Granted Space Mutiny has it's foibles the worst being a scene edited out of place in the control room that makes it look like a dead woman came back to life. Another would certainly be the setting where most of the action takes place is either in a giant warehouse or perhaps the basement of an ice rink. However this often happens with low budget movies that try too hard and although some people would refer to these movies as "so bad they're good", I'd simply call them good. I mean the film entertained me greatly and made me want to watch it again so what's bad about that? Yes the sets and special effects on board the spaceship are mediocre at best, but the effects outside the ship are outstanding! Why is this? Because Space Mutiny used scenes from Battlestar Galactica to fill in for their action sequences in outer space. Unlike your average Turkish or Filipino sci-fi knockoff which blatantly stole film footage, my understanding is that Universal used to sell their footage to filmmakers at very low prices in the 70s and 80s so I guess the director or producer decided "why the Hell not". There is also some spectacular over the top acting from most involved. First of all the South African extras do a fine job. Our lead hero Reb Brown may not be Olivier, but he is known to many of us as the late 70s Captain America, Yor Hunter From The Future and that guy who was in that hilarious Three's Company episode (Reb's wife and Space Mutiny co-star also appeared on Three's Company). Cameron Mitchell is a fantastic actor with hundreds of credits to his name. His skills allowed him to appear in TV and cinema for almost 45 years straight! Finally there's John Phillip Law as the bad guy Kalgan. Law has not only had a long and entertaining cinematic career, but he may also give one of the top 10 villain performances ever put on screen. He is so evil and diabolical that you just hate his guts and HE is the best reason I can give you to watch this movie.
The action would be another great reason to watch Space Mutiny. In the MST3K version 3 or 4 action scenes are cut out along with an exciting chase or two in the old floor buffers. Reb Brown aka Dave Ryder kicks plenty of ass on those masked clowns. He punches, kicks and blasts his way into our hearts. Another nice touch is with the regular full length movie we also get some swear words and a little nudity. These little things just make the film seem a bit more adult despite the goofy fantasy we're watching.
Overall the plot is a Mutiny On The Bounty type story, except you side with the humble peaceful captain and want the mutiny to fail. There is an additional subplot involving a witch like group called the Bellerians, but it really adds nothing to the plot and since it's not some sexual exploitative thing, my guess would be it was tacked on to pad the film's running time. Finally back to the lampooned set design. Now yes, there does appear to be sun shining in through those basement panels, but the set designer wisely gave the control rooms a bit of a white glow as well (you can actually see this ever present glow in the pictures below). If we use our imagination as the director and set designer had to, perhaps we can envision there's a power source or a reflective metal or a force field or ship lighting system behind those glowing windows. I don't know it's simply one of the biggest things detractors always point when they say how crappy this movie is, but for me it doesn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the film. Space Mutiny may not be Star Wars or Logan's Run or even Zardoz, but it will always be one of my most watched and one of my favorite movies in my vast cinema collection...
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