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Film / Oblivion (1994)

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For the 2013 movie see here

"Welcome to the future."

Oblivion is a 1994 Space Western comedy film directed by Sam Irvin.

Zack Stone is the pacifist son of the sheriff of the town of Oblivion. His dad is murdered by the outlaw Redeye, who proceeds to terrorize the townspeople. Stone must get over his pacifism and return to his hometown to avenge his father's death.

Got a sequel, subtitled Backlash, in 1996.

Action labs published a three issue Comic Book sequel called Oblivion in 2016.

Has also become a subject over at RiffTrax.


This film contains examples of:

  • Actor Allusion:
  • The Alcoholic: Doc Valentine is either constantly drunk or jonesing for booze.
    Doc: Jim Beam me up!
  • All Women Are Lustful: Played for laughs. In the second movie Zack is fumbling his words around Mattie, tells her he respects her and that he's here for her as a Marshal, a friend, or whatever else she'd like him to be. Her response?
    Mattie: Zack, I haven't had sex in three years.
  • Animal Motifs: Miss Kitty dressed in leopard print, has long fingernails, hisses/snarls like a cat and is played by Julie Newmar. Hardy har. Har.
  • Arch-Enemy: Redeye is this to Stone and Butou, since their quests are inspired by him killing family members of theirs.
  • Balls of Steel: Stell tries a Groin Attack on Sweeney, but he just clangs.
  • Berserk Button: During the Curb-Stomp Battle below, Sweeney's hat gets knocked off. That's when he gets mad.
  • Beta Couple: Buteo and Stell seem to be a couple in the sequel, with no buildup. Guess Buteo got over his family being brutally murdered in front of him just a month or so ago.
  • Big Bad: Redeye, the outlaw terrorizing Oblivion.
  • Black Comedy: Bingo during Marshall Stone's funeral.
  • Bloodless Carnage: Redeye's arm is ripped off with very little bleeding afterwards.
  • Bondage Is Bad: Redeye and Lash have this sort of relationship.
    Redeye: "Aren't you going to ask me to be gentle?"
    Lash: "Are you kidding?"
  • Bothering by the Book: After learning that Miss Kitty was the woman Sweeney was searching for, Zack keeps him from taking Lash away by pointing out that she committed crimes on Oblivion and needed to be tried and jailed for them.
  • Brutal Honesty:
    Stone: I'm not exactly Mr. Popular in [Oblivion].
    Buteo: Do you wish to discuss it?
    Stone: No.
    Buteo: Very well. I will just keep asking until you do.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Any time Musetta Vander (Lash) is onscreen - no exceptions - she's clearly having a ball...
  • Classy Cane: Sweeney's cane can deflect bullets and disintegrate guns. Also, he kisses it at one point.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Sweeney the bounty hunter takes on Marshall Stone, Deputy Barr and Buteo all at once and handily beats them.
  • Cyborg Deputy Stell Barr. Realistically, this occasionally causes problems for her, with malfunctioning limbs being an issue, as well as the fact that an element on the planet (dakonium) acts like an EMP.
  • Deflector Shields: Marshal Stone's badge operates as one of these. Too bad Redeye had dakonium.
  • Depraved Bisexual: Lash is a bondage-loving outlaw who's in a sexual relationship with Redeye, and hits on Mattie. It's implied she would've actively participated in raping Mattie.
  • Disney Villain Death: Stone blasts a nightscorp off a cliff after it tries to eat Buteo.
  • The Dreaded:
    • Mr. Gaunt, the undertaker, who has a supernatural talent for showing up before a death nearby, and is just spooky in general.
    • Sweeney the bounty hunter, mention of whom makes the entire bar clam up in terror.
  • Dumb Muscle: The nearly-indestructible, really big Bork.
  • The Empath: Zack Stone is one of these, which sucks for him as he can feel the suffering of people he's forced to kill in self-defense.
  • Future Slang: "Nebula boy" appears to mean "pussy" in this movie's setting.
  • Harbinger of Impending Doom: Gaunt is notorious for appearing just before somebody dies.
  • Healing Factor:
  • Redeye's race can regrow lost limbs.
  • Human Alien:
  • Humans Are Ugly: Zigzagged. Jaggar notes that Lash's smooth skin is disgusting... yet also intriguing. His brother Redeye felt the same way.
  • Human Disguise: Sweeney either has one of these (which he really seems to like) or an Alien Disguise.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: Stell Barr, being played by Meg Foster, has these.
  • Interspecies Romance:
    • Lash (human, probably) and Redeye/Jagger (Lizard Folk). Bork also seems to have a crush on her and may or may not be human.
    • Stell (human, probably)(cyborg, definitely) and Buteo (possibly a Human Alien, maybe?) in the sequel.
    • Sweeney (alien?, possibly Human Alien) flirts with Mattie (human).
  • Kick the Dog: Redeye's Establishing Character Moment is sauntering into town and eating a random alien bird alive. Later, he responds to a woman being rescued from his gang attempting to rape her by shooting her in such a way that nightscorps will be attracted to her blood and tear her apart.
