Starchaser: The Legend of Orin

Starchaser:The Legend of Orin (1985)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Steven Hahn

Starring: This is an animated feature that has some old familiar voice talents

From: Young Sung Production Co.

Another review done by request. Earlier in the year, a mutual here asked if I had seen a list of various animated films from the 70's/80's. My response was “nope” to all of them. This was one and as it was a space opera, that was what I picked last night. I never thought there'd come a time where people on Letterboxd will ask me if I've seen something or would like me to see something... flattered, I definitely am. Note that what I saw on YouTube was NOT the 3D copy (!) that someone uploaded for those that have anaglyph glasses at home. Earlier in the year I watched a few minutes of that... the picture was horribly washed out and it literally start to hurt my eyes. Henceforth, instead what I saw was one of the HD copies that can easily be discovered.

Let's see if any of this sounds familiar: an average teenager (w/ fine 80's hair and red headband) finds a laser sword, which he soon discovers is part of a prophecy. Only he can wield it so he escapes the subterranean mining world that he & everyone else is enslaved in. Above ground, he finds a rogue smuggler who has a phallic spaceship controlled by AI w/ a sassy personality, voiced by Les Tremayne. Later on is a headstrong princess... those were just the most blatant examples. I know that franchise was based on old archetypes & fables but it was astounding how they didn't even try to hide that “inspiration.”

It is silly nonsense w/ more than one deus ex machina moment & the basic storytelling could certainly be better. Be that as it may, those basic storytelling ideas still work if done right and it was easy to root for Orin as he tries to free his enslaved people and conquer the A-hole villain Zygon, who looks like he stepped off the set of a period post-apocalyptic film. Some elements of its time greatly amused me, such as the hilarious electronic score. Other details, less so... there is a literal FEMBOT (identified as such) who Not Han Solo programmed more to his tastes. Think of that how you will, or the casual 80's sexism.

Who knows how I would have felt about the movie had it been viewed as a kid way back when. As an adult, the animation is at least nice for the budget and computer animation is even blended in back when that was uncommon. Heck, the enemy's backstory & motives... more relevant in 2023 than in 1985. Aside from the period attitudes and the whole “ripoff” aspect, Starchaser was truly inoffensive and fine as something to watch on a random Sunday night.