Space Raiders

A mercenary and his crew try to stop a robot force and return a stowaway boy to his home planet.

Directed by Howard R. Cohen, Roger Corman's production shamelessly reuses sets from his other small budget productions, also special effects and the music from Battle Beyond the Stars, and music cues from Humanoids from the Deep. Nevertheless, to Cohens credit he brings the patch work of elements together throwing in some brief stop-motion animation; and cheap alien masks.

Thom Christopher as Flightplan a psychic alien is notable alongside likeable young David Mendenhall as Peter. Memorable is Drew Snyder as Aldebarian. It rips off Star Wars and Return of the Jedi at every opportunity. But thankfully it's brisk pace, solid acting with plenty of heart makes up for Space Raiders short comings.

Overall, it's a cheap and cheerful space adventure, and even with the recycled ingredients that may take you out of the moment it flows surprisingly well.

It took me a few years to hunt down this title, a major staple of my childhood. Almost every trip to the video shop I'd pick out Space Raiders and watch it three times every time my mother rented it for me. It was, I suppose, my Star Wars.

It's a shame then that it's such a stinker. My memories were so hazy that it offered nothing in terms of nostalgia so I had to take it at face value. A crew of space pirates accidentally kidnap a pretty annoying little kid and spend the rest of the movie trying to get him home.

Aimed squarely at the under-tens it's got unwelcome slapstick, very shoddy costumes and make-up, recycled special effects, wobbly sets and poor acting. But even with the unintentional comedy it's no fun to see it as an adult, where I can pick out not just the technical faults but wonder at how spectacularly the writer and director managed to botch an endless stream of no-brainer fun/powerful moments that have been seen in a million other sci-fi movies and in the hands of anyone remotely competent should have been successful.

I imagine as a kid I probably found it quite empowering - there are lots of "I can't do this, I'm just a kid" "Sure you can kiddo, you just have to try!"-type exchanges; the kid drinks beer, etc., but even by low budget 1983 sci-fi standards this one's pretty awful, with a real snoozer of a "finale".

This is the ultimate second-hand movie. Music, props, special effects and sets from Corman's world of movies are assembled to create this coming of age tale. There are a few moments in the film that are kinda cool, though. The escape scene in the beginning of the movie is heightened by a crew member tossing a beer to the captian while he fights off attacking space ships. There were also other cinematic moments in the film that were ALMOST good but are not executed as well as they could. I guess you have to hire leftover actors when making a leftover movie. It is interesting that James Horner did the music to this movie, (actually Battle Beyond the Stars), because he is now a top film composer in Hollywood. Its good to know someone came out of this film alive.

This is, after all, only a fantasy, but I liked it. The idea that a promise was given to a boy by a man who was once an honorable officer, and was kept even though it meant death to Hawk, was special to me. What a memory this young boy must have had all his future life for this man. These characters lived on the edge of excitement all the time, facing death throughout their adventurous lives. I found it good, but perhaps a little hokey at times. Fun to watch anyway. I would rate it at least 6 or 7. It had a good moral.

My cousin dragged me to see this movie in the theaters 20 years ago and I'm still talking about how awful it is. It is just so freakin' bad -- worse than the "Star Wars Holiday Special" bad. Mostly, this kid carries an alien bug around in a beer can for half the movie before releasing it on some other planet where it will undoubtedly (unbeknownest to him) either a.) die a terrible, horrible death or b.) over-run the planet's ecosystem and destroy life on the planet. BAD, BAD, BAD movie. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. IT WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE IF YOU WATCH THIS MOVIE!!! That's how terrible this steamin' pile of celluloid is. Even these strong words cannot convey to you just how unbelievably bad this "movie" is. If only I could get that time in my life back........