MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Vegas’: A Far-Out Sci-fi Spoof in Drag

“Vegas in Space” (at the Nuart), an endearing drag travesty, whisks us to a resort on a planet given over entirely to women’s pleasures.

Of late, the planet has been hit by tremors, jolting the women’s ritual shopping, primping and hanging out. It seems that someone has stolen a chunk of the “girlineum” jewels belonging to the Empress Nueva Gabor (Ginger Quest) that are essential to keeping the planet in orbit. (It doesn’t matter that how this works is left a mystery.)

As a result, the Empress of Earth (Miss X) has dispatched some space corps astronauts to come to the planet’s rescue, but first the guys have to swallow gender-reversal pills since the planet is off-limits to men. No problem: Once transformed, Capt. Tracy Daniels (the late Doris Fish), and Lts. Sheila Shadows (Ramona Fischer) and Debbie Dane (Lori Naslund) are eager to pass themselves off as entertainers who’ve come to treat their 23rd-Century audience to a “traditional mid-20th-Century lounge act.”

Meanwhile, Tracy tries to psych out the wraith-like, severely elegant and deeply ambiguous Queen Veneer (also Miss X), head of the planetary police force who may or may not be on the side of law and order.

In spoofing vintage “Flash Gordon”-type sci-fi adventures, Fish and Miss X, who wrote the script (based on a “party” by Quest), and their producer-director Phillip R. Ford aren’t interested in the plot or in generating any sense of mystery or suspense but rather in celebrating a camp sensibility that the material so abundantly provides.

Indeed, the entire pleasure in experiencing the film lies in its expression of a humorous, outrageous and gossamer-like camp aesthetic that recalls the ‘60s underground movies of the Kuchar Brothers, Jack Smith and Kenneth Anger--but minus the sex.

The cast doesn’t really act--and probably couldn’t anyway--but instead strikes poses and attitudes as if its members were competing in a drag-queen contest (which, in a sense, they are).

Measured by conventional standards, “Vegas in Space” meanders--to put it kindly--as a narrative. This is probably deliberate, enabling the film to emerge as a series of tableaux setting off the rich, bizarre costumes of the drag queens and Fish’s imaginative, resourceful production design. (No miniatures were ever so obvious yet enchanting as Fish’s toy-like model of the film’s Vegas in space.)

Of equal importance is Bob Davis’ remarkable sound design and dramatic score, which give the film its shape and meaning. “Vegas in Space” (Times-rated Family) really ought to be double-billed with Zsa Zsa Gabor’s “Queen of Outer Space.”

‘Vegas in Space’

Doris Fish: Capt. Dan Tracy and Capt. Tracy Daniels

Miss X: Empress Vel Croford and Queen Veneer

Ginger Quest: Empress Nueva Gabor

Ramona Fischer: Lt. Mike Shadows and Lt. Sheila Shadows

Lori Naslund: Lt. Steve Dane and Lt. Debbie Dane

A Troma Team release of a Lloyd Kaufman & Michael Herz presentation. Producer/director Phillip R. Ford. Executive producer Doris Fish. Screenplay by Fish, Miss X. Cinematographer Robin Clark. Editors Ed Jones, Ford. Sets, costumes, miniatures, makeup and hair design by Fish. Sound design and score Bob Davis. Sound Jim McKee. Running time: 1 hour, 24 minutes.

Times-rated Family (suitable for all ages).