The 10 Most Blatant Star Wars Rip-Offs
Posted at 5:05 AM Aug 15, 2008
By Jesse Thompson
This weekend, thousands of geeks and clueless schoolchildren will flock to theaters to catch a screening of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. They will most likely leave said theaters wishing they’d forked over 10 clams for a repeat screening of Dark Knight or even friggin’ Space Chimps instead.
The fact that Clone Wars looks monumentally crappy and uninspired really serves as a reminder of Lucas’ genius 30 years ago. In his attempt to recapture the wonder and excitement of the theatrical adventure serials of his youth—and give kids a cinematic option other than Disney’s live-action cycle of ho-hum Herbie/Don Knotts/Herbie flicks—he created an expansive universe and wealth of characters unlike anything that had been seen before. This of course opened the doors for an endless array of cash-in ripoffs that lasted well over a decade, from the dusting off of space-faring fossils (Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon), to fondly remembered primetime TV endeavors (Battlestar Galactica, Space: 1999), to the worst the ’80s could possibly offer (Metalstorm, Spacehunter, something from 1988 called Prison Ship—YouTube it if you want to kill four minutes worth of brain cells).
In honor of Lucas’ latest head-shaking ripoff of his own concept, here we look at 10 of the worst offenders—well, the semi-legitimate ones, anyways (so that Turkish Star Wars madness doesn't count)— who attempted to tailgate the Millennium Falcon all the way to the bank. Bring plenty of crackers to go along with this cheese.
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10. Saturn 3 (1980)
Admittedly, Saturn 3 was more influenced by Ridley Scott’s Alien than Obi-Wan or R2. The crew of an isolated ship is terrorized by what appears to be an eye-plucking, rapist robot. Audiences were likewise terrorized by a brief nude scene of a then 64-year-old Kirk Douglas. But when watching the trailer, look for the looming spacecraft that slowly enters the frame around the 20-second mark, and proceeds to inch its way forward for a good 15 seconds after that. There’s no way the ad wizards who came up with this one weren’t going for a little of that New Hope opening-shot awe and wonder. Sadly, the film’s most appealing lifeform—Farrah Fawcett-Majors—doesn’t appear until well after a full minute’s passed in the trailer. (But get a load of that getup! Ooh ma-ma!) Harvey Keitel probably hoped this flick would make up for his involvement with Mother, Jugs and Speed—sadly, it would take 12 years to redeem himself for making THIS.
9. H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
In 1933, celebrated sci-fi novelist H.G. Wells wrote an ambitious fictional chronicle that looked ahead all the way to the year 2016, using the notes of an eminent diplomat as a framing device. The book, which told of harrowing aerial bombardments and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, proved to be an all-too-accurate prediction of what was to happen during the Second World War. Forty-six years later, Canadian filmmakers decided to borrow Wells’ name, the book’s title and practically nothing else for a film adaptation. With a budget that seemed to be scraped together by selling compost created from shredded copies of War of the Worlds, this production roped in Jack “Sweet Jesus, only 13 more years ‘til my Oscar” Palance as an overlord named Omus who desires to be declared leader of the human race. (And this isn’t even Palance’s only appearance on this list!) Oh, and Shape of Things takes place after a little something called “the Robot Wars” has ravaged the earth. They were probably a lot cooler than what we’ll see this weekend.
8. Star Odyssey (1979)
The clip above isn’t a trailer, but it’s certainly indicative of how enterprising foreign filmmakers could toss anything on the screen if it included a robot and had “Star” in the title. Star Odyssey—or as it’s known in its country of origin, “Sette uomini d’oro nello spazio,” which translates roughly to “Spicy Meatball Shit Sandwich”—was an Italian film starring some guy named Gianni Garko as “Dirk Laramie,” a cad with some vague, Force-like powers who must defend the Earth (and apparently, get in a boxing match with a robot) in order to foil the nefarious plot of yet another intergalactic villain, who shockingly looks a lot like Pinhead from Hellraiser. But if this particular SW ripoff has a lasting legacy, it’s that it has quietly slipped into public domain status—meaning you can pick up a DVD copy on the cheap at pretty much any discount store. Even Target carries this atrocity around Christmastime in its one-dollar stocking-stuffer bins.
