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Space Thing

Name: Space Thing
Director: Byron Mabe, David F. Friedman
Released: 1968
Duration: 69 min

Representation Score

4.7/10

Fair

1968

Unrated

Director

Byron Mabe, David F. Friedman

Runtime

69 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Space Thing (1968) stands out for its proactive disruption of 1960s social hierarchies. By centering a female captain and depicting same-sex encounters, the film moves beyond including someone from a minority group without giving them real depth to establish a non-straight-centered social structure. The film's strength lies in its subversion of gendered power dynamics, where female characters are the primary drivers of desire and ability to act, while traditional masculine dominance is diminished. However, the film lacks multi-layered depth, providing no representation for racial, ethnic, or disabled communities, focusing its progressive elements almost exclusively on gender and sexuality.

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Category Breakdown

Does Space Thing have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film features an alien crew where a female captain engages in multiple same-sex relationships, disrupting traditional heterosexual norms.

How does Space Thing portray gender?

Excellent

Female characters hold leadership positions and play key roles in driving the plot and sexual dynamics, challenging traditional gender hierarchies.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Space Thing?

Minimal

The narrative focuses on an alternate world and alien characters. There is no evidence of racial or ethnic diversity within the human or alien casts.

How does Space Thing represent religion and culture?

Good

The film prioritizes subjective experiences through a dream sequence and challenges the conservative social norms of the 1960s with uninhibited sexual expression.

Does Space Thing include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no evidence to suggest the inclusion of characters with visible or invisible disabilities.

Present on Screen

Subverts traditional gender hierarchies by placing a woman in a position of leadership.
Features proactive LGBTQ+ representation through the captain's same-sex encounters.
Challenges 1960s social mores through uninhibited sexual expression and nudity.

Limited or Absent

Lacks any visible representation of racial or ethnic diversity.
Provides no inclusion of characters with visible or invisible disabilities.

Official Synopsis

A man is in bed reading Sci-Fi mags, and his wife seduces him. He then falls asleep, and the rest is his dream. He is from an alternate world, and disguises himself as an alien, then boards their ship, to keep them from attacking his planet. The captain is a woman, who has two lesbian encounters with her crew, and whips one of them for trying to have sex with our hero. All of the women are anxious to seduce our hero, as the other two men on the ship are not very exciting. Our hero forces a landing on an asetroid (actually the outskirts of Palmdale, California) and everyone runs around topless and has sex. He then blows up the alien ship in the worst special effects explosion.

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