The 75 spaceships thread talk about Battle Beyond the Stars popped some movie into my head and before I could get to a computer to look it up I forgot it!
Space Truckers? No...
Ice Pirates? No...
Wing Commander...maybe...but no

I can't remember! Something almost surely from the 80's, or there about.
We're not talking "movie greatness" here, but in the "fun to watch" category where most of my movies reside. Surely a B movie.

Thoughts? Good thread to fill up the Netflix queue with.

I do hope you've seen Enemy Mine!?

Oh yeah, and recently. LOL

I assume you are thinking of movies that are obscure to the general public? The ones that come to my mind are Darkstar, Silent Running, Outland and Capricorn One.

The Quiet Earth comes to mind...but it is not what one could call "space based"

Moon

Destination Moon

Darkstar was great.

The Last Starfighter?

I think Moontrap is what I was trying to remember. Walter Koenig and Bruce Campbell. It's not on dvd that I can see though.

Hardware

I've seen that movie. And I think I know the reason it's not on dvd

Yeah, I think you're right. LOL

Aw come on! Anything Bruce Campbell is in is a B movie classic!

Does that include Spiderman 3?

Heavy Metal

primer
man who fell to earth
american astronaut

Solyaris
The Wings of Honneamise

Screamers, Marooned...not sure if they're "obscure" though

I like Screamers a lot. Rented Screamers 2 from Netflix...whoa, mistake. LOL Didn't even finish it.

"Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" IMDB Link Full legit movie available on YouTube via Crackle located here .

"Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn" IMDB Link

"Yor, the Hunter from the Future" IMDB Link (Arguably more fantasy, but does have sci-fi elements in it at the end...spaceships, robots, etc. There is a funny 3-part review of this movie on YouTube, the first of which is located here which starts at the 2:15 mark (check out the scene at 8:30 too)...also check out the scene at 1:15 in Part 3 of the review located here .

"Megaforce" IMDB Link (IMDB classifies it as sci-fi. Total 80's cheese ).

A kid growing up in the 80's with cable TV (HBO reran these to death, as I recall) had a good chance of seeing one or more of these... Enjoy.

zazoo

Edit: Oops--later saw that the thread title wanted "space-based" movies...I thought just general sci-fi at first and got kind of carried away hehehe...sorry about that. But hey...all the planets that are featured in these movies are floating around in space, right? Right? Hehe.

I actually saw this in the movie theater with my dad when I was a kid. Yeah, even back then I thought it was pretty cheesy.

Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn


That's STILL my all-time favorite movie title.

I don't know maybe these:

Planet of the Vampires
Queen of Blood (kind of a rip off of the former, but not bad)
Journey to the 7th Planet (cannablized from other of films, but has wierd atmosphere)
Galaxy of Terror (the worm scene...nuff said).
Outland (not really obscure)
Silent Running (not really obscure)

No one's mentioned Barbarella? That's a good sign.

I'll go with UFO and Space:1999. Not movies, I know, but good series.

Is "The Fountain" considered space-based? that one was WEIRD, but still good.

Depends IMHO. For sci-fi fans, these films are not obscure but for the general movie audience, I'd say they are pretty obscure.

top this one!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet

"Umms! Stamp them out!"

Wow, you aint kidding about it being obscure.

that is one strange movie. i remember watching that on "Night Flight" on USA network about 20 yrs ago at around 3:00 AM... weird popping sound effects throughout the whole movie. had bubble popping nightmares after

Holy crud, I remember that "Night Flight" thing on USA. I also used to watch that dumb "Up all night with Rhonda" late night movie show on USA. I think Gilbert Godfried was her co-host? What ever happened to him?

