Episode 104 - May the Flickers Be With You

To "Celebrate" the 40th anniversary of the release of Star Wars, we decided to look at two "tributes" to that landmark film from Roger Corman. We start off with 1980's "Battle Beyond the Stars" which is essentially a retelling of "Seven Samurai" but with space ships instead of swords.  With a script from John Sayles, it is a classic tale, told well, with occasionally-impressive effects work from a team that included James Cameron!  We follow that up with 1983's "Space Raiders" which features ALL of the special effects ( literally ) from Battle Beyond the Stars, but with a different wraparound story about an accidental kidnapping and an evil corporation chasing a band of ne'er-do-wells around the galaxy. It is not good, but was still fun in spots, and seeing how they reused all the effects work was certainly a lesson in frugality.Send us your thoughts on the show and recommendations for future episodes to [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also reach us on Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd. YouTube.