# Help me name a Sci-Fi movie... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018 "2005-05-09T04:11:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![habs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@habs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/habs)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/1 "2005-05-09T04:11:48Z")
This is something that has been bugging me since my early childhood. When I was a wee lad of maybe 5 or 6 years of age, I remember watching a Sci-Fi movie on TV, remembering some sketchy details about it, but not much else. Ever since then, once in a while, I try to search for this movie at [IMDB.com](http://IMDB.com) or other science fiction movie websites, but I never seem to get anywhere because of the very scant details that I remember. So, without further adieu, here are the details I remember about this mysterious movie. It was definitely set in the future because I remember an orbiting spaceship or space station at one point during the movie. The movie took place on a somewhat dusty and barren planet, and the two lead characters (that I can remember) was a white girl with short hair and a big, muscular black guy. At one point in the movie, these two characters found themselves in some sort of a huge gladiatorial arena and they had to evade this fearsome metallic death machine that had all sorts of large, rotating chopping blades on the front of it. All this while the crowd cheered wildly, of course. šŸ™‚ Sorry, but thatā€™s really all I remember. Iā€™m guessing that the movie was probably made sometime in the last 1970ā€™s or early 1980ā€™s. I donā€™t know if that will be enough clues to be able to figure out what movie this isā€¦ šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/2 "2005-05-09T05:48:02Z")
Movie identification threads usually do best in the Cafe Society forum, so Iā€™ll send this thread over there. The denizens of that illustrious forum have identified movies and books with much less information to go on. They scare me sometimes. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/3 "2005-05-09T11:34:12Z")
Dredging through memories of my youthā€¦ accessingā€¦ Could it possibly be [Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086346/)? (And why did the Academy so scandalously ignore this classic?) ---
**Author:** ![EarthStone777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@EarthStone777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EarthStone777)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/4 "2005-05-09T11:58:38Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Dredging through memories of my youthā€¦ accessingā€¦ > > Could it possibly be [Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086346/)? (And why did the Academy so scandalously ignore this classic?) **Baldwin** you beat me to it. Thatā€™s exactly the movie I thought of reading the OP. I loved the ā€˜fearsome metallic death machine that had all sorts of large, rotating chopping bladesā€™ and can still remember those parts of the movie. The rest of the flick was a blur of bad acting and cheesy script writingā€¦ which made it a hit in my book. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/5 "2005-05-09T12:03:09Z")
In case you didnā€™t read far enough down in the IMDB listing, **Spacehunter** was a 3-D movie, from the brief resurgence of 3D in the early 1980s. It was the first 3D flick I can recall that tried to do real glitzy special effects in 3D (Back in the 1950s, **It Came From Outer Space** did a spaceship crash in 3D, but thatā€™s about as exotic as it got). I wasnā€™t very impressed. Later **Metalstorm** tried 3D FX. The film featured Michael Ironside unrecognizable under tons of latex makeup and a thoroughly forgettable plot. ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/6 "2005-05-09T13:03:32Z")
> [@](#): > > The movie took place on a somewhat dusty and barren planet, and the two lead characters (that I can remember) was a white girl with short hair and a big, muscular black guy. At one point in the movie, these two characters found themselves in some sort of a huge gladiatorial arena and they had to evade this fearsome metallic death machine that had all sorts of large, rotating chopping blades on the front of it. All this while the crowd cheered wildly, of course Sounds like a darn good movie to me! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/7 "2005-05-09T13:23:27Z")
The movie in which can be found one my favorite villain lines of all time: ā€œAre they missing any limbs? I hate it when they have missing limbs.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/8 "2005-05-09T14:44:49Z")
Hereā€™s [another review](http://www.badmovies.org/movies/spacehunter/) of Spacehunter, complete with pictures and clips, for the curious. I used to watch this all the time as a kidā€“Iā€™d taped it off of the late movie. Terrible movie, but still oddly entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/9 "2005-05-09T15:01:31Z")
First Amazon woman: "[A] good breeding man. . . " Second Amazon woman: ā€œI bet breeding with us would kill him.ā€ Peter Strauss: ā€œWell, Iā€™d like to see you try!ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/10 "2005-05-09T15:58:37Z")
> [@habs](#): > > So, without further adieu, Nitpick time: The phrase is ā€œwithout further ado.ā€ the closest definition of the word ado in this context is ā€œfuss.ā€ It is mostly used as a transitional phrase when introducing someone or something to an audience after an introductory speech. ā€œAdieuā€ is French for goodbye. Since you were not saying goodbye, ā€œwithout further adieuā€ is nonsensical in this context. As far as the topic goes, I have never seen the movie you described. ---
**Author:** ![habs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@habs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/habs)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/11 "2005-05-09T22:23:42Z")
Hey, thanks everyone! Now I will have to hunt down this movie on VHS or DVD and watch it to confirm that itā€™s absolutely 100% the movie that I so vaguely remember from my youth. I checked out the link that **slortar** provided and it definitely looks like thatā€™s the movie. Man, you guys are great! šŸ˜ƒ **Rufus Xavier** : I am so embarrassed! ā˜¹ :o ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-a-sci-fi-movie/303018/12 "2005-05-10T13:27:40Z")
> [@habs](#): > > **Rufus Xavier** : I am so embarrassed! ā˜¹ :o No need for embarrassment. Live and learn, and all that. Pay it forward, etc. etc. šŸ™‚