Line #66 Film/Starcrash


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starcrash1978.jpg]]
2
3	->''We'll scan it with our computer waves.''
4	->''The only solution is to leave space and re-enter on the other side.''
5
6	In the late '70s, Italian director Luigi Cozzi was contacted to make a film to capitalize on the success of ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' by [[FollowTheLeader creating a space movie]] with B-movie faves Creator/CarolineMunro and Marjoe Gortner, plus Creator/ChristopherPlummer and a then-unknown Creator/DavidHasselhoff. The result? ''STARCRASH!''
7
8	The evil Count Zarth Arn (Creator/JoeSpinell) is threatening to take over the galaxy with the most powerful weapon in the galaxy. The Emperor's son has gone missing after this weapon destroyed his spaceship, and smugglers Akton and Stella Star must find him and destroy the weapon.
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10	In 2017 it was included in the revival of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. Tropes related to the ''[=MST3K=]'' episode are found [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E06Starcrash here]].
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12	----
13	!!This film provides examples of:
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15	* ActionGirl: Stella Star. She's the best pilot in the galaxy, a smuggler, a good shot with a ray gun, and ends up being the hero of the film. (That said, she devolves into a FauxActionGirl as the movie goes on, at one point even becoming just a NeutralFemale, but she does regain her ActionGirl chops at the end)
16	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: At one point the characters have to go to a planet that is "thousands of degrees below zero". In reality absolute zero (-460 F, -273 C) is by definition the coldest temperature possible.
17	* ArtisticLicenseSpace:
18	** In the film's universe there is apparently air (or at least some kind of gas or something) in space, as in one scene numerous glass windows on a spaceship get shattered but none of the people in the room get sucked out or suffocate.
19	** The soldier torpedoes, which work by crashing through the windows of the Count's space station so a couple of soldiers can hop out. This has no effect on the atmosphere inside the space station.
20	* AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Akton [[spoiler:fades into nothing as he dies]], which is either this trope or NoBodyLeftBehind. The film is vague on which trope is used. Akton tells Stella that he'll live forever before disappearing, implying that it's this, but he might just be trying to make her feel better.
21	* BaldOfEvil: [[spoiler:Thor]] betrays the crew, as he's really working for Zarth Arn.
22	* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Emperor's regime sees nothing wrong with sentencing people to a lifetime of slave labour in radioactive conditions with no protective clothing... and not even hardened super-criminals, but simple smugglers like Stella and Akton who are presented as not really being all that bad. Still, the film portrays them as the good guys because Zarth Arn is pretty much literally a pantomime villain. Their mooks even wear identical uniforms in different colors (which are actually grey with brown and black).
23	* BoardingPod: Towards the end of the film the heroes send troops into the BigBad's fortress using [[BlingOfWar golden torpedoes]] which are fired through the windows.
24	* BondVillainStupidity: Zarth Arn corners the heroes with an army of armed robot guards... and proceeds to leave them on a planet set to explode. Said planet is also host to his most powerful weapon, so he's deprived of it in the final battle.
25	* CaptainObvious: The smugglers come across a drifting, derelict spacecraft. They can see it out the window, big and glaring, for several seconds. Then, Stella Star gets a look of utter surprise on her face, and squeals, "IT'S A SPACE SHIP!!"
26	* ColonyDrop: The titular Starcrash.
27	* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The Imperial forces and Zarth Arn's mooks wear identical leather uniforms, the mooks in black (of course) and the Imperials in brown.
28	* ComboPlatterPowers: The sine waves that Akton can make hover over his hand seem to be able to do anything from allowing him to see into the future to acting as an emergency microwave oven.
29	* ContemplateOurNavels: The Emperor of the Galaxy tries to do this at the end of the movie, but the script isn't really written well enough for him to succeed.
30	* CoolStarship: The villain's ship is shaped like a clawed fist.
31	* CoversAlwaysLie: Many of the posters make Elle look like a looming bad guy, when he's actually one of the heroes.
32	* CowardlyLion: Elle is always saying how various things make him "nervous." It doesn't stop him from being a badass.
33	* CurbstompBattle: The climax of the movie, but not in the way you'd think. The Imperial forces get their asses thoroughly kicked by the evil mooks. How thoroughly? The extended ship-launching sequence that precedes the battle actually lasts several times longer than the battle itself.
34	* DeathIsCheap: At least if you're a robot. Elle is smashed and fixed twice. The first time he's shot in the chest by space amazons, but turns out to be NotQuiteDead. The second time he's literally smashed into pieces by cavemen before bursting into a shower of sparks and smoke and yet there's somehow enough of him left (after said pieces are left ''on an exploding planet'') for the Emperor to rebuild him.
35	* DeepSouth: The robot Elle speaks with an inexplicable Texan accent.
36	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
37	** Stella's name means "Star Star".
38	** There's also a weird bit near the end where they discover Zarth Arn's secret hideout. At one point Stella expresses amazement at a room full of computers, which she describes as "Pre-programmed computers!" What other kind is there?
