Dark Star

Some time back, I was going through the movie channels on Pluto and a movie that sounded interesting and that I hadn't heard of before showed up: Dark Star. The live showing was going to run later than I wanted to stay up since I work the early shift, so I added it to the watch list and recently finally got around to watching it.

The opening credits, several minutes into the movie, list several behind the camera roles for John Carpenter, including director, screenwriter, and music. This was in fact Carpenter's first film, originally conceived as a student film project and then expanded when Carpenter was able to get a bit more money a few years later. But the movie was made on a shoestring budget, which is probably a big part of the reason why the image quality looks almost like it could have been videotape if it weren't in a 16:9 ratio.

As for the relatively limited plot, four astronauts are aboard the Dark Star, some time in the distant future, going through the galaxy looking for planets suitable for human habitation and destroying those that could be a danger to humans. There used to be a fifth on board, but the computer suffered some malfunctions a few years prior in an asteroid storm with one of the malfunctions killing the ship's commander.

It's a relatively boring life, and the four men have been on board for 20 years now, or at least 20 years in earth time, the men saying they've actually only aged three years. One of the astronauts likes to sit up on what on a train would be the observation deck, one of those plastic bubble-like protuberance, so he can be alone and look out at the stars. Another one found an alien on another planet and has been keeping the alien on board as a pet that looks like a beach ball with feet. The alien escapes the room where it's being kept, causing all sorts of havoc.

Worse is that the computer is about to malfunction again, this time causing problems with one of the bomb bays. The computer has AI that talks to the astronauts, and is frankly rather snarky in its dealings with the astronauts. But with the bomb bay malfunction, it seems as though the computer and especially the bomb bay might be getting some sentience, 2001: A Spacy Odyssey-style.

There's not actually a whole heck of a lot of plot, which shouldn't be that surprising since the movie had such a limited budget. That lack of a budget certainly causes some problems, like horribly bad special effects (and I'd bet the alien looking like a beach ball is because of the budget). However, the movie has a lot of charm, and John Carpenter inserted a lot of humor into the script. The movie is listed as a comedy on many sources, although I'd consider it more like the sort of humor Alfred Hitchcock put into some of his movies to lighten the tension.

Dark Star doesn't always work, and it may not be for everybody, but I think it's worth a watch.