Space Raiders (1983)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Howard R. Cohen

Writer:

Howard R. Cohen (writer)

Release Date:

July 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The ultimate adventure in space [Video Australia]

Plot:

A futuristic, sensitive tale of adventure and confrontation when a 10 year old boy is accidentally kidnapped...

Plot Keywords:

Space | Pirate | Boy | Clay Animation | Explosion

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Vince Edwards	...	Hawk
David Mendenhall	...	Peter
Drew Snyder	...	Aldebarian
Patsy Pease	...	Amanda
Thom Christopher	...	Flightplan
Luca Bercovici	...	Ace
Ray Stewart	...	Zariatin
George Dickerson	...	Tracton
Michael Miller	...	Lou
Virginia Kiser	...	Janeris
Don Washburn	...	Jessup
William Boyett	...	Taggert
Howard Dayton	...	Elmer
Dick Miller	...	Crazy Mel
Elizabeth Charlton	...	Cookie

Also Known As:

Star Child

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Norway:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Company:

Millenium

Goofs:

Continuity: During the first space fight, Hawk says that "there are only two of them, and six of us". However, we get to see at least ten company fighters get blown up during the course of the battle.

Quotes:

Zariatin: ...Long enough for you to get in and hijack those ships.
Hawk: How many?
Zariatin's thug: Four.
Hawk: That's worth a lot more than a year's laundry.
Zariatin's thug: I thought you didn't do laundry

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Prison Ship (1987)

Space Raiders

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".