And now for something completely different. ?

Atomic Vixens is like a funkadelic conglomeration of Barbarella, Modesty Blaise, Austin Powers and a Jim Holliday movie. Pronouncing itself to be "Filmed in Erotivision," this kitschy, campy carrousel of psychedelia marks the directorial breakout of Ron Royster (this is only his third effort), and the debut, with a one-scene "guest director" spot, of pin-up photographer Winkytiki, who also did the mod, candy-colored art direction for the production.

We really couldn't tell you precisely what the "story" is here which makes it that much more in keeping with the incomprehensibly wacky ?60s films that inform it – except that it involves an evil syndicate called L.I.M.P. ("the world's most diabolical organization committed to male machismo") and a band of heroines (the Atomic Vixens, of course) out to stop them.

Each scene is introduced with VO narration (by a female Brit, natch) beneath a comic book-style rendering of what you're about to see, and the editing of these interstitials by L. Ron Knobi and Grumpusaurus Rex is mighty spiffy. And of course, there's a constant barrage of quirky, retro-groovy music employed, with a unique option in the DVD's menus to have the music play at low, medium or "atomic" level.

And what of the sex? There's some great stuff here, including two equally distinctive and smokin' solo scenes with Justine Joli and Marie Luv, respectively, and a g/g between Ashley Steel and Lacie Heart (the scene Winkytiki directed) that includes something we've never seen before: The girls trade off turning one of those dental air-blasting implements on each other's pussies, making for a totally different and incredibly hot visual.

The real treasure here, however, is the behind the scenes documentary on disc two, which in all seriousness ought to receive some sort of independent exposure in a separate arena. Made by Cat Purcel, it tells the tale of her venture into the porn biz, with the help of Royster, and it's absolutely brilliant. Unflinching, direct and thoroughly fascinating, it deftly obliterates all the popular misconceptions about our industry, without sugarcoating or whitewashing a damn thing. It is the truest representation we've probably ever seen of this business, summed up gloriously by its last line of narration: "The self-appointed righteous cannot cast blame on only one industry for our societal downfalls, when they are the ones funding our success. Come out of the porn closet, enjoy your porn openly and look into the mirror. You are us. The only difference is, we are proud to make porn. You just happen to buy it."

Pre-noms: Best Art Direction (Octavio Arizala), Best Editing (L. Ron Knobi & Grumpusaurus Rex), Best DVD Extras, Best Solo Scene (two separate noms for Justine Joli and Marie Luv), Best All-Girl Scene (Ashley Steel & Lacie Heart), Best Packaging, Best Director – Non-Feature (Ron Royster & Winkytiki), Best Vignette Release.

Retailing: The alt-porn generation meets the love generation, baby, yeah!