Best "CHEAP" space movie

[EnsignRicky]

You pretty much nailed my top three in your opening statement. I loved Ice Pirates and Space Hunter. I would put Enemy Mine a little closer in quality to some of my other favorites such as The Last Starfighter, Flash Gordon and Tron; Though all of them seem to have a similar feel to me.
On a side note, I like the double meaning in the title "Enemy Mine". At first it seems to refer to "my enemy" then it turns out to be about the evil slave labor strip mine; The true enemy.

 

[RobertScorpio]

You pretty much nailed my top three in your opening statement. I loved Ice Pirates and Space Hunter. I would put Enemy Mine a little closer in quality to some of my other favorites such as The Last Starfighter, Flash Gordon and Tron; Though all of them seem to have a similar feel to me.
On a side note, I like the double meaning in the title "Enemy Mine". At first it seems to refer to "my enemy" then it turns out to be about the evil slave labor strip mine; The true enemy.

Ummm..yeah, in hindsight Enemy Mine wasn't too bad. But I was meaning the FX, which I thought kind of let that movie down...and no, i didn't get the double meaning until you just pointed it out..cool!!

Rob

 

[CaptJimboJones]

Laserblast

The Pumaman (don't know if this one counts, as it's not a "space" movie, but its certainly sci-fi)

 

[cb31]

Laserhawk, Timerunner, Slipstream, and The Guyver...four good ones if ya need a Mark Hamill scifi fix!

 

[RobertScorpio]

I havent seen TIMERUNNER....I will have to look for that one...though not a cheap space movie, I remember that movie with REMO WILLIAMS when that guy was riding a motorcylce and somehow ended up in the old western days...

Rob

 

[Aragorn]

Laserhawk, Timerunner, Slipstream, and The Guyver...four good ones if ya need a Mark Hamill scifi fix!

Straight-to-video is sort of a cheat, isn't it? Why not list off something made by The Asylum?

I thought we were going with cheap crap that actually somehow, some way, got a theatrical release.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

^^ Screamers is a great, and largely unknown movie. Pretty sure I've got it knocking around on DVD somewhere.

For this movie, I think I mostly just remember a bit from the TV ads.
"It's called a Screamer."
"Where do they come from?"
"Underground."
Didn't that one have Peter Weller (Buckaroo Banzai, RoboCop) in a lead role?

"Dark Star" - originally a film school project, later expanded on and released theatrically. Involves John Carpenter (The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, etc.) and Dan O'Bannon (Alien) who both went on to some pretty big SF work, and a very spiffy spaceship design by Ron Cobb. You need to see this movie at least once in your life if you are truly an SF fan.

Great, fun film, although it does go on a bit. I like how he tries to convince the bomb to not explode through Cartesian philosophy. The ending has this bleak, carefree vibe like the end of Dr. Strangelove.

Laserhawk, Timerunner, Slipstream, and The Guyver...four good ones if ya need a Mark Hamill scifi fix!

Laserhawk also has a cameo by Leni Parker (Da'an on Earth: Final Conflict) as a diner waitress.

Slipstream is brilliant just for how many famous people are in it-- Bill Paxton, Robbie Coltrane, F. Murray Abraham, Ben Kingsley, Bob Peck (Muldoon in Jurassic Park).

I'll also mention Space Mutiny, made famous for its MST3K episode. The space shots are all recycled from the original Battlestar Galactica. The sets are mostly some giant factory. It's like the spaceship is nothing but basement. And they all drive around in golf carts. "Fasten your seatbelts. We'll be reaching speeds of 3."

 

[Pingfah]

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Does Space Truckers qualify?

 

[cb31]

Does Space Truckers qualify?

It was certainly cheap. I also remember it being very BAD! Hopper will do about anything for a paycheck.

 

[steevo]

What about "Spaceballs"?

May the Schwartz be with you.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

For some reason, I like watching those old cheap space movies like Ice Pirates. Mainly because I like to watch the FX they come up with on shoe string budgets

What I've been able to see of this film has been pretty good, I do appreciate crappy special effects if it looks like the artists have put some sort of effort into them.

 

[Evil_Kirkneivel]

Okay, I've read through this whole thread and nobody has mentioned the cheesiest of all: Star Trek V.

Okay, it's not cheap, but it sure looks that way.

