a5c7b9f00b The evil tyrant Sador and his army of the mutants Malmori threatens the peaceful Akira farmers of the planet Akir with his Stellar Converter weapon and tells that he will return to collect their harvest. The former Akira warrior Zed advises that they should hire mercenaries to protect them from Sador and offers his spaceship to seek them out. However, the Akira can only pay with food and lodging. The young Shad offers to pilot the ship with the computer Nell to look for mercenaries. He meets Dr. Hephaestus and his beautiful daughter Nanelia in a space station where he unsuccessfully tries to find weapon. Nanelia comes with Shad and he teams up with the earthling Cowboy, who was going to deliver weapons to a planet that was destroyed by Sador and offers to give them to Shad. Then he meets five clones that share the mind of one entity called Nestor that join him. Shad also recruits the lonely and wealthy assassin Gelt that accepts the proposed payment. Then the sexy and annoying Valkyrie warrior St. Exmin joins the group since she wants to battle. Shad also recruits Cayman that wants to kill Sador and does not require any payment. They return to Akir and Sador also returns to attack the planet. Who will win the battle?
Shad, a young farmer, assembles a band of diverse mercenaries in outer space to defend his peaceful planet from the evil tyrant Sador and his armada of aggressors. Among the mercenaries are Space Cowboy, a spacegoing truck driver from Earth; Gelt, a wealthy but experienced assassin looking for a place to hide; and Saint-Exmin, a Valkyrie warrior looking to prove herself in battle.
Battle Beyond The Stars was one of the better Star Wars clones. The special effects weren't "great" even back in 1980, but they add to the low budget flavor of the movie. You have to remember that this movie had a substantially lower budget for special effects than an "A" picture like Star Wars. Early detailed models by James Cameron (TERMINATOR/TITANIC) are the high point of the special effects. A lot of people got their career start on this film, and Cameron was only one of many.<br/><br/>The script for Battle Beyond The Stars had a lot of things going for it, from the aliens to the quirky characters. I found the race of Nestor to be the most interesting concept of all. Just the thought of a race of beings that can hear/feel/think together as one conscious entity could be a great movie plot in itself.<br/><br/>The excellent casting of actors and actresses was another strong point in Battle Beyond The Stars. John Saxon, George Peppard, and Sybil Danning especially shine through in their acting performances in my opinion.<br/><br/>Battle Beyond The Stars is, quite simply, one of those movies that's so cheesy that's it's something special. It's a fun movie that never takes itself too seriously, and I don't either. I guess that's why I still enjoy it after all of these years.
You know, for all of the cheapness of his films, Roger Corman can occasionally turn out a pretty entertaining film. This was one of them.<br/><br/>Back in the day, my friends and I clamored for anything remotely like Star Wars. Unfortunately, other than some quickly made knock-offs from Japan and Italy, there weren't many. Then, around 1980, I came across an article in Starlog about this movie. It looked interesting, although it was obviously inspired by The Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven; but, hey, Star Wars stole from Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. I didn't get a chance to see the film in the theaters, but caught it later on cable. It was a pretty entertaining film, despite the cheesy scenes and hammy acting. Everybody seemed to be having fun and it didn't take itself too seriously.<br/><br/>Richard Thomas, fresh from The Waltons, takes to the stars to recruit mercenaries to save his agrarian world from invaders, led by John Saxon (sitting in for Eli Walach). He recruits a motley band of space cowboys (George Peppard), lizards, heat manipulating aliens, clonal telepaths, gunfighters (Robert Vaughn) and T & A valkyries (Sybil Danning). Together, this rag-tag band leads the peace-loving Akirans in battle against Sador.<br/><br/>The film is great fun, with good ship designs and exciting space battles (effects supervised by James Cameron). The script (by John Sayles) is good, with many in-jokes and light character moments. The effects, although not as good as ILM, are still eyecatching and work in service to the story. The actors play it straight, but with enough of a twinkle (with the leads making up for some of the really horrible secondary actors). The designs are interesting, especially Shad's ship-with-breasts and Saint-Exmin's costume, which has a decoration that looks like hands clutching her breasts! You can definitely tell that this was made predominantly by young males.<br/><br/>Corman is best known as a mentor to great filmmakers and this film features work by future big names John Sayles, James Cameron, Gail Ann Hurd, and music by James Horner.<br/><br/>Do yourself a favor, watch this and then compare with more recent films of the genre (i.e. Star Wars prequels) and see which has a greater sense of fun. It's no 2001: A Space Odyssey; but, then again, neither was Star Wars.