7. Message From Space (1978)
This blessedly short teaser tells you all you need to know in its 36 seconds—a peaceful planet’s inhabitants are being persecuted and need help (the titular message is apparently “We are fucking wusses, halp halp!”), there are some wacky robots involved, spaceships will blow up, and noted actors will be slumming. In this case, the late Vic Morrow—best known as the asshole rival coach from Bad News Bears, one of the tragic fatalities on the set of the Twilight Zone movie, and being Jennifer Jason Leigh’s dad—heads up “an international cast.” What the voiceover fails to tell you is that this was a film produced in Japan and features all-around badass Sonny Chiba (as a prince named “Hans,” which hardly seems coincidental). Watch closely how the trailer’s edited to not give any sort of indication that most of the principal actors are Japanese! The film’s tagline, “Where fantasies are real, and reality is fantastic!” sounds like something the Sphinx would have disdainfully spat out in a Mystery Men deleted scene.
6. The Black Hole (1979)
Two years after Star Wars fever had gripped the nation, Disney finally got off its collective ass and decided maybe this whole “futuristic” sci-fi genre was worth pursuing. (The Cat From Outer Space and Return to Witch Mountain could only carry them so far.) Rather than thaw out Uncle Walt’s head and ask for advice, execs had a screenplay cobbled together, assembled a who’s who of C-list talent (Ernest Borgnine! Anthony Perkins! Robert Forster!) and even made sure to get a couple of comic-relief droids in the mix for good measure (voiced by C-list luminaries Roddy McDowell and Slim Pickens). In this INSANELY long trailer (seriously, did audiences 30 years ago really need to see an entire rescue sequence?), you really get a sense of how “dark” Disney was trying to go—and really, they succeeded, considering that Perkins’ characters gets eviscerated, mild profanity is used, humans get lobotomized, and there are some fairly heavy religious themes. But those blaster effects and the bearded bad guy played by Maximilian Schell are pure Velveeta.
5. Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
The most recent of this spate of Star Wars ripoffs, Starchaser was really a last-ditch effort for a major studio trying to recapture that Rebel magic. (At that point, Star Wars as a cartoon was still a novel concept; oddly enough, it was released in the dying 3-D format.) Two years removed from Return of the Jedi, and released when Kenner’s toys were gasping their last breaths like a certain strangled Hutt, Starchaser seemed to revel in its influences. What’s better than Skywalking? Starchasing, bitches. The trailer itself is a riot, from an old man getting laser-lashed around the fucking eyes at the beginning (not funny in real life, kids), to the seemingly endless monologuing of villain Zygon, to the glowing, Kenobi-meets-Christopher Lee father figure, to Zygon inexplicably calling the Swayze-fied hero “caca” around the 1:35 mark. But this is at least animated caca we can go gaga over.
4. Galaxina (1980)
Maybe it’s not all that fair to call Galaxina a ripoff; it was really a parody of Star Wars and the other films of its ilk. (Obvious jabs at Star Trek and Alien are, well, all too obvious in the clip below.) Its notoriety comes being the sole starring role for Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered shortly after its release. (Her last completed film was a smaller role in boyfriend Peter Bogdanovich’s They All Laughed.) Galaxina seems to have had a decent budget for alien costumes and special effects, if not for its screenplay (the freighter spaceship is called the Infinity, the buffoonish captain is named Cornelius Butt, suspended animation jokes abound). But hell, no one came to see a flick starring a Playmate for political intrigue or a character study. Teenagers still stricken with their first Princess Leia boners came for Stratten’s come-hither innuendo, gratuitous cleavage shots, and maybe, just maybe, a bit of side-boob. If this trailer’s any indication, most of the male cast thankfully spent the duration of the flick on ice.
