| Dark Star (1974) | |
|---|---|
 |
Rating: 6.2/10 (27,084 votes) Director: John Carpenter Writer: John Carpenter, Dan O'Bannon Stars: Dan O'Bannon, Dre Pahich, Brian Narelle Runtime: 83 min Rated: G Genre: Comedy, Sci-Fi Released: 17 Jan 1975 |
| Plot: In the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong. | |
John Carpenter’s first feature film is a science fiction comedy which I had the pleasure of being introduced to back in my youth when BBC2 ran a season of cult sci-fi films. The film has been one I’ve returned to a few times over the years, and each time I am entertained by the dry (and sometimes dark) humour, impressed by the sharp satire, and generally entertained by the whole venture. To say it was a small film that influenced many things to come is an understatement. One memorable segment of the film sees a comical alien let loose, much to the annoyance of one of the characters who has to try to hunt it down. The similarities with scenes in Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ a few years later are not coincidental – Dan O’Bannon wrote both films, and went on record to say that if he can’t make them laugh, he can make them scream instead. Fans of the cult TV show Red Dwarf will also find much familiar territory in the film.
Set in the mid 22nd Century, the scout ship Dark Star has been on a mission for twenty years now, analysing planets to root out unstable ones (those which might threaten other habitable planets) and destroying them. Despite their time in space, the crew haven’t aged due to space-time dilation effects or some such, but their ship certainly has and is suffering various malfunctions – one of which recently killed the Commander. The long years have taken a toll on the crew, and they entertain themselves in a variety of mundane ways, from crafting musical bottle organs, playing practical jokes on each other, or, in the case of Talby, just sitting in the observation deck watching the universe. Suffice to say, when the crew get a chance to let loose one of their intelligent bombs and destroy a planet it is somewhat a highlight of their time. However, a recent malfunction looks like it might cause a few further problems for the crew as a communication relay to the bomb bay keeps triggering one of the bombs to prepare to deploy – which thankfully the ship’s computer manages to convince it to cancel the order (much to the frustration of the bomb). Then there is also the matter of the pet alien that gets loose…
This pet….isn’t he adorable?
The effects haven’t dated well at all, but in a way the cheapness of them works for the film. The cheap look of it managing to convey the fact that this is a ship that is falling apart. However some inventive uses of practical effects, such as the elevator shaft scene (utilising the old ‘flipped on its side’ approach to hanging off a ledge), and the bizarre beach-ball alien work tremendously for thrilling, and hilarious ways. The beach-ball look of the creature pays off beautifully when it is finally caught.
People cheap viagra can buy these medicines through any of pharmacies available on internet. Some deceptive companies go as far as showing fake testimonials to convince people that the so called free cialis samples Women is the exact copy of the real cialis, which would only lead to penile erection. Eating right, weight lose and bowtrol colon cleanse cialis tadalafil 100mg will make your day right. Most dates last for a very long time people has been taking the herb to cute-n-tiny.com tadalafil professional reduce their problem and induce contentment in their life.
The cast are great in their roles, playing the boredoms and frustrations well, especially O’Bannon who not only stars as Pinback, the most developed character in the film (thanks to an entertaining video diary segment), but was also on writing, special effects, editing, and production design duties. This is as much his film as it is Carpenter’s (who, as usual, provided the musical score in addition to his other roles).
Preparing for hyperspace, with the knowledge that a panel blowing killed the Commander recently when they did this.
The structure of the film is edited to give it a three-part approach, which upset Carpenter somewhat as, in later years, he bemoaned that his short student film had become a terrible looking feature film. Why he feels that way is beyond me, as the film is far from terrible, and is one which purveyors of sci-fi everywhere should proudly have in their collection.
