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Dark Star (film)
Encyclopedia
Dark Star is a 1974 American comedic
science fiction
motion picture directed by John Carpenter
and co-written with Dan O'Bannon
.
The ship's crew consists of Lt. Doolittle, Sgt. Pinback, Boiler, and Talby. Commander Powell, their superior officer, was killed by a faulty rear seat panel, but remains on board the ship in a state of cryogenic suspension. The crew perform their jobs in a state of abject boredom as the tedium of their task has driven them around the bend, with only each other, an increasing number of (sometimes comical) systems malfunctions (for instance the toilet facilities 'blew up' destroying the ship's entire stock of toilet paper) and the soft-spoken ship's computer for company. They have attempted to create distractions for themselves - Doolittle, formerly an enthusiastic surfer, has constructed a musical bottle organ, Talby spends all his time in the ship's observation dome watching the universe go by, Pinback enjoys playing practical jokes on the other crew members and maintains a video diary of his time on board ship, and Boiler enjoys smoking cigars and target practice with the ship's laser rifle.
In his video diary, Pinback claims to be liquid fuel specialist Bill Frugge, who accidentally takes Pinback's place on the mission after failing to rescue Pinback from committing suicide by wading into a fuel tank before the mission. Pinback has also adopted a ship's mascot in the form of a mischievous alien "beachball" that refuses to stay put in the food locker and forces Pinback to chase it all over the ship.
While navigating a magnetically bound asteroid field en route to their next target, the Dark Star suffers damage, resulting in a malfunction with the bomb drop mechanism. To the utter disinterest of his crewmates, Talby decides to investigate the fault. Discovering a damaged communications laser in the airlock, Talby dons a spacesuit to investigate. While attempting to repair the laser, Talby is blinded and inadvertently triggers a more serious problem, causing extensive damage to the ship's main computer and a major malfunction with Thermostellar Bomb #20, which, on arrival at their target planet, becomes belligerent and refuses to obey orders and drop from the bomb bay.
While stuck in the bomb bay, Bomb #20 refuses to disarm itself - its detonation countdown is in progress and it refuses to abort the countdown sequence. The other crew members attempt to talk the bomb out of blowing up. Doolittle revives Commander Powell, who advises them to teach the bomb the rudiments of phenomenology, resulting in a memorable philosophical conversation between Doolittle and the bomb. Bomb #20 aborts its countdown and retreats to the bomb bay for contemplation, and disaster appears to have been averted. Pinback addresses the bomb over the intercom in an attempt to finally disarm it.
The bomb misinterprets Doolittle's phenomenology and believes itself to be God, states "Let there be light," and promptly detonates. Pinback and Boiler are killed instantly. Commander Powell is jettisoned into space encased in a large block of ice, and Talby is taken away by the Phoenix Asteroids (a cluster of glowing asteroids he had a fascination with) to circumnavigate the universe. Doolittle, who previously expressed his love of surfing and how much he misses it, finds an appropriately-shaped piece of debris and "surfs" down into the atmosphere of the planet, burning into an incandescent speck.
.
, ship design by Ron Cobb
, model work by O'Bannon and Greg Jein
, and animation was by Bob Greenberg.
The bombs are made from an HO scale
piggyback trailer
kit
and parts of 1/25th scale model car kits; "Matra", the name of the car brand, can be seen on some parts in some shots. The space suits are made to resemble the space suit of the Mattel
action figure
"Major Matt Mason
", which was used in slightly modified form as a miniature for effects shots. Cobb drew the original design for the "Dark Star" ship on a napkin while they were eating at the International House of Pancakes.
s in 1973. Originally the film was a 45 minute student short filmed on 16mm film. The movie was seen by producer Jack H. Harris, who gained the theatrical distribution rights to the film, and arranged for it to be transferred to 35mm, and paid for the addition of 38 minutes which brought the movie up to feature film
length.
For theatrical release, parts of the film were re-edited to make it feel more like a 3-part story and extra footage was filmed to bring it up to a more substantial running time. This included the bottle-playing scene, the alien-chase / elevator scenes and more.
Because Harris annoyed director John Carpenter during filming, Carpenter got revenge by having a computer screen flash "FUCK YOU HARRIS" during the film.
however it was marketed by Harris as more of a serious science fiction film. As a result, most of the cinema-going audience did not expect the humour and Dark Star suffered in properly reaching its intended audience. The home video cassette revolution of the early 1980s saw Dark Star become a cult film
among sci-fi fans.
gives the film an 80% fresh rating, with the following consensus: "A loopy 2001 satire, Dark Star may not be the most consistent sci-fi comedy, but its portrayal of human eccentricity is a welcome addition to the genre." Roger Ebert
gave the film three stars, writing: "Dark Star is one of the damnedest science fiction movies I've ever seen, a berserk combination of space opera, intelligent bombs, and beach balls from other worlds."
