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With my apologies to the Tank Top Balcony Bros, while you have a very valid theory about Guardians of the Galaxy and Starcrash I think it goes a bit deeper than that in fact it goes the other way around. I mean the one character's name is Thor. If that is not a nod to their Marvel comics inspiration I don't know what is. However, something struck me as I was rewatching this movie. A lot of the characters in the movie look awfully similar to other things that I know. Now, we covered Zardoz and the obvious Star Wars rips, but there was something very comic booky about it all to me. Then the spirit of Stan Lee came down and smacked me in the head because it became crystal clear. This movie is the Kree/Skrull war people!! Don't believe me let's looks at some side by sides I quickly dashed together in paint (nothing but the finest for you folks). First the Krang Judge head is clearly just the leader of the Kree the Supreme Intelligence Next, our pal Thor was a bad guy, then a good guy, then a bad guy. Very shifty like a Skrull! Then Akton, the hero of the show. Well he kinda looks like the Kree hero himself Captain Marvel Though if you ask me he looks more like Adam Warlock with the hair and colour pattern but that doesn't fit in as well with everything. And the evil Count is either Black Tom Cassidy or Count Neferia. Neither again fit in with the whole cosmic theme but there is probably some Eternal or Inhuman or somebody I'm forgetting about. Which I guess makes Elle a Celestial. You figure it out people.

So, Stella Star is pretty much the main hero of this movie and subverts many gendered tropes in sci-fi and film more broadly. She is the best pilot, does most of the adventuring, rescues a prince (Hasselhoff), and Akton dies to advance her storyline (see: Fridging). So I ask, was this movie conceived as a feminist response to Star Wars (A New Hope), which famously doesn't pass the Bechdel test? (Stella's conversation with the Amazon Queen makes this movie pass the BT).

Fun robo-fact: the guy who did the voice for Elle in Starcrash went on to do the voice of Gizmoduck in Duck Tales. I apologize for knowing way too much about this shitty, shitty movie.

You know how movies like "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" were called "Spaghetti Westerns", because they were made in Italy. Does this make Starcrash a Spaghetti Sci-Fi, or does it have a different name, like Sci-Fi Bolognese, or SPACE-ghetti?

Had the exact same thought. Also, "a barren desert of whiteness", sounds like Scottsdale, AZ.

FUCKING FEMINISTS! GOING BACK IN TIME AND DOING GENDER SWAPPED REMAKES!! THEY DID IT WITH GHOSTBUSTERS AND THAT SUCKED, THEY DID IT WITH OCEANS AND THAT SUCKED AND NOW THEY'RE DOING IT WITH THIS?! THEY'RE FUCKING WITH MY CHILDHOOD!!!! This is Brie Larson's fault for some reason! Shit like this is why Trump got elected, and he's gonna win again, because of this fucking bullshit SJW Zardoz remake. We already had "Zardoz", there's no need for Female Zardoz and that's not me being sexist, but when they wanted a male Lara Croft, they made a different game, Uncharted, they didn't change Tomb Raider. Yeah, I get that that's what happened here, it's called "Star Crash", but look at it, thigh high boots, weird underpants, it's fucking Zardoz! MY THAT PERIOD IN TIME A FEW YEARS BEFORE I WAS BORN! And, not being sexist, but Sean Connery looks way better in the thigh highs. But, they just don't see it, Ghostbusters flopped, Oceans 8 flopped, all these other movies I'm ranting about flopped, so that tells you something... People don't want that, people don't want politics being shoved into their movies! Even though that's basically how I make my money, by ranting about it every day. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. Also, check out my Patreon, because YouTube demonetised me for no reason, all I did was call a woman a fucking bitch that should kill herself, that's not sexist, it's not sexist. If anything, I'd be being sexist if I DIDN'T call her a bitch, because I'm treating her like I would a man. Also, I'm running for election soon, so keep an eye out, I'll be talking about getting milkshake thrown on me, and how that just shows that I'm gonna win! (Stupid Jason ruined my joke, about a minute into the podcast).

