Starcrash
Encyclopedia
Starcrash is an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 1979 science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...

, which was also released under the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 title of The Adventures of Stella Star (in the US). The film is a low budget and is often regarded as a rip-off of Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...

(1977). The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 was written by Luigi Cozzi
Luigi Cozzi
Luigi Cozzi is an Italian movie director and screenwriter who directed mainly science fiction and horror films in the mid-1970s and throughout the 1980s...

 (pen name Lewis Coates) and Nat Wachsberger, and Cozzi also directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 the film. The cast included Marjoe Gortner
Marjoe Gortner
Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner, generally known as Marjoe Gortner , is a former revivalist who first gained a certain fame in the late 1940s when he became the youngest ordained preacher at the age of four...

, Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.-Early career:...

, Robert Tessier
Robert Tessier
Robert W. Tessier was an American actor and stuntman who was best known for playing heavy, menacing characters on film and television.-Early life:...

, Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...

, and David Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff
David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...

. The original music score was by Oscar winning composer John Barry
John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...

 (Midnight Cowboy, Goldfinger, Somewhere in Time, Dances with Wolves).

It was filmed in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

 with Dolby sound, and has a runtime of 94 minutes. The US release is 92 minutes, and received an MPAA rating of PG. The film is generally regarded by critics as a campy Z movie
Z movie
The term Z movie arose in the mid-1960s as an informal description of certain unequivocally non-A films. It was soon adopted to characterize low-budget pictures with quality standards well below those of most B movies and even so-called C movies...

 with cheap special effects and a weak, derivative plot that some people find unintentionally humorous. It appeared a couple of years after the original Star Wars and tries to re-mix the same elements, but without much success.
It has been compared to Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...

.

In 2004, nationally syndicated television series Cinema Insomnia
Cinema Insomnia
Cinema Insomnia is a nationally syndicated American television series presented by horror host Mr. Lobo.- Format :Typically, Mr. Lobo opens each episode by promising to screen a well-known horror or science fiction classic ; however budgetary limitations, acts of God or other circumstances...

released a DVD version hosted by Mr. Lobo
Mr. Lobo
Erik Lobo better known by his stage name Mr. Lobo is an American artist and comedic actor best known as the horror host of the nationally syndicated American television series Cinema Insomnia.-Career :...

. The film was later picked up by Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...

 who released it on DVD and Blu-ray in 2010 as part of the "Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...

 Cult Classics" series.

Plot

In the distant future, a starship with an "important passenger" tries to find the base of the evil Count Zarth Arn, when the ship attacked by a mysterious weapon which red globes of energy enter the ship and drive the crew to madness killing each other off.

Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy, space outlaw and smuggler Stella Star and her sidekick Akton are on a smuggling run when they run into the Imperial Space Police led by the space robot Elle. After a spaceship chase sequence, Akton and Stella escape from their pursuers by jumping into hyperspace, a faster-than-light travel. They happen to find one of the escape pods from the starship in the opening scene, and find one survivor who is still alive. But shortly afterwards, they are finally apprehended by the police who have also followed their hyperspace travel route.

Tried, convicted and found guilty of piracy, both Akton and Stella are sentenced to life in prison. A few days later, on a prison colony, Stella manages to create a diversion and escape. But she is found by the chief of police Thor, who takes her to an orbiting main ship where she is reunited with Akton. It is here that they are contacted by the Emperor of the Galaxy, who thanks them for the discovery of the survivor of the starship, and they are granted clemency to help find one of three missing escape pods from the ship which contains the Emperor's son. The Emperor is in feud with the rogue Count Zarth Arn, who has hidden a secret weapon on a remote planet, and will use it to overthrow him and take over the galaxy for himself and his legion of vicious warriors. With Chief Thor and the robot Elle accompanying them, the Emperor tells Stella and Akton to find the Count's secret weapon as well as rescue his son who may still be alive. Over the course of the film, Stella and Akton travel to many planets to find the three missing escape pods, and hoping to find the Emperor's son.

On their first planet they visit, a jungle world, Stella is abducted by a tribe of vicious female warriors, who shoot Elle and leave him for dead. But being a robot, Elle does not die and instead makes his way to the throne room of Corelia, Queen of the Amazons, and takes her hostage to secure Stella's release. She and Elle are chased by the Amazons to the beach where Queen Corelia sends a giant robot to kill them, only to be rescued by Akton and Thor.

On another perpetually cold and dark planet, Stella and Elle investigate the second escape pod crash site for survivors, but after finding none, it is revealed that Thor is a spy for Count Zarth Ahn who subdues Akton and traps Stella and Elle outside wher he knows that when the sun sets on the ice planet, the temperature will drop hundreds of degrees below zero which will freeze any living thing. But Akton manages to revive and kill Thor, but it is too late as the sun has already set, and the surface of the planet freezes solid. Being a robot, Elle is able to help Stella stay alive by keeping her in a suspended state sequence. Upon daylight, Akton is able to venture outside to bring both Elle and the frozen Stella back onto the ship where she is dethawed and is revealed to have survived.

