{"id":87060,"date":"2022-09-09T08:12:40","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T15:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=87060"},"modified":"2022-09-09T08:41:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T15:41:32","slug":"dark-star-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=87060","title":{"rendered":"Dark Star (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Don&#8217;t give me any of that &#8216;intelligent life&#8217; stuff. Give me something I can blow up!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Poster-193x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"193\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-87061\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Poster-193x300.png 193w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Poster-82x128.png 82w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Poster-173x270.png 173w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Poster.png 613w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA team of astronauts &#8212;  Lt. Doolittle (Brian Narelle), Boiler (Cal Kuniholm), Talby (Dre Pahich), and Sgt. Pinback (Dan O&#8217;Bannon) &#8212; who&#8217;ve been sent on a 20 year mission to detonate &#8220;unstable planets&#8221; deal with both boredom and life-threatening emergencies during their time in space.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Astronauts<\/li>\n<li>John Carpenter Films<\/li>\n<li>Satires and Spoofs<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<li>Space Opera<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that &#8220;this emerging cult hit&#8221; &#8212; the &#8220;debut effort of director John Carpenter and screenwriter&#8230; Dan O&#8217;Bannon&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;actually began as a thesis film at USC,&#8221; and &#8220;has long been the textbook example of how to make a quality film on a shoestring budget.&#8221; He refers to it as &#8220;a splendidly inventive, hip, irreverent space satire (a parody of <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=73446\"><em>2001<\/em><\/a>) that provocatively illustrates how astronauts, when confined to their spaceship for too long, become irretrievably &#8216;spaced out&#8217;.&#8221; He goes on to argue that &#8220;this dehumanization theme is much better realized here than in Carpenter&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=85242\"><em>The Thing<\/em><\/a>&#8221; (but we have vastly differing opinions on that flick, so I won&#8217;t carry that discussion any farther). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-OBannon.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-OBannon-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87084\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-OBannon-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-OBannon-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-OBannon-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-OBannon-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-OBannon-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-OBannon.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I would agree that &#8220;seeing these astronauts in their sorry state at the film&#8217;s <em>beginning<\/em>&#8221; makes us &#8220;concerned not [only] about what will become of them but about how they became that way.&#8221; They are &#8220;neglected or, more likely, forgotten by earth base&#8221;, and are now in a &#8220;radioactive&#8221; ship with &#8220;their toilet paper long gone, their minds wandering in various directions,&#8221; flying &#8220;through infinite space on an endless and now pointless mission to blow up (with talking bombs, no less) unstable planets.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>What a dreary, torturous existence! As Peary points out, how these four men &#8220;spend their time is the gist of the film,&#8221; so it&#8217;s a good thing we&#8217;re given plenty of droll comic relief.  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Bored.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Bored-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Bored-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Bored-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Bored-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Bored-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Bored-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Bored.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Peary argues that while &#8220;the film has traces of amateurishness, it is brimming with ingenuity&#8230; and quirky humor,&#8221; with a highlight &#8220;a long sequence in which O&#8217;Bannon&#8217;s witless character tries to feed an alien they&#8217;ve taken aboard&#8221; &#8212; which is played as &#8220;pure comedy&#8221; but is also clearly &#8220;the genesis of <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16783\"><em>Alien<\/em><\/a>, for which O&#8217;Bannon also wrote the script.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Feeding.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Feeding-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87073\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Feeding-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Feeding-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Feeding-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Feeding-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Feeding-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Feeding.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Peary analyzes the film in further detail in his <em>Cult Movies 2<\/em> book, where he notes that both of Carpenter&#8217;s pre-<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=38015\"><em>Halloween<\/em> (1978)<\/a> films &#8212; this and <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=11019\"><em>Assault on Precinct 13<\/em> (1976)<\/a> &#8212; have unique cult followings that are &#8220;quite separate from each other.&#8221; He points out that Carpenter at this early stage in his career &#8220;was obviously much like the innovative astronaut Doolittle, who fills up two rows of hanging bottles with varying amounts of water to create a makeshift vibraphone&#8221;: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Instrument.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Instrument-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87066\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Instrument-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Instrument-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Instrument-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Instrument-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Instrument-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Instrument.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; just as Carpenter &#8220;used everything at his disposal to complete a &#8216;legitimate&#8217; film&#8230; despite having little money for production values.&#8221; His strategies included using &#8220;interesting opticals and animation effects;&#8221; building &#8220;an eighty-foot shaft and flip[ping] his camera on its side to make Pinback&#8217;s elevator-hanging scene seem believable and exciting&#8221;: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Elevator.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Elevator-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87065\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Elevator-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Elevator-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Elevator-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Elevator-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Elevator-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Elevator.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; &#8220;allow[ing] for a monster that is no more than a beachball with claws because he can use it for humor as well as suspense; vary[ing] the visuals by including several sequences in which characters appear on television monitors and seem to be addressing the viewer&#8221;: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Video-Journal.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Video-Journal-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87068\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Video-Journal-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Video-Journal-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Video-Journal-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Video-Journal-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Video-Journal-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Video-Journal.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; and &#8220;giv[ing] voices to the ship&#8217;s computer (a sexy but motherly female) and the bomb about to be detonated (a fussy male), thereby adding two characters to the film.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not a personal fan of this film, but I concede its effectiveness and can understand how and why it would have appealed to audiences of the day. There are a number of clever moments (my favorite is &#8220;Doolittle&#8217;s phenomenological discussion with the bomb&#8221;): <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Intuition-is-No-Proof.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Intuition-is-No-Proof-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87075\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Intuition-is-No-Proof-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Intuition-is-No-Proof-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Intuition-is-No-Proof-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Intuition-is-No-Proof-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Intuition-is-No-Proof-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Intuition-is-No-Proof.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; and I would agree with Peary that this film can be &#8220;an inspiration to aspiring independent filmmakers&#8221; as a &#8220;surprisingly non-indulgent [film] for a new director.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Impressive use of a super-low budget<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Frozen-Captain.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Frozen-Captain-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87071\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Frozen-Captain-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Frozen-Captain-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Frozen-Captain-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Frozen-Captain-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Frozen-Captain-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Frozen-Captain.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Ship.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Ship-1024x550.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-87076\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Ship-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Ship-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Ship-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Ship-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Ship-502x270.png 502w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Dark-Star-Ship.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, once, simply as a cult favorite. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0069945\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1979\/02\/03\/archives\/dark-star-space-film-sendup.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/reviews\/review\/57363\">DVD Talk Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=2599&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/sciencefiction\/dark-star-1974.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/72324\/dark-star#articles-reviews?articleId=17706\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t give me any of that &#8216;intelligent life&#8217; stuff. Give me something I can blow up!&#8221; Synopsis: A team of astronauts &#8212; Lt. Doolittle (Brian Narelle), Boiler (Cal Kuniholm), Talby (Dre Pahich), and Sgt. Pinback (Dan O&#8217;Bannon) &#8212; who&#8217;ve been sent on a 20 year mission to detonate &#8220;unstable planets&#8221; deal with both boredom and life-threatening emergencies during their time in space. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Astronauts John Carpenter Films Satires and Spoofs Science Fiction Space Opera Response to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=87060\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87060"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87096,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87060\/revisions\/87096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}