Star Wars Ripoffs: Battle Beyond the Stars, Starcrash, and Star Odyssey

After Star Wars became a cultural and box-office phenomenon, filmmakers around the world rushed to make their own space adventures. In this episode of Second Cut, we look at Battle Beyond the Stars, Starcrash, and Star Odyssey to ask what happens when movies copy the look of Star Wars without fully understanding the story, craft, and mythic simplicity that made it work.

We discuss the Star Wars explosion, merchandising, Battlestar Galactica, ILM, matinee serials, Italian exploitation cinema, Roger Corman, John Sayles, Jimmy Murakami, James Cameron, Bill Paxton, James Horner, Luigi Cozzi, Carolyn Munro, Marjoe Gortner, Christopher Plummer, David Hasselhoff, bad dubbing, laser swords, and why Star Odyssey sits at the bottom of the barrel.

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Chapters

00:00 Intro: Star Wars Ripoffs

01:20 Battlestar Galactica and the Limits of Copyright

03:06 Why Everyone Wanted to Copy Star Wars

04:52 Film Trends, Exploitation, and Chasing the Money

06:26 ILM, Special Effects, and Why Star Wars Was Hard to Copy

07:33 Italian Exploitation and Low-Budget Space Movies

08:33 Star Wars as the Expensive Indie Blockbuster

09:19 How Scrappy the Original Star Wars Really Was

11:15 Why Lucas’s Effects Still Work

13:12 Story, Myth, and What the Ripoffs Missed

14:41 Matinee Serials and Lucas’s Borrowed Influences

19:27 Ranking the Ripoffs from Best to Worst

20:17 Battle Beyond the Stars: Roger Corman Takes on Star Wars

22:50 John Sayles, Jimmy Murakami, and New World Pictures

24:31 Seven Samurai in Space

28:14 Superweapons, Space Battles, and Star Wars Beats

32:23 Corman Builds a Special Effects Studio

33:37 James Cameron, Bill Paxton, and the Effects Crew

35:54 The “Spaceship with Tits” Story

38:16 Why Battle Beyond the Stars Works Better Than It Should

40:26 Space Valkyries, Weird Aliens, and Schlock Charm

46:40 The Best Parts of Battle Beyond the Stars

50:10 Is Battle Beyond the Stars Actually Good?

52:05 Rebel Moon and Modern Star Wars Imitations

53:06 Galaxina and Other Strange Space Cash-Ins

55:58 Starcrash: Italy Enters the Ripoff Race

56:28 Luigi Cozzi, Dario Argento, and Italian Genre Filmmaking

58:19 Carolyn Munro, Dubbing, and Italian Production

59:50 Marjoe Gortner’s Strange Career

01:04:38 Trying to Explain the Plot of Starcrash

01:05:23 Giallo Plotting and Luigi Cozzi’s Style

01:07:54 Why Starcrash Became a Cult Movie

01:09:06 John Barry, Christopher Plummer, and Schlock Spectacle

01:11:12 Sassy Robots, Joe Spinell, and David Hasselhoff

01:15:57 Why Starcrash Is Dumb but Watchable

01:18:30 Ray Harryhausen Ripoffs and Not-Lightsabers

01:20:00 Space Cops, Robot Voices, and Plot Nonsense

01:21:06 Final Verdict on Starcrash

01:21:54 Star Odyssey: The Bottom of the Barrel

01:22:03 Is This a Bad Film Club Episode?

01:22:24 Star Odyssey Is Complete Crap

01:23:59 The Most Obvious Star Wars Cash-In

01:25:15 Cheap Costumes, Bad Dubbing, and Plastic Sci-Fi

01:26:34 The Boring Auction Where Earth Gets Sold

01:28:28 Psychic Eye Powers and Star Trek Costumes

01:30:15 The Terrible Dubbing Problem

01:30:48 Spider-Man Shirts, Space Poker, and Karate Fights

01:32:35 Robot Wrestling and Cheap Robot Suits

01:33:37 The Suicidal Robot Couple

01:34:47 Laser Swords That Are Just Swords

01:35:50 Too Much Worldbuilding, Not Enough Fun

01:37:49 1970s Sci-Fi and What Star Wars Changed

01:42:31 Why Star Odyssey Fails as a Ripoff

01:43:35 Final Verdict on Star Odyssey

01:45:00 Final Thoughts

01:45:32 Plugs and Outro

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi

https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music

https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k