Starship (film)

Starship, also known as Lorca and the Outlaws, and 2084, is a 1984 science fiction film directed by Roger Christian from a screenplay by Christian and Matthew Jacobs, and starring John Tarrant, Deep Roy, Donogh Rees, and Cassandra Webb.[1] The music for the film was written by Tony Banks of Genesis.

This article is about the 1984 film. For other uses, see Starship (disambiguation).

Starship
VHS cover
Directed byRoger Christian
Produced byMichael Guest
Written byRoger Christian
Matthew Jacobs
StarringJohn Tarrant
Deep Roy
Donogh Rees
Cassandra Webb
Music byTony Banks
CinematographyJohn Metcalfe
Edited byDerek Trigg
Production
company
Distributed byCinema Group (US)
Cineplex-Odeon Films (Canada)
Release date
14 December 1984 (1984-12-14) (Australia)
5 July 1985 (1985-07-05) (W. Germany)
4 April 1987 (1987-04-04) (US)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
Australia
LanguageEnglish

Plot

On the remote mining planet Ordessa, the management uses killer military police androids to crack down on workers upset with the terrible conditions. Lorca (John Tarrant) and his mother Abbie (Donogh Rees) led the human underground resistance movement until Abbie was killed by androids. Now, Lorca and Suzi (Cassandra Webb) battle Captain Jowitt (Ralph Cotterill) and the brutal bounty hunter Danny (Hugh Keays-Byrne), with the help of the friendly android Grid (Deep Roy).[2][3][4]

Cast

Production and release

Starship was originally released under the title Lorca and the Outlaws; it also had a working title of The Outlaws and the Starship Redwing. It was filmed in New South Wales and Western Australia in Australia, and at Shepperton Studios in the United Kingdom.[5] Its initial theatrical release was in Australia on 14 December 1984. It later premiered in West Germany on 5 July 1985, and was shown at the Fantasporto Film Festival in Porto, Portugal in February 1987. Its American theatrical release was on 4 April of that year,[6] and the VHS home video was released later that year.[7]

Reception

M.J. Simpson, a British journalist who specialises in reviewing science fiction films, called Lorca and the Outlaws a "sub-sub-Star Wars piece of semi-juvenile rubbish which is nothing more than a scrappily assembled mishmash of clichés and lazy film-making."[8] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution concurred, calling it "a low-rent, Anglo-Australian rip-off" of Star Wars (1977).[9]

Awards and honours

Starship was nominated for an International Fantasy Film Award, in the "Best Film" category, at the Fantasporto film festival in 1987.[10]

Notes
  1. Weldon, Michael (1996). The psychotronic video guide. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 529. ISBN 0-312-13149-6. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  2. Mannikka, Eleanor. "Lorca and the Outlaws". Allmovie. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  3. Rocher, Jean-Marc. "Plot Summary for Starship". IMDb. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  4. Borntreger, Andrew (7 July 2001). "Lorca and the Outlaws". Badmovies.com. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  5. IMDb "Filming locations"
  6. IMDb "Release dates"
  7. "Starship" on Rotten Tomatoes
  8. Simpson, M.J. "Lorca and the Outlaws". Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  9. "The Force is not with cheap 'Star Wars' imitation". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 20 March 1987. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  10. Moran, Albert; Vieth, Errol (2006). Film in Australia: an introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-521-61327-2. Retrieved 4 February 2010. Starship Roger Christian.
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