Thanks for the favourite sci-fi and space films guys. I've collected a few of their lobby posters together from cyberspace here. Some of them I've never watched - Battle Beyond The Stars for example - and some are completely new to me like Star Crash [cheers Yorkie] and Star Odyssey. I collect old big box videos and I've never seen either of them on my travels. Great though! It's amazing [or maybe not] just how many Star Wars rip-offs were made [as happened to Alien and Abyss too] with lobby art to match. Naturally this happened with the toys as well. Was Star Wars the first space movie to be knocked off like this or did earlier icons like 2001: A Space Odyssey [nice one Mike] or This Island Earth [cheers Andy B] get the copycat treatment?
Haven't seen it in years, but I remember Battle Beyond the Stars as being a real gem. It's "The Magfnificent Seven in space" just as Star Wars was "The Hidden Fortress in space." With a screenplay by the superb John Sayles and designed by a young James Cameron plus a great cast, you can't go too far wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat Star Crash poster makes me laugh out loud.
I think it was battle beyond the stars re-used spaceships from another SF film. Or perhaps it was the other way round,and another film re-used them!
ReplyDeleteI think the film that re-used the spaceship scences was another Roger Corman film 'Space Raiders', which starred amongst others, Thom Christopher who turned up as Hawk in the second series of Buck Rogers.
ReplyDeleteNever seen Battle Beyond the Stars? Blimey. You've got to see it just to see Sybil Danning as St Exmin and almost all the good guys getting killed.
ReplyDeleteAnyhooo... it was on BBC2 at 2 in the morning last weekend. For some reason you can't get the region 2 DVD in the UK but you can get it from Amazon-Germany.
Now never heard of Star Odyssey. Looks like John Koeing from Space 1999 has found a light sabre and landed on an S&M planet. Interesting!
Just tried to rent Battle Beyond The Stars on Love Film but it's a reserve item, which means it'll never turn up. Nearly rented a russioan film by mistake called Battle Beyond The Sun [1962].
ReplyDeleteIt's now on my radar.
Andy B likes 50's B-Movies like This Island Earth. Me too. I grew up with black and white Flicks on TV like THEM, Tarantula, 20 Million Miles to Earth and the rarely shown The Day the Earth Caught Fire. There's a great poster gallery here http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-BEST.html
Is 50's sci fi as popular as 70's/80's sci fi?
I like anything with rocketships in, so the 50s movies are great fun, even when the acting is bad. BBC2 used to show them at Friday teatime a few years ago. A lot of 50s SF can be found on YouTube. I found the entire film of 'The man with the X-Ray eyes' in 10 minute parts. The ending is pretty nasty. I'd wondered why it hasn't been on TV for a while. ;D
ReplyDeleteThe Man with X Ray Eyes, yes, great flick. Not seen it for years either. I watched FROGS recently which had Ray Milland as the grumpy plantation owner beset by flesh-hungry frogs. Sam Elliot [of Roadhouse fame] does battle with the crazed 'phibians. Ray Milland is one of the unsung heroes of Sci Fi don't you think?
ReplyDelete