Starchaser: The Legend of Orin

In the caverns of Mineworld a slave named Orin (Joe Colligan) toils mining crystals for their God Zygon (Anthony De Longis) to feed the Furnace of Life in exchange for food. While mining Orin comes across a mysterious sword which contains the image of an old man who tells that there is world above them and to find the blade after it disappears leaving only the hilt. With the exception of Orin's girlfriend Elan (Noelle North) the others dismiss the message as heresy as the one commandment is "never dig up, up is Hell". Orin and Elan escape the mines which reveals a technologically advanced processing facility and Zygon is in fact not a god before killing Elan. Orin Narrowly escapes to the surface and meets a crystal smuggler Dagg (Carmen Argenziano) and with his help he goes to look for the blade and free his people from Zygon.

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin is a 1985 South Korean animated space opera inspired by both the success of Star Wars as well as the early 80s revived interest in 3D. TV animator Steven Hahn owned a animation studio in Korea which had a hand in animated several U. S. produced films and TV shows and during the off season wanted to give his crew something to work on deciding a movie would be the best way to go. Contacting Jeffrey Scott who had written for many of Hahn's TV productions, Scott produced the screenplay Escape to the Stars which would eventually become Starchaser. Initially started in 1982 with its eye on a 1983 release date, the film ended up being delayed by two years from its intended 6 month production cycle due to issues involving the 3D process which took even longer due to the lengthy amount of time needed to coordinate between Hahn's American offices and the Korean animation studio. The film was eventually ready for release in 1985 where it was screened for many executives including Roy Disney of Walt Disney Animation who voiced his admiration for the project, but due to problems with distributor Atlantic Releasing who was going through financial struggles as well as the decreased interest in 3D to the point many theaters didn't have proper conditions for the format, Starchaser failed to gain much of a foothold and underperformed making $3 million against a $14 million budget. What critical reception the film did garner wasn't positive including from Siskel and Ebert who made negative comparisons to Star Wars and lamented the violence in the film (but you know, it was okay when Star Wars did it). Starchaser: The Legend of Orin certainly falls in line with many Star Wars clones of the time, but at the same time it's much better made than many of them still has enough to justify its existence.

From a purely visual standpoint Starchaser looks great, the fact that certain critics of the time said it barely looks above the level of a Saturday morning cartoon is one of the most brazen falsehoods I've ever heard because no Saturday morning cartoon ever looked this good. The movie was one of the first to mix 2D animation with 3D models with Bill Kroyer of Tron and eventual director of Ferngully responsible for handling the model work on many of the 3D assets such as Dagg's ship. The initial setup of Mineworld and its rule by theocratic dictatorship is one of the interesting points that helps differentiate it from Star Wars and while as it goes on we do see it drift closer and closer to Star Wars inspired tropes it's still well done enough that it's never boring and the beautiful animation and effective voice direction makes this a stronger example than many I've seen.

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin owes much of its existence to Star Wars in that it wouldn't exist if not for George Lucas' groundbreaking film but while it borrows generously from Star Wars it's not without ideas or passion of its own. From an artistic and technical standpoint Starchaser not only looks great for its time but still holds up decades later. The plot does fall into pretty standard hero's journey/fantasy tropes but they're at least entertainingly done.

This film along with Wizards, Lord of the Rings, Fire and Ice, Heavy Metal & Heavy Metal 2000, Rock and Rule, Transformers the Movie and G.I. Joe The Movie are some of the finest non anime examples that were ever produced in the 1970's and '80's (and 2000 for Heavy Metal 2000). They simply don't make films like this anymore as I stated in my comments on Fire & Ice. This is the stuff I grew up with. I am a huge fan of animation in general and this is something that has captured my imagination for years on end, ever since I saw it. The movie does a lot of borrowing from Star Wars but has an excellent story to compliment the excellent animation. Originally, from what I've heard and seen on the posters, it was supposed to be in 3-D but, I never did get to see it in theatres. Too bad the video isn't actually in 3-D...that might have been cool..maybe if they ever put this baby out on DVD someday they'll have the 3-D presentation of the film. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing and this movie brings back a lot of good memories. It's nice to see that so many others hold the same memories for the film as I do.