3. Hawk the Slayer (1980)
Hawk the Slayer may fall into the “sword and sorcery” genre, but its gratuitous pilfering of Star Wars elements is definitely in the ROTFLMAO realm. First up, take Jack “Sweet Jesus, only 12 more years ‘til my Oscar” Palance (he’s back!); his helmet is clearly modeled on Vader’s, and his name is even Voltan. While he’s likely a good 30 years older than protagonist Hawk (Who the hell’s John Terry? Oh shit, he was on Lost!), they avoided the obvious father-son relationship and decided to make them brothers instead. Hawk has apparently raided the closet of Han Solo … or at least borrowed the vest while Han was stuck in carbonite. And there’s Voltan working an agent for a higher evil power (a thinly veiled Palpatine clone), the climactic final sword battle, strange Force-like magic powers, the litany of wacky characters who must aid the hero in his quest … basically all of the things Willow should have been. Palance finally gets one over on Lucas!
2. Starcrash (1979)
Another production from our friends the Italians, Starcrash at least has two things working in its favor: a very va-va-voom Caroline Munro (you may remember her from a handful of Hammer horror films and as “evil helicopter-flying chick in bikini” in The Spy Who Loved Me) as scantily clad smuggler Stella Star, and a pre-fame David Hasselhoff engaging in a lightsaber battle with some stop-motion droids. (You can catch a glimpse of him looking bored in the background around the 1:25 mark.) This trailer wisely keeps the dialogue to a minimum, save for Christopher Plummer’s rather long-winded “Here’s some shit you gotta do...” speech at the beginning. (Though it’s a shame we don’t get to hear Stella’s sidekick Akton, voiced by batshit-crazy, celebri-evangelical minister Marjoe Gortner.) And if robots, babes, spaceships and babes in spaceships weren’t enough, Starcrash one-upped its competition by incorporating Neanderthals, a world of Amazons and a friggin’ broadsword-tossing stone giant.
1. Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
And here we are—the worst of the worst, or the best of the best, depending on your tolerance for Richard Thomas. The closest you can get to a poor man’s Mark Hamill (Ouch! The truth hurts, Richie baby), Thomas had ditched his gig as John-Boy on The Waltons in 1978 in hopes of hitting the Hollywood big-time. After headlining some forgettable TV flicks, he signed on to star in this Roger Corman-produced astrotrain wreck, notable for its insanely high budget—most of which apparently went to co-stars George Peppard and Robert Vaughn, who play space cowboys—and for special-effects shots directed by James Cameron. The title itself is a hilarious stick-in-the-eye to its predecessor; their war isn’t amongst the stars, but rather BEYOND them! These are like Supernova Wars!
The plot itself, much like Star Wars, shamelessly borrows from an Akira Kurosawa film—Star Wars had The Hidden Fortress, and BBTS has Seven Samurai. In fact, Vaughn’s role was essentially the same as his in The Magnificent Seven, an earlier Seven Samurai pastiche—and it’s fucking hysterical to watch him at the controls of a space cruiser in the trailer. We’re not sure who’s to blame for the breast-shaped starship, though. Corman was much too classy to intentionally throw in any kind of suggestive elements, right?
Playing the villain, Corman regular John Saxon seems to be channeling his inner Lucas—and his anger at such a blatant ripoff—when he utters, “They will burn...” He was half-right; this fim quickly faded from memory and had an über-brief run on DVD before being yanked out of print, but we’re pretty sure it holds up better than anything involving Viceroys.
Comments
Gee, that ship in Starchaser sure looks a lot like the Serenity...
Posted 08/15/2008 at 07:11:01 AMI liked this.
It has a character with massive tits.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 07:48:45 AMHmm. Surprised not to see Richard Kiel's turn in The Humanoid making the list, if not the top spot...
Posted 08/15/2008 at 07:49:55 AMAnyone remember the Masters of the Universe (Heman) movie???
