Worst SFX No.1: Saturn 3 (1980)

Martin Anderson

Published on Jan 6, 2009

An Alien rip-off conceived by Oscar winning-production designer John Barry, Saturn 3 got a new director in Stanley Donen when Barry died at age 43 in 1979. The production was chaotic, the demands of star Kirk Douglas made it into screenwriter Martin Amis's novel Money, and Harvey Keitel was so appalled that he refused to dub his voice in post-production (which duty was taken over by Roy Dotrice). Colin Chilvers' effects are variable at best, but one shot simulating Keitel's journey through Saturn's rings proved a shortcut too far; the rocks supposedly composing the rings are clearly sitting on sheets of glass, and you can even see the reflection…