{{Short description|1976 British-German science-fiction TV series}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox television | image = Star Maidens.jpg | image_size = 233 | caption = Christiane Krüger (centre) and Lisa Harrow (right) in ''Star Maidens'' | alt_name = ''Les Filles Du Ciel'' (France and French Canada)<br /> ''Die Mädchen aus dem Weltraum'' (Germany) | genre = Science fiction | creator = Jost Graf von Hardenberg<ref name="Cancelled">{{cite web |title=Sci Fi TV Obscurities: Star Maidens (1976) |url=https://www.cancelledscifi.com/2024/12/28/sci-fi-tv-obscurities-star-maidens-1976/ |website=Cancelled Sci Fi |access-date=14 March 2026}}</ref> | developer = | writer = Eric Paice<br />John Lucarotti<br />Ian Stuart Black<br />Otto Strang | director = Freddie Francis<br />James Gatward<br />Wolfgang Storch<br />Hans Heinrich | starring = Judy Geeson<br />Lisa Harrow<br />Christiane Krüger<br />Pierre Brice<br />Christian Quadflieg<br />Gareth Thomas<br />Derek Farr<br />Dawn Addams | theme_music_composer = | open_theme = | end_theme = | composer = Berry Lipman and Patrick Aulton | country = United Kingdom<br />West Germany | language = English | num_series = 1 | num_episodes = 13 | producer = James Gatward | editor = Robert C. Dearberg | location = Bray Studios<br />On location: Windsor, Bracknell, Black Park | cinematography = Ken Hodges | camera = | runtime = 25 minutes | company = Portman Productions<br />Scottish Television | channel = ITV | first_aired = {{start date|1976|9|1|df=y}} | last_aired = {{end date|1976|12|1|df=y}} }}
'''''Star Maidens''''' is a British-German science-fiction television series.<ref name="Nostalgia">{{cite web |title=Star Maidens |url=https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1970s/star-maidens/ |website=Nostalgia Central |access-date=14 March 2026}}</ref><ref name="Cult Faction">{{cite web |last1=Summers |first1=Brett |title=Star Maidens |url=https://cultfaction.com/2014/11/06/cult-t-v-essentials-star-maidens/ |website=Cult Faction |access-date=14 March 2026}}</ref> Produced by Portman Productions in 1975 and partly financed by German company, Werbung-im-Rundfunk, it was first broadcast on the ITV network in 1976.<ref name="Cult Faction" /><ref name="Scotland On-Air">{{cite web |title=Star Maidens |url=https://wiki.scotlandonair.com/wiki/Star_Maidens |website=Scotland On-Air |access-date=14 March 2026}}</ref> It was filmed at Bray Studios and on location in Windsor and Bracknell, Berkshire, and Black Park, Buckinghamshire.<ref name="Nostalgia" /><ref name="Scotland On-Air" /><ref name="Catacombs">{{cite web |last1=Willey |first1=Martin |title=Star Maidens |url=https://catacombs.space1999.net/plus/sm/starmaidens.html |website=The Catacombs: Comprehensive Guide to Space: 1999 |access-date=14 March 2026}}</ref> It ran for a single season of thirteen half-hour episodes.
==Background== ''Star Maidens'' largely followed on the success of ''Space: 1999'', another sci-fi hit and, at the time, the most expensive show produced for British television.<ref name="Scotland On-Air" /> While ''Star Maidens'' had a considerably lower budget, it shared the same production designer, Keith Wilson, the same sound editor, Peter Pennell, and special effects by Allan Bryce, leading to a similar look and feel for both series.<ref name="Catacombs" /> Lead actresses Judy Geeson and Lisa Harrow had also appeared as star guests in ''Space:1999'': Geeson in the episode "Another Time, Another Place" and Harrow in "The Testament of Arkadia".<ref name="Cult Faction" /><ref name="Catacombs"/>
According to the notes included in the series’ 2005 DVD release, "the German producers intended for the series to be a sex comedy, whereas the British producers intended the show to be intelligent science fiction."<ref name="Scotland On-Air" /> This clear disparity in creative vision likely contributed to ''Star Maidens'' lasting only one season, despite reasonable international sales.{{cn|date=March 2026}}
==Synopsis== Planet Medusa, home to a highly evolved and technologically advanced humanoid race ruled by women, is knocked out of its orbit around Proxima Centauri by a rogue comet. Eventually, Medusa enters Earth's solar system. Two Medusan males, Adam (Pierre Brice) and Shem (Gareth Thomas), escape to Earth using a recently repaired ship. The pair are consequently pursued by Medusan security forces. When the Medusans, led by Supreme Councillors Fulvia (Judy Geeson) and Octavia (Christiane Krüger), fail to re-capture their two men, they take two human hostages – Dr Rudi Schmidt (Christian Quadflieg) and his assistant Dr Liz Becker (Lisa Harrow). The series focuses on the two groups’ attempts to adapt to life on the different planets while brokering an exchange for the hostages.<ref name="Cult Faction" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/star_maidens|title=SFE: Star Maidens|website=Sf-encyclopedia.com|access-date=2 January 2022}}</ref>
==Cast== *Judy Geeson as Supreme Councillor Fulvia *Lisa Harrow as Dr. Liz Becker *Pierre Brice as Adam *Gareth Thomas as Shem *Christian Quadflieg as Dr. Rudi Schmidt *Christiane Krüger as Supreme Councillor Octavia *Derek Farr as Professor Evans *Dawn Addams as Clara