' Journey Through Sci-Fi.
The indie rock
band Pinback
takes its name from a character in the movie, and use audio clips of the movie itself in their songs.
The track Bomb 20 by UK rock band Alien Stash Tin is inspired by and quotes from the movie.
Synth-pop band Erasure
sampled the computer's voice on their track "Sweet sweet baby" ("Ship's computer to bridge...I must disengage your recreational music") featured on the b-side to their 1989 hit "Drama!
".
Composer, David Holmes
also samples the computer's voice on his track 'Slash the seats' from the 1995 album "This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats
"
The movie was adapted into a book by Alan Dean Foster
.
The theme song played during the opening and closing credits is "Benson, Arizona
". The music was written by John Carpenter, and the lyrics by Bill Taylor, concerning a person who travels the galaxy at light speed and misses their beloved back on Earth. The lead vocal was John Yager, a college friend of Carpenter's. Yager was not a professional musician "apart from being in a band in college."
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
motion picture directed by John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
and co-written with Dan O'Bannon
Dan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
.
Backstory and plot
In the middle of the 22nd century, humankind has reached a point in its technological advancement to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. Armed with artificially intelligent "Thermostellar Triggering Devices", the scout ship Dark Star and its crew have been in space alone for twenty years on a mission to destroy "unstable planets" which might threaten future colonization.The ship's crew consists of Lt. Doolittle, Sgt. Pinback, Boiler, and Talby. Commander Powell, their superior officer, was killed by a faulty rear seat panel, but remains on board the ship in a state of cryogenic suspension. The crew perform their jobs in a state of abject boredom as the tedium of their task has driven them around the bend, with only each other, an increasing number of (sometimes comical) systems malfunctions (for instance the toilet facilities 'blew up' destroying the ship's entire stock of toilet paper) and the soft-spoken ship's computer for company. They have attempted to create distractions for themselves - Doolittle, formerly an enthusiastic surfer, has constructed a musical bottle organ, Talby spends all his time in the ship's observation dome watching the universe go by, Pinback enjoys playing practical jokes on the other crew members and maintains a video diary of his time on board ship, and Boiler enjoys smoking cigars and target practice with the ship's laser rifle.
In his video diary, Pinback claims to be liquid fuel specialist Bill Frugge, who accidentally takes Pinback's place on the mission after failing to rescue Pinback from committing suicide by wading into a fuel tank before the mission. Pinback has also adopted a ship's mascot in the form of a mischievous alien "beachball" that refuses to stay put in the food locker and forces Pinback to chase it all over the ship.
While navigating a magnetically bound asteroid field en route to their next target, the Dark Star suffers damage, resulting in a malfunction with the bomb drop mechanism. To the utter disinterest of his crewmates, Talby decides to investigate the fault. Discovering a damaged communications laser in the airlock, Talby dons a spacesuit to investigate. While attempting to repair the laser, Talby is blinded and inadvertently triggers a more serious problem, causing extensive damage to the ship's main computer and a major malfunction with Thermostellar Bomb #20, which, on arrival at their target planet, becomes belligerent and refuses to obey orders and drop from the bomb bay.
While stuck in the bomb bay, Bomb #20 refuses to disarm itself - its detonation countdown is in progress and it refuses to abort the countdown sequence. The other crew members attempt to talk the bomb out of blowing up. Doolittle revives Commander Powell, who advises them to teach the bomb the rudiments of phenomenology, resulting in a memorable philosophical conversation between Doolittle and the bomb. Bomb #20 aborts its countdown and retreats to the bomb bay for contemplation, and disaster appears to have been averted. Pinback addresses the bomb over the intercom in an attempt to finally disarm it.
The bomb misinterprets Doolittle's phenomenology and believes itself to be God, states "Let there be light," and promptly detonates. Pinback and Boiler are killed instantly. Commander Powell is jettisoned into space encased in a large block of ice, and Talby is taken away by the Phoenix Asteroids (a cluster of glowing asteroids he had a fascination with) to circumnavigate the universe. Doolittle, who previously expressed his love of surfing and how much he misses it, finds an appropriately-shaped piece of debris and "surfs" down into the atmosphere of the planet, burning into an incandescent speck.