-Daguon

I thought this movie was a myth. Since a kid I had a vague memory of a movie where a couple of cyborgs are killed, that's all I could remember. I didn't think this movie actually existed until I saw it on a list of obscure animated films. You could only imagine how excited I was that it actually existed.

The movie is rather well animated, in atypically 80's fashion. The story is decent enough and the voice acting is pretty good. This is a movie from an era where people were trying to make epic animated movies, that were more adult. It's a shame this movie is as forgotten as it is.

Orin, an escaped slave must free his people from an underground mine but first journey across the galaxy to fulfil his destiny.

Directed and produced by Steven Hahn, and written by Jeffrey Scott Starchaser borrows from Flash Gordon, Star Wars, the King Arthur Legend, even a bit of Blade Runner and many more. It's more young adult orientated, almost in the ballpark of Ralph Bakshi, there's disturbing 2000 A. D-like half-human, half-machine Man-Droids, Fembots. With some above PG choice language and surprise deaths, it offers an emotional clout and punch.

While the pace is at times is a little clunky like the Battle Star Galactica carbon robots, the animation (with no use of rotoscoping) is outstanding for the time. Andrew Belling's music score is a fitting highlight. The characters, especially the robot leads are quite likeable, the evil overlord Zygon is notable. The voice acting is great and there's even a nice little twist to close of the proceedings.

Overall, refreshingly made before CGI it borrows from the best and worst of sci-fi and comes out on top. Recommend.

I first saw Starchaser in 3D back in 1985 and for someone who grew up on the Star Wars trilogy I was hooked for life. A beautiful, heady mix of science-fiction, fantasy and all out action laced with humour, a little violence and excellent set-pieces Starchaser is lovingly assembled from the finest sources and has more love for it's source than the three prequels helmed by Lucas have shown. The story is straightforward: thousands of slaves mine crystals for robot overseers believing this to be the will of their God, Zygon. A young slave named Orin (superbly voiced by Joe Colligan) finds a glowing sword hilt buried in the mines that tells him of the forbidden world above and in an attempt to break free is taken under wing of surly smuggler Dagg Dibrimi.

Taking it's influence from Star Wars, whispering it's name with reverent pride, layering it with images and influences as diverse as Moebius, the cartoons of René Laloux and Ralph Bakshi's Wizards it's hard not to like this movie. It's well-animated, beautifully shot and surprisingly well written which is all the more remarkable given that it's an animated feature.

In almost any combination this would have been a lacklustre, disappointing affair along the lines of Titan A.E but under the direction of Steven Hahn it's becomes something much more special. Look at the credits and you'll see cast and crew steeped in sci-fi: Stargate: SG1's Carmen Argenziano as Dagg Dibrimi, Han Solo with the attitude of J.Jonah Jameson; Masters of the Universe star Anthony DeLongis' providing the silver-tongued menace of Zygon in the vein of an early Vincent Price are the two voice highlights among a near perfect cast. More sci-fi stars are found in the background, ranging from the voice stars of Transformers and DS9 to story-boarder Boyd Kirkland, who would later go onto direct Batman: The Animated Series' greatest episode 'The Grey Ghost'. Even after 20 years Belling's music holds up remarkably well, as much an integral character of the film as Les Tremayne's marvellously cowardly ship's computer. It kicks in at all the right places, has good strong recognisable themes for the main stars and above all doesn't overpower the movie or sound like one of John William's increasingly derivative scores. And unlike many animated features it doesn't feel the need to bolster the score with some contemporary rock or pop tracks, preferring a well-crafted mix of orchestral and synthesized soundtrack.

Watched 20 years on it's still as enjoyable. It doesn't run on for too long, still has that pleasing if eccentric aesthetic style prevalent throughout the film and above all is fun. It has a story to tell, does it with style and above all manages to make you care for the characters which is a rare enough thing in a live-action movie, and for an 80's animated feature something very much to be proud of.

Starchaser hasn't been commercially available for years aside from a VHS release some 15 or 16 years back but it has a strong and loyal fan base who'll welcome the fact it's finally been released my MGM on DVD. As an animated feature it still has a certain charm two decades on even without the 3D but where it really holds it's own is it's love for Star Wars. Anybody who felt disappointed by the three prequels and prefers the honest, simple storytelling style of the original will enjoy Starchaser.