SPACE RAIDERS is a straightforward STAR WARS copy aimed at the child audience, with the hero a young and likeable kid who finds himself transported to a galaxy far, far away to take part in an adventure with a bunch of ne'er-do-well space pirates. It's fast-paced stuff, extremely familiar and quite predictable, but not without a certain '80s charm. The characters are drawn larger than life, there's a welcome Dick Miller cameo, and a cool-looking lizard man who reminded me of the aliens in V.

Ten-year-old boy Peter (a solid and likable performance by David Mendenhall) stows away on a spaceship that's hijacked by a motley band of intergalactic pirates led by hard-nosed ex-soldier Col. C.W. "Hawk" Hawkins (neatly essayed with gruff'n'growly aplomb by Vince Edwards). Hawk promises to return Peter to his home planet. However, things are complicated by both Hawk's arch nemesis Zeriatin (a nicely wicked portrayal by Ray Stewart) and a lethal robot ship that's been assigned to find Peter at any cost.

Writer/director Howard R. Cohen keeps the entertaining story moving along at a swift pace, maintains an engaging good-natured tone throughout, stages the rousing action set pieces with gusto, and further spruces things up with amusing touches of zany humor. Moreover, it's acted with zest by an able and enthusiastic cast, with especially sturdy contributions from Patsy Pease as the scrappy Amanda, Thom Christopher as psychic alien Flightplan, Luca Bercovici as the rowdy Ace, and Drew Snyder as the amiable Aldebarian. Dick Miller pops up in a funny bit role as the hologram for fast-talking salesman Crazy Mel. The sweet relationship between Hawk and Peter gives this picture some real heart and warmth. In addition, the recycled sets from previous Roger Corman films and copious special effects footage from "Battle Beyond the Stars" -- along with James Horner's stirring and spirited score from same! -- add to this movie's irresistibly cheap'n'cheerful ramshackle appeal. An immensely enjoyable Grade B outing.

Ten-year-old space moppet Peter (David Mendenhall) sneaks on board a spaceship that is stolen by a band of space pirates led by interplanetary rogue-with-a-heart Hawk (Vince Edwards). As the child goes on a series of adventures with his new pals, a battle cruiser run by robots is despatched to bring him back.

Recycling the special effects and soundtrack from Corman's earlier Battle Beyond The Stars, and borrowing elements from Star Wars and its countless rip-offs, Space Raiders is a family oriented piece of space-junk that delivers sloppily edited space battles, terrible matte paintings, rubbish robots and unconvincing aliens aplenty, and very little in the way of genuine imagination or charm.

The cast do what they can with the uninspired material, but their efforts are negated by the all-pervading air of cheapness and lacklustre direction from Howard R. Cohen.

Avid sci-fi fans might be amused to see Thom Christopher sporting alien make-up even sillier than that of Hawk, his half-man half-bird character in TV's Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.