogue.
The soundtrack comes across well in all it`s electronic weirdness.

Features

Not many really which is a shame, especially as this is a full price offering, you do get a choice of 3 languages and almost a dozen subtitle tracks and there`s a trailer.

Conclusion

Hmm, tough one, it`s technically a very ordinary dvd, no exciting features, no 5.1 soundtrack, the video is noisy....

But it`s Barbarella! Her spaceship is upholstered in an orange shagpile carpet, the screen looks like an acid trip and the parrots are carnivorous. And don;t forget the introduction where Barbarella strips off her spacesuit in zero-g :)

I`d recommend this easily if it were a tad cheaper but as it is, it`s really only for those serious fans out there......