I wonder who's idea it was to give Skeletor a space ship with stormtrooper lookalikes??
I always thought that was a bit blatant of a Star Wars ripoff.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 08:56:12 AMAnyone remember the Masters of the Universe (Heman) movie???
I wonder who's idea it was to give Skeletor a space ship with stormtrooper lookalikes??
I always thought that was a bit blatant of a Star Wars ripoff.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 08:56:15 AMDespite the fact the ending to The Blackhole, where the bad guy and the robot fuse together in hell, leaves me in a form of psychosis i'm compelled to watch that film every christmas.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 09:37:02 AMi've just had a thought, what happenend to all the sci-fi that tears you up inside, like Enemy Mine or Silent Running or even Star trek 2 (Speck's noble death)
Spock not Speck. Jesus how embarrassing.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 09:40:00 AMWhere's Eragon? That wasn't a rip-off of Star Wars, it was a frigging carbon copy.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 09:47:56 AM@Jim:
Wow, when I watched Eragon I couldn't believe how bad it was. Drop the "E" and it's an anagram for "groan"
But I hadn't caught the Star Wars ripoff until you mentioned it. Spot on. The main difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy is Tech, so replace dragons with spaceships and you have a crappy Star Wars rip off
Posted 08/15/2008 at 10:16:28 AMWhat about Turkish Star Wars? It actually uses footage from Star Wars! It could also be the worlds 1st Islamic sci fi film.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 10:42:23 AMEr... you guys are aware that Star Wars is nothing more than the largest collection of Sword & Sorcery cliches ever put together, right? You do know that there's absolutely no part of the Star Wars plot that hadn't been done at least ten times before the movie was made, right? Right?? You guys DO know that in 9 out of every 10 S&S stories, the protagonist is secretly a prince who is either the brother or the son of the villain, who has mysterious powers, and a mysterious guardian that protects him & trains him, that he's accompanied by a rag-tag team that invariably includes a loud-mouth woman (usually a princess), a strong-silent type, a snarky, ironic bandit, and at least one comic relief, right?
In fact, Eragon doesn't steal a single bit from Star Wars, it merely steals from all the stories from which Star Wars stole its ideas in the first place.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 12:20:09 PMEragon's absence lowers your lists credibility quite a bit.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 12:20:43 PMAs soon as I saw the title of this post I wondered if Starchaser would be in there. I must have rented that movie a dozen times when I was young. I watched the trailer and I'm amazed at the hyperbole of it. You'd think it was the greatest film ever from listening to the voice over guy's description about it being "beyond imagination".
Posted 08/15/2008 at 01:11:32 PMRobert vaughn was a bad ass in battle beyond the stars. so was george peppard.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 03:08:37 PMDoes Willow count, or is it not really a rip-off if you're stealing from yourself?
Posted 08/15/2008 at 04:01:08 PM@ pepeloco
You're right in saying that Star Wars borrowed ideas, but not from other S&S stories inherently. George Lucas actually read a book called "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" written by Joseph Campbell. The book covers the Monomyth, which is basically an amalgam of every mystic story ever told and corresponds with a lot of world religions. After Lucas read the book, he rewrote a lot of his script to follow more closely with the monomyth idea.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 04:35:16 PMWhat no Eragon?
Posted 08/15/2008 at 06:02:05 PMYou have let me down.
Ice Pirates w/Robert Urich!
Posted 08/15/2008 at 07:15:46 PMWhat about Battlestar Galactica? As much as I enjoyed it as a kid, it was a huge Star Wars rip-off! The new series on SciFi Channel is one of the best written/cast I've seen in a long time.
Posted 08/15/2008 at 10:39:24 PMno last starfighter?
Posted 08/15/2008 at 10:46:41 PMI'd say almost every sci-fi movie in recent memory has somehow ripped off from Star Wars
Posted 08/15/2008 at 10:56:19 PMLucas uses that Hero with a Thousand Faces excuse to avoid plagiarism charges. If you read his early drafts of Star Wars, they were direct swipes from books like Dune. Tattoine is a total rip off of Dune. He even had Sand Worms in an early draft. And Spice. A lot is swiped from Lord of the Rings.
