Having sort of worked on this film in a very minor capacity. I used to work at Donington Park race circuit, and while there some of the filming for Spaceriders took place. Myself and a colleague helped with the set up of some racetrack stunts/crashes that were organised by Stunt coordinator Roy Alon who was very well known in the film/TV world.When you see some of the footage being shot you cannot imagine its outcome on the big screen. The film director Joe Massot I believe had never done a film of this nature before, but he did not do a bad job considering Motorcycle Racing and its heroes are not the norm for film makers. One similar was Silver Dream Racer with David Essex made around 1978. Spaceriders is a one off rarity looking at the ups and downs of men racing motorcycles, its good for its time, and the soundtrack almost all songs by the band Queen make it some of the real racing footage exciting. If the film ever came out on DVD I would buy a copy for sure
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Racecon20002 February 2006
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johnjunior-1005225 February 2019I first saw this movie on VHS back in the mid 80's as a 15 or 16 year old. I was and still am an avid road race fan, growing up around the race circuits with my father. The thing I struggled to get my head around, apart from the strange plot, was the way the rider would enter a corner at Donington Park, then exit one at Mallory Park. I found that I spent the entire movie picking out this kind of thing instead of just watching it. I think Barry himself summed this movie up. When he was asked if he have any regrets about his race career he said "yes, making the movie space riders". All this being said I do have a VHS copy of the movie that I purchased to see if it was as bad as I remembered it to be... it was.
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pzilliox24 November 2008As a film buff who watches obscure B-movies, hoping to discover a forgotten masterpiece, and a big motorcycle fan, I was excited to find a bargain VHS copy of Space Riders, featuring Barry Sheene, motorcycle racing World Champion in '76 and '77.
The movie opens with ultra-dramatic, super-slow-motion shots of racing motorcycles, leaned over hard in a turn, two and three abreast. Obviously, this is real racing footage, and it's downright breathtaking. But then we switch to staged footage of Barry's motorcycle, obviously strapped bolt upright to the bed of a camera truck. My hope of uncovering a hidden film treasure quickly fades. What follows, unsurprisingly, is the most unconvincingly faked motorcycle crash stunt ever filmed ("unsurprisingly" because, for those not familiar with motorcycle racing history, the former champ actually did suffer a horrific and widely-publicized crash a year or so before the filming of Space Riders.) From there, the film quickly becomes confusingly jumbled. It jumps between grainy stock footage of real Grand Prix races, "movie of the week"-caliber scenes featuring Barry, and subtitled scenes of unknown Japanese businessmen, always talking about having the best and fastest motorcycle in the world. In one such scene we discover that they are assured racing victories by seemingly having just invented the clutch lever. Later, after teammate Yamashta crashes while hallucinating that a Samurai is chasing him on another bike, his wife expresses her grief by sobbing uncontrollably...while repeatedly doing wheelies up and down pit row.
The real racing footage is, well, realistic, but also really confusing, because the audience never knows which bike is supposed to be whose. Also, the producers must not have purchased the rights to ENOUGH footage; the same shots get used over and over.
The story is tied together through minutes-long voice-overs of an unseen "track announcer" who captures the realism of an excruciatingly boring announcer by mumbling and stumbling. But listen close; he's telling you the entire plot. Much easier than actually acting it out, don't you think? Thankfully, the film eventually uses the clearly understandable Spinning Newspapers Device to let us know the race results. Yes, really; it's THAT cliché.
The biggest disappointment of this movie is the fact that there is so little of Barry in it. Of the 93 minutes this movie lasts, Barry is on-screen for only 18 minutes; all the rest is racing footage and other actors. On camera, Sheene displays the sincere yet breezy confidence that endeared him to the public. In a better movie, he could have been a very enjoyable dramatic actor. The only scene in which Sheene seemed awkward and ill-at-ease was the final "championship" podium interview. Barry seemed uncomfortable pretending he'd won a contest that he really hadn't. Or perhaps I just felt uncomfortable for him. A documentary of Barry Sheene's struggle to race competitively in 1983 would be a much more interesting film, and a much more fitting legacy. -
John198627 June 2010I saw this film on VHS in Holland in 2008 (i think). Damn Good!!!. No really, this is one of the best motor-race films ever made. For motorcycle/Barry Sheene fans, it is a must-see. But it will also entertain other people. The film has also an outstanding soundtrack which include: "Queen", "Duran Duran", "The Fixx"... Which makes that the movie doesn't get bored. And Barry Sheene has proofed that he is also a good actor. It also starred the famous actor Gavan O'Herlihy and Maria Sirtis (Troy from Star Trek: The Next Generation) has also a cameo. I couldn't believe that this fantastic movie was never released on DVD. Anyway: This movie is one of my favorite movies!