Where there's a blockbuster there's a knockoff. It happened to toys, merchandise and the films themselves. The biggest blockbuster of them all, Star Wars, spawned countless clones [excuse the pun], which we've looked at before on the blog. Well, I had the pleasure of finding such a clone the other day in a charity shop in Castleford, The HUMANOID. Costing only a few coppers I was chuffed to see that this VHS video is valued at £15 on Amazon!
Made in 1979 by George B. Lewis, the Humanoid starred Bond stars Richard Kiel and Barbara Bach. From the opening credits rolling inclined across the screen I knew I was in for a Star Warsesque 'treat'. Set 'Light Years Beyond Tomorrow' the movie includes Lord Craven, Lady Agatha, Tom Tom and cloned Imperial Destroyers, a sort of Arto Detoo crossed with K9 and Sand People who fire lightsabre arrows!
The film is so bad I actually enjoyed it and for a Star Wars fan there is obvious fun in comparing the two. It's strange that the title is so un-Star Wars like. Other knockoffs like Star Crash had no such problem!
Amazingly there is a fan-site devoted to this homage, created by the indomitable Gonz. Check out his Star Crash fan site and vintage toy pages too!
Looking at Gonz's toys I wondered if there were ever toys made on the back of a knockoff movie that included features of both the cloned and original films? A knockoff knockoff! Hmmmm.
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