Starcrash hitting Blu-ray is pretty much proof-positive that we live in an age of wonders. Luigi Coates' (credited as the more American-sounding "Lewis Coates) 1979 sci-fi epic is many, many things, but chief among them a sort of spaghetti science fiction rip of Star Wars. For decades, Starcrash has only been available in the form of bad bootlegs with strange tacked-on titles (Female Space Invaders is at the head of my awful pan and scan VHS transfer disc) and to see the love that Shout! Factory has poured into the Blu-ray (frankly, more love than Star Wars itself has ever received on home video) warms my geek heart.
A little bit of history: In the late 1970’s Coates had an earnest desire to make a sci-fi epic. No one had interest in funding such a project until Star Wars hit it big in 1977. Suddenly, sci-fi was in and everyone was looking to jump on the bandwagon. As he recalls in one of the disc’s special features, Coates was asked if he could make his film more like Star Wars. He said yes, knowing that it would get it made and proceeded to do a rewrite. There was just one problem: Star Wars hadn’t come out yet in Italy. Instead, he based his script revision on the novelization of Star Wars (which was released a whole year before the theatrical film). So the final version of Starcrash does have laser-swords and giant spaceships, but stylistically they have more in common with Ray Harryhausen epics like Jason and the Argonauts or The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.
The story goes a bit like this: Caroline Munro is Stella Star, a sort of female Han Solo sporting the most amazing bikini you’ve ever seen. She and her friend, Akton (Marjoe Gortner, who comes out looking somewhat like The Greatest American Hero), are captured by Galactic Police and sentenced to a life of slave labor. Star’s none too happy and is planning her escape when, as fortune goes, the Emperor of the Universe (Christopher Plummer, who plays the part with his characteristic grace and British charm) commutes her sentence so long as she agrees to take a mission into the Haunted Stars and find his missing son (David “I kid you not” Hasselhoff). From there, we’ve got gigantic robots, space Amazons on horseback and Joe Spinell as the fiendish Count Zarth Arn.
First and foremost, the disc looks amazing. Film elements vary from scene to scene, but there are shots on the Blu-ray so incredibly pristine, it’s doubtful the theatrical release looked so good, to say nothing of the horrendous home video versions. It should be noted that the version offered in this edition is the original American release and not the extended international cut, though nearly all of the scenes from the international version make it onto the deleted scenes section of the set.
As far as features go, the set is packed. The first disc starts things off with two full-length audio commentaries by Stephan Romano, a Starcrash superfan, who does a nice job of hitting details historical and trivia. He separates his thoughts into two themed tracks, the first focusing on 70's filmmaking as a whole and the second going into the more fanboy level minutiae.
Probably the single greatest feature is a 45 minute interview with Cozzi himself, recorded specifically for the release. There's a wonderful blend of pride and self effacement along with a million hilarious anecdotes about the film's crazed production.
A number of trailers show off international advertising for Starcrash, with the domestic trailer available with two commentary tracks of it's own. Both Joe Dante and Eli Roth provide their two-minute celebrity thoughts on the film, and, if nothing else, it's a great thing to play for a friend before you pull them into the experience that is Starcrash.
A ten minute featurette focuses on the music of composer John Barry (who legend has it was displeased with the final film and reused his Starcrash theme for Out of Africa, winning him an Oscar. So, if you think about it, Starcrash sort of has an Academy Award Winning score). Rounding out the first disc is a vast gallery of stills, behind-the-scenes photos, storyboards, production artwork and advertising material.
The second disc has more than half an hour of deleted scenes, some of which are in rougher shapes than others, but all of which are an incredible addition. Likewise, there's an interview that lasts for more than an hour with Caroline Munro in which she discusses at length her career, from Bond girl to Stella Star and points in-between. Another 20 minute feature goes into the special effects with FX Supervisor Armando Valcauda while a silent 20 minutes of behind the scenes black and white home video also features Romano commentary. Finishing the set is the full-length Starcrash screenplay, available as a PDF through DVD-ROM.
Suffice to say, I'm very, very fond of Starcrash and clearly the people at Shout! Factory are as well. Special Editions of cult classics like this are increasingly rare these days and to get a release this nice of a title this fantastic would be a coup on standard definition. On Blu-ray, it's going to be hard to top, especially at such a low price (under $20 at Amazon).
Starcrash finally comes home on September 14th.
