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Dark Star
Bombed Out In Space With A Spaced-Out Bomb!
( Comedy / Sci-Fi / Thriller )


Dark Star Poster

MPAA Rating:
G

US Runtime: 68 min

Premiere Date:
Mar 30, 1974   [USA]
 
Director: John Carpenter
 
Writers: John Carpenter
Dan O'Bannon
 
Producers: Jack H. Harris   [Executive Producer]
John Carpenter   [Producer]
J. Stein Kaplan   [Associate Producer]
 
Music by John Carpenter
 
Cinematography: Douglas Knapp
 
Production Company: University of Southern California
 


Cast:

Brian Narelle
Doolittle
Cal Kuniholm
Boiler
Dre Pahich
Talby
Joe Saunders
Commander Powell
Alan Sheretz
Bomb #19
 
Miles Watkins
Mission Control
Adam Beckenbaugh
Bomb #20
Michael Shaw
Cookie Knapp
Mother voice (uncredited)
Nick Castle
Alien (uncredited)
 
 

Crew:

Nick Castle
asst. camera
Bill Taylor
lyricist
 
John C. Wash
computer displays
Terence H. Winkless
production asst.
 
 

Tech Info:

Budget:
$60,000 (USA)
Color Info:
Color (Metrocolor)
Sound Mix:
Mono
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
Cinematographic Process:
Spherical
Film Negative Format:
16 mm
Printed Film Format:
35 mm

Quotes:

  • [Pinback wants the bomb to disarm.]
    Pinback: All right, bomb. Prepare to receive new orders.
    Bomb Twenty: You are false data.
    Pinback: Hmmm?
    Bomb Twenty: Therefore I shall ignore you.
    Pinback: Hello...bomb?
    Bomb Twenty: False data can act only as a distraction. Therefore, I shall refuse to perceive.
    Pinback: Hey, bomb?!
    Bomb Twenty: The only thing that exists is myself.
    Pinback: Snap out of it, bomb.
     
  • [Doolittle convinces the bomb not to explode.]
    Doolittle: Hello, Bomb? Are you with me?
    Bomb Twenty: Of course.
    Doolittle: Are you willing to entertain a few concepts?
    Bomb Twenty: I am always receptive to suggestions.
    Doolittle: Fine. Think about this then. How do you know you exist?
    Bomb Twenty: Well, of course I exist.
    Doolittle: But how do you know you exist?
    Bomb Twenty: It is intuitively obvious.
    Doolittle: Intuition is no proof. What concrete evidence do you have that you exist?
    Bomb Twenty: Hmmmm.....well.....I think, therefore I am.
    Doolittle: That's good. That's very good. But how do you know
    Bomb Twenty: My sensory apparatus reveals it to me. This is fun!
     

Trivia:

  • The character Bill Frugge was named after John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon's film professor William Froug, while they were making Dark Star.
     
  • When bomb number 20 emerges from the bomb bay during the asteroid storm, you can see a guy sticking his tongue out on the computer screen.
     
  • Co-written by Dan O'Bannon, who later reused the "alien mascot" section of the film as the basis of his script for Alien.
     
  • John Carpenter directed, edited, and wrote the music for the film, but he uses pseudonyms in the credits for editing and the music.
     
  • The end of the film was almost certainly inspired by and adapted from Ray Bradbury's sci-fi short story "Kaleidoscope." Bradbury's story is about a group of rocket men floating away from each other in space after their ship has exploded. Eventually only two men are left in radio contact; one of them is carried off by an enchanting, kaleidoscopic meteor swarm and the other falls to earth as a shooting star. This situation is exactly recreated at the end of "Dark Star," and some of the dialogue is adapted directly from Bradbury's text.
     

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