''Starship'', also known as ''Lorca and the Outlaws'', and ''2084'', is a 1984

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...

directed by Roger Christian from a screenplay by Christian and

Matthew Jacobs Matthew Jacobs (born 1 July 1956) is a British writer, director, producer and actor. He is known best for his extensive career writing for television shows like ''Doctor Who'' and ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''. He also directed two pri ...

, and starring John Tarrant,

Deep Roy Gurdeep "Deep" Roy (born Mohinder Purba; 1 December 1957) is a Kenyan-British actor, puppeteer and stuntman. At tall, he has often been cast as diminutive characters, such as Teeny Weeny in '' The NeverEnding Story'', all the Oompa-Loompas in ...

, Donogh Rees, and Cassandra Webb. The music for the film was written by Tony Banks of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

Plot

On the remote mining planet Ordessa, the management uses killer military police

androids An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being, often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids existed only in the domain of science fiction and were frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot techno ...

to crack down on workers upset with the terrible conditions. Lorca (John Tarrant) and his mother Abbie ( Donogh Rees) led the human underground

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

until Abbie was killed by androids. Now, Lorca and Suzi (Cassandra Webb) battle Captain Jowitt (Ralph Cotterill) and the brutal

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for a bail bondsman who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as a bail enforcement agent or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated ...

Danny (

Hugh Keays-Byrne Hugh Keays-Byrne (18 May 1947 – 2 December 2020) was a British-Australian actor. He began his career on stage in his native England, where he was member of the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1968 and 1972. After emigrating to Australia in 1 ...

), with the help of the friendly android Kid (

Cast

*John Tarrant as Lorca *

as Kid * Donogh Rees as Abbie *Cassandra Webb as Suzi *

Ralph Cotterill Ralph Cotterill (March 26, 1932 - May 7, 2023) was a British born Australian actor. Born in Yorkshire, Cotterill arrived in Australia in 1973 while touring with the Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major ...

as Captain Jewitt *

as Danny *

Joy Smithers Joy Smithers (born 15 July 1963) is an Australian actress, best known for her acting performances on television, and her role as a television news presenter, such as with MTV Australia in the late 1980s. Her credits include: '' All The Way' ...

as Lena *

Tyler Coppin Tyler Coppin (born 9 November 1956) is an American-Australian actor, playwright and American dialect coach for actors in film, television and theatre. Personal life and education Coppin is a fourth-generation Californian born in Roseville, Cal ...

as Detective Droid *James Steele as MP Droid * Arky Michael as Dylan *John Rees as Priest *

Rebekah Elmaloglou Rebekah Sophie Elmaloglou (born 23 January 1974) is an Australian actress, known for her roles as teenage tearaway Sophie Simpson on ''Home and Away'' and Terese Willis on ''Neighbours''. She also made guest appearances in '' E Street'', '' A ...

as Little Girl

Production and release

Following the tumultuous production of ''

The Sender ''The Sender'' is a 1982 British-American supernatural horror film directed by Roger Christian (filmmaker), Roger Christian, written by Tom Baum, Thomas Baum, and starring Kathryn Harrold, Željko Ivanek (in his film debut), Shirley Knight, and ...

'' for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

, Roger Christian decided to produce his next film independently. Christian wrote the movie alongside

under the title ''2084'' as an unofficial update on ''

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

'' by

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

except with a lighter tone and an emphasis on action and adventure, with a stylistic approach inspired by Bertrand Tavernier's ''

Death Watch ''Death Watch'' () is a 1980 science fiction film directed by Bertrand Tavernier. It is based on the 1973 novel '' The Unsleeping Eye'' by David G. Compton. The film was entered into the 30th Berlin International Film Festival. The film had 1,0 ...

'' and Jean-Luc Godard's '' Alphaville''. During production Christian received an offer to handle second-unit direction of Ridley Scott's ''

Legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

'', but turned it down to focus on completing the film. The film was initially intended to be filmed in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, but the location was changed to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

so the crew could make use of a docked battleship Christian had obtained permission to use for the interiors of the ''Redwing'' starship. However, despite relocating production to Australia, Christian only went on board the battleship once meaning alternative sets had to be built or found as the budget was fixed and required paring down certain scenes to accommodate. The majority of filming was done at Mount Newman, a mining community in Western Australia that allowed the production to use the mine and some of the equipment as the management thought it would make a good diversion for their workforce. George Miller tried to secure

to play The Master in ''

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' (also known as ''Mad Max 3'') is a 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie and written by Terry Hayes and Miller. It is the third installment in the ''M ...

'', but Deep Roy had to turn down the role as he was already contracted to be in ''Starship''. ''Starship'' was originally released under the title ''Lorca and the Outlaws''; it also had a working title of ''The Outlaws and the Starship Redwing''. It was filmed in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

in Australia, and at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Its initial theatrical release was in Australia on 14 December 1984. It later premiered in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

on 5 July 1985, and was shown at the Fantasporto Film Festival in

Porto, Portugal Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in February 1987. Its American theatrical release was on 4 April of that year, and the VHS home video was released later that year.

Reception

M.J. Simpson, a British journalist who specialises in reviewing science fiction films, called ''Lorca and the Outlaws'' a "sub-sub-Star Wars piece of semi-juvenile rubbish which is nothing more than a scrappily assembled mishmash of clichés and lazy film-making." The ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'' concurred, calling it "a low-rent, Anglo-Australian rip-off" of ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' (1977).

Awards and honours

''Starship'' was nominated for an International Fantasy Film Award, in the "Best Film" category, at the

Fantasporto Fantasporto International Film Festival (Portuguese: Festival Internacional de Cinema do Porto) is an international genre film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Screening and awarding fantasy, sci-fi and horror orient ...

film festival in 1987.

Notes

External links

* *
''Lorca and the Outlaws''
at Badmovies.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Starship (Film) 1984 films Films directed by Roger Christian British science fiction films Australian science fiction films 1984 science fiction films 1980s English-language films 1980s British films English-language science fiction films