for dominance over a mix of cultures as boggled by the theologies of the day as they are by the sensory overload of sensationalistic commercialism that passes for status quo".Starstruck initially began its creative life as a stage play spoofing time-worn tropes of science fiction. Kaluta recalled his reaction to Lee's script: "Oh God, I was amazed at how many genres she was actually poking fun at, without being a dyed-in-the-wool science fiction fan. She was poking fun at Andre Norton, she was poking fun at everybody, all the Doc Smith stuff, without ever having read Doc Smith". AbsurdismStarstruck laces its drama and intrigue with bouts of surrealistic farce, ludicrous slapstick, absurd non-sequiters, random weirdness, cross-communication, cultural parody, and one-liners. The writer clarified: "Of course, it includes some social commentary - people often comment on the feminism - but it's all comedy. I want people to enjoy it. People accept new ideas and commentary more readily if they're funny". Lee points to the feuding Bajar twins, Kalif and Lucrezia, whose sibling jealousy gets out of hand due to their wealth and power: "In real life they probably would have just annoyed people in a bar; in comic books they blow people up". The writer saw absurdism as a philosophical antidote or survival perspective in the Starstruck universe, as well as in its creative process: "We get real serious about showing the humanity of our characters, and at the same time, we feel that life is silly, and something that seems horribly embarrassing and horribly important is really silly at the same time". Critic Robert Rodi wrote: "Lee has reinvented Camp as a new sensibility; it isn't Camp in that it violates all known laws of drama and internal logic for the sake of flamboyance or effect. Rather, she's taken the space opera form and, while respecting the limitations of physics as we know them, pushed the genre's more baroque aspects to their absolute limits". Archetypes The series takes gender-bending liberties with many iconic female and male roles of world history and popular culture. They include the Cowgirl (the Medea women on their space ranch); Amazons (Galatia 9 and the Omegazon tribe who christened her); bimbo/sex dolls (Erotica Ann and the 333 Annie pleasure droids, and the male droid, Handi Andy); valkyries (Brucilla The Muscle, the flying warrior whose uniform makes her resemble Brunhilda); the White Queen (Queen Glorianna, the tough