Space Nuts

Probably the greatest success of Jonathan Morgan's career, "Space Nuts" lampoons many a space opera, ranging from Mel Brooks's overrated "Spaceballs" (a film I saw before release at a Manhattan theatrical press screening where it was quite underwhelming) to "2001", "Star Wars" and several other hits. And like Brooks, judging from other IMDb reactions, it is not for all tastes.

The 3-hour-plus epic benefits from a huge (for Adult) Wicked Pictures budget and a terrific cast of the label's top talent ranging from Stormy Daniels early in her career to Kaylani Lei, Jessica Drake and Devinn Lane. Lane in particular is excellent in a baddie role for a change, playing a witch who helps carry the story as well as performing her usual highly erotic antics.

A satisfying roster of 10 sex scenes is delivered amidst the merriment, with highlights featuring a precious pre-boob job Katie Morgan serviced by Steve Hatcher, Shanna McCullough delightful as a brothel madam named Miss Kitty in honor of "Gunsmoke"'s Amanda Blake, and huge-dicked Julian putting it to Stormy. Costumes, makeup FX and the usual Star Wars derived visual backdrops are top-notch for an Adult feature, if not up to mainstream standards.

Morgan's one unforgivable sin in life was to marry Nikki Fritz and cause the iconic Skinemax soft-core legend of the '90s to retire, a loss to us fans I rank right up there with the premature exit of Shannon Whirry from the scene. For "Space Nuts" he has Nikki provide the voice of the spaceship's computer, and then the dummkopfs at Wicked Pictures managed to misspell her stage name as "Nikki Frtiz" in the credits!

A word of warning: This is in no way related to the Krofft brothers' classic Far Out Space Nuts television series. Anyone looking for the further adventures of Junior and Barney should look elsewhere. There's no Bob Denver here.

Instead, Jonathan Morgan has given us a rather weak imitation of Grant Naylor's Red Dwarf with elements borrowed from Star Wars and Farscape. The performances range from dull to embarrassing, and all of the jokes fall painfully flat. We are treated to what is essentially the same scene over and over again: a man and a woman have sex in a bedroom. Here we find none of the adventurous nature of Michael Ninn's Perfect or the Mitchell brothers' Behind the Green Door; only safe, repetitive love scenes. The entire three hour (three friggin' hours!!!) production reeks of the mainstream.

In contrast, the commentary track is quite entertaining. Morgan, Stormy and... the other guy (Randy Spears maybe, I can't remember) seem to have pleasant rapport, and Morgan's jokes about one actor's grotesquely loose scrotum are downright hilarious (scrot-adactyl!).

If you don't have my aversion to mainstream product, you may be able to squeeze some enjoyment out of this movie. Just remember to bring your fast-forward button.

Space Nuts is the only porno in recent history that can be enjoyed during the non-sex scenes! Although the movie pokes fun at STAR WARS, STAR TREK, 2001, etc., I couldn't describe this movie any better than simply looking like an X-rated RED DWARF episode with its similar production values: set design, costumes, CGI, sci-fi characters, and overall vibe. The only difference is that the funny & witty British humour from RED DWARF is replaced by witty Mel Brooks-type humor, which is just as good. Concerning wit, Star Nuts is as witty as it is going to get in comedy pornos! The acting is pretty good especially for the main male leads. The female "protagonist", Stormy, is not bad acting-wise, but some acting lessons sure wouldn't hurt. On the other hand, the female "antagonist", Devinn Lane, is probably one of the best female porno actresses in the business. Overall, this is one of the best written pornos ever with developed characters. It is no wonder this movie won all the porno awards possible...Space Nuts is a 3-hour sci-fi epic with ten "entertaining" sex scenes. Surprisingly, it's worth it to watch this movie just for the laughs and visuals and it's definitely worth watching for more personal reasons! This movie is like the MATRIX of pornos - there is no way that upcoming big-budget porno movies can be filmed the same way as in the past now that Space Nuts exists.

It's an 'inside' (no pun intended) story that's been told many times, but just in case you've never heard it, here goes.

During the filming of this epic, Stormy Daniels attempted to engage then newcomer Katie Morgan in conversation. After receiving blank stares, an occasional giggle or a dumb reply, Ms. Daniels abandoned her quest.

As filming progressed, Ms. Morang was required to participate in a scene surrounded by fake boulders on an interstellar landscape. Try as he might, the director Johnathan Morgan (no relation) tried to get Katie Morgan to utter some sort of line and then proceed with the action. After a few futile attempts Stormy Daniels walked over to the director and said, 'Don't bother.' Pointing to one of the Styrofoam boulders she said, 'That rock is smarter than that girl.' Kattie Morgan would be forever typecast a dim wit. And got rich playing a naive dope.

This is what adult films should be. A solid story with real acting and good old-fashioned hot sex. Space Nuts is an obvious homage [or ripoff, depending upon your viewpoint] of the Star Wars series, but it is done so delightfully that you don't really mind.

We get wonderful comedic turns by Mike Horner as the Evil Overlord, Randy Spears as the devoted android and even from the normally wooden Evan Stone as the fearless--and none too smart--Buzz Starfokker. We also get a nice job out of Devinn Lane as the Dark Witch and Stormy as the lovely and beleagured princess. A supporting cast of lovely young ladies rounds out the sex appeal necessary for an adult movie.

Director Jonathan Morgan is a shining light in today's porn world as he brings in quality film after quality film, all telling a real story without sacrificing the heated eroticism which most of us watch adult films to find.