I have seen him do a few things on the Tonight Show back when Leno was hosting, but not much else. Recently, he was also featured in that "Aristocrats" movie, for a telling he did of that joke at a celebrity roast, I think.

dude! me too. that's awesome. remember that atomic tv show on there? jac mac and rad boy cartoon? and old new wave videos? fun stuff.

that was the A NUMBER ONE PRIME MEMORY of Night Flight that I had, that "Jack Mac & Rad Boy"!!! WOW! Ya just strange things on TV when you come home from doing your paper route at 3 in the morning on a Sunday. I watched that show every week in a kind of exhaustion-based stupor and it's burned into my brain permanently now.

That Jack Mac thing is on youtube now but for YEARS that was nowhere to be found.

He does about all voice character acting now. Like, the AFLAC duck, and other cartoon characters. But I see him around that I figure he's still busy.

Does Mel Brooks Spaceballs count? Best line in the movie when John Candy tells the android who sounds like Joan Rivers " My names Barf...I'm a mawog, half man half dog...I'm my own best friend"

Does anyone remember the space movie "Green Slime"?

Spaceballs is definitely not an obscure movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMP9njfyX6U&feature=related

quite feebin' ya scumbag!

How can you say no to a face like that?

Green Slime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79_ljVC5Wk

Yeah really bad B movie and probably obscure enough thank goodness

LMAO!! Man, this movie seems to be 10 times worse than the film your SimHQ name comes from!

I love the announcer in the Green Slime promo...talk about over the top
MST3K should have riffed this one fer sure!

Speaking of MST3K, those models and special effects in the trailer looked no better than the stuff you see in the opening credit sequence and theme song for MST3K!

that awful part where they would kiss their thumbs then stick them in the air... douche chills...

How about this one... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079285/

Yeah, I saw that one too in the theater unfortunately.

Screamers with Peter Weller
The Arrival with Charlie Sheen

"The Arrival" is one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time and Charlie Sheen was surprisingly good.

"Have you seen the ruins my friend?" is one of the memorable lines from that film.

Agreed, excellent and unique movie. I thought it was one of Sheen's best efforts too.
And I always check ceiling fans in hotels for scorpions now too.

Donald, could this be it?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042897/

Wow, starring a VERY young looking Lloyd Bridges!

The movie is free to download at the Internet archive.
Looks llike you can watch it without downloading too.

http://www.archive.org/details/RocketshipXM

Looks cheesy but it might be worth a single watch.
Just to see how far special effects have improved.


Wheels

The sci-fi genre was certainly not taken seriously during the 1950's. There are only a handful of sci-fi films that I can think of that were taken seriously and were very well done during that decade. Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds and Godzilla (the original one) come first to mind.

The only one I've seen is "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
Been a long time though.


Wheels

I own all of those on DVD.

I used to have this toy from "The Black Hole"




My favourite slightly under the radar sci-fi movies from recent years have been Sunlight and Pitch Black.

I had the Black Hole lunch box. LOL

Sunlight? You mean Sunshine maybe? Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evans...a good number of somewhat recognizable people. Kind of like 2001 meets Event Horizon.
Watched it last week after seeing the ship in that "best ships" thread here not long ago. Very nice FX.

I think its been over 20 years since I saw the Black Hole in its entirety.

Yes, that's the one. So under-the-radar I forgot it's title, which is unforgivable really in that I loved that film (and it's scientific commentary by the always-engaging Brian Cox). The visuals, soundtrack, all awesome - when I finally get round to getting a blu-ray player that's one I look forward to re-watching.

The soundtrack sounded similar to X3: Reunion too, which is a good thing. That guy that played Scarecrow in Batman Begins was in it too, he's a pretty good actor.

A friend of the family took me to see the The Black Hole (1979) when it came out.
Or so that's what the parents thought.
We went and saw the movie 10 (1979) instead.
He was able to talk the ticket girl into selling me a ticket.
Boy was that movie a shock for a 14 year old.
I had to go back and see "The Black Hole a couple of nights later because my parents kept asking me about the movie.
It wasn't as good as "10" by a long shot.


