Battle Beyond the Stars

Producer Roger Corman wanted a space opera in the style of Star Wars (1977), director Jimmy T. Murakami delivered a humorous space version of Seven Samurai (1954). Peace-loving Shad (Richard Thomas) sets out to recruit mercenaries to save his planet from imminent invasion by the tyrant Sador (John Saxon). He returns with a cowboy (George Peppard), a bounty hunter (Robert Vaughn) and a reptilian man (Morgan Woodward), as well as mutants, clones and a combative Amazon (Sybil Danning) who refuses to be shaken off. This science fiction B-movie surprises with its unusual set design – James Cameron designed a uterus-shaped spaceship with a female on-board computer – and shines with its ingenuity. Screenwriter John Sayles named his imaginary planet Akir and its inhabitants Akira – in honour of Kurosawa. (T. W.)