Review of Dark Star (30th Anniversary Collector`s Edition)

Introduction

Dark Star is the name of the Ron Cobb designed scout ship which goes around blowing up unstable planets in the sector so that its ready for colonisation. But something goes horribly wrong...could you reason with a thermostellar bomb that thinks its God? That`s not all, these astronauts are bored and when they get bored they get a bit silly…

I don`t think that John Carpenter or writer Dan O`Bannon would realise 30-years after the making of Dark Star that there would still be a collective of fans that enjoy this bizarre space film. What started as a student film turned into much more when Producer Jack Harris saw the potential. What we get here are two versions of the film, the Original Release (72-mins) as well as the 1974 Extended Release (82-mins).

Video

Presented with a 1.85:1 letterbox transfer (the box incorrectly states that it`s anamorphic when it`s clearly not), Dark Star doesn`t fair too badly. Bear in mind that it`s an extremely low budget film made in 1974 on 16mm film so an anamorphic widescreen transfer likely wouldn`t make any real difference. The film looks soft and grainy throughout but renders colour fairly well. There`s a fair amount of dirt too so if you`re looking for a pristine restored print, this isn`t it. Having said that, if you`re a fan of the film then this looks as good as it`s going to get.

Audio

The film was made in mono so it`s a little off-putting listening to the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. All the sound appears to come from the front speakers. Overall it`s not too bad though some distortion does creep in and I think this is down to the source materials. I could still pick up most of the dialogue.

Features

Easy to navigate menus with just a few extras:

• Cast and Crew Biographies - John Carpenter (Writer/Director), Dan O`Bannon (Writer/Actor), Brian Narelle (Actor) and Jack Harris (Executive Producer). Self explanatory!

• Theatrical Trailer (2:37) - Don`t bother with this, you may as well watch the film for all the spoilers in there.

• Picture Gallery - A collection of 51 stills taken from the film.

You`d think that a 30th Anniversary Edition of a film would warrant some quality extras but nope, you won`t find it on this 30th Anniversary Edition. There are also no subtitles.

Conclusion

Despite the lack of quality in the sound and vision stakes, Dark Star is still an enjoyable low budget space satire; the surrealism sometimes baffles but nonetheless always brings a wide smile. I think Dark Star is one of John Carpenter`s better films as the lack of money certainly didn`t hinder the silliness of it. This isn`t going to be any old sci-fi fans perfect film as the special effects budget will make you cringe, the characters are a bit deranged and the story isn`t epic in scale, which means the film has a lo-fi charm all of its own. I`ve not seen the previous Dark Star DVD so I can`t say which is better, but if you have a somewhat off-kilter sense of humour, check this out.