ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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______________________________ Starman


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JEFF BRIDGES * KAREN ALLEN * CHARLES MARTIN SMITH * RICHARD JAECKEL

This is another take on E.T. and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, meaning the friendly alien from outer space. After Bridges (as an alien who temporarily takes human form) meets Karen Allen, it turns into a road movie. There's nothing outstanding here, but it's fairly interesting for most of it.

I thought Bridges did as good a job as possible on interpreting an alien getting used to working in a human body. His early scenes show that it's a very rough start for him — he has to become accustomed to using a mouth for speech and so forth. An interesting comparison is to Kyle MacLachlan's alien-in-a-human body in THE HIDDEN. MacLachlan looks a bit odd to begin with and was more of a natural, so Bridges had to make an extra effort here.

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I wasn't sure what to make of the resurrection scene later, involving a dead animal. This story has obvious Christ parallels, including the romantic aspect which transpires later and the nearly supernatural result . . . though this tells us there's nothing supernatural out there, just a much more advanced society — including the science, presumably. This is a more mainstream effort from director John Carpenter, who usually tries for subversive messages; a little cynicism creeped in, but it was very clumsily done.



There's a faint trace of a lecture in the background during much of the film, warning us to behave in a more civil manner, but it gets a bit clumsy. Bridges' alien character comes over here in response to our Voyager 2 spacecraft, which sent a greeting to any aliens out there.

Though it's not really shown, the alien's spaceship (a small thing) is damaged by our Air Force; the alien almost immediately concludes that the Earth environment is hostile and his mission is a bust even before it begins.

During the road trip, the government is always in pursuit, looking for the alien. Then, the plan for an autopsy is unveiled in the final act. This was a clumsy effort to create more tension, more villainy — but what was the rationale? Answer: there wasn't any. Jaeckel's government man is a cliche, indeed, behaving badly because the tale needed a bad guy, I guess.



But, Charles Martin Smith is excellent. His concluding scene with Jaeckel, where Smith uses his cigar in an act of symbolism, is a highlight of the film. I always look forward to it; I've seen this 3 or 4 times now.

As for the later TV show, I did watch some of it, but don't really remember it; I think it was forgettable.



BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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~ A Question for the Members: After the advanced alien race received our deep space probe and replied by sending an alien ambassador, wouldn't their next attempt to establish relations with mankind benefit greatly from what their first emissary learned about mankind's strengths and weakness?

~ My Theory: Indeed they would! The Starman's mission included a wealth of experiences which would give the aliens ample evidence as to the nature of mankind. They even learned — from firsthand experience — how we procreate and what our sexual experiences were like! :shook:

So, addition to the fact that their ambassador left a human/hybrid child in the womb of Karen Allen which would provide the aliens with data about the nature of humanity, the abundant experiences of their ambassor (Jeff Bridges) would also give these aliens a detailed understanding of our species.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ Actor Jeff Bridges studied ornithology and the behavior of birds to prepare for his role as an alien in human form for this movie. Bridges particularly used the sudden jerky head movements, amongst other nuances and mannerisms, of birds for his Starman character. Bridges figured that the alien would not have human characteristics and, being encased in a human body, would act with base primitive animal instincts.

Note from me: Jeff does indeed succeed in creating some very convincing "alien" behavior".

~ This script was being developed at "Columbia" at the same time as another script about an alien visitation. The studio did not want to make both, so the head of the studio had to choose which film to make; he decided to make this one and let the other script go to a rival studio.

The other script was for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)." After 'E.T.' became such a huge hit, apparently 'Starman' sat on the shelf for almost three years before the Columbia Pictures studio agreed to release it.

Note from me: The studio was probably wise to hold the release for a while so that audiences wouldn't immediately compare it to E.T.

~ Director John Carpenter met with Tom Cruise in consideration for the film's title lead role. Carpenter liked him, but Cruise was busy making Ridley Scott's "Legend (1985)", so he wasn't available.

Note from me: Cruise is a fine actor, but I'm not sure audiences would accept him in a role like this. Then again, maybe he'd do a great job.

~ When Jeff Bridges walks outside the house naked and uses a 'marble' his hair seems to stand on end. This effect was actually created by shooting Bridges hanging upside-down and then matting the shot onto the background the right way up to give him a surreal look.

Note from me: I hate to say it, but it was obvious they hung Jeff upside for that shot, so it wasn't effective as a "surreal look". But it was sure funny when Lloyd Bridges did the same thing in Airplane!

~ According to John Carpenter in the audio commentary on Big Trouble in Little China (1986), the main reason he directed Starman (1984) was due to the box-office disaster of The Thing (1982); he needed to make a movie that was tonally the complete opposite of 'The Thing' to ensure his employability in Hollywood.

Note from me: The Thing was a box office disaster? It certainly has achieve a better reputation now.

~ The Voyager mission referred to in this film is Voyager 2; the last Voyager probe. The fictional Voyager 6, which also prompted a visit to earth by an extraterrestrial entity, was featured in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).

Note from me: I guess in real life the Voyager probes were a waste of money. The likelihood is pretty low that (a) aliens would retrieve the probes, and they'd be very impressed by them.

~ According to a January 1985 edition of the 'Chicago-Tribune' newspaper, science-fiction experts accused the movie of plagiarizing the "final mother-ship encounter from an obscure 1982 release" called Wavelength (1983).

Note from me: Here's the full movie. Take a look at ending. The giant ball bearing spaceship is indeed just like the one in Starman.


_____________________ Wavelength (1983)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)