At last, Stella's starship arrives at the third and last planet where the third and final escape pod landed, which is right on the Count's secret planet. After surviving the Count's mental weapon, Stella and her crew land the ship to search for the final crash site. But Stella and Akton get attacked by a savage group of barbarian tribesmen who hack Elle to pieces and abduct Stella. But she escapes and flees to a nearby cave where she is met by Simon, who is revealed to be the sole survivor of the crash and the Emperor's son. Akton arrives having fought his way through the barbarians and gets into a lightsaber duel with Simon, unaware of his origins. But Simon proves his bio origins to the Emperor and the trio then set off to find the Count's secret weapon which is right on the planet.

Arriving at an underground laboratory, Stella, Akton and Simon are caught by the Count's soldiers where the Count, finally meeting the group face-to-face, reveals his intentions of using them for bait to bring the Emperor to the planet and have his weapon self-destruct, destroying everybody while he makes his escape to conquer the Emperor's homeworld to have the title Emperor for himself. The Count and his soldiers depart, leaving behind the Count's two personal bodyguard Golum robots to guard Stella, Akton and Simon to make sure they don't follow him. Akton engages the two robots in a lightsaber fight, but gets mortally wounded in destroying the two robots. The Emperor arrives with his personal army where, aware that the whole planet is mined with nuclear bombs, he uses a special weapon to block the bomb timers long enough to help Stella and Simon make it back to the ship before they detonate and destroy the whole planet. Upon arriving back at the Emperor's flagship, Stella is revived to see that Elle is alive, after being found by the Emperor's soldiers who put him back together.

Observing alongside the Emperor on the bridge of his flagship, Stella watches a huge space battle begin as the Emperor launches an attack against the Count's massive space station just as the Count is launching an attack against the Emperor's homeworld. But the attack is a failure. After an initial start, the Emperor's soldiers storn the Count's space station, gaining a foothold in a long laser-gun battle. But the Count arrives with massive reinforcements which all of the outnumbered Emperor's soldiers are overwhelmed and killed

With no other options left, the Emperor decides that the only way to stop the Count is a "star crash": to fly a whole space station into the Count's space station to destroy it. Stella and Elle volunteer to commandeer an abandoned space city to fly into the Count's space station to destroy it. Stella and Elle manage to escape from the space city's bridge by flying out into space, just as it crashes into the Count's space station, destroying it and the Count as well, finally winning the war.

Stella and Elle are picked up the Emperor's son Simon, who is finally overjoyed that Stella survived once again, and they agree to get married and begin a new era of peace for the galaxy.

Main cast

  • Caroline Munro
    Caroline Munro
    Caroline Munro is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.-Early career:...

     - Stella Star: a young and sensual woman smuggler, who is supposedly the best astro-pilot in the whole universe. She and her companion Akton end up helping the Emperor after a short prison sentence.
  • Marjoe Gortner
    Marjoe Gortner
    Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner, generally known as Marjoe Gortner , is a former revivalist who first gained a certain fame in the late 1940s when he became the youngest ordained preacher at the age of four...

     - Akton: Stella's loyal sidekick, human in appearance but also endowed with considerable mystical powers (including the power to restore people to life); nothing is truly explained about his nature or his origins; he fights with a laser sword similar to a Star Wars
    Star Wars
    Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

     lightsaber
    Lightsaber
    A lightsaber is a fictional weapon in the Star Wars universe, a "laser sword." It consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of light about 1.33 metres long. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi order and their Sith counterparts, both of whom can use them for close...

    .
  • Hamilton Camp
    Hamilton Camp
    Hamilton Camp was an English-American singer, songwriter, actor and voice actor.-Early life:Camp was born in London, England, and was evacuated during World War II to the United States as a child with his mother and sister. He became a child actor in films and onstage...

     - Elle: A powerful robot policeman endowed with emotions, who ends up helping Stella and Akton. Apparently destroyed by cavemen on the third planet, he comes back later after being repaired by the Emperor's men.
  • David Hasselhoff
    David Hasselhoff
    David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...

     - Simon: the Emperor's only son, only survivor of Zarth Arn's assault on his ship.
  • Christopher Plummer
    Christopher Plummer
    Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...

     - The Emperor: The known universe's benevolent, wise ruler, whose only son has disappeared after an encounter with the space forces of evil Count Zarth Arn.
  • Joe Spinell
    Joe Spinell
    Joe Spinell was an American character actor, who appeared in numerous films in the 1970s and 1980s.-Biography:...

