Talk:Dark Star (film)

Missing information

There are a few things missing from this article. But it's been literally decades since I saw the film last so I'm not in a position to add them:

• Wasn't there a "director's cut" released on laserdisc?

Wardster321 02:59, 26 March 2007 (UTC) answers:

Essentially yes; though the LD wasn't necesssarily called by that name. The VCI and/or Image Entertainment (listed on the jacket as exclusive distributors) folks included the additional materials from the theatrical release, but moved them to the end of the film, after the LD's last chapter. The LD's jacket discusses this, saying that, "When DARK STAR was originally released in theaters, certain scenes were hastily created in order to lengthen the film to commercially required running time. Carpenter and O'Bannon felt that these additions, deemed necessary by exhibitors, degraded the quality of the film. The worst of these scenes have been omitted from this LaserDisc version, bringing it nearer the filmmakers' original vision. The deleted scenes have been included at the end of the program for the edification of the viewer."(1991 copyrights for artwork and summary, as listed on the back of the LD's jacket. "ID6589VC" is shown on jacket's edge and back side; presumably the LS's catalog code or part number?)

• The theme song was rather unusual as it was a country music song about relativity; I've heard it cited as an inspiration for similar SF themes like that of Firefly.
• Wasn't Dark Star also the inspiration for Alien? Again, this was something I remember reading about years ago and I couldn't even hazard a guess where.

23skidoo 04:06, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

The film critic Danny Peary speculates as to that in one of his Cult Movies books. O'Bannon wrote Alien, and he wondered if it could be inspired by that long sequence where O'Bannon has to chase the beachball. Daniel Case 23:52, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Wardster321 07:31, 26 March 2007 (UTC) answers:

I can offer two unique citations for that question. See "Creative Screenwriting" magazine, Volume 11 number 5 (Sep / Oct 2004); pages 70-73. That article was by David Konow. It was called "Alien 25 years later: Dan O'Bannon looks back on his scariest creation". In the article O'Bannon discusses how Dark Star's Beach Ball Alien came to be; both in terms of what they made it out of, and why they decided to do that. He goes on to say, "It was that beach ball that made me want to do Alien so badly." Second citation: "Fantastic Films" #10 from Sep 1979, pages 7-17; 29-30. (This article was later reprinted in "The very best of Fantastic Films," Special Edition #22.) O'Bannon is quoted in this one as saying much the same thing: that "Back then we were still working on Dark Star, the picture derives some elements from Dark Star. It was like, while we were in the midst of doing Dark Star I had a secondary thought on it -- the same movie, but in a completely different light." Other references most likely also exist, on the subject of Dark Star's influence on Alien.

The review of this film is overly harsh and impatient. Dark Star should be viewed in the context of other 'professional' science fiction films of the 1970's (before Star Wars) against which, Dark Star compares quite favorably. Indeed, the beach ball alien is one of the film's highlights and points to Nick Castle's skill as a physical actor (or puppeteer). The elevator shaft sequence is another moment crafted with no shortage of ingenuity and manages to feel convincing even after one realizes how the illusion was achieved.

The film is available now On DVD through VCI Entertainment. The DVD contains both the original student film and theatrical versions in wide screen.

Hunter Cressall

I find it surprising that there is no mention of 2001: A Space Odyssey in this article. Dark Star clearly satirizes the Stanley Kubrick movie, inasmuch as both movies feature conflicts between the crew and destructive artificial intelligences (Hal in 2001 and Bomb #20 in Dark Star). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.97.121 (talk) 18:18, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Rumors

It appears there may be a number of cases where the names in the film's credits were more or less invented; aliases or something similar, possibly to disguise the idea that fewer people actually worked on it? (May be relatively common, on small films? Robert Rodriguez admits to it, in his Rebel Without a Crew book.) Anyway, while I don't have relevant citations available, I'd suggest that viewers pay close attention to the voices of the two bombs. In my opinion, that's Dan O'Bannon talking. Note also that O'Bannon himself says in the DVD extras for Return of the Living Dead (one of his later films) that the voice of an unseen helicopter pilot, heard over a loudspeaker, was O'Bannon's voice.

Wardster321 19:09, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

This article needs a spoiler warning.. how do I do that... can someone do it for me please? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.86.142.111 (talk) 19:04, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

The ending was from a short story

I remember reading a short story that was obviously used as the basis for the ending of this movie.

It starts in the immediate aftermath of an explosion on a ship near the Earth, with each of the crewmembers drifting off in different directions. One is pulled towards the Trojans (IIRC), I seem to recall another talking about surfing, and the main character is pulled towards Earth. The story ends with a child noticing the re-entering astronaut and wishing on the "shooting star".

Is this ringing any bells? I seem to recall it was in a collection of Nebula winners, or the like.

Maury (talk) 23:13, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Its one of the short stories that makes up part of the Ray Bradbury collection, The illustrated Man. If anybody could get more info I think it should be used. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Taksraven (talk • contribs) 01:33, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

The story was called Kaleidoscope, and was from the Ray Bradbury anthology The Illustrated Man, published in 1951. In the story, several men survive a spaceship explosion and are propelled in different directions. They have a conversation via their suit radios. One man finds himself in a meteor swarm and one enters the atmosphere of Earth and becomes a shooting star as he burns up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.97.121 (talk) 19:44, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

• Is the bomb detonation possibly a reference to Isaac Asmiov's short story The Last Question, where a computer pondering the universe initiates a Big Bang ("Let there be light!")?

Please do not add original research to the article, unless you have a reference that actually show someone in the production of the film saying they used Bradburys ending then you can't say it in the article. 67.8.72.12 (talk) 06:19, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Dark Star.jpg

Image:Dark Star.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 21:11, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Bad/missing references.

This article references some things (being singled out as an example of "philosophy in cinema", considered impressive for a student work, and the Vietnam reference) that aren't accompanied by actual references. There were a few references from magazines/books, but nothing regarding what part of the article they correlate to. I hid them for future use. Chad Hennings^{TOUCHDOWN•THURMAN THOMAS} 17:49, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Darkstar is a Comedy

This film just plain doesn't strike me as a comedy.86.42.194.236 (talk) 22:22, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it is a comedy. Dark Comedy. Tongue-in-cheek. Whatever genre you want to describe it as, but it is definitely a comedy. Nreive (talk) 08:02, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Phenomenology (philosophy)

The article is wrong concerning the teaching of epistemology to the bomb. I'm sure it was Phenomenology. Phenomenology and epistemology are different fields. One deals with the concepts of conciousness and the other deals with the structure of knowledge.

Also, here is the script entry.

                               POWELL
                   No, no, Doolittle, you talk to it.
                   Teach it Phenomenology, Doolittle.

scope_creep (talk) 13:21, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

IMDB Trivia page

The IMDB trivia pages seem to be a less then reliable source and it is used as the primary source for much of the information in this article. If anyone cares please try to find some better sourcing for the article. 67.8.72.12 (talk) 08:15, 17 December 2010 (UTC)