Recorded live from Richmond, Virginia, Paul, June, and Jason discuss the 1979 space opera Starcrash. They talk about Stella Star’s outfit, Elle the robot who is capable of being nervous, the similarities to Star Wars, and more. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com/BONKERS code: BONKERS), Simplisafe (www.simplisafe.com/bonkers), SweeTango Apple (www.sweetango.com/bonkers), and Betterhelp (www.betterhelp.com/bonkers). Subscribe to Unspooled with Paul Scheer and Amy Nicholson here: http://www.earwolf.com/show/unspooled/ Check out our tour dates over at www.hdtgm.com! Check out new HDTGM merch over at https://www.teepubli…wdidthisgetmade Where to Find Jason, June & Paul: @PaulScheer on Instagram & Twitter @Junediane on IG and @MsJuneDiane on Twitter

Regarding the name “Elle,” in the Star Wars novelizations, the droids’ designations are similarly written phonetically. So R2-D2 is spelled Artoo-Detoo and C-3PO is See-Threepio. This is also true in a lot of Star Wars media if you watch with closed captioning. I would guess this is to give their characters “proper” names rather than just serial numbers to help the audience better identify them as beings rather than things. So I think the hosts are correct and “Elle” is supposed to be the phonetically spelled version of the letter “L” - although he must have been one of the first off the production line to have a one letter serial number. This explanation makes even more sense if the screenwriter was only familiar with Star Wars through the novels. He was following a precedent.

I'll be honest, the about 20 minutes I could make through this movie before tapping out. I did think to myself "Hey, she's hot, wonder if they make her take her clothes off for no reason." About 10 seconds later, she did. But then, when she said "This planet is gonna burn my skin off", I just thought "You're wearing a bikini, by choice, for no apparent reason."

This is where we got our first" Give Me That Baby!!!! " Jason said vaginal discharge in front of a baby and thus a tradition was born.

Now this movie doesn't broach this issue like Star Wars does, but we are in a Galaxy with multiple languages. What if "Elle" has a serial number but it is written in an alien alphabet and number system. When Chief Thor acquirers him, he sees the serial number but can't read it. However, if the lighting is right and you are squinting at the right angle it looks like "Elle". So he just calls him "Elle."

Elle's voice reminded me of "Old B.O.B." from The Black Hole...another robot with a southern accent from another Star Wars rip-off. But Starcrash came first, so...I guess they were setting the trend? Interesting, too, that Paul read a 5-star review that mentioned Slim Pickens (the voice of Old B.O.B.). Well...maybe not that interesting.

Speaking of ripping off, anyone else notice how Star Wars Rogue One basically uses the same main theme as Starcrash? See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40C-b6Umgy4 Well, I probably shouldn't go so far as to call it a rip-off-- since Starcrash is basically a rip-off of Star Wars, we could say the Rogue One theme is an homage. Some background: Michael Giacchino (pronounced 'jah-KEEN-oh' for those of you wondering) wasn't the original composer for Rogue One, and was brought on to the film late in the game. He had something like 4 weeks to come up with a score. Now, I'm not saying he took an easy way out and just tweaked the theme from Starcrash to get him through the day. Giacchino has said he's a fan of John Barry (the composer for Starcrash), and given that Rogue One was the first of the outrigger Star Wars stories, I can see Giacchino having a little bit of fun in "paying homage" to one of the more notorious Star Wars rip-offs. So, in the end, maybe not so much of a rip-off of the theme, but man... the side by side comparison of the two themes blows my mind. I was at the live show and really considered doing a Second Opinions song about it, but my singing chops are pretty much non-existent and some of the other people there ended up doing a much better job than I ever could have.