No, I don't buy his explanation. Everyone likes to say they read Campbell, as if that's an excuse for having no imagination. There is no reason someone has to use an story that's been done a zillion times. He even ripped off himself with ROTJ
Posted 08/15/2008 at 11:06:29 PMI like shopping at www.topcomicbooks.com
Posted 08/15/2008 at 11:25:55 PMbattle beyond the stars - wasnt the (baddie) ship from this re-used in at least4 other films? some with a death beam out front or with red glowing missiles that fly out from a hatch underneath (i seem to remember)
Posted 08/15/2008 at 11:41:33 PMjust checked IMDB and it was space raders lol http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086345/
Posted 08/15/2008 at 11:44:04 PMMaybe there are some blatant rip-offs, but really I believe there hardly any original stories. Every film, book, etc. base follow a very basic storyline, but I guess it's how you expand on the story lie with characters and settings to try and make it stand out.
Posted 08/16/2008 at 01:09:03 AMWow these almost all look like fun films to watch. Too bad the idiot that wrote this article only likes movies that the mainstream approves of. I mean this guy is a vulgar brain dead asshole that loves saying bad stuff about movies. I bet if this douche tried to make a movie it wouldn't be good enough for Youtube.
Posted 08/16/2008 at 01:37:58 AM"Starcrash" aka "Stella Star" was one of the worst pieces of steaming crap out there. The special effects, the script, the direction and the acting! Caroline Munro was the only watchable thing about it because she was just so darn gorgeous!
Posted 08/16/2008 at 01:39:59 AMwow, so The Black Hole, which went into production in 1975 is a rip-off of Star Wars which went into production in late 1976? f*ckin' dumb-ass
Posted 08/16/2008 at 02:55:40 AMmissed one, was called clash of the titans. i think. anyway the similarities are endlessly lolfull.
Posted 08/16/2008 at 01:28:23 PMYou forget the worst of all: L´Umanoide
Posted 08/16/2008 at 04:19:41 PMhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080058/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFP7OQU95TE
(boobs, Jaws, Samurai Vader, exotic ships et all)
How could you not have Eragon? That should be near the top of the list hands down. (And yes, while Star Wars used common themes and plot elements that had been used for centuries (re: Joseph Campbell) Eragon really does rip Star Wars. James Bernadelli wrote "The storyline isn't just derivative of Star Wars (which wasn't original in the first place), it's a virtual copy." That about sums it up. (For the rest of his dead-on review, read it at http://www.reelviews.net/movies/e/eragon.html).
Posted 08/16/2008 at 05:41:56 PMGee, now I really want to watch all the films on this list I haven't seen. I clicked on over from SFSignal hoping you included BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS and you delivered.
I love that film, and I gave it an Extreme Makeover on my blog: http://thegalaxyexpress.blogspot.com/2008/07/extreme-makeover-battle-beyond-stars.html.
It's a classic in its own right, and imho it owes more to SEVEN SAMURAI & MAGNIFICENT SEVEN than to STAR WARS. The STAR WARS trappings in BBTS are more window dressing, I think.
Posted 08/17/2008 at 06:28:43 AMSorry, screwed up the link:
http://thegalaxyexpress.blogspot.com/2008/07/extreme-makeover-battle-beyond-stars.html
Posted 08/17/2008 at 06:32:34 AMfyi - Space: 1999 came out a couple of years before Star Wars and was not a SW cash in like the others you mention (Battlestar, Buck, etc.).
Posted 08/17/2008 at 01:28:33 PMand in fact, the opening shot of A New Hope was directly inspired by a similar shot from the Space: 1999 episode War Games
What about Kull the Conquerer?
I'm serious. Watch the thing.
