I became a science-fiction fan the first time that I watched STAR WARS on RCA VideoDisc, which my family rented from Hansbarger Appliances when I was probably four or five years old. By the late 1980s, I had also absorbed then-contemporary classics such as BLACKSTAR, KNIGHT RIDER, TRANSFORMERS, MIGHTY ORBOTS, VOLTRON, THE LAST STARFIGHTER and ROBOTECH. In 1987 I became addicted to STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, and in subsequent years, I immersed myself in a much wider variety of science-fiction movies and TV, old and new.
During the late 1980s, I discovered STARLOG magazine, and within the ads of STARLOG, I discovered Intergalactic Trading Company.
Intergalactic Trading Company used to mail out enormous full-color catalogs, which as I recall were organized by the title of the movie or television series. Somewhere inside either that catalog or issues of STARLOG, or both, I learned about STARCRASH.
Because as far as I knew, STARCRASH was not available on videocassette, I had no idea what the film was about, but from the printed images that I’d seen, I knew that it was a sci-fi movie, it featured David Hasselhoff, it featured a guy with a lightsaber-like sword — and it featured a scantily clad woman named Caroline Munro.
Fast-forward to March 2011. After vaguely remembering that STARCRASH might have recently been released on DVD and Blu-ray, I wandered to Amazon.com, found that it had been released and immediately placed an order.
After over 20 years of curiosity, I finally got to watch STARCRASH… and in the eyes of this fan of sci-fi movies and television series ranging from PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, STARCRASH exceeded my expectations. I love this movie! It’s pure, unashamed, crazy, cheesy, space-opera goodness.
Rather than review the movie, since it’s been done many times online, I thought I’d comment on one of the most interesting visual qualities of the film — this movie is colorful.
In most science-fiction films and TV, as well as in the night sky, stars are typically seen as tiny white spots. In STARCRASH stars are huge, they glow with bright colors like a lit Christmas tree, minus the tree. Whereas most spacecraft in TV and film are white or some shade of gray, some of the ships in STARCRASH are every color of the rainbow, as if they’d been spray-painted with molten Skittles. The spacecraft interiors are vibrant with color, too, and even a cave interior, shot on location, is bathed in colored light.
Don’t take my word for it, though — see for yourself. First, check out this gallery of screencaps. Second, buy STARCRASH on DVD or Blu-ray!
Go for hyperspace!
