Dark Star (1974)

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

John Carpenter (original story and screenplay) and
Dan O'Bannon (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

9 February 1979 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

What would you be like after 20 years aboard DARK STAR the spaced-out spaceship. The ultimate cosmic comedy!

Plot:

Low-budget story of four astronauts in deep space, whose mission is to destroy unstable planets in star systems which are to be colonised...

Plot Keywords:

Bomb | Computer | Space | Alien | Spoof

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Brian Narelle	...	Lt. Doolittle
Cal Kuniholm	...	Boiler
Dre Pahich	...	Talby
Dan O'Bannon	...	Sgt. Pinback

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Dark Star (Australia)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | West Germany:6 (f) | Australia:G | Norway:11 | UK:PG | USA:G

Company:

Jack H. Harris Enterprises

Trivia:

The idea to deep-freeze the dead (Commander Powell) and be able to speak to their half-living souls through an electronic device is inspired by sci-fi short stories and novels by Philip K. Dick, in such works as "What the Dead Men Say" (1963) or "Ubik" (1969). The frost, the radio tuning and the clouded, feeble and fainting thoughts are exactly as described by Dick.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the elevator sequence, which was actually shot horizontally in a corridor, you can occasionally see the plank on which O'Bannon was lying.

Quotes:

Doolittle: [reminiscing about surfing in Malibu] You know, I wish I had my board with me... even if I could just wax it once in a while.

Movie Connections:

References Sergeant York (1941)

Soundtrack:

Benson Arizona

The captain is dead, but that is no problem

It all started out as a short film made at film school made by the now legendary John Carpetenter, but then they wanted to make a longer version, however they couldn't get money to remake it, so they simply added extra scenes in the middle (example, the beach ball alien).

The story is this, on a ship where the captain is dead (but you can unfreeze to ask him questions) and the rest crew are going basically crazy they have problem. One of their bombs has become sentient and is busy contemplating the nature of existence.

The effects are OK, and who would have thought the beach ball would become the inspriration for the movie Alien.

Over all one of the great classics of science fiction and of low budget film making.

I heard of this movie a long time ago and it took me over 10 years before I finally found it in my local video shop. Great and amazing movie.

What will bomb number 20 do, now it is intelligent...watch the film and find out.