  • Kryptonite-Proof Suit: Averted. In the sequel Doc Valentine believes he's designed a limb for Stell that won't malfunction around dakonium. She's so happy when she crushes something in dakonium's presence with it on that she starts laughing with joy...until the hand won't unclench and shoots off her wrist. Maybe she should just move?
  • Lecherous Licking: Done to Mattie by Lash as the latter kidnaps the former.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Sweeney is one of these.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: At one point, Miss Kitty just barely manages to avoid blurting out that Zack is her son.
  • Miss Kitty: By name even!
  • Magical Native American: Buteo, who has powers like seeing people doing stuff at great distance in cups or necklaces.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: Bork is shot in the back, set ablaze, and suffers a number of other injuries that would be fatal for anyone else, and seems to have a Healing Factor, to boot.
  • No Indoor Voice: Doc Valentine has a loud, harsh voice that must've left George Takei's throat a wreck after filming.
  • Noisy Robots: Stell's cybernetic limbs make whirring, grinding noises when she moves.
  • No Sympathy: Zack, an empath, is basically handicapped, since he can sense other peoples' pain. Ever since he killed someone in self-defense and felt him dying, he refuses to fight. This makes everyone except Buteo (who recognizes his self-sacrificing nature) regard him as a coward. Even his own father. Jeez!
  • Not Me This Time: Lash, as a career criminal, is the first suspect when Sweeney the bounty hunter comes to Oblivion seeking a mysterious female ecoterrorist. It's actually Miss Kitty.
  • One-Word Title: The first movie.
  • Only Sane Woman: Mattie may be the most normal person in Oblivion. She suffers for it.
  • Perky Goth: Gaunt the undertaker is a tall, scary man who dresses in funereal clothing, makes constant references to death, and even drinks tea that comes packaged in a black skull. He's also quite friendly and personable in his own way and seems quite aware of the humorous dissonance between his appearance and the corny jokes he enjoys.
  • The Place: Miss Kitty's bar and house of ill-repute.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Redeye has his gang be polite to the townspeople in order to get them on his side.
  • Really Gets Around: Lash.
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: Well, this is a Western...
  • Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Zack goes on one after his girlfriend is kidnapped by the outlaws he's fighting against.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: A sheriff's son returns to his hometown after his father is killed by a gang of outlaws.
  • Second Love: Zack becomes one for Mattie.
  • Shapeshifting: Sweeney may have powers like this, or he may have some sort of illusory powers/tech.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Shrouded in Myth: Sweeney is this, with one rumor saying he's ten feet tall.
  • The So-Called Coward: Since Zack's empathic powers make him feel the suffering of anyone he harms, he refuses to fight and gets mocked as a result. He overcomes it in order to battle Redeye and his crew.
  • Sour Supporter: Stell starts out this way, since she thinks Zack is a coward.
  • Space Jews: Buteo is referred to as a "native". It's not clear if he's a Human Alien, or if his ancestors were the first settlers or Native Americans or what, although he has some Native American trappings.
  • Stripperiffic: Lash's wardrobe of choice is basically a cowboy outfit made by a dominatrix, complete with chaps that perfectly accentuate her buttocks.
  • Taking Over the Town: Redeye's main goal.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Miss Kitty shows up at her own funeral and absolutely refuses to explain how she survived.
  • Undertaker: Mr. Gaunt is Oblivion’s undertaker who can sense impending death.
  • Unwanted Rescue: Redeye's crew killed Buteo's family in front of him and tied him up for the nightscorps to eat. He was ready to join his loved ones, but Zack rescued him. He complains a bit, but gets over it.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Dakonium nuggets give off a kind of EMP, which disables the cyborg deputy when she gets near one. Why she'd be on the planet in the first place when people are only there looking for the stuff is a mystery.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: In Backlash the main conflict ends when Lash's dakonium mine is destroyed by a massive Kaiju that was sleeping inside it (or WAS the mine itself). It then chases Lash, Jagger, Bork, Sweeney, and Zack across the plains... Then the film cuts to Sweeney making his departure now that Miss Kitty is "dead". There's absolutely no mention of what happened with the Kaiju, Jagger, Bork, or Lash.
  • Whip of Dominance: Lash is a bondage-themed Depraved Bisexual outlaw who appropriately fights with a whip.
  • Worthless Yellow Rocks: Gold is regarded as worthless trash on this planet, as seen by some being found and immediately thrown away in an early scene.
  • You Killed My Brother: Averted. Jagger couldn't care less that Redeye died. He just wants treasure.

Alternative Title(s): Welcome To Oblivion

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