Plot
Set in the early 22nd century, the film opens with the destruction of a space cruise liner by a bolt of nebular lightning. The only apparent survivors are three beautiful women—Nova, Reena, and Meagan—who take refuge in an escape pod and land on the nearest habitable planet. There, they are quickly accosted by the hostile natives and taken aboard a sail-driven vehicle resembling a pirate ship on rails.
In space, an alert is broadcast for the safe return of the women with a reward of 3,000 mega-credits. A soldier of fortune turned small-time salvage operator named Wolff intercepts the message, and he interrupts his "R.U.R."-reading female engineer Chalmers' downtime to get her to check the ship's junky old computer for information about the world they are marooned on.
The planet, the two learn, is called Terra 11 and is a failed pre-war Earth colony that fell victim to a deadly plague and civil warfare and is still off limits due to quarantine. Wolff decides to risk the dangers as the reward will solve his debt problems and pay for much needed ship repairs.
After landing on the barren world, Wolff and Chalmers set out in a heavily armed and armored four-wheel-drive vehicle called the Scrambler. They become involved a battle in progress between a grotesquely-garbed group of marauders called Zoners and the band of rail-ship nomads led by the aged Grandman Patterson. The Zoners take the women before Wolff can stop them and fly away on jet-powered hang gliders.
Wolff learns from the nomads that the women were taken into The Zone which is ruled by Overdog McNabb, Patterson's sworn enemy since back when they were doctors sent to cure the plague and McNabb went bad. Returning to the Scrambler, Wolff finds that Chalmers—revealed to be a android—has been killed during the battle.
Wolff continues alone, but he soon catches a grubby teenage chatterbox who calls herself Niki the Twister trying to steal his Scrambler. Claiming to be an "Earther" like him, Niki "brainworks" that Wolff needs a tracker if he is to survive The Zone, and Wolff reluctantly decides to take her on as a guide.
In the meantime, the three women are taken before The Chemist, the chief henchman of Overdog, who administers pacifying drugs to the women and prepares them for Overdog's pleasure. A hideous, black metal-bodied cyborg who has declared himself planetary dictator, Overdog is linked directly into his fortress and has giant mechanical claws for hands and a face like a metal-toothed Phantom of the Opera.
Elsewhere, Wolff and Niki make camp, but soon come under attack by a strange plow-like vehicle. Wolff manages to disable the machine and learns the driver is Washington, an old military acquaintance of his from back when they both served in Sector Control who has since worked his way up to becoming Sector Chief of the entire Terra Sector.
Washington reveals that he has also come to Terra 11 to rescue the women so he can get the reward for himself. His only problem is that he crashed his ship and has no way off of the planet. Wolff refuses to help his rival and leaves him to fend for himself.
Still led by the enthusiastic if somewhat less than reliable Niki, Wolff gets into more predicaments as they are attacked by the ragged plague-scarred cannibalistic Scavs, various mutated humanoids, a subterranean tribe of aquatic Amazon-like Barracuda Women and a water dragon which the female warriors fear.
Losing his trusty Scrambler, he and Niki are forced to continue on foot across the desolate landscape. Eventually, they are found by Washington, and Wolff finds the situation reversed as, desperate for water for himself and the girl, he now begs his rival for help. They agree to a 50/50 split of the reward, with Niki assuming she will get her own "fifty fifties" share.
Now a team, Wolff and Washington sneak into Overdog's fortress, where they find the Zoners entertained by captured prisoners forced to run through a deadly maze of lethal obstacles, hazards and traps. Wolff spots the women being held in a cage and forms a rescue plan, but a bored Niki (who was left out of the rescue for her own safety) decides to snoop around.
She is captured and sent into the maze. Wolff spots Niki in the maze and, despite Washington's objections, heads back to rescue her, but the teenager manages to use her own youthful agility to reach the end. Overdog congratulates her and drags her back to his lair. There, she is hooked to a machine that slowly drains her life energy. The energy, in turn, recharges Overdog.
Wolff comes to the rescue and jabs a sparking power cable into one of Overdog's claws. The power feedback fries Overdog and causes cascading blowouts throughout the entire fortress.
As the fortress explodes around them, Wolff and Niki run for cover and are rescued by the timely arrival of Washington, who is driving the plow machine with Nova, Reena and Meagan driving the salvaged Scrambler. They all race out of the fortress just as it explodes behind them.
Back at his spaceship Wolff invites Niki to come with him, Washington and the rescued women back to Earth. The girl says she will only if they remain partners, and Wolff agrees.
Production
Development
The film, which was announced in February 1982, [6] was one of a number of 3D films made in the wake of the success of the Spanish-American 3D Western film Comin at Ya . Ernie McNab, the 3D designer on this film, said the effects would enable the audience to "really feel space". [7] Producer Don Carmody said, "We never stoop to pop popcorn in your face. We do have one scene where laser beams and flame-blasters are bombarding the audience fast and furious, but these effects occur during a battle scene and appear valid." [4] In 2015 Reitman said: "We had to have two cameras. We just shot it in what is now called “native” 3-D, and it was hell. And there were no screens that you could show it in. That was not really a practical idea in 1981." [8]
Casting
Ernie Hudson says when he was first cast he was told Jeff Bridges would play Wolff. [9] Then Peter Strauss was cast in the role. [10]
Filming
Filming started under the title Adventures in the Creep Zone in October 1982. The original director was Jean LaFleur who had co written the original story and previously worked with producer Don Carmody. [10] However, after only two weeks of filming, LaFelur and several other crew members were fired, reportedly because Columbia was unhappy with the film's progress. [10] His replacement was Lamont Johnson. [11]
Strauss said this led to changes to his character. "There were attempts to make him a little less tough and a little more gentle and responsive to the girl, Niki. Some of his grittiness in the earlier version was replaced with a notion of more gentleness." [12] "It was difficult because things were always changing," said Hudson. "We changed the script entirely. When Lamont came in, we got a new script, a new everything. I ended up really liking Lamont. But it was very confusing, especially in the beginning." [9]
Molly Ringwald said "I was always attracted to the character. The script was pretty — uh — but I figured that maybe I could change the dialogue a little when I got there. As it turned out, they were desperate to change the dialogue. I was quite relieved when Lamont showed up and said, 'This is awwwful. Let's change all this!' The script was re-written a lot. There was a train which started out as evil and wound up being good. People who were supposed to be friends ended up being enemies. It was confusing. I was lucky, though. All my material was improved." [13]
Hudson felt the movie "was a real stretch for" Strauss "and the confusion didn't help [...] Wolff was a wonderful, Harrison Ford type, but that's not Peter. An actor has to take it his own way and do something totally different. Unfortunately, you're working with people who want the Harrison Ford thing, and they want it from you [...] Peter had to carry his first big feature through all that confusion, and it was very difficult." [9]
Parts of the film were shot in Utah, including location shooting in: Kane Creek, Bull Canyon, along the Colorado River, Potash, Lower Shafer Trail, Potash Settling Ponds, Grey Hills, U.S. Highway 91, and the area south of Canyonlands Regional Airport. [14] It was also shot in Vancouver.