39	* DeusExMachina: Stuck on a planet only 48 seconds before it explodes? [[spoiler: Good thing your battleship can stop time long enough for you to get off the planet.]]
40	* DidntThinkThisThrough: What did they THINK was going to happen when they sent eight [[SpaceMarine space marines]] to fight an entire fortress full of enemy soldiers?
41	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: There are ''giant, golden torpedoes'' that fly through space and have soldiers in them that shoot lasers.
42	* DramaticSlip: Stella has one of these while running away from the [[LivingStatue giant Amazon]] [[Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts Talos thingy]].
43	* EliteMooks: The Golems.
44	* EmergencyCargoDump: Stella and Akton have to drop the cargo they're smuggling to escape the pull of a neutron star.
45	* TheEmperor: Christopher Plummer as the Emperor of the Galaxy [[spoiler:And he's a good guy, to boot.]]
46	* EvilOverlord: Zarth Arn the evil Count. He's said to rule half of the galaxy and is the Emperor's sole rival.
47	* ExpandedUniverse: Yes, there really is one, thanks to a anthology called, of course, ''Curved Space''.
48	* {{Expy}}: Par for the course for a ''Franchise/StarWars'' ripoff, but actually [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] a lot.
49	** Elle the robot ''looks'' a lot like a low-rent Darth Vader but his personality is basically the complete opposite. He's basically a somewhat less obnoxious [=C3PO=].
50	** Zarth Arn, the villain, is much more like Darth Vader, only he's the actual BigBad, not just TheDragon.
51	** Stella Star is an ace pilot, former smuggler, and crack shot, sort of like a sexy female Han Solo.
52	** Akton has mystical powers and a lightsaber and plays an Obi-Wan role.
53	** The Emperor, of course, but unlike Emperor Palpatine, this one is one of the heroes of the film.
54	** Simon is the Emperor's son and also one of the heroes, and briefly uses Akton's lightsaber, making him close to Luke Skywalker.
55	** Zarth Arn's superweapon is played up like an expy of the Death Star, but is actually pretty lame. It doesn't blow up planets, it projects psychic waves towards ships to make them crash... and it only works on ships that are passing directly by the planet it's on.
56	* FaceHeelTurn: It's unclear if [[spoiler: Thor]] is this or TheMole, as they don't clarify whether he'd always been a traitor or if he had just recently gone over to working for Zarth Arn.
57	* {{Fanfare}}: The score by Music/JohnBarry isn't as bombastic as other ''Star Wars'' homages, but still has plenty of brass and grandeur.
58	* FeudalFuture: The galaxy is divided into two equally-sized nations at war, one ruled by a benevolent emperor and the other by an evil count.
59	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Watch Stella when she has no lines. It's clear Caroline Munro had no direction from the director beyond "pout and look like you are paying attention."
60	* GenderBlenderName: "Elle" (pronounced like the letter L) is not usually a name for a male character, let alone a male-coded robot.
61	* GenreBusting: Aside from ''Star Wars'', the movie's primary influences seem to be SwordAndSandal flicks, particularly ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts''. Director Luigi Cozzi specifically referred to the film as "science fantasy instead of science fiction."
62	* HarmlessFreezing: Stella gets buried under a snowdrift and makes a complete recovery through a combination of holding Elle's hand before being buried (so that he could use his systems to regulate her body temperature) and Akton demonstrating yet another unexplained superpower.
63	* InformedAttribute: While we're told what a great pilot and fighter Stella Star is, she doesn't actually contribute much to the missions, never saves anyone, fails to prevent two teammates from dying, and is frequently captured and in need of rescue by her companions. The only thing we see her do is get out of prison, but even that is because other characters arrange for it (and they all drop dead as she runs to save her own skin). Akton, meanwhile, actually lives up to his build up.
64	* InvincibleHero: Akton's intended to be an awe-inspiring champion, and instead comes off as a know-it-all with NewPowersAsThePlotDemands. What makes it especially odd is that Stella Star is the DesignatedHero, and Akton upstages her.
65	%%* LargeHam: Zarth Arn.
66	* ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway: It's a ''Star Wars'' rip off, set in a distant galaxy.
67	* LukeYouAreMyFather: Twisted around and thoroughly botched, with Simon's extremely clunky exposition about being the Emperor's son.
68	* MadeOfExplodium: ''People'', when they're hit with laser beams. (Except for [[spoiler:Akton, who just turns into sine waves]].) Also, nuclear reactors, which blow up spectacularly after being shot once, which makes one wonder why guards are allowed to bring guns into that room in the first place.
69	* MechaMooks: Zarth's "Golems," which are conspicuously very different-looking from Elle.
70	* MsFanservice: Stella even manages to outdo the Amazons when it comes to inexplicable clothing choices.
71	* NeverTellMeTheOdds: Akton spends the trip through hyperspace enumerating the probabilities of all the different ways he and Stella could be killed. No {{Determinator}} here, and the scene is instead PlayedForLaughs, with Stella giving a sarcastic "Thanks a lot!"
