DARK STAR

DARK STAR         

Made in 1974, Dark Star was the first film John Carpenter (probably best known for Halloween, Escape from New York, Starman, and Big Trouble in Little China) wrote and directed.  Dan O’Bannon, who later wrote Alien and Total Recall, among others, was a collaborator and actor (Pinback). Dark Star was a sci-fi movie that depicted the perils that people could encounter when isolated from other humans, in this case the unpredictability of nature and unreliability of technology.  Though similar to contemporaneous movies in the same genre like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running, the film’s tone was very different.  The latter two movies were frightening and sad, respectively (more about them can be found online), while Dark Star was satirically comedic. 

The setting is a space ship that has been venturing through the universe for twenty years destroying any lifeforms that object to human colonization of their planets.  In the opening scene, the ship appears small in the backdrop of outer space and seating on the bridge is so tight the flight crew is squeezed in shoulder to shoulder.  But, as is the nature of satire, all is not what it seems.  The elevator shaft, for instance, shows us that the ship actually is many stories tall and, rather than being in a tiny bridge, the men are really sitting in a dome listening to country rock while scouring the heavens for habitable planets.

The crew is isolated and there is no one to turn to if something goes wrong which, of course, it does as a result of an asteroid storm and a pet Alien.  The storm, of course, is an uncontrollable event (nature), but the damage wrought by the impish Alien, which looks like a large beachball painted to resemble a pumpkin with claws, only occurs because Pinback allows it to get out of its enclosure.  The alien hightails it into the elevator shaft, and being round, bouncy, and equipped with sharp fingernails, easily makes it to the far side of the shaft where it latches on.  Being neither bouncy nor equipped with claws, Pinback’s only option is to scoot across a very narrow ledge to reach his quarry.  Unfortunately, the elevator begins to descend and, since no one can hear him call for help, Pinback has to save himself.  How he does it is precarious and hilarious.    

While ‘the elevator scene’ is my favorite, there are many things to enjoy about this movie.  The music is country rock, the captain lives in a cryogenic chamber, a bomb, which is stuck in the bomb bay, is convinced that its destiny is to self-destruct, and the final solution, which I won’t ruin in case you want to give Dark Star a glance, is unexpected.  The only thing I would add is that I loved this movie the first time I saw it, and after forty-some years, still do.   That’s all for now.  I’ll be blogging again next week.  Until then, take it easy and enjoy a flick or two.