Cast
Not all cast members were listed in the credits. A full list can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069945/fullcredits#cast- Lt. Doolittle - Brian Narelle
- Sgt. Pinback - Dan O'BannonDan O'BannonDaniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
- Boiler - Cal Kuniholm
- Talby - Dre Pahich
- Commander Powell - Joe Saunders
- Computer - Cookie Knapp
- Bomb #19 - Alan Sheretz
- Bomb #20 - Adam Beckenbaugh
- Mission Control - Miles Watkins
- Alien - Nick CastleNick CastleNick Castle is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his role as Michael Myers in Halloween. He also co-wrote Escape from New York with his friend, John Carpenter.-Early life:...
Screenplay
Director John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon wrote the screenplay. Six years later, the basic "Beachball with Claws" subplot of the film was reworked from comedy to horror, and became the basis (along with an unpublished story about gremlins aboard a B-52) for the O'Bannon-scripted science fiction horror classic, AlienAlien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
.
Filming
Working on an estimated $60,000 budget, Carpenter and O'Bannon had to make production design from scratch. In the "elevator" sequence the bottom of the elevator is actually rolling on the floor. The device used to roll the elevator base was actually a Moviola camera dolly normally used on the small sound stage in the old USC Cinema building (itself once a horse stable). The steering end of the dolly can be seen as part of the "elevator" underside. Talby's starsuit backpack is made from Styrofoam packing material - probably from a TV set - and his spacesuit chestplate is made from a muffin tray. The double rows of large buttons on the bridge consoles are ice cube trays illuminated from beneath. Sergeant Pinback's video diary is an 8-track tape and the machine he uses to read it and record it is a microfiche reader. O'Bannon also starred in the film in the role of Sgt. Pinback.Special effects
Much of the special effects seen in the movie were done by Dan O'BannonDan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
, ship design by Ron Cobb
Ron Cobb
Ron Cobb is an American cartoonist, artist, writer, film designer, and film director.By the age of 18, with no formal training in graphic illustration, Cobb was working as an animation "inbetweener" artist for Disney Studios in Burbank, California. He progressed to becoming a breakdown artist on...
, model work by O'Bannon and Greg Jein
Greg Jein
Greg Jein is a model designer who creates miniatures for use in the special effects portions of many films and TV shows. He has been doing so since the 1970s.-References:...
, and animation was by Bob Greenberg.
The bombs are made from an HO scale
HO scale
HO or H0 is the most popular scale of model railway in the world.According to the NMRA standard S-1.2 predominantly used in North America, in HO scale, represents 1 real foot ; this ratio works out to about 1:87.1. According to the MOROP standard NEM 010 predominantly used in Europe, the scale is...
piggyback trailer
Intermodal container
An intermodal container is a standardized reusable steel box used for the safe, efficient and secure storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system...
kit
Plastic model
thumb|300px||4-year-old boy starts painting a plastic model he has assembled of the South Goodwin LightshipPlastic models, often called scale models, are models manufactured as kits which are assembled by hobbyists, and intended for static display....
and parts of 1/25th scale model car kits; "Matra", the name of the car brand, can be seen on some parts in some shots. The space suits are made to resemble the space suit of the Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
"Major Matt Mason
Major Matt Mason
Major Matt Mason was an action figure created by Mattel, an astronaut who lived and worked on the moon. When introduced in 1966, the figures were initially based on design information found in Life Magazine, Air Force Magazine, Jane's, and other aviation- and space-interest periodicals...
", which was used in slightly modified form as a miniature for effects shots. Cobb drew the original design for the "Dark Star" ship on a napkin while they were eating at the International House of Pancakes.
Distribution, Cinema Release & DVD Releases
Although destined for eventual cinematic release in 1974, this was only possible as a consequence of a successful series of showings at a number of film festivalFilm festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
s in 1973. Originally the film was a 45 minute student short filmed on 16mm film. The movie was seen by producer Jack H. Harris, who gained the theatrical distribution rights to the film, and arranged for it to be transferred to 35mm, and paid for the addition of 38 minutes which brought the movie up to feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
length.
For theatrical release, parts of the film were re-edited to make it feel more like a 3-part story and extra footage was filmed to bring it up to a more substantial running time. This included the bottle-playing scene, the alien-chase / elevator scenes and more.
Because Harris annoyed director John Carpenter during filming, Carpenter got revenge by having a computer screen flash "FUCK YOU HARRIS" during the film.
Reception
Dark Star can be considered a black comedyBlack comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
however it was marketed by Harris as more of a serious science fiction film. As a result, most of the cinema-going audience did not expect the humour and Dark Star suffered in properly reaching its intended audience. The home video cassette revolution of the early 1980s saw Dark Star become a cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
among sci-fi fans.
