Dark Star (1974)

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

John Carpenter (original story and screenplay) and
Dan O'Bannon (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

9 February 1979 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

What would you be like after 20 years aboard DARK STAR the spaced-out spaceship. The ultimate cosmic comedy!

Plot:

Low-budget story of four astronauts in deep space, whose mission is to destroy unstable planets in star systems which are to be colonised...

Plot Keywords:

Bomb | Computer | Space | Alien | Spoof

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Brian Narelle	...	Lt. Doolittle
Cal Kuniholm	...	Boiler
Dre Pahich	...	Talby
Dan O'Bannon	...	Sgt. Pinback
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adam Beckenbaugh	...	Bomb #20 (uncredited)
Nick Castle	...	Alien (uncredited)
Cookie Knapp	...	Computer / 'Mother' (uncredited)
Joe Saunders	...	Commander Powell (uncredited)
Alan Sheretz	...	Bomb #19 (uncredited)
Miles Watkins	...	Watkins - Mission Control (uncredited)

Directed by
John Carpenter

Writing credits
John Carpenter		(original story and screenplay) and
Dan O'Bannon		(original story and screenplay)

Produced by
John Carpenter	....	producer
J. Stein Kaplan	....	associate producer
Jack H. Harris	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
John Carpenter

Cinematography by
Douglas Knapp

Film Editing by
Dan O'Bannon

Production Design by
Dan O'Bannon

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
J. Stein Kaplan	....	assistant director

Art Department
David Seal	....	chief carpenter
Tommy Lee Wallace	....	associate art director (as Tom Wallace)

Sound Department
John Brasher	....	sound effects
Nina Kleinberg	....	sound
Leslie Shatz	....	sound effects re-recordist
Nick Spaulding	....	sound effects editor

Visual Effects by
Ron Cobb	....	special effects
Bob Greenberg	....	special effects
Gregory Jein	....	special effects (as Greg Jein)
Dan O'Bannon	....	special effects supervisor
Bill Taylor	....	optical effects
Bill Taylor	....	visual effects consultant
Harry Walton	....	special effects
John C. Wash	....	special effects (as John Wash)
Jim Danforth	....	matte painter (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Dale Beldin	....	additional photographer
Nick Castle	....	assistant camera
Cliff Fenneman	....	additional photographer
Les Rumsey	....	key grip

Other crew
Jack H. Harris	....	presenter
Jack F. Murphy	....	production associate (as Jack Murphy)
Craig Portman	....	creative consultant
Craig Portman	....	engineer
Terence H. Winkless	....	production assistant: Terry Winkless

Production Companies

• Jack H. Harris Enterprises
• University of Southern California (USC)

Distributors

• Jack H. Harris Enterprises (1974) (USA) (theatrical)
• Astral Films (1975) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Bryanston Distributing (1975) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Cupido Films (1978) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Filmwelt (1979) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Astro Distribution (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• BijouFlix Releasing (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Liberty Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• VCI Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• VCI Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Video Dimensions (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Dark Star (Australia)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | West Germany:6 (f) | Australia:G | Norway:11 | UK:PG | USA:G

Company:

Jack H. Harris Enterprises

Trivia:

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.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Boiler starts yelling to Pinback that he can use the gun to shoot the pins off Bomb #20, his dialogue doesn't match his lips at all.

Quotes:

[Doolittle convinces the bomb not to explode]
Doolittle: Hello, Bomb? Are you with me?
Bomb #20: Of course.
Doolittle: Are you willing to entertain a few concepts?
Bomb #20: I am always receptive to suggestions.
Doolittle: Fine. Think about this then. How do you know you exist?
Bomb #20: Well, of course I exist.
Doolittle: But how do you know you exist?
Bomb #20: It is intuitively obvious.
Doolittle: Intuition is no proof. What concrete evidence do you have that you exist?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sunshine (2007)

Soundtrack:

Benson Arizona

Science fiction with a funny bone

I saw this movie for the first time at the USA Film Festival. Held here in Big D every spring, the USAFF showcases films produced here in the USA. (No foreign films)

Each night they would show two new films, plus a retrospective film from the actor or director being honored that year. After the film, the film critic who selected the film would interview one or more of the people involved with the film's production.

Towards the end of the week, I arrived at the Bob Hope Theatre (on the SMU campus) to find a notice on the chalkboard: one of the films had cancelled out, and "Dark Star" a "sci-fi comedy" would be shown in its place.

Bringing science fiction and comedy together is a tricky business: usually either the SF content or the humor suffers. Or both.

I ended up being pleasantly surprised. The special effects were a little cheesy (Carpenter originally shot it as a film student, on a film students "budget"), but the characters were funny, and they got off some nice riffs.

Carpenter and O'Bannon (who also co-wrote the first "Alien" movie) produce a collection of odd characters on an extended mission. For the last 20 years they've been travelling the galaxies in search of "unstable planets" to destroy.

Unfortunately, the crew is falling apart. Boredom, apathy, mechanical malfunctions and a puckish alien mascot ensure that things only get worse and worse.

There's a clever parody of a scene from "2001" occurs when one of the bombs can't be released and has to be talked out of exploding.

And there's a reverse reference to one of O'Bannon's own script for "Alien" when the alien gets free and one of the crew has to track the thing down. (O'Bannon refers to this as "Alien" turned upside-down: instead of the alien chasing the crew, one of the crew chases the alien)

Lots of fun. Eight stars.