Free Preview: Pop Culture - Lust in Space: Chelsea Salmon
With a reboot of the 1968 sci-fi classic Barbarella in development, we pay homage to the original interstellar sex romp. An appreciation by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott. <BR><BR> The next time we shoot one of those probes into space packed full of stuff intended to give whoever is out there a basic idea of what the human race is all about, we could do worse than to include a DVD of Roger Vadim’s Barbarella. While nobody is likely to proclaim this sci-fi camp classic a masterpiece, it does offer a reasonable summation of much that is noble, wonderful and silly in our civilization. For one thing, the movie, in its nutty, lo-fi way, celebrates our technological ingenuity, as well as our persistent itch to fly off into space. Other artifacts of the era tackle the same themes, of course—the original Star Trek television series, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and even Planet of the Apes. But none of them has an opening title sequence featuring a zero-gravity striptease in a fur-lined boudoir. <BR><BR> It’s possible that our notional alien scholars wouldn’t make it any further than that remarkable opening. Plenty of earthlings have never seen Barbarella but nonetheless have etched in their brains the image of Jane Fonda in boots and a Plexiglas chest plate, brandishing a ray gun, thanks to an iconic still that was published on the cover of Life magazine. Similarly, anyone who has seen all of Barbarella and forgotten most of the plot will have no trouble recal...
Unlock the Uncensored Gallery & Video