How John Carpenter's Dark Star led to Alien

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Originally published at: How John Carpenter's Dark Star led to Alien | Boing Boing

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As a fan of both Carpenter and O’Bannon I wonder what could have happened if they hadn’t fallen out with each other and had continued to collaborate. For the record, I actually kind of liked Dark Star – from a modern perspective it almost seems a parody of Alien despite being earlier.

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I love Dark Star. I got the humor and existentialism of it. It was a midnight show staple for years where I lived.

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I’ll give a strong recommend for the Blank Check series on John Carpenter. They make the case (rather convincingly) that he’s only capable of making good movies when they are low budget. When given black checks, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. An interesting guy with a really unique filmography.

My favourite was the episode on Ghosts of Mars, a movie which I have a weird affection for, despite it being a mix of genius and hot mess.

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Unlike Escape From L.A , which is only hot mess.

Mostly I’m a Carpenter fan but that one is bad, though you got me thinking I need a rewatch of Ghosts of Mars soon.

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Oof, yah, Escape from LA is a disaster. I sort of enjoyed it for how silly it is in places, but hooboy it’s bad. One of those movies that makes you ask “what were they thinking?” in every single scene.

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I watched it a couple of weeks ago and yeah. Lots of it looks good and then nope, dumb. Then it looks good again and… dammit.

Especially compared to Big Trouble in Little China which is dumb fun from start to finish, cheesy lines delivered straight, the whole nine yards.
Fun fact, one of my friends can quote the entire movie and I do mean the entire movie, word for word.

Been a while since I’ve seen Dark Star, maybe I should have a double bill :thinking:

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The surfing race was pretty cool…

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I must get around to watching this one.
I say this to myself every time I see it mentioned.
Will now make a note, cheers.

ETA: I have actually written “Ghosts of Mars” on a little notepad next to my laptop. (for any doubters).

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