Director's Cut
John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon re-edited the film into a "director's cut", removing much of the footage shot for the theatrical release and adding new special effects.DVD
The film was released in special two-disc "Hyperdrive Edition" DVD in 2010 by VCI Entertainment and contains both the Director's Cut and a longer Original Theatrical Release, as well as a long featurette explaining the origins of Dark Star and how it was produced. A fan commentary also provides a lot of trivial information about the film. Dark Star had previously been released on various region DVDs with little or no special features.Critical response
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film an 80% fresh rating, with the following consensus: "A loopy 2001 satire, Dark Star may not be the most consistent sci-fi comedy, but its portrayal of human eccentricity is a welcome addition to the genre." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film three stars, writing: "Dark Star is one of the damnedest science fiction movies I've ever seen, a berserk combination of space opera, intelligent bombs, and beach balls from other worlds."
Legacy
Dark Star was ranked #95 on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
' Journey Through Sci-Fi.
The indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Pinback
Pinback
Pinback is an indie rock band from San Diego, California, currently signed to Temporary Residence Ltd. The band was formed in 1998 by singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Armistead Burwell Smith IV and Rob Crow. Tom Zinser, Chris Prescott, and Mario Rubalcaba have all contributed drums...
takes its name from a character in the movie, and use audio clips of the movie itself in their songs.
The track Bomb 20 by UK rock band Alien Stash Tin is inspired by and quotes from the movie.
Synth-pop band Erasure
Erasure
Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Andy Bell. Erasure entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That"...
sampled the computer's voice on their track "Sweet sweet baby" ("Ship's computer to bridge...I must disengage your recreational music") featured on the b-side to their 1989 hit "Drama!
Drama!
"Drama!" is the first single released by Erasure from their fourth studio album Wild!. It was issued by Mute Records in the UK and Sire Records in the U.S....
".
Composer, David Holmes
David Holmes (musician)
David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and composer.-Career:Holmes began djing in Belfast from the age of 15. His first hit was the song "DeNiro", with Ashley Beedle, in 1992. In the early to mid 1990s he ran two club nights in the Belfast Art College known as Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain...
also samples the computer's voice on his track 'Slash the seats' from the 1995 album "This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats
This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats
This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats is the debut album by David Holmes, originally released in 1995. It was reissued in the US with a bonus CD of remixes and B-sides in 1998.- Track listing :#"No Man's Land"#"Slash the Seats"#"Shake Ya Brain"...
"
The movie was adapted into a book by Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...
.
Soundtrack
The music for Dark Star is mostly of a pure electronic style and was done by John Carpenter himself using synthesizers.The theme song played during the opening and closing credits is "Benson, Arizona
Benson, Arizona
-Transportation:Benson Airport is located 3 miles north west of the city.Benson is served by Interstate 10 to the north, which travels directly to downtown Tucson....
". The music was written by John Carpenter, and the lyrics by Bill Taylor, concerning a person who travels the galaxy at light speed and misses their beloved back on Earth. The lead vocal was John Yager, a college friend of Carpenter's. Yager was not a professional musician "apart from being in a band in college."
Further reading
- Holdstock, Robert. Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Octopus Books, 1978, pp. 80–81. ISBN 0-7064-0756-3
- Cinefex magazine, issue 2, Aug 1980. Article by Brad Munson: "Greg JeinGreg JeinGreg Jein is a model designer who creates miniatures for use in the special effects portions of many films and TV shows. He has been doing so since the 1970s.-References:...
, Miniature Giant". (Discusses Dark Star, among other subjects.) - Fantastic Films magazine, Oct 1978, vol. 1 no. 4, pages 52–58, 68–69. James Delson interviews Greg JeinGreg JeinGreg Jein is a model designer who creates miniatures for use in the special effects portions of many films and TV shows. He has been doing so since the 1970s.-References:...
, about Dark Star and other projects Jein had worked on. - Fantastic Films magazine, Sep 1979, issue 10, pages 7–17, 29–30. Dan O'BannonDan O'BannonDaniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
discusses Dark Star and Alien, other subjects. (Article was later reprinted in "The very best of Fantastic Films", Special Edition #22 as well.) - Fantastic Films magazine, Collector's Edition #17, Jul 1980, pages 16–24, 73, 76–77, 92. (Article: "John CarpenterJohn CarpenterJohn Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
Overexposed" by Blake Mitchell and James Ferguson. Discusses Dark Star, among other things.)
- Bradbury, Ray, Kaleidoscope Doubleday & Company 1951
External links
- Dark Star at The Official John Carpenter
- script of the original short version of Dark Star
- AMC.com - B Movies - Dark Star (Full Streaming Movie)