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EspañolDARK STAR (FILM)
: ''This page is about the film Dark Star. For other topics, please see the disambiguation page at Dark Star''.
'''Dark Star''' is a 1974 sci-fi motion picture tongue-in-cheek comedy directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon.
It is the middle of the 22nd century and the scout ship ''Dark Star'' has been dispatched on a twenty year deep space mission to destroy orbitally unstable planets. The ship is operated by the United States military, but is virtually without command from base because of its distance from Earth. The ship encountered an electromagnetically bound asteroid storm, causing serious damage to the ship and killing the captain.
Later, they encounter another asteroid storm, which blows out a communications laser at the back of the ship. This prematurely activates one of the artificially intelligent bombs. The ship's computer pleads and eventually overrides the orders for the bomb to drop. It returns to the bomb bay disgusted.
After some trouble with an alien "pet" the crew has brought aboard, further system malfunctions lead to a bomb being armed but not released from the bomb bay. The crew try to disarm it and repair the damaged systems, but the bomb eventually explodes and the crew are killed.
Although destined for eventual release in 1974, this was only possible as a consequence of a successful series of showings at a number of film festivals in 1973. Originally the film was a 45 minute student short filmed on 16mm film. The movie was transferred to 35mm with the addition of 38 minutes which brought the movie up to feature film length.
The special effects on the movie were done by Dan O'Bannon, ship design by Ron Cobb, model work by O'Bannon and Greg Jein, and animation was by Bob Greenberg, all of which are considered impressive for a student work. O'Bannon starred in the film in the role of Sgt. Pinback.
Carpenter has, tongue in cheek, described "Dark Star" as "'Waiting for Godot' in space."
It is also singled out as an example of "philosophy in cinema" by virtue of the "talking bomb" sequence, in which a strategy to prevent the unintended detonation of a renegade onboard explosive device is devised, based on teaching the bomb the rudiments of phenomenology (with amusingly unexpected results). Another key interpretational theme is the caricature of the Vietnam War legacy of "mischief emerging from tedium" among military types on long uneventful missions.
The final sequence of the film is more than reminiscent of Slim Pickens playing MAJ T.J "King" Kong in the film Dr. Strangelove. In the near-final sequence, a nuclear bomb "refuses" to budge from the B-52 bomb bay, until forced to do so by the mechanical intervention of MAJ Kong. When the bomb suddenly releases, MAJ Kong ends up riding it like a bucking horse with hat-in-hand cart-wheeling sailing towards the target and oblivion.
★ A novelization of the film was written by Alan Dean Foster.
★ The lyrics of the theme song "Benson, Arizona", a space traveler's lament about being separated from his lover by distance and relativistic time dilation, was written by Bill Taylor, who also worked on the optical and visual effects for the movie.
★ The classic C64 demo ''Terminus'' by Drew Rodger was heavily influenced by the film.[1]
★ The novel ''Revelation Space'', by Alastair Reynolds, makes use of a similar plot device as presented in ''Dark Star'', possibly influenced by the film. In that novel, the captain of the starship in which part of the action takes place has been infected with the Melding Plague, requiring he be cryogenically preserved so as to slow down the plague's progression. One of the protagonists nonetheless entertains short and infrequent conversations with the captain by warming his brain a few degrees and interfacing with its implants.
★ The British television series ''Red Dwarf'', which ran during the 1980s and 1990s and included elements of both comedy and science fiction, is said to have drawn heavy influences from ''Dark Star''.
★ A brief single-frame insert flashing across the computer screen reads "FUCK YOU HARRIS". This is a reference to Jack Harris, the producer who financed the film's upgrade from student work to feature. He and Carpenter frequently clashed over the film's budget.
★ The band Pinback used samples from the movie in both of their albums ''Pinback'' and ''Blue-Screen life''.
★ The band Star One; lead by Ayreon's Arjen A. Lucassen, directly based their song ''Spaced Out'' on this movie.
★ The 1983 Gottlieb arcade game "Mad Planets" is loosely based on the film. Players pilot a similar looking spaceship on a mission to destroy rogue planets.
★ Pinback's character claims in a pre-recorded diary entry that "...my real name is Bill Froug...". This is a reference to William Froug, a real-life screenwriting teacher (then adjunct professor) from USC. This good-natured practical joke was discussed in an interview of O'Bannon, in Froug's book "The new screenwriter looks at the new screenwriter". ISBN 1-879505-04-5. (See pages 45-46; and DVD's ''Dear Diary'' chapter; or ''Pinback's Diary'' on LaserDisc.) Froug says he first saw this with 500 or 600 students at the film's USC premiere; and that the "crowd laughed themselves silly and I nearly fell out of my chair".