Wheels

I'm sure "10" had its own share of "black holes". Heh..

A few.


Wheels

Can't reduce it to just one favorite, but high on the list is

Dark Star

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069945/

It's the only SciFi Black Comedy I can remember.

Another obscure movie worth mention, is

Robinson Crusoe on Mars

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069945/

which has a bit part starring Adam West - the TV Series Batman

Both good movies, and I still have a quick look at RCOM every now and then.

I should give Darkstar another chance. I rented it a few months ago and managed to watch the first 30 minutes or so before I got bored and stopped watching.

There are two Dark Star's that I could find Panzer.
Which one is the one that bored you ?

Dark Star (1974)

Darkstar (2006)


Wheels

The first one. One thing that did catch my attention though is the scene where the guy does the fast knife stabbing routine between the fingers. That was used again in "Aliens".

Watched a decent sci-fi channel'ish movie this week called Cypher.
No idea how they got Lucy Liu in there, it otherwise had a couple of familiar sci-fi channel movie regulars (like David Hewlett, of SG Atlantis, Cube etc).

Lucy Liu really hasn't done much lately. The most recent thing I remember seeing her in was "Kill Bill".

It really does surprise me though some of the celebrities you see on these cheesy Sci-Fi Channel movies. John Rhys-Davies has done a couple of them.

Rhys-Davies is another actor that subscribes to the Louis Gossett Jr. formula for career advancement.
This movie was from 2002, so I guess it missed that window where she was a hot item.

Another great scene that had been recycled.
I remember Bill Paxton's character getting freaked out in that scene.


Wheels

Here's one:
Mutant Chronicles

What an unfortunate name! It's got a good cast of recognizable people who, I thought, really pulled it off with great performances. Thomas Jane and Ron Perlman head it up, but John Malkovich and Sean Pertwee (Father in Equilibrium) also make appearances.
It's one of those AAA efforts but in the B movie genre. However, that makes it better than many big budget movies.

The basic plot is pretty much Halo/Gears of War type stuff and nothing too new. However, what's cool about the movie is the setting and style, which gives a sense of an alternate history story. The movie starts out and it's pretty timeless. There's a war going on and you can't tell if it's WWI, WWII, or set in the future. There's a year given, it's no mystery, but the way they handle the setting and the mixture of technology is very cool. Kind of a steampunk look about much of it. As the story goes on you see less and less of this as the situation develops, but it's a nice treatment.

This was on Sci Fi channel a while back but I missed it (the preview commercials looked good). I saw it on Netflix and it's on Watch it Now. If you have a 360, it's even in HD. Very good looking movie.

I'll have to check out that Mutant Chronicles. It seems interesting.

What, no one mentioned The Three Stooges classic "Have Rocket, Will Travel"? Incredible.

nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!

It sounds like one I need to check out.


Wheels

Seems like there was one where the Stooges went to Mars, but I can't find that one. Maybe it was Abbott and Costello.

No, it had the Three Stooges and the Martians were really odd looking. They had these huge white heads and big black eyes. They kinda looked like the Cantina Band members from Star Wars. I remember seeing that Three Stooges movie on tv when I was like 5 or 6 years old!

I think I actually went to a theater to watch it. But I was young and a Stooge fan. Still a fan.

How about one of the all time worst movies. Of course it's probably not obscure but still a classic.


http://www.badmovies.org/movies/plannine/



JohnW

Ed Wood may have made lots of bad movies but he still managed to find a way to become famous and remembered!

Was it this one ?

http://us.vdc.imdb.com/title/tt0056580/


Wheels

Yup, that's the one!

There is a link for the full movie but I couldn't get it to work


Wheels

Anyone recall a 'short' which IIRC was titled 'One Small Step', set during the Apollo 11 broadcast? A lone man watches the landing footage from his armchair, and is distracted by the ringing of his phone... With 'unfortunate' results...

I'd like to find it again if it is still 'out there'.