Star Command - Gefecht im Weltall

I worked on this project and watched it over the course of more than a year, roughly from the end of principal photography until the final sound mix. It started out being pretty good, but over time was reconcepted into what we started referring to as "Babes in Space" or "Melrose Space." Even my dad, who watched it for the sole purpose of seeing my credit at the end, said that it "really isn't a very good movie." Thanks, dad.

I suspect that "Star Command"gained it's genesis from "Starship Troopers", the success of which probably prompted it's inception. However it is a very different type of sci-fi film to "Troopers", which I saw as a good old fashioned shoot 'em up war movie. And a good one at that.

Rather, "Star Command" reminded me very much of the recent and excellent British "Hornblower" TV series, where the protagonist/s use initiative and daring to outwit the enemy rather than guts and straight out firepower.

I'd not class this as even a very good movie, the acting, by a very pretty cast, is only just adequate, the characterisation stereotypical and some of the lines embarrassingly bad.

However the story itself is interest holding and the special effects/sets quite good. Not a deep film by any means but not excreable either.

2½ *'s out of 4

Listen, I love sci-fi, especially cheesy, not-very-well-done sci-fi, so this movie was great. Good story, good animation, and(yes, I'll say it) good characters. Some of them even had a believable past, a rarity in any movie today. Besides, Jay Underwood hasn't had anything going for him since the Not Quite Human series. Now those were bad, but they portrayed a fresh idea, and even though Star Command is five years old, I still refer to it as a fresh idea. And Jay Underwood's still out of work. Maybe he should have gone to the casting call for Crossworlds instead of Star Command, but there you have it.

I'm not sure what they were going for when they created this movie, but i'll attempt to fathom it out for some. In the far future we find that a group of students are about to graduate a space academy. But if anyone has closely looked at the uniforms being shown during the first ten minutes, the students are in fact two different groups. Much like the military cadre was breaking down between two distinct ideologies before the outbreak of the civil war in the United States. As the story progresses we learn that there is the possibility of a civil war between two groups of humanity. One bent on exploration and peaceful mindset...and the other group which is bent on expansion by any means necessary.

I also believe this was a failed pilot which never really took off. The show really did surround the youthful ensemble put together. I really didn't believe the character story arcs were ever that strong to begin with, and by the end was more of a coming of age film for the actors themselves and NOT the characters.

And my worst comment will have to be for the space footage, with some of the worst spaceships and video toaster graphics I have ever seen to date. Well, besides the dragons from the Dungeons and Dragons, probably the worst flying tin cans I had a hard time believing could even fly in space.

Though I would have like to seen more of Chad and Morgan, and though the acting wasn't exactly Academy Award (it was a bit kitchy), this was a fun story with an interesting plot, watchable special effects, and a storyline that I always like (junior officer takes command and saves the day).

Seeing the hero win by cleverness and bravery instead of a plot trick makes it worth watching. The bad guys were suitably evil to deserve their fate. There was probably an even better movie in here somewhere, but what we got was a lot of fun.

I'd compare it to Midshipman's Hope by David Feintuch or On Basilisk Station by David Weber (though those are probably a cut above this movie in story). Seafort in Midshipman's Hope is a bit more doom ridden though, and that gets kind of old. The hero here is gets to actually enjoy the experience, finding his forte at last instead of washing out of the academy.