★ Ranked #95 on Rotten Tomatoes' Journey Through Sci-Fi (100 Best-Reveiwed Sci-Fi Movies)
★ Danny Boyle named a character in his movie Sunshine (2007 film) after Pinback. [2]
★ 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 Jein, Miniature Giant". (Discusses ''Dark Star'', among other subjects.)
★ ''Creative Screenwriting'' magazine, Sep/Oct 2004, Vol. 11 No. 5, pages 70-73. (Article: "Alien, 25 years later: Dan O'Bannon looks back on his scariest creation" by David Konow. Discusses, among other things, how the "Beach Ball Alien" scenes in ''Dark Star'' were an inspiration for ''Alien''.)
★ ''Fantastic Films'' magazine, Oct 1978, vol. 1 no. 4, pages 52-58, 68-69. James Delson interviews Greg Jein, about ''Dark Star'' and other projects Jein had worked on.
★ ''Fantastic Films'' magazine, Sep 1979, issue 10, pages 7-17, 29-30. Dan O'Bannon 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 Carpenter Overexposed" by Blake Mitchell and James Ferguson. Discusses ''Dark Star'', among other things.)
★ ''Kaleidoscope'' short story by Ray Bradbury. (Available in ''Omnibus of Science Fiction''; Crown Publishers, Inc.; edited with an Introduction by Groff Conklin; Copyright 1952. Also in: ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'', October, 1949; and possibly in other sources.)
★
★
★ Dark Star at ''The Official John Carpenter''
★ Bomb #20 learns a little phenomenology
★ ''Dark Star'' film script
★ ''Dark Star'' film trailer
★ Doolittle's dialogue with Bomb 20
'''Dark Star''' is a 1974 sci-fi motion picture tongue-in-cheek comedy directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon.
| Contents |
| Plot |
| Cast |
| Uncredited Cast |
| Production |
| Analysis |
| Trivia |
| References |
| External links |
Plot
It is the middle of the 22nd century and the scout ship ''Dark Star'' has been dispatched on a twenty year deep space mission to destroy orbitally unstable planets. The ship is operated by the United States military, but is virtually without command from base because of its distance from Earth. The ship encountered an electromagnetically bound asteroid storm, causing serious damage to the ship and killing the captain.
Later, they encounter another asteroid storm, which blows out a communications laser at the back of the ship. This prematurely activates one of the artificially intelligent bombs. The ship's computer pleads and eventually overrides the orders for the bomb to drop. It returns to the bomb bay disgusted.
After some trouble with an alien "pet" the crew has brought aboard, further system malfunctions lead to a bomb being armed but not released from the bomb bay. The crew try to disarm it and repair the damaged systems, but the bomb eventually explodes and the crew are killed.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Brian Narelle | Lt. Doolittle |
| Cal Kuniholm | Boiler |
| Dre Pahich | Talby |
| Dan O'Bannon | Sgt. Pinback |
Uncredited Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Alan Sheretz | Bomb #19 |
| Adam Beckenbaugh | Bomb #20 |
| Nick Castle | Alien |
| Cookie Knapp | Computer |
| Joe Saunders | Commander Powell |
| Miles Watkins | Mission Control |
| John Carpenter | Voice of Talby |
| Michael Shaw |
Production
Although destined for eventual release in 1974, this was only possible as a consequence of a successful series of showings at a number of film festivals in 1973. Originally the film was a 45 minute student short filmed on 16mm film. The movie was transferred to 35mm with the addition of 38 minutes which brought the movie up to feature film length.
The special effects on the movie were done by Dan O'Bannon, ship design by Ron Cobb, model work by O'Bannon and Greg Jein, and animation was by Bob Greenberg, all of which are considered impressive for a student work. O'Bannon starred in the film in the role of Sgt. Pinback.
Analysis
Carpenter has, tongue in cheek, described "Dark Star" as "'Waiting for Godot' in space."
It is also singled out as an example of "philosophy in cinema" by virtue of the "talking bomb" sequence, in which a strategy to prevent the unintended detonation of a renegade onboard explosive device is devised, based on teaching the bomb the rudiments of phenomenology (with amusingly unexpected results). Another key interpretational theme is the caricature of the Vietnam War legacy of "mischief emerging from tedium" among military types on long uneventful missions.
