EDITOR’S NOTE: You can read another take on this movie here.

2074: Corporations control the world instead of governments. Genetically engineered superbeing Pentan (Tracy Davis) serves her creator, Kuriyama Enterprises,  as a corporate assassin and covert agent. Her latest mission involves finding an abandoned alien ship, the second that has crashed landed. The first made those that found it rich beyond their wildest fantasies; the kind of rich that can change Pentan’s life.

The only problem is that because she’s turned her back on her creators, a nanite bomb in the back of her head will kill her in just a few days unless scientist Robert Thorton (Rick Foucheaux) can save her.

Together with space jockey Harold Brickman (Hans Bachman), she plans on finding the treasure while avoiding the massive star cruiser Promethian and the killers who want her back. And oh yeah — instead of just pretending to have feelings, she’s finally developing them.

Outerworld originally was StarQuest: Beyond the Rising Moon and if you had Sci-Fi back before it was SyFy, you may have seen it. Director and writer Phillip J. Cook took this shot on film effort and restored, remixed and added new digital video effects to improve the movie.

Cook’s Gerry Anderson influence is all over this movie, as the ships look like they could come from Stingray or any other of his shows. As a kid, I used to stare in wonder at a book of spaceships that had art by Colin Hay, Chris Foss, Angus McKie and Peter Elson. This movie takes those gorgeous pieces of space fantasy art and makes them as real as possible (and as a low budget will allow). There were thirty hand-built sets and over 270 effects shots which were all achieved for around $175,000. That budget is the most science fiction part of this entire film as it’s incredible that they were achieved for such a low price.

Pentan is the one who is strong and capable, yet unable to trust as she’s never been programmed to. Brickman takes on the role that women usually do in science fiction, needing to be rescued and protected.

Plus, this is lean and mean. 78 minutes. More movies should be that length.

Beyond working for Don Dohler — and then working as a DP for Godfrey Ho on Undefeatable — I assume that Cook played tons of Star Frontiers. This is the second review of his films that I’ve claimed that he played a deep cut TSR game — Despiser feels so much like Gamma World it could be a module for that game — and if I ever get to speak to Mr. Cook, I plan on asking him tons of questions about the Legion of Gold and the Knight Hawks.

What I love about all of his films is that they return you to the joy and wonder of being a child. I get the same kind of sense of amazement that I received when I watched Starcrash at the drive-in. And even when people decry the story or the effects, I can’t hear a single thing they say. This movie is beyond criticism. All I can do is tell you why it’s important to me and ask you to watch it.

You can watch this on Tubi.