One of the great things about Star Wars is the way it took corny clichés from the golden era of science fiction pulps – stuff like Flash Gordon or The Lensman series – and gave them new life in a film that looks amazing and feels epic.
But there’s a thin line between awesome and awful as you’re about to discover with these knockoffs made to cash in on the Star Wars craze.
1. Starcrash (1978)
I believe that StarCrash is an artifact from a parallel bizarro universe where everything is opposite. How else to explain a space opera about a noble Empire threatened by the evil Rebels where a gorgeous space smuggler played by Caroline Munro saves prince David Hasselhoff?
StarCrash is a gift that keeps on giving. Just when you think it couldn’t get any more insane, out of nowhere comes a giant toy space station shaped like a claw or the benevolent Emperor Christopher Plummer.
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There have to be worse knock offs than these. I’d swap 1 and 2 and call this the best 4 knock offs.
Battle Beyond The Stars was the best on this list!
Whew. Thought the ’87 MOTU movie might possibly make this list.
None of these were on MST3K? Tsk, tsk. And I actually liked the prequels.
What?
Well, if i’m not wrong, SW prequels were RiffTraxed.
I was referring to the non-prequel movies on the list. Also, I can’t get into Rifftrax. It just isn’t the same experience as MST3K riffing on obscure bad movies.