Amazon.co.uk Review
Dark Star is absurd, surreal and very funny. John Carpenter once described it as "
Waiting for Godot in space." (It's also, surely, one of the primary inspirations for
Red Dwarf.) Made at a cost of practically nothing, the film's effects are nevertheless impressive and, along with the number of ideas crammed into its 83 minutes, ought to shame makers of science fiction films costing hundreds of times more.
The story concerns the Dark Star's crew who are on a 20-year mission to destroy unstable planets and make way for future colonisation. The smart bombs they use to effect this zoom off cheerfully to do their duty. But unlike Star Trek, in which order prevails, the nerves of this crew are becoming increasingly frayed to the point of psychosis. Their captain has been killed by a radiation leak that also destroyed their toilet paper. "Don't give me any of that 'Intelligent Life' stuff," says Commander Doolittle when presented with the possibility of alien life. "Find me something I can blow up." When an asteroid storm causes a malfunction, Bomb Number 20 (the most cheerful character in the film) has to be repeatedly talked out of exploding prematurely, each time becoming more and more peevish, until they have to teach him phenomenology to make him doubt his existence. And the film's apocalyptic ending, lifted almost wholly from Ray Bradbury's story "Kaleidoscope", has the remaining crew drifting away from each other in space, each to a suitably absurd end. --Jim Gay
Special Features
- CGI menus
- Synopsis
- Character and Crew biographies
- Chapter points
- Stills gallery
- Publicity material
- Theatrical trailer
- Commemorative Anniversary packaging
DVD Technical Information:
- Soundtrack: Dolby Digital 2.0: English
- Running Time: 79 mins
- Region Code: 2
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen/4:3
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Biographies, Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, Special Edition, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: What would you be like after 20 years aboard DARK STAR the spaced-out spaceship. The ultimate cosmic comedy! In the mid twenty-first century, mankind has reached a point in its technological advances to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. Dark Star is a futuristic scout ship traveling far in advance of colony ships. Armed with Exponential Thermostellar Bombs, it prowls the unstable planets. But there is one obstacle that its crew members did not count on - one of the ship's thinking and talking bombs is lodged in the bay, threatening to destroy the entire ship and crew! Director John Carpenter and writer Dan O'Bannon combine their writing, creative, and technical talents to bring you this thrilling and extraordinary science fiction parody. ...Dark Star (1974) ( John Carpenter's Dark Star )
