"Arena": Rocky II In Space

Why is it so many SF movies that are little more than parodies make to video, while a nifty low-budget film like Arena gets stuck in the Vast Wasteland?

On a space station somewhere in the galaxy, boxing has become a kind of interspecies gladiatorial combat. Fighters have their strength levels artificially equalized by a computer, a situation ripe for exploitation. And so it is, by one Rogor (Marc Alaimo), who uses any and all means to neutralize that leveling factor so his fighters can win. His fixes are generally carried out by his nasty little minion, Weezil (Armin Shimerman), who is even more of a sociopath than his boss.

Steve Armstrong (pun, we suspect, completely intended)(Paul Satterfield) was a fighter on earth, but he quit when the organized mayhem of the Arena replaced the true sport of boxing. He's stuck on the station working as a busboy - until a fish-faced pro fighter takes him on in a bar brawl and gets soundly trounced. Out of work, homeless, he moves in with his equally out-of-work companion, Shorty (Hamilton Camp). The pro fighter's manager, Quinn (Claudia Christian), and her two trainers show up in the underdeck community called The Tubes looking to teach Steve a lesson. Instead, she ends up offering him a contract, which he nobly refuses.

Nobility, however, falls victim to expediency and friendship when Shorty's life is threatened. He owes Rogor some money, and the big-time hood is prepared to take it out in flesh. Steve signs on with Quinn and pays Shorty's debt with an advance. In short order, he's the new star of the sport, especially among the humanoids; and, inevitably, he rises to where he must face Rogor's vicious champion, Horn.

Think Rocky II meets Return of the Jedi. No one is ever going to consider this neat little space opera anything other than what it is. Nevertheless, Director Peter Manoogian and writers Danny Milson and Paul DeMeo obviously cared enough to make it as entertaining as possible. Instead of falling back on good vs. evil stereotypes, they offer characters who are a very real mix of both. As Rogor, Marc Alaimo is sinister and arrogant rather than a screaming psychotic-Gul Dukat as the Godfather. Shari Shattuck as Jade, the sexy lounge singer Rogor uses to try and kill Steve the night before the championship bout, has a hard shell with a tiny soft center where her conscience lies waiting. Even Hamilton Camp, whose four-armed Nebulan is a prime candidate for overacting, stays away from the ham platter. Nor does the ever-versatile Armin Shimerman disappoint- his Weezil makes Quark look like an amateur; and Claudia Christian manages to be the girl-waiting-for-the-hero-to-come-to-his-senses without turning into a joke.

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