I'm reviewing here the 2009 special new edition that combines the 3 parts of John Millerman's "The Uranus Experiment" into one lengthy feature; I have separate reviews of the Parts 2 and 3 segments. It's an expensive, well-crafted XXX epic, the likes of which no longer makes financial sense in our current web-based porn era.
One mistake, which I chalk up not to racism but rather stupidity, is excising Black actress Bettina entirely from the revamped 2-1/2 hour version. She remains in a "Deleted" sex scene on the DVD but not in the main feature, yet retains prominent display photo and billing on the same DVD "new edition" box cover. I had just watched her great performance in Tanya Hyde's classic "London Calling", filmed around the same time as the Uranus trilogy, so I was quite disappointed.
Hokey sci-fi tale benefits from nifty SPFX and attention to detail that surrounds the inevitable (and arousing) porn footage spotlighting top Euro talent. Flashbacks establish an elaborate KGB plot that involves using a joint US/Russian space expedition to the planet Uranus into an experimenting (involving a professor of sexual research at Gorky University (!)) on the crew to test a powerful aphrodisiac formula on both astronauts and cosmonauts to determine the effect of weightlessness on human sexuality.
This isn't such a bad idea, and Millerman gets some brownie points for a back on Earth scene introducing Cristina Dark as the beautiful prof that is quite similar to an episode of Showtime's "Masters of Sex" made a decade and a half later.
In space the gimmick is to provide a fascinating though brief facial money shot on Silvia Saint that has all the spunk floating around her head due to weightlessness achieved via a crash dive from 10,000 meters on a test plane. Here's a pornographer going more than that extra mile to please the fans. Other cum shots in space are conventional.
Commander of the Russian craft Resolution is played by Wanda Curtis, who has a perfect body and holds her own against beauties like Saint (oddly cast as an American member of the NASA craft Reunion crew) and Dark. Gabriella is cast as the US commander's wife back home, and her major role like Bettina's is largely removed, seen in Parts 2 and 3 and one of the "Deleted" scenes here.
Besides the excellent model work and graphics, Millerman takes huge artistic liberties which make the sci-fi content laughable, but it's usually laughable in a straight sci-fi movie (and especially in the garbage latterly cranked out for the Syfy network) so it's hard to punish Private. First, the two ships that dock in space to make the long journey are merely shuttle craft, not space ships seemingly capable of such a long and arduous trip.
Depending on position in orbit, Uranus is anywhere from 1.6 to 2 billion miles from Earth. Yet the space shuttles seem to make the trip in days, round-trip yet, with no explanation even token provided by director Millerman on how this is accomplished. Ultimately his job is to deliver sex scenes, and they are well-performed, though a final orgy after everyone's safely back home on Earth, with champagne spiked with sex formula by a waitress/KGB operative, is way overdone compared to the concise sex antics preceding it.
Ending more or less has the KGB successful on all counts, which is why I'm sure Vladimir Putin would applaud this relatively benign propaganda porn film.
One mistake, which I chalk up not to racism but rather stupidity, is excising Black actress Bettina entirely from the revamped 2-1/2 hour version. She remains in a "Deleted" sex scene on the DVD but not in the main feature, yet retains prominent display photo and billing on the same DVD "new edition" box cover. I had just watched her great performance in Tanya Hyde's classic "London Calling", filmed around the same time as the Uranus trilogy, so I was quite disappointed.
Hokey sci-fi tale benefits from nifty SPFX and attention to detail that surrounds the inevitable (and arousing) porn footage spotlighting top Euro talent. Flashbacks establish an elaborate KGB plot that involves using a joint US/Russian space expedition to the planet Uranus into an experimenting (involving a professor of sexual research at Gorky University (!)) on the crew to test a powerful aphrodisiac formula on both astronauts and cosmonauts to determine the effect of weightlessness on human sexuality.
This isn't such a bad idea, and Millerman gets some brownie points for a back on Earth scene introducing Cristina Dark as the beautiful prof that is quite similar to an episode of Showtime's "Masters of Sex" made a decade and a half later.
In space the gimmick is to provide a fascinating though brief facial money shot on Silvia Saint that has all the spunk floating around her head due to weightlessness achieved via a crash dive from 10,000 meters on a test plane. Here's a pornographer going more than that extra mile to please the fans. Other cum shots in space are conventional.
Commander of the Russian craft Resolution is played by Wanda Curtis, who has a perfect body and holds her own against beauties like Saint (oddly cast as an American member of the NASA craft Reunion crew) and Dark. Gabriella is cast as the US commander's wife back home, and her major role like Bettina's is largely removed, seen in Parts 2 and 3 and one of the "Deleted" scenes here.
Besides the excellent model work and graphics, Millerman takes huge artistic liberties which make the sci-fi content laughable, but it's usually laughable in a straight sci-fi movie (and especially in the garbage latterly cranked out for the Syfy network) so it's hard to punish Private. First, the two ships that dock in space to make the long journey are merely shuttle craft, not space ships seemingly capable of such a long and arduous trip.
Depending on position in orbit, Uranus is anywhere from 1.6 to 2 billion miles from Earth. Yet the space shuttles seem to make the trip in days, round-trip yet, with no explanation even token provided by director Millerman on how this is accomplished. Ultimately his job is to deliver sex scenes, and they are well-performed, though a final orgy after everyone's safely back home on Earth, with champagne spiked with sex formula by a waitress/KGB operative, is way overdone compared to the concise sex antics preceding it.
Ending more or less has the KGB successful on all counts, which is why I'm sure Vladimir Putin would applaud this relatively benign propaganda porn film.