 

[Dr_Daystrom]

Laserblast

The Alien Factor

The Deadly Spawn

The Incredible Melting Man

Without Warning

I'll quote myself to reiterate The Alien Factor & The Deadly Spawn. All though not technically "space" movies they do feature space aliens and creatures (Alien Factor even has a crashed spaceship). These were basically homemade, fan produced, grassroots, whatever you want to call them, films made on shoe string budgets with the rubberbands and matchsticks approach to SPFX. The Alien Factor was made for about $4000.00 with an additional $10,000.00 to blow it up from 16mm to 35mm. It appeared in Baltimore movie theaters for midnight screenings and on TV across the country. The Deadly Spawn was made for about $20,000.00 (also shot originally in 16mm) and had a successful theatrical run. Both are available on DVD and are a hoot to watch.

http://www.deadlyspawn.net/

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/a-d/alienfactor.htm

 

[RobertScorpio]

METEOR with Sean Connery....I just watched this last night because I had nothing else to do...and wow...what turkey...but what gets me the most? This movie was made in 1979, two years or so after Star wars. But the FX are so so so so so bad. Didn't they see star wars, and understand that fans would expect FX at least on that level??? The model FX for this show were so bad. Even the folks who provided the crappy CGI for Insurrection could have done better!!!

Rob

 

[trevanian]

METEOR with Sean Connery....I just watched this last night because I had nothing else to do...and wow...what turkey...but what gets me the most? This movie was made in 1979, two years or so after Star wars. But the FX are so so so so so bad. Didn't they see star wars, and understand that fans would expect FX at least on that level??? The model FX for this show were so bad. Even the folks who provided the crappy CGI for Insurrection could have done better!!!

Rob

They had successive TEAMS of folks on the fx, and kept throwing them out and hiring new people. I don't think they allowed much money for any of the groups, though STARLOG had an article (is #27?) about how Mike Minor and others worked on a tidal wave miniature that didn't quite cut it.

When you have a picture where the film's director finds his star (the killer rock) in his yard and insists that be used instead of having something designed and built, you're probably limiting yourself up front anyway.

But Connery looks good in the movie (he had so many turkeys that year, CUBA and something else, but GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY was good, although it didn't make cash either.)


HOW CAN PEOPLE CALL enemy mine CHEAP? It probably cost 35mil by the time they finished reshooting and resquandering on it.

 

[Zod]

Screamers had a budget of $20 million in 1995, almost $30 million in today's dollars. Hardly seems "cheap" to me. Cheap to me are the ones Sci Fi channel puts on Saturday night, and those cost a few million at best.

 

[hyzmarca]

Hell Comes to Frogtown It's worth watching just for the exploding codpiece, not even mentioning the Dance of Three Snakes.

 

[Neopeius]

For some reason, I like watching those old cheap space movies like Ice Pirates. Mainly because I like to watch the FX they come up with on shoe string budgets. There was the other one with Peter Strauss and Molly Ringwald which was pretty cheap, but again, inventive with how to spread the budget around...

Enemy/Mine even has that cheap look to it. We watched it over the weekend, and wow, that movie just doesn't hold up, IMO. Very low quality film, with terrible dialog. I loved it back then, but now? no.

What are some of your favorite cheap space movies, and no I don't mean Ed Wood's movies. I mean movies that were made, 60s and onward, where the FX are bad and the acting worse, and yet, somehow, if you had nothing else to watch at 2am and you came across it you might stop..and watch the trainwreck again.

Rob
Scorpio

I like Screamers, though most of it takes place planetfall. I have a soft spot for The Last Starfighter. Moon 44 showed you could do a lot for little money.

Odd, I bought and showed the Enemy Mine DVD to my 21 yr old stepdaughter, and not only did the FX hold up, it was still a moving story.

RAMA

I really like Enemy Mine though the first 10 minutes are lame and the last 20 not particularly necessary. It did keep ugly goatee actor working in the mid-80s, though.

 

[Aragorn]

On a side note, I like the double meaning in the title "Enemy Mine". At first it seems to refer to "my enemy" then it turns out to be about the evil slave labor strip mine; The true enemy.

Supposedly there was no double meaning. It was meant to be your former statement, but some suits thought that the audience would be confused so they had to ad an actual mine.