72	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Tons. Akton is presented as merely being Stella's friend and navigator until his battle with Thor, when his eyes flash and he suddenly gains super strength and an immunity to lasers. Later he gets a lightsaber out of nowhere, and then reveals himself to be an immortal energy being. Seriously. The Emperor's flagship having the ability to selectively [[spoiler: stop the flow of time]] is another big one, which also doesn't come up again even though it'd be ''really'' useful later.
73	* ObiWanMoment: Fittingly for a ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' rip-off, Akton gets one.
74	* ObviouslyEvil:
75	** Zarth Arn has a BeardOfEvil, an OminousOperaCape with a HighCollarOfDoom (albeit [[DownplayedTrope not a large collar]]), is RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver, dresses his {{Mooks}} in [[PaintItBlack black versions of the Emperor's troop uniforms]] and cannot go five minutes without [[EvilIsHammy monologuing dramatically]] or at least giving an EvilLaugh. Also he straight-up calls his weapon "The Doom Machine".
76	** ''Everything'' about Thor, from his scowling, shifty demeanor to his BaldOfEvil screams "traitor."
77	* OrcusOnHisThrone: Zarth Arn's means of taking over the galaxy is a weapon so large it had to be hidden inside a planet. The weapon only seems to be able to attack things right next to said planet, which has no means of propulsion. Zarth Arn has nothing to do but walk around his spaceship talking about how he will rule the galaxy by sunset.
78	* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Stella is supposedly a smuggler, at least Elle calls her one, but we never see her smuggling a thing.
79	* RammingAlwaysWorks: The titular "Starcrash" involves piloting a mobile city into an enemy ship. Considering that everyone present knows exactly what the Emperor means after he utters the vague phrase "starcrash", it seems that this is a common strategy in-universe.
80	* SameLanguageDub: British actress Caroline Munro's voice is replaced by American actress Candy Clark's for the English dub (she was married to co-star Marjoe Gortner at the time).
81	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: All of Arn's men abandon him at the end and escape when the Floating City is sent on a collision course with his ship. [[spoiler:''He'' just yells at them for being cowards and insists on remaining, and ends up taking the Floating City in the space.]]
82	* ShootingSuperman: Akton suddenly develops the superpower to block ray gun shots, yet [[spoiler:Thor]] just keeps shooting at him. Akton deflects the rays back at him, ''and [[spoiler:Thor]] continues shooting'', hitting himself four or five times before he dies.
83	* ShoutOut: An inevitable result of being created by a man who despite having been mandated with creating a ''Star Wars'' knock-off, went on to create what he called a love-letter to all things sci-fi and fantasy.
84	** The Imperial warship at the beginning is named ''Creator/MurrayLeinster''. Two of her officers are named [[Creator/ArthurCClarke Clarke]] and [[Creator/RayBradbury Bradbury]].
85	** The giant robot on the Amazon planet is an homage to Talos from ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts''. They even have similar swords.
86	** The Judge presiding over Stella and Akton's trial resembles the Martian Mastermind from the 1953 film ''Film/InvadersFromMars''.
87	** Zarth Arn's name is taken from Creator/EdmondHamilton's ''Literature/TheStarKings'', although there it was the name of one of the good guys -- who did have access to a powerful superweapon, and the BigBad was doing all in his power to get it from him.
88	* SlowLaser: The ray guns in this film do some weird things. Usually they just create a burst of fire and put a hole through people. When used on the Amazons, they make them [[DisintegratorRay disintegrate]]. They also cause a door to explode at one point.
89	* SmugSnake: Thor, so damn hard. Even before [[spoiler:his FaceHeelTurn]] he just ''oozes'' smugness with every line.
90	* SpaceFriction: Leaves a trail.
91	* SpaceIsAnOcean: At one point, Stella ''swims'' between two spaceships.
92	* SpaceIsNoisy: All spaceships move through space making all kinds of whooshing, whirring and/or beeping sounds.
93	* SpacePolice: Elle and Thor were members of this before being assigned to help Stella and Akton, though Thor was apparently a DirtyCop.
94	* {{Stripperiffic}}: Stella. Apparently, skimpy clothing is perfectly suitable for ''manually moving around radioactive material''. At least she puts on some clothes for the ice planet. To a lesser extent, [[AmazonBrigade the entire population of the planet of Amazons]], ''including their HumongousMecha'', wear very little.
95	* TimeStandsStill: The [[spoiler: Emperor's Imperial flagship]] has the power to stop time using a green beam. This never comes up again after it happens.
96	* TitleDrop: At the end of the film, the Emperor suggests the Starcrash maneuver to defeat Zarth Arn.
97	* VillainousBreakdown: Zarth Arn at the end of the movie.
98	-->'''Zarth Arn:''' ''ZOLTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! ZOLTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!''
99	* WorthyOpponent: Before the movie began, Elle was a member of the SpacePolice assigned to tracking down the smugglers Stella and Akton. Stella admits later on that while she found Elle's determination infuriating at the time, it's also his best trait.

Context Film / Starcrash