     - Count Zarth Arn: a megalomaniac renegade, who is bent on dethroning the Emperor and proclaiming himself supreme ruler of the universe.
  • Robert Tessier
    Robert Tessier
    Robert W. Tessier was an American actor and stuntman who was best known for playing heavy, menacing characters on film and television.-Early life:...

     - Thor: Chief of the Imperial State Police, and Elle's superior. Turns out to be a traitor working for Zarth Arn. Knocks out Atkon on the second planet, believing him dead, but is then killed by Atkon who is able to deflect laser blasts with his hands.
  • Nadia Cassini - Corelia: Queen of the Amazon women on the first planet that Stella and her crew visit. She is an ally of Count Zarth Arn.

Soundtrack

The score for Starcrash was composed and conducted by veteran composer John Barry
John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...

. The soundtrack was given a limited release of 1,500 copies through BSX Records in December 2008 and features fourteen tracks of score.
  1. "Starcrash Main Title" (2:36)
  2. "Escape Into Hyperspace" (1:49)
  3. "Captured" (2:09)
  4. "Launch Adrift" (1:42)
  5. "Beach Landing" (2:09)
  6. "The Ice Planet/Heading for Zarkon" (3:03)
  7. "The Emperor's Speech" (3:17)
  8. "Strange Planet/The Troggs Attack" (2:37)
  9. "Akton Battles the Robots" (2:18)
  10. "Network Ball Attack" (1:00)
  11. "Space War" (4:40)
  12. "Goodbye Akton" (3:34)
  13. "Starcrash End Title" (2:57)
  14. "Starcrash Suite" (7:14)

Reception

At the time it was panned by critics, but later gain a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...

.

In DVD Delirium, the reviewer panned the film calling the plot, "something akin to something written by excitable primary school kids than adults." The film, "uses every trick in the special effects book ... and bungles the lot of them hopelessly. It also rips chunks off Star Wars," as well as showing "'evidence' of inspiration" from Barbarella
Barbarella
Barbarella is a female given name, variant of Barbara. It may also refer to:* Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest; the origin of the story** Barbarella , based on the comic book; starring Jane Fonda...

, Invaders from Mars
Invaders from Mars (1953 film)
Invaders From Mars is a science fiction film directed by William Cameron Menzies, taken from a scenario by Richard Blake, and based on a story treatment by John Tucker Battle who was inspired by a dream recounted by his wife. It was produced independently by Edward L. Alperson Jr. and starred...

, and Jason and the Argonauts. The reviewer concludes that, this film "is one of those movies that shovels on the ineptitude with such verge that it does achieve a 'must see' sinful pleasure status."

Kurt Dahlke of DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...

said, "Starcrash is a masterpiece of unintentionally bad filmmaking. Pounded out in about 18 months seemingly as an answer to Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

, Luigi Cozzi's knock-off buzzes around with giddy brio, mixing ridiculous characters with questionably broad acting, an incredibly simple yet still nonsensical plot, and budget special effects that transcend into the realm of real art. It's a completely ridiculous movie, that's great to watch with a few friends and a beer or two. And it still manages to make my jaw drop."

R.L. Shaffer of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

gave the film an extremely positive review, rating it a 10/10, and calling it "The single greatest sci-fi camp fest ever put on celluloid" and saying its in league with cult classics like Troll 2
Troll 2
Troll 2 is a 1990 horror film directed by Claudio Fragasso and starring Michael Stephenson, George Hardy, Margo Prey, Connie Young , Deborah Reed, and Jason Wright...

, Riki-Oh
Riki-Oh
is a manga which later adapted to an anime series and live-action film. Created by Masahiko Takajo and Saruwatari Tetsuya, the story is about a young man who has learned the art of Qigong from one of Chiang Kai Shek's bodyguards and has become so strong that he can literally punch holes through...

and The Room
The Room (film)
The Room is a 2003 independent drama film starring Tommy Wiseau, who also wrote, directed, and produced the feature. In addition to Wiseau, the principal cast includes Juliette Danielle, Greg Sestero, Philip Haldiman, Kyle Vogt, Carolyn Minnott, and Robyn Paris...

.

J.C. Maçek III of WorldsGreatestCritic.com wrote, "If Starcrash had a much bigger budget, a better script and fresh ideas that weren't mined from other, vastly superior franchises... it would still suck. That's right, folks, it has to aspire to suck."

External links

  • Starcrash at the Internet Archive
    Internet Archive
    The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...

  • Starcrash B-Movie Review at www.badmovies.org
  • Star Crash - Scontri stellari oltre la Terza Dimensione at terrediconfine.eu
  • Starcrash at Livestream
    Livestream
    Livestream, formerly known as Mogulus, is a live streaming video platform that allows users to view and broadcast video content using a camera and a computer through the internet...

  • Starcrash at YouTube
    YouTube
    YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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