Starchaser: The Legend of Orin

1985 "He alone has the power"
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin
6.4| 1h47m| en| More Info
Released: 17 May 1985 Released
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Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Set on the subterranean Mine-World, a band of human worker are treated like slaves under the power of the evil overlord Zygon until one, Orin, unearths the hilt of a mythical sword that only he can master. Escaping the planet, he runs into the rogue smuggler Dagg and a pair of helpful droids and the princess, who all team up to return to the Mine-World with a plan to defeat Zygon and free Orin's enslaved people.

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JoeB131 How did LucasFilm NOT sue over this? How? Okay so some bad Korean Animation characters do a ripoff of Star Wars, with the plucky hero with a mystical power involving swords, or something, and a wise-cracking pilot and a sexy princess who fortunately does not happen to be his sister, because, ick! We also have some sassy robots, but no Wookies, thankfully.Except nothing the characters do actually make sense. we find out that the people running the evil robots are in fact evil robots themselves. Some of the creature designs looked interesting, there are things you can do with animation that you can't do with practical effects. The downside was that the animation quality was somewhere above Star Trek the animated series and somewhere below Heavy Metal and nowhere in the same vicinity as Disney quality. Could have been a 5, but subtract 1 for ripoff and 1 for Robot Misogyny.
Donald F Star Wars: A New Hope forever changed sci-fi in 1977. It influenced countless films to come...and inspired dozens of rip-offs. Starchaser is arguably the most shameless copy this side of The Man Who Saved the World. It's staggering. They "borrow" Luke Skywalker, Han Salo, Princess Leia, CP-30 (twice!), Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, the Millennium Falcon, and light sabers! Even its score is remarkably similar. Its completely derivative, and is just as shallow as its predecessor.But...honestly? As far as rip-offs go...this is one of the better ones I've seen. The animation is pretty good (it was an early cartoon to use computer and traditional styles), it has enough action, and the acting isn't that bad. It also has quite a few ridiculous moments that separate it from George Lucas' vision. Just trust me, its pretty goofy.When I first watched it, I was angry, because I thought it was supposed to be legitimately good. The ending was especially cheesy. But looking back, as a good bad movie, its pretty fun. Its funny, appealing, and campy. Something that a group can riff on without being infuriated. Its not "good", but when you're in the right mood, you might have a blast.
hellraiser7 To me as a kid it's always a joy whenever I see sci-fi in animated form which to me is something not done enough. This film is an under the radar gem, which I really like.The animation I personally think is very good, it was revolutionary for it's time as it was a combination of both 3D visual technology, a bit of rotoscoping, and regular common animation. Personally I felt this was a beautiful combo and it predates the technique of the combination of 2-D animation with CGI and even 2-D and 3-D graphical design in video games. I really love the visuals on each of the worlds which are unique, really captured that sense of the broadness in space operas. And the character designs I think are great as well from the aliens, robots, and humans.The music score is great, the theme song is one of my favorite themes of all time and I think one of the most underrated. It just has that adventurous and epic tone.The story is solid, it's nothing too special it does takes it's cues from plenty of other space opera stories out there mainly "Star Wars" (no surprise), so it's nothing really new but everything done right. The characters are good/decent, their not really deep but they all serve their functions. Orin is solid the typical up and coming underdog young hero, but I like his motivation which isn't the typical want to save the universe but revenge, which I think is something a bit different and I don't see much anymore. Aviana is the typical beautiful sweet significant other that helps Orin, both of them have decent chemistry, I know not a great romance but I take this over any bad romance film any day; it's also kinda funny in a way since this character is voiced by the same actress that did Orin's slain significant other, so you can say it was fate giving Orin another chance.However the character that stands out for me is Dagg, whom yeah is a rip on Han Solo but a good one and a fun character all the same. I kinda like his mannerism his sort of reminds me a bit of actor Burt Renalds whom always had this sharp and rough charisma, he has some solid lines, he's a bit reluctant but he does come though because well what else is he going to do action is pretty much his job anyway. I even like his back and forth with the female robot, Orin, but most of all the computer that helps run the ship, kinda like the computer Gideon in the anime series "Outlaw Star".However were really in it for the adventure and is a good one at that. As I said I like the planets they explore, I even like that their not afraid to be a bit dark as we see a planet where there are aliens that steel body parts to continue to put themselves together. And the action is great, I really like the sequences when Odin uses the light sword, yeah I know a rip on the light saber but it still looks cool and I like the fact that you activate it with you mind whenever you want, and there is a little twist at the end with that weapon. The shootouts are solid but it's really the aerial assault battles that I love, those to me are the best action sequences in the film because the visuals and cinematography are just amazing, the choreography is sharp and when they flying in certain places it really looks and feels like their coming right at you.Overall it's a solid animated film that like a star shines brightly and is worth looking at.Rating: 3 stars
cinemabon Spoilers contained within:If you intend to read the hype of those people who give this film an 8 or higher, then you shouldn't bother to read the review of someone who went to the premiere of this film, with all of the cardboard cut outs and Klieg lights in front of the theater. The film was originally presented in 3D and as we sat with our Polarized lenses on, the first problem presented itself - the cardboard cut-out syndrome. You had the feeling you were watching the film as it must have looked to the photographer as he looked down through the multi-plane animation stand with foreground and background mostly static and the middle plane made up of the character (also flat-looking) moving around. Second, the plot was far too close to the "Star Wars" films which had just finished dominating American cinemas in their three-film run between 1977-1983. You had Orin, who more than resembled Luke, with a sword that worked like a laser; you had Dagg (Han) a rogue space pilot with a vessel like the Millennium Falcon; a cute robot Silica (C3P0) and the evil Zygon who mirrored the emperor/Vader character. Did we mention the force? Those would be the legendary Ka-Khan whose mystical guidance are used by Luke, uh Orin. Confused? You will be. This is a cardboard movie, limited animation, corny predictable plot, and horrible score (far from John Williams). If you liked this movie, you don't know science fiction. If you loved this movie, you don't know cinema. Not recommended.