Having encountered a new planet, Sun Ra imagines a future in space for the Black community using the transportive powers of music and time-travelling – but faces the villainous opposition of the ‘Overseer’ (Raymond Johnson) who, representing oppressive white power, confronts Ra with a game of cards…
Sun Ra and John Coney utilised genre stylings of Blaxploitation, alongside concert footage and social critique, to energise this inspired science-fiction musical.
Dressed like a pharaoh and fighting for the future, Sun Ra and his musical crew (‘the Arkestra’) are not only the visionary prophets of a musical utopia but also, like the film itself, a bravely imaginative and experimental articulation of Black identity.