Dark Star in '70s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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Koukol 5		#41	[-]
May 27 11 5:46 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks Bill,,,I better put a warning on my post. btw~I thought this was a Spielberg film. Last Edited By: Koukol 5 May 29 11 2:01 PM. Edited 1 times.
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Bill Warren		#42	[-]
May 27 11 6:51 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Koukol 5 wrote: Thanks Bill,,,I better put a warning on my posy. btw~I thought this was a Spielberg film. Not even close. It was written by Dan O'Bannon and directed by John Carpenter as part of a USC film school project, so it was way cheap. Later, with money from Jack H. Harris, they brought it up to feature length and it was released theatrically.
jamesbrummel		#43	[-]
May 27 11 9:30 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I get the feeling it was the whole "Chase the Alien" episode that was added later. I think when Pinback tells them about it after it looks like just his voice dubbed over some unrelated footage of the group. The whole teach the bomb phenomonology part seems pretty pot+college, most of the movie is kind of off kilter, while the Chase the ALien part is slapstick and seems to come from a different sensibility. Not that I don't like it. When Pinback comes out of the elevator with the floor around his waist like hula skirt I always pop my gut. And when he waves the light thingees away, "get away!". very funny. I remember a scene where one character is playing some odd musical instrument -- is that in any of the current vers? Gravity locked!
Jonatwork		#44	[-]
May 27 11 10:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The DVD has both versions. I can't be sure but I think the alien chase is in both. Dan O'Bannon mentioned that the elevator scene was done sideways, for the most part, with a shaft constructed horizontally. “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
jamesbrummel		#45	[-]
May 27 11 11:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Jonatwork wrote: Dan O'Bannon mentioned that the elevator scene was done sideways, for the most part, with a shaft constructed horizontally. It looked to me like a square of plywood dressed to look like the bottom of the elevator being dragged up and down a long hallway, like one of those endless dorm floors, with the camera positioned so the hall looked veritical. The DVD I have is I think Theatrical cut/directors cut, not Pre Harris/Post Harris.. As I recall the dir cut is a little shorter, tighter, not much different.
Jonatwork		#46	[-]
May 28 11 12:12 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	jamesbrummel, That was probably it. Bruce Willis in Die Hard it ain't, but it is funnier. “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
BijouBob8mm		#47	[-]
May 28 11 11:31 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I get the feeling it was the whole "Chase the Alien" episode that was added later. I know the scene where Doolittle goes back to his room and plays his homemade musical whatsis was one of the new sequences done to pad the running time.
hermanthegerm		#48	[-]
May 28 11 6:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Koukol 5 wrote: Major Spoiler Ending revealed Is this the movie where the spaceship blows up and lone survivor finds a bit of the floating debris and surfs into the sun? Bradbury's Kaleidescope. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
Rick		#49	[-]
May 28 11 6:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yes, someone with DARK STAR had obviously read The Illustrated Man. Just as someone with STAR WARS had seen DARK STAR.
Jonatwork		#50	[-]
May 28 11 10:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rick, John Wash worked on the effects of both SW and DS, but I think the obvious connection is between DS and ALIEN. Both have that sense of isolation in space going on, and I think O'Bannon must have made sure Scott took a look at DS. DARK STAR + TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE = ALIEN “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
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jamesbrummel		#51	[-]
May 28 11 11:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I was actually thinking, damn, "It, the Terror From Beyond Space" was it? At the end the alien is suffocated when they open the windows? There is a total DS ref in Alien, when Tom Skerrit uses someones pen to touch the alien acid and it melts , he hands the pen back and says "Here's your pen back" ( as in PinBack). It is an awkward line in an otherwise will written movie. Pinback's Diary roolz.
Rick		#52	[-]
May 29 11 12:12 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	When making the DARK STAR / STAR WARS reference, I was really thinking of one particular moment. I saw STAR WARS the day it opened in '77 and when the Millennium Falcon shifted to hyperspace, I cheered along with the rest of the audience. And I thought, "I've never seen that effect before." But that was because I didn't see DARK STAR till a couple of years later. When the same effect appeared there, I knew I'd been crediting the wrong people all along.
Jonatwork		#53	[-]
May 29 11 12:17 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	jamesbrummel, Either you or someone else mentioned that ALIEN line before, and then as now...I don't see it. (I particularly don't see Walter Hill, who wrote the final script, giving a damn about making a DS reference.) The line is one of the very few funny ones in ALIEN because it's the boss handing back a borrowed pen (as in a work situation, truckers in space and all), but it's got ACID on it, so Parker isn't likely to just slip it back into his pocket, and of course he doesn't. Not a real belly laugh, but the moment fit perfectly in the moment. Rick, AH! I didn't even think of that! Good catch! I know I've mentioned this several times but I really dig the space shots in DS. They're so danged 70's and that's a good thing. Coming after we'd seen real spaceships for the first time, and of course the excellence of 2001's FX, in the 70's pre-STAR WARS there were a few inspired moments in space travel FX, and this was one of them. Very Heavy Metal-ish. Didn't Ron Cobb design the ship? “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley Last Edited By: Jonatwork May 29 11 12:23 AM. Edited 1 times.
Bill Warren		#54	[-]
May 29 11 12:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The acceleration shot in DARK STAR, where the stars turn to streaks, was by Bob Greenberg. I'm sure that whoever did the shot for STAR WARS was familiar with DARK STAR.
timothymayer		#55	[-]
May 29 11 1:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Say what you want, but it looked awful cool in 1975 a Drive-In with SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE as the co-feature. "It's alive!" Z7 Headquarters
Jonatwork		#56	[-]
May 31 11 12:19 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bill Warren wrote: The acceleration shot in DARK STAR, where the stars turn to streaks, was by Bob Greenberg. I'm sure that whoever did the shot for STAR WARS was familiar with DARK STAR. Bill Warren, You need to do a book about 60's and 70's movies. I know, you can't say what your next one is, just sayin'... “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
BijouBob8mm		#57	[-]
May 31 11 8:32 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	George Lucas had seen DARK STAR, and discussed it with Dan O'Bannon during production on STAR WARS. (O'Bannon worked on the computer animation for the Lucas film.) If I recall, during the DVD commentary, Bradbury's "Kaleidescope" is mentioned as an influence on Carpenter's movie.
Rick		#58	[-]
May 26 12 12:05 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Time to re-visit this one I think.
BijouBob8mm		#59	[-]
Jul 18 12 5:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hopefully someone here can help me out. Long ago got hold of a garage kit (vacuum form) of the Dark Star. Maybe 6 inches long, not a lot of detail and only three pieces, but it seemed to be the only game in town for the ship at the time. (Same people did a vacuum form kit of the "Icarus" from PLANET OF THE APES, which looks like maybe it used an earlier resin garage kit as its source.) Never got around to building it, but thought recently this could be a fast & fun build up for some weekend. But what color was the actual shooting miniature in the Carpenter film? In some scenes it seems to be grey, while other times it seems to have a bluish tint to it. Thanks in advance for any info out there!
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