Star Wars Droppings: Starship Invasions (1977)
First, it was Sunn Classic Pictures, the studio that brought you Hangar 18. Then it was Jack Palance terrifying the galaxy in The Shape of Things to Come. Now, get ready for an explosive, galactic fantasy that will take you to the very edge of the universe and into the beyond . . . as […]
The Bad Seed (1956)
John Waters, in his book Role Models, claimed that he wanted to be Rhoda Penmark, the titular antagonist of The Bad Seed. “I wanted to be Rhoda. I pretended I was her. Why? I wanted to strike fear in the hearts of my playmates.” There’s really no other movie quite like this one. Sure, we’ve covered plenty […]
Star Wars Droppings: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)
“In the year 1987, at the John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA launched the last of America’s deep space probes. The payload, perched on the nosecone of the NASA rocket, was a one-man exploration vessel: Ranger 3. Aboard this compact starship, a lone astronaut, Captain William “Buck” Rogers, was to experience cosmic forces beyond all […]
Star Wars Droppings: Star Odyssey (1979)
This is the fourth and final film in Alfonso Brescia’s sci-fi series — Cosmos: War of the Planets AKA Year Zero War in Space, Battle of the Stars AKA Battle in Interstellar Space and War of the Robots AKA Reactor — Star Odyssey AKA Seven Gold Men in Space, Space Odyssey, Metallica and Captive Planet is an Italian flavored take on […]
Star Wars Droppings: Os Trapalhoes na Guerra dos Planetas (1978)
Os Trapalhoes na Guerra dos Planetas is the thirteenth film of Los Trapalhoes, a Brazilian comedy troupe. You could translate it as The Bunglers in the War of the Planets or just call it Brazilian Star Wars. Either will do. If you like jazzy music, dudes getting set on fire, hijinks and sped-up action, great news. These are […]
Star Wars Droppings: Galaxina (1980)
As long as you don’t go into William Sachs’s (The Incredible Melting Man) intentional sci-fi homage that tips its hat to Star Trek: TOS, Star Wars and Alien expecting a “naughty” Spaceballs-styled parody, you might get a few The Ice Pirates-like chuckles. However, regardless of the presence of its adult-centerfold star, don’t expect a variation […]
Star Wars Droppings: Space Raiders (1983)
Space Raiders AKA Star Child was directed by Howard R. Cohen (Saturday the 14th, Saturday the 14th Strikes Back and the scripts for Unholy Rollers, Deathstalker, Stryker, Barbarian Queen and The Young Nurses) and produced by Roger Corman as part of his new Millennium’s films, where he also produced Love Letters, Screwballs, and Suburbia. If you think you’ve seen the spaceships and special effects and […]
Star Wars Droppings: Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin was one of the first animated movies to mix traditional and computer animation, as well as one of the first to be released in 3D (although the Australian comedy Abra Cadabra was released first). The New York Times referred to this movie as “such a brazen rip-off of George Lucas’s Star Wars […]
Exploring: ’80s Comedies
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Robert Freese has been a staff writer for Videoscope Magazine since 1998. He also contributes to Drive-in Asylum. Film scholars are forever writing about the 1980’s horror movie scene. I won’t lie. It was an awesome time. But it was an awesome time for all kinds of movies. A little exploration quickly […]
Brave New World (1980): NBC-TV’s other “Star Wars”
This is a big week for Star Wars fans, courtesy of the nationwide premiere of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker and with Alden Ehrenreich from Solo: A Star Wars Story cast in the lead as John the Savage in Universal Studios’ third adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel. Set to […]
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