A 70s Sci-Fi Cult Classic Movie That Accidentally Created a Huge Franchise
Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published
John Carpenter is known today as the Master of Horror, but he started with him The Dark Staran offbeat sci-fi comedy that began as a student film while attending the University of Southern California. He also became friends with Dan O'Bannon, who helped him write the script for the film. While the Carpenter continued to act Halloween again SomethingO'Bannon was inspired by the reaction to their low-budget sci-fi comedy to write a sci-fi horror you might know: Alien.
The Dark Star it may be a cult classic today, but when it was developed from a student film to feature film and released in 1974, audiences didn't know what they were watching, and many jokes were missed. O'Bannon realized this and shared his thought process in recent interviews, “If I can't make them laugh, maybe I can make them scream.”
When it became available on VHS, the film found its audience, including Quentin Tarantino, creator of the Metal Gear games, Hideo Kojima, and Doug Naylor, creator of Metal Gear. The Red Dwarf. Given Carpenter's musical talents, many bands have used vocal samples or paid homage to the film in their songs.
Cabin Fever in Space
Links in between The Dark Star again Alien they are evident from the start, with both films taking place on ramshackle spaceships that share the same retro-futuristic style, and the crew is made up of characters who don't fit the usual sci-fi hero mold. The Dark Staras a parody of 2001: A Space Odysseyit breaks down the staff's personality to 11, which works in a way. Because of that, it feels like frat bros are locked in space together, and they don't get along, but they should.
The mission of the crew is to find potentially dangerous planets and blow them up, but the catch is that after a major malfunction, the thermostellar bomb develops a personality and tries to detonate ahead of schedule. The captain of the Dark Star, a former diver, has to talk to the bomb so it doesn't explode.
It's a fun sci-fi parody involving deep philosophy, and it's purposefully designed to be a HAL game. That's part of the joke that O'Bannon was frustrated with, which went over the top of the audience, but it's a weird beach ball player who became a proto-Xenomorph.
The Alien-turned-Comic Cycle
Working under tight budget constraints, alien in The Dark Star it's a painted beach ball with floppy nails loosely attached to it. Sergeant Pinback, played by O'Bannon, tries to keep the alien contained in the warehouse, but it keeps escaping and trying to kill him, and in the end, Pinback accidentally causes it to explode and explode. The whole series, which is played here for laughs with some practical jokes, is directly inspired by it Alien.
Replacing the adorable but slightly deadly prankster beach ball with the H design. R Giger's terrifying, deadly Xenomorph but maintaining the same atmosphere and sense of claustrophobia provided the recipe for a genre-defining hit. The Dark Starit should be noted, and it's rated “G,” which gives you an idea of the level of physical humor O'Bannon brings to the role. However, given how the film ends, it is only suitable for children if you want to do a The Neverending Story the level of trauma for them.
If you haven't seen it The Dark Starit's worth your time, even today, because bonkers takes on sci-fi emphasize the exact tone they wanted. It airs for free on Tubi, Pluto TV, Peacock, and The Roku Channel, and is part of Amazon Prime.
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