The best and worst Star Wars knockoffs

Even thoug "Battlestar Galactica" found life as a 'Star Wars' knockoff that caused Universal Studios to be sued by 20th Century Fox over exactly 34 ideas, this story of a group of ragtag survivors who must survive a robot Cylon army bent on destroying what remains of the human race became iconic in its own right. "Battlestar Galactica" would find new life in a 2004 reboot, which went on to become one of the better forms of sci-fi on TV to date, transcending its earlier knockoff status.

Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, better known for "Battle Royale," (a film that was in turn ripped off by the "Hunger Games" series) created a semi-tongue-in-cheek take on "Star Wars" which also displayed a heavy Kurosawa influence with the inclusion of space samurai (much like "Star Wars," if we're being honest). Notable for its paring of Vic Morrow and Japanese icon Sonny Chiba, 'Message from Space' also features a young Chris Isaak in his first on-screen appearance, long before his 'Wicked Game' days.

Now imagine, if you will, that you saw "Star Wars" a ton of times, made it your favorite movie, and then did a remake based only on your memory, and a shoestring budget, and you'll know how "Laserblast" came to life. How "Laserblast" ripped off 'Star Wars' is legion, but specifically the creatively bankrupt film lifted ship designs and plot elements in a not-so-subtle way. Even less subtle is having one of the characters destroy a billboard for the real "Star Wars." There was no reason for a film of that poor quality to be that petty. (But at least it had Roddy McDowall in lead, a much bigger star than Harrison Ford or Mark Hamill, at the time.)

The first in Disney history to earn a PG rating, "The Black Hole" was certainly a "Star Wars" knockoff, what with R2-D2 imitations named V.I.N.Cent and Old B.O.B., Stormtrooper-like minions, and lasers galore. But beyond all that is a really dark film that maybe wasn't a good idea to be marketed as a kid's movie. That said, "The Black Hole" is a refreshing, if not half-baked attempt to take a space saga into a weirdly different direction. Where "Star Wars" has Darth Vader, "The Black Hole" had a bright red, devil robot called Maximillian, that still manages to serve as potential nightmare fuel for new generations of viewers, so there's that, at least.

Not only was "H.G. Wells" The Shape of Things to Come' a blatant "Star Wars" knockoff, it also had the distinction of having nothing to do with the book or author it was named for. Like many studios who were looking to strike space gold, a Canadian production company simply secured the film rights to the classic book so that their knockoff could have a somewhat familiar name. If only as much thought was given to the movie itself, which suffers from both a bad story and horrid special effects in addition to low-budget robot designs that are worse than knockoff quality.

And oh, if you're looking to watch a real adaptation of "H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come" watch the 1936 United Artists' film "Things to Come."  

Of all the "Star Wars"' knockoffs, schlock producer extraordinaire Roger Corman's 'Battle Beyond the Stars' may be one of the best of the bunch. Much like "Star Wars," the film takes a heavy amount of inspiration from Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai," yet manages to entertain despite it's much lower budget. Like "Star Wars," a young farmer seeks out the help of rogues and mercenaries to save his home planet from evil. But since it's Corman we're dealing with, this knockoff makes sure to give audiences a healthy dose of cheesecake with their sci-fi, with his trademark sexual references and double entendres.

Maybe we're not being totally fair here since Lucas openly admits the influence (read: theft) of "Flash Gordon" in building his "Star Wars"universe, however, without the success of his film, this version of 'Flash Gordon' would likely have gone unmade. To simply call this movie a knockoff is admittedly a disservice, as the wild production design and legendary soundtrack by Queen makes it iconic in its own right, but regardless, it owes its very existence to "Star Wars" making the relationship more symbiotic than predatory in a weird, and yet totally enjoyable way.

Remember the days when all you needed to get a film financed was to find a beautiful woman to parade in front of audiences? "Galaxina" is probably one of the last examples of that type of schlock, exploitative filmmaking, with it's uber-flimsy tale of an interstellar police ship involved in the pursuit of a powerful crystal. Of course casting 1980 Playmate of the Year (and future murder victim) Dorothy Stratten (in her only starring role) didn't hurt. Even though "Galaxina" is more a parody than a blatant ