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.
Starship | |
---|---|
![]() VHS cover | |
Directed by | Roger Christian |
Written by | Roger Christian Matthew Jacobs |
Produced by | Michael Guest |
Starring | John Tarrant Deep Roy Donogh Rees Cassandra Webb |
Cinematography | John Metcalfe |
Edited by | Derek Trigg |
Music by | Tony Banks |
Production company | Associated-Rediffusion |
Distributed by | Cinema Group (US) Cineplex-Odeon Films (Canada) |
Release dates | 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 |
Countries | United Kingdom Australia |
Language | English |
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]
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]
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]
Starship was nominated for an International Fantasy Film Award, in the "Best Film" category, at the Fantasporto film festival in 1987.[10]
Starship Roger Christian.
Films directed by Roger Christian | |
---|---|
|