Posted 08/17/2008 at 07:58:36 PMThe Humanoid should have been Numero Uno in this list, just look at the bad guy, he sould have a sign that says Now with 90% Darth Vader !!
Posted 08/17/2008 at 10:20:17 PMHey now, Hawk the Slayer was released in 1980, the same year as Empire Strikes Back, so there's no way that Jack Palance's boss guy was based on Palpatine. HTS is much underated. Actually it's rubbish, but it's rubbish that I like. Crow the Elf appeared in United 93 y'know. His super fast bow skills didn't come into play though.
Posted 08/20/2008 at 03:12:28 PMHey now, Hawk the Slayer was released in 1980, the same year as Empire Strikes Back, so there's no way that Jack Palance's boss guy was based on Palpatine. HTS is much underated. Actually it's rubbish, but it's rubbish that I like. Crow the Elf appeared in United 93 y'know. His super fast bow skills didn't come into play though.
Posted 08/20/2008 at 03:13:24 PMi am so tired of all of you idiots saying that the clone wars sucked. or the prequels for that matter. anyone who doesn't like either isn't a REAL STAR WARS FAN. lucas did'nt ruin anyone's childhood. for people to complain about asokha saying "skyguy" isn't any different than leia calling han "laser-brain", or "nerfherder" or "walking carpet". and all of you "fans" couldn't have made better movies because you'd be to lazy to get off your fat asses.
Posted 08/20/2008 at 06:52:39 PMthe original trilogy are fabulous movies and so are the prequels. as for the clone wars lucas has said the cartoon is more for the kid fans and the upcoming live action show is for the adult fans. the only problem with the prequels is that all of you grew up.
YOR: THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE needs to make this list, even if it's just the last 20 minutes that are ripping off Star Wars.
Posted 08/20/2008 at 07:12:40 PMi think u forgot the most popular rip off -
he man and the masters of the universe
Posted 08/20/2008 at 11:44:47 PMOf all the rip offs etc, why the hell has no-one mentioned some other great gaffs such as the Japanese puppet show 'Star Fleet' - that is one of the most heavily borrowed from tv ever... Put that and Episode IV into perspective and there is no difference - except Power Rangers borrowed heavily from Star Fleet too!
Posted 08/21/2008 at 12:38:26 AM... I own a number of these on DVD... Well, I also dug Clone Wars. I hate Saturn 3 though... saw it when I was 6 and it was the scariest movie ever. I've seen it since, and have no idea even why, but it was.
Posted 08/21/2008 at 02:43:55 AMGreat list, and great clips.
For the schmuck who complains that Star Wars is "stolen" -- well, duh, even George Lucas acknowledges that it's a compilation of myths from around the world. S&S stories weren't new, either. Folks, here's a big surprise: even the Romans stole from the Greeks. Or vice-versa. The genius of George Lucas was writing and packaging it all in a way that felt new, fresh and exciting.
As for "Clone Wars," I loved it, too. REALLY loved it. It's a "Star Wars" movie through and through. It's a shame some folks refused to see it or couldn't take it for what it is, which is a fun adventure in the "Star Wars" mold. It won't shake up your galaxy, but it certainly will provide as much, if not more, entertainment at the movies than almost anything else this summer.
Posted 08/21/2008 at 07:24:34 AMWhere's Aldo Lado's Umanoide, L' (The Humanoid) with Richard Kiel ? Check here for a comparison between the 2 movies The Humanoid v Star Wars
Posted 08/21/2008 at 04:51:25 PMAlso I don't think Saturn 3 should be there, wouldn't say it was anything like Star Wars !
I think I'd rather watch most of the above films instead of the prequel trilogy ! :)
What I remember most from Battle Beyond the Stars (besides the boob-ship) is when one of the clone guys is eating a hotdog and they are all chewing and remarking how good it is.
That was just freaky to me.
But, yeah, even at 9 I knew it was a rip-off.
I am surprised that there was no mention of Jason of Star Command or (as someone else said)the original Battlestar Galactica.
