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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