If we're going to bend over backwards to compare Starcrash to Guardians, we should at least do O'Bannon and Kemper credit by extending that to point out once again that Guardians ripped off it's entire DNA from Farscape. It's the 20th anniversary of Farscape which is, debatably, the best space opera of all time, credit where credit is due. Or, in this case, I guess accusations of ripping off Starcrash where accusations of ripping off Starcrash are due lol. https://www.reddit.com/r/farscape/comments/1yube4/guardians_of_the_galaxy_is_really_similar_to/ -Danielle @MsDaniMendus

I think they meant the robot to be “el” (Male pronoun in Spanish) but forgot to look it up and called it “Elle” because that is the level of research. I loved all cheering for librarians. Should we have a meet up at the next ALA? Also what was the June earrings/collar joke?

Also, FYI Jason the movie you were thinking and/or hoping Starcrash would be actually does exist! I present to you... Flesh Gordon! (Don't worry I used the SFW version) Yep, it's a X rated softcore porno from the mid 70s that tries to pass itself off as a parody of Flash Gordon. Hunky football star Flesh is enlisted by Professor Flexi Jerkoff to ride aboard his penis shaped rocket to go stop the evil Emperor Wang the Perverted who is control of the powerful sex ray. When hit by the sex ray you... well, have sex with anyone around you. Somehow he's going to use this to take over the galaxy. It climaxes in Flesh fighting a giant stop motion monster voiced by real life giant stop motion monster Craig T Nelson! I love the The Incredibles but read about this guy's politics... The movie is exactly what you think it is. Outdated and offensive puns and gags peppered over horrible action scenes of barely clothed people and sex scenes. Sounds bad right? Well, it is but it is not nearly as bad as it's sequel which came out 15 years later... Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders! (Trailer too NSFW for here but feel free to go to Youtube if you're curious and hate yourself)

Why was Christopher Plummer kind of transparent at the end on his Pittsburgh Steelers Subaru throne? I thought he was going to be a hologram again, but then he wasn't? I dunno. Maybe it's just me, but 97% of the costumes in this movie really drew the eye to the crotch. I wish Stella'd worn the red and silver number with the cape more, it was a good look. I really liked the mini glass spaceship they took to the Amazon planet. Throw some succulents, some cushions and pillows, a stack of books, and a big fuzzy blanket in there and I'd be set for life.

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The idea of him being a failed stand up comedian who finally breaks comes from a graphic novel The Killing Joke. I don't think it was ever his officially canon origin but its certainly the most popular origin for the last 30 years.

I liked the movie pretty well, some of it is quite amazing, but my main complaints are superficial. First, we don't need the Joker's background filled in. He's better as pure chaos, I don't want the logic on how he got there. It's scarier and much more villainous without it. Second, that backstory seems fairly obvious, no? A loner who lost his job and been abused and struggling comic? These aren't very creative choices. Why not like make him like a successful sitcom actor who somehow flips out? Or what if he was the Robert DeNiro tv show host instead? The Joker is a wild character and his backstory, if needed, should be insane too.

So I really enjoyed the movie as it broke down an iconic character in a grounded manner as opposed most of what’s been done before. The way that there isn’t some accident at Ace Chemicals or whacky instance that made Arthur who he was was a breathe of fresh air for me. For the complaints I’ve seen from people saying it wasn’t what they were expecting, they follow that by saying they were wanting to see an action film or standard comic book movie, which you can see this wasn’t going to be if you’d seen any of the trailers. As for some of the questions about the movie, it is set in 1981 but it’s not explicitly stated. Also, how the mom may have still gotten custody, given the time it’s set in, corners were shown to be cut all over the place in regards to mental health, so if she could show she was “cured” the state would likely give her her child back , especially considering it was her boyfriend beating Arthur, who could not remember those events for a variety of reasons such as repressed memories, being too young, or brain damage from the abuse. All in all I’d be amazed if Phoenix doesn’t at least get a Best Actor Oscar nomination from this.

This is 100% true.

So I guess this was a web series that got turned into a movie? So how Blondie got turned into a vampire is from the web series I think

Thanks for letting us know! Now we'll all have the Hopeline on speed-dial, ready to read it over the phone

I'm 30 seconds into Starcrash, I already want to kick Paul's ass.