Dark Star (film)

Dark Star
Theatrical poster
Directed by	John Carpenter
Written by	John Carpenter Dan O'Bannon
Produced by	John Carpenter
Starring	Dan O'Bannon Brian Narelle Cal Kuniholm Dre Pahich
Cinematography	Douglas Knapp
Edited by	Dan O'Bannon
Music by	John Carpenter
Distributed by	Jack H. Harris Enterprises Inc.
Release date	April 1974 (1974-04)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	USD $60,000

Dark Star is a 1974 American science fiction parody motion picture directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon.

Plot

In the middle of the 22nd century, humankind has reached a point in its technological advances to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. Armed with intelligent "Exponential Thermostellar Bombs", 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 (who dreams of surfing back in Malibu), Sgt. Pinback, Boiler (who has taken to playing with knives and using the ship's repair laser for target practice), and Talby (who has become reclusive and spends all his time in the ship's dome). Their Commander, Powell, has died and exists only via cryogenic supports. The crew perform their jobs in a state of abject boredom as the tedium of their task has driven them around the bend.

Sgt. Pinback claims to be liquid fuel specialist Bill Frug, 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. However, this may be evidence of Pinback's space madness and desire to go home as he makes these claims after one year of being on the ship and demands to be sent home. Pinback adopts a ship's mascot in the form of a mischievous alien "killer beachball with claws" that refuses to stay put in the food locker and forces Pinback to chase it all over the ship.

The computer is malfunctioning, with parts of the ship burnt out and others simply blown up. While stuck in the bomb bay, Thermostellar Bomb #20 threatens to detonate itself. 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 retreats to the bomb bay for contemplation, and disaster seems to have been averted. Pinback addresses the bomb over the intercom to finally disarm it.

The bomb misinterprets Doolittle's phenomenology and believes itself to be God and explodes, killing Pinback and Boiler instantly. Commander Powell is fired off into space encased in a large block of ice, Talby drifts off into the Phoenix Asteroids to die and circle the universe, and Doolittle surfs down to the unstable planet on a piece of debris to burn up in the atmosphere.

Production

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 for the O'Bannon-scripted science fiction horror classic, Alien.

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

The special effects in 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.

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.

Distribution

Although destined for eventual theatrical 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 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.

Because Harris annoyed director John Carpenter during filming, Carpenter got revenge by having a computer screen flash "FUCK YOU HARRIS" during the film.

DVD

The film was released on a DVD containing two versions, a Director's Cut and a longer Original Theatrical Release. Most of the footage added to the film to bring it up to theatrical running time was removed for the Director's Cut, and new special effects were added.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes 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."

Legacy

Dark Star was ranked #95 on Rotten Tomatoes' Journey Through Sci-Fi.

The indie rock band, Pinback, takes its name from a character in the movie.

Science fiction franchises such as Red Dwarf and Mystery Science Theatre 3000 have claimed Dark Star as partial inspiration.

The Movie Was Adapted into a book by Alan Dean Foster

Analysis

Carpenter has described Dark Star as "Waiting for Godot in space."

Soundtrack

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. The lead vocal was John Yager, a college friend of the filmaker'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 Jein, 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 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.)

External links

• Dark Star at IMDb
• Dark Star at AllMovie
• Dark Star at the TCM Movie Database
• 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)