Posted 08/21/2008 at 10:43:05 PMJesse
not a bad list, but there's anohter Italian effort that I dimly remember with a villain wearing a vader helmet with the eyes cut out, Anyhoo; I posted a link to your article to my own blog Mona Lisa Monster Truck.
Posted 08/22/2008 at 10:56:22 AMI'm surprised Masters of the Universe (He-Man) and Spaceballs isn't on the list. Dark Helmet (Rick Morranis) was a rip-off of Darth Vader and you have Lone Star (Bill Pullman) as a Han Solo/Luke Skywalker combined characters. Barff (John Candy) was a carbo copy of Chewbacca and Dot Matrix was the C-3PO of the female version. Princess Vespa (Daphne Zanugia) was like Princess Leia. In the end, it is a spoof and rip-off of Star Wars, Star Trek and Planet of the Apes. He-Man had blasters and paralle dimensions.
Posted 08/22/2008 at 07:29:18 PMI'm surprised Masters of the Universe (He-Man) and Spaceballs isn't on the list. Dark Helmet (Rick Morranis) was a rip-off of Darth Vader and you have Lone Star (Bill Pullman) as a Han Solo/Luke Skywalker combined characters. Barff (John Candy) was a carbon copy of Chewbacca and Dot Matrix was the C-3PO of the female version. Princess Vespa (Daphne Zanugia) was like Princess Leia. In the end, it is a spoof and rip-off of Star Wars, Star Trek and Planet of the Apes. He-Man had blasters and paralle dimensions.
Posted 08/22/2008 at 07:29:31 PMHow did The Last Starfighter not make the list?
Not only is it a Star Wars rip-off, but the early use of computer graphics make it the precursor of modern CGI special effects film, like the Star Wars prequels.
Posted 08/22/2008 at 08:55:36 PMhey pepeloco when I started reading your coment I knew you were mad at something but I didnt know it was the eragon comment the eragon movie was terrible but the book aint that bad. So don't freak you don't have start a planetary civil war over it okay.
Posted 08/24/2008 at 02:57:53 PMI love that the "Starcrash" trailer starts with the text "You are about to be hurled." You can't say they didn't warn you...
Posted 08/27/2008 at 11:59:32 AMHonestly, who the hell cares about the rip offs? Yeah there's some rip offs out there. So what? I'm sure Star Wars has ripped off many things too. I never really thought Eragon was a rip off per se. And I believe Space Balls a parody, and a very funny one too. It's stupid to think "Oh this movie has at least 1 or 2 similarities to Star Wars so it MUST be a complete rip off!" Let's just forget about it. People need to realize that not everything is completely original. There will always be a book, comic, or a movie that has some similarities to an earlier book, comic, or a movie.
Posted 08/30/2008 at 11:58:38 AMIf you haven't seen Hawk the Slayer you need to if only to see Jack Palance chew, re-chew and then grind up the scenery. He's effing brilliant!
Posted 10/01/2008 at 02:05:08 AMAnother one for this list is SPACE MUTINY. Even the title is an obvious knock off! The heroine is named Leia. She greatly dislikes, then falls in love with a gruff pilot. The two of them battle an evil overlord in charge of a horde of masked troops. This evil overlord is in league with a corrupt politician who stages a bloody coup. There's a scene set in a futuristic bar. And at one point the pilot dresses up like one of the masked troops to save Leia from the evil overlord who is torturing information out of her. This movie is two lovable robots away from being to most blatant SW rip-off of all time!!!
Posted 12/04/2008 at 11:53:00 AMI'm glad someone mentioned the Turkish Star Wars, but what about the Brazilian rip-off, Planet Wars? The director saw Star Wars at a screening and released Planet Wars before SW was released! Some people thought that Star Wars was the rip-off, HA! That's impressive.
I agree that Saturn 3 is a pretty big stretch. It's like, at that point every scifi movie made after 1977 is a SW rip-off. I see more 2001 in it personally.
Posted 06/23/2009 at 02:30:09 AM