The final sequence of the film is more than reminiscent of Slim Pickens playing MAJ T.J "King" Kong in the film Dr. Strangelove. In the near-final sequence, a nuclear bomb "refuses" to budge from the B-52 bomb bay, until forced to do so by the mechanical intervention of MAJ Kong. When the bomb suddenly releases, MAJ Kong ends up riding it like a bucking horse with hat-in-hand cart-wheeling sailing towards the target and oblivion.
Trivia
★ A novelization of the film was written by Alan Dean Foster.
★ The lyrics of the theme song "Benson, Arizona", a space traveler's lament about being separated from his lover by distance and relativistic time dilation, was written by Bill Taylor, who also worked on the optical and visual effects for the movie.
★ The classic C64 demo ''Terminus'' by Drew Rodger was heavily influenced by the film.[1]
★ The novel ''Revelation Space'', by Alastair Reynolds, makes use of a similar plot device as presented in ''Dark Star'', possibly influenced by the film. In that novel, the captain of the starship in which part of the action takes place has been infected with the Melding Plague, requiring he be cryogenically preserved so as to slow down the plague's progression. One of the protagonists nonetheless entertains short and infrequent conversations with the captain by warming his brain a few degrees and interfacing with its implants.
★ The British television series ''Red Dwarf'', which ran during the 1980s and 1990s and included elements of both comedy and science fiction, is said to have drawn heavy influences from ''Dark Star''.
★ A brief single-frame insert flashing across the computer screen reads "FUCK YOU HARRIS". This is a reference to Jack Harris, the producer who financed the film's upgrade from student work to feature. He and Carpenter frequently clashed over the film's budget.
★ The band Pinback used samples from the movie in both of their albums ''Pinback'' and ''Blue-Screen life''.
★ The band Star One; lead by Ayreon's Arjen A. Lucassen, directly based their song ''Spaced Out'' on this movie.
★ The 1983 Gottlieb arcade game "Mad Planets" is loosely based on the film. Players pilot a similar looking spaceship on a mission to destroy rogue planets.
★ Pinback's character claims in a pre-recorded diary entry that "...my real name is Bill Froug...". This is a reference to William Froug, a real-life screenwriting teacher (then adjunct professor) from USC. This good-natured practical joke was discussed in an interview of O'Bannon, in Froug's book "The new screenwriter looks at the new screenwriter". ISBN 1-879505-04-5. (See pages 45-46; and DVD's ''Dear Diary'' chapter; or ''Pinback's Diary'' on LaserDisc.) Froug says he first saw this with 500 or 600 students at the film's USC premiere; and that the "crowd laughed themselves silly and I nearly fell out of my chair".
★ Ranked #95 on Rotten Tomatoes' Journey Through Sci-Fi (100 Best-Reveiwed Sci-Fi Movies)
★ Danny Boyle named a character in his movie Sunshine (2007 film) after Pinback. [2]
References
★ 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 Jein, Miniature Giant". (Discusses ''Dark Star'', among other subjects.)
★ ''Creative Screenwriting'' magazine, Sep/Oct 2004, Vol. 11 No. 5, pages 70-73. (Article: "Alien, 25 years later: Dan O'Bannon looks back on his scariest creation" by David Konow. Discusses, among other things, how the "Beach Ball Alien" scenes in ''Dark Star'' were an inspiration for ''Alien''.)
★ ''Fantastic Films'' magazine, Oct 1978, vol. 1 no. 4, pages 52-58, 68-69. James Delson interviews Greg Jein, about ''Dark Star'' and other projects Jein had worked on.
★ ''Fantastic Films'' magazine, Sep 1979, issue 10, pages 7-17, 29-30. Dan O'Bannon 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 Carpenter Overexposed" by Blake Mitchell and James Ferguson. Discusses ''Dark Star'', among other things.)
★ ''Kaleidoscope'' short story by Ray Bradbury. (Available in ''Omnibus of Science Fiction''; Crown Publishers, Inc.; edited with an Introduction by Groff Conklin; Copyright 1952. Also in: ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'', October, 1949; and possibly in other sources.)
External links
★
★
★ Dark Star at ''The Official John Carpenter''
★ Bomb #20 learns a little phenomenology
★ ''Dark Star'' film script
★ ''Dark Star'' film trailer
★ Doolittle's dialogue with Bomb 20
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