== Episodes == {{Episode table |background=#000000 |overall= |title= |airdate= |episodes= {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 1 | Title = Escape to Paradise | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|9|1|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 2 | Title = Nemesis | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|9|8|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 3 | Title = The Nightmare Cannon | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|9|15|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 4 | Title = The Proton Storm | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|9|22|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 5 | Title = Kidnap | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|9|29|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 6 | Title = The Trial | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|10|6|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 7 | Title = Test for Love | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|10|13|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 8 | Title = The Perfect Couple | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|10|20|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 9 | Title = What Have They Done to the Rain? | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|10|27|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 10 | Title = The End of Time | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|11|3|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 11 | Title = Hideout | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|11|17|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 12 | Title = Creatures of the Mind | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|11|24|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 13 | Title = The Enemy | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1976|12|1|df=y}} | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 000000 }} }}
==Themes== A clear reaction to the women's liberation movement of the 1970s, ''Star Maidens'' featured the reversal of gender roles, often for satirical effect.<ref name="Catacombs" /><ref name="SFE">{{Cite web|url= https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/star_maidens|title=The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction|date=12 January 2025}}</ref> In a 1976 review, critic Stanley Eveling, writing for''The Scotsman'', claimed that in "lovely advanced planet" Medusa "Germaine Greer would be happy".<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19761002/204/0010|title=The Scotsman, 2 October 1976}}</ref> Nevertheless, later reviewers tend to perceive the role reversal as "unsubtle"<ref name="Catacombs" /> or "heavy-handed",<ref name="Jackson">{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=Michael W |title=Star Maidens (1976) |url=https://theory-practice.sydney.edu.au/2020/08/star-maidens-1976/ |website=Political Theory and Practice |publisher=The University of Sydney |access-date=15 March 2026 |date=3 August 2020}}</ref> with Michael W. Jackson opining that the motif "was daring at the time, but the execution is half-hearted."<ref name="Jackson" />
==Reception== The series gained healthy global sales to over forty territories in Europe, Arab countries, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and the United States, where it ran on New York's WNEW-TV in 1978.<ref name="Nostalgia" /> Nevertheless, unlike contemporary British sci-fi shows like ''Doctor Who'', ''Space: 1999'', or ''Blakes 7'', ''Star Maidens'' failed to gather a large Anglophone fan-base. Inconsistent time slots on ITV during the series' first run may be partly responsible for its failure to gain a wide audience.<ref name="Sharp">{{cite journal |last1=Sharp |first1=Sharon |title=Star Maidens: Gender and science fiction in the 1970s |journal=Science Fiction Film and Television |date=Autumn 2008 |volume=1 |issue=2 |page=275 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/269267 |access-date=15 March 2026}}</ref>
In ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', writer and journalist John Brosnan blamed the series' cost (high by British TV standards) and low audience rates for the show's cancelation after one season.<ref name="SFE" />
==Merchandise==
===Home video releases=== All thirteen episodes of ''Star Maidens'' were released on Region 2 DVD from Delta Entertainment in 2005.<ref name="Sharp" /> The two-disc set includes an interview with actor Gareth Thomas as a special feature.
In 2017, the series was re-released on DVD by Simply Media with new cover artwork.{{cn|date=March 2026}}
===Novel=== A novelisation of the series, written by Ian Evans (a pen-name of sci-fi author Angus Wells), was published in the United Kingdom by Corgi Books in 1977.<ref name="Trash Fiction">{{cite web |title=Ian Evans: Star Maidens |url=http://www.trashfiction.co.uk/star_maidens.html |website=Trash Fiction |access-date=15 March 2026}}</ref>
A large format tie-in hardback album with photos, stories, and comic strips was published by Stafford Pemberton in 1978. ({{ISBN|978-0860300571}})
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0074061|Star Maidens}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120331060932/http://www.oldfutures.com/Title.aspx?titleid=315 ''Star Maidens''] at OldFutures
Category:1976 British television series debuts Category:1976 British television series endings Category:1970s British drama television series Category:1970s British science fiction television series Category:English-language British television shows Category:German drama television series Category:German science fiction television series Category:ITV television dramas Category:Matriarchy Category:Fiction about rogue planets Category:Serial drama television series Category:Space adventure television series Category:Television episodes about alien abduction Category:Television series set on fictional planets Category:Television shows produced by Scottish Television