Yes, you probably know this, but your host is on sorta-half-kinda-vacation. (Posts will appear as much as possible for the duration; we cannot allow some of these events to go unsnarked.) Anyway, geeks of a certain age shed a tear yesterday when they heard the news:
Indeed they did. She played the innocent daughter of the scientist who discovered the vast caverns of matte paintings below his nifty-cool shack on a distant planet, and inadvertently used a dead civilization's technology to bring a monstrous creature to life because his daughter had the hots for Leslie Nielsen. I'm compressing events, but that's pretty much it.
And that's why it works to this day: unlike the drecktacular Star Wars prequel trilogy, it had a great story - thanks, Bill Shakespeare - and characters you liked and understood. It had the best robot ever seen in sci-fi movies, and it had Anne Francis swimming and wearing very short dresses. "Honey West" was pretty cool, too; Emma Peel owed something to Honey. A fine career with many great roles. Thanks, Miss Frances.
