Saturn 3 is a 1980 British science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel.

Though a British production, made by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment and shot at Shepperton Studios, the film has an American cast and director.

[3] In the distant future, an overcrowded Earth relies on research conducted by scientists in remote stations across the Solar System.

Arriving there, he finds the station run solely by Adam and his younger colleague and lover Alex.

Alex and Adam's idyll is broken when Benson reveals his mission is to replace at least one of the moon's scientists with a robot.

With Hector assembled, Benson begins preparing the robot, using the neural link implanted in his spine.

Unknown to Benson, Adam and Alex, Hector remains functional enough to take control of the base's older robots, using them to reassemble his body and reconnect his brain.

Hector destroys Benson's spacecraft before the scientists can escape in it, trapping them all on Saturn 3, and assumes control of the station's computer.

Trapped in the control room, both Alex and Adam are surprised to see Benson's face on their monitor.

The project was based on an idea by John Barry, one of the leading production designers of the 1970s, whose credits included A Clockwork Orange, Star Wars and Superman.

According to Amis' biographer, the original script "is at once heroic and pitiable, his various attempts at wit, rhetorical bravado, even elegance, being shoe-horned into a directorial enterprise as boorish as The Vikings.

He gave the script to Fawcett who was interested, and Grade agreed to make the movie when the plane landed.

As that film went over schedule and over budget, and ultimately failed at the box office, the production of Saturn 3 was cut back.

[10] Fawcett's casting was announced in June 1978 (the press release said Donen was directing) and she was paid $750,000.

[11] The first choices for the male lead were Sean Connery and Michael Caine, but they turned the part down; Kirk Douglas accepted.

The aging film star "Lorne Guyland", obsessed with his own virility, is based on Douglas.

[17] Donen wanted Keitel's character to have an upper class veneer to appear more threatening.

[18] Two scenes that had been filmed for the production were edited out, due to Lew Grade objecting to their subject matter.

A scene where Fawcett appeared in a leather outfit with garters, which was on the original poster, is not in the final film.

[22] Lew Grade pre-sold the film to NBC for $4 million, which helped minimise its losses.

He wrote in his memoirs: "the effects and the performances were fine but ... the finished product parted company with my original expectations.

One hopes the producers and directors working the genre will realize this audience demands more than a leggy blond being chased by a robot.

[27] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one star in his review, criticising its screenplay for having a "shockingly low" level of intelligence, citing moments disregarding the laws of physics, the love triangle between Douglas, Fawcett and Keitel, as well as other details.

[citation needed] Additional music cues were also added to scenes involving the opening credits and Benson's death; in fact, much of Elmer Bernstein's score was removed or reedited.