If you liked Star Wars...

Roger Corman is known as the “King of the B’s,” cranking out cheap films in the 50s and 60s. So he must have truly caught space opera fever after Star Wars came out in 1977, because he invested $2 million, his largest sum ever, to produce Battle Beyond the Stars.

It’s no ordinary Corman film; several big names worked behind the scenes. The screenplay was written by John Sayles, who would go on to write and direct Oscar-nominated films like Passion Fish. The score was composed by James Horner, who would go on to create music for space movies such as Apollo 13 and Avatar. And the visual effects and production design were overseen by James Cameron, who would go on to direct Avatar and other great sci-fi adventures.

Richard Thomas, taking a break from The Waltons to spend half a movie talking to a faceless ship's computer.

And George Peppard as Space Cowboy

The film itself is a rehash of The Magnificent Seven (which, yes, is a rehash of Seven Samurai). It even features Robert Vaughn playing virtually the same role -- a fugitive killer seeking penance for his crimes. It also stars, and here I’ll just quote the opening credits, “And George Peppard as Space Cowboy.” As a stand-in for farm boy Luke Skywalker, Corman brings in...a farm boy from The Waltons, Richard Thomas.

The plot is simple. Bad-guy Sador (John Saxon) brings his warship crewed by “genetic misfits” to the peaceful planet of Akir, and tells the people he demands their complete submission when he returns in seven days -- sorry, seven solar cycles -- when their harvest is ready. He also plans to harvest them to keep his body alive and achieve immortality. Lacking weapons and following a creed of peace called the Varda, the people of Akir send Shad (Thomas) on a ship run by a sassy AI called Nell to find mercenaries to defend the planet.

Shad’s first stop is a space station inhabited by a scientist, his daughter, and an entire staff of androids, so we can add Forbidden Planet and/or The Tempest to the film’s influences. The daughter, Nanelia, is a computer specialist and agrees to join Shad’s cause. Oddly, she escapes the station in her own ship and searches for mercenaries alone, which robs the two leads of time spent on getting to know each other, bickering, and falling in love.

Cayman the sort-of Sleestak briefly captures Nanelia before she tells him she's fighting Sador. His crew doesn't speak throughout the entire film.

Meet the Mercs

The mercenaries are rounded up. There’s Cayman, who looks like a Sleestak and wants revenge on Sador for wiping out his planet. There’s the aforementioned Robert Vaughn as Gelt, who seems to have a rule against smiling. There’s Playboy model Sybil Danning as Saint-Exmin, possibly one of the weirdest names in sci-fi cinema, a “Valkyrie” (yep, they didn’t even try to change the word) who looks like a 13-year-old boy’s Norse cosplay fantasy. There are a ship manned by clones, known as Nestor, who are calm and wise and logical, like a certain science officer I could name.





Sybil Danning reminds us that, yes, this is a low-budget Roger Corman film.

And there’s “Cowboy,” the only name he gives, who proves Earth does exist in the film’s universe. He drinks scotch and plays harmonica and introduces the aliens to hot dogs. However, we’re not given any clue as to the year or Earth’s fate or if the human-looking Akir people are related to Earthlings. Maybe the film takes place in the Firefly universe?

Eventually, Sador returns and the big encounter takes place. Oh, and Shad and Nanelia fall in love, hurriedly (see above) and awkwardly. Sador is killed when he tractor-beams in Shad’s ship, but he and Nanelia escape and set the ship to self-destruct. All the other mercenaries die.

The film presages Return of the Jedi in that it has a space battle concurrent with a ground assault on the planet, but Sador never gets a face-to-face showdown with any of the good guys. In fact, he never steps off the ship. This could be due to scheduling -- Saxon may not have been on set as the same time as the heroes.

A pre-battle campfire, with warmth provided by the Kelvins (center), who communicate through heat.

Remake beyond the stars?

BBTS is hit-and-miss, taking itself too seriously at times while being too flippant at others. But screenwriter Sayles included some cool science-fiction ideas: What if there were earless aliens who communicated by heat? What if there was an entire race of clones who share a single consciousness? What if there were tanks that fired sonic weapons? The film also goes to great lengths to show Shad’s reluctance to reject his peaceful religion and harm others, even in self-defense. He won’t fire on ships that are flying away from him, crying “Not in the back!” when Nell urges him to shoot.



Along with these elements, the core of the story is certainly compelling, as we can see by the remake of The Magnificent Seven coming out later this year. A remake is a chance to create seven original alien (or robot or whatever) characters, which we could use in this era of films based on other properties. Having an Earthling among the bunch would supply some wry commentary. Then again, what if it’s Earth that’s under threat from Sador Who Never Leaves His Ship?

The most obvious analogue here is Guardians of the Galaxy, which showed that a science-fiction adventure, with a little self-awareness, can be a fun romp. And it includes a human from modern-day(ish) Earth, like Space Cowboy.

In my version, I’d give Sador some bad-ass lieutenants instead of a bunch of misshapen idiots. That way, the mercenaries could fight them one-on-one, rather than being stuck in ship-to-ship combat for most of the action. I’d also make more than two of the seven mercenaries women, and add some women to Sador’s side. The idea of conquering entire races for biological experiments is an interesting one; we even get some scenes with a scary saw. I’d suggest pursuing this idea further, not only for some gory thrills but also to give Sador a more understandable (but still evil) motivation.

Horner’s Horns

One last thing worth mentioning: The whole experience of Battle Beyond the Stars is enhanced by James Horner’s soaring score. He was just at the beginning of his career, but you can hear hints of his fanfares for Star Trek II and The Rocketeer.

Horner died suddenly last year. He had already worked on several more films, which have come out since his death. The last movie he ever scored? The remake of The Magnificent Seven.

What do you think of Battle Beyond the Stars? Who would you cast in a remake?