Translational regulation has emerged as an important feature of animal development, especially in the embryo prior to the onset of zygotic transcription. Specialized forms of control regulate the translation of individual mRNAs, and the factors involved in these mRNA-specific events are expected to be found in only a subset of all tissues. Consequently, homologous in vitro translation systems, prepared from tissues in which important regulatory events occur, are likely to be required to pursue biochemical studies of the underlying mechanisms. Here we describe the characterization of extracts prepared from Drosophila ovaries and embryos that support translation of exogenous reporter mRNAs in vitro, These in vitro systems should prove to be useful in dissecting mechanisms of the numerous translational control events shown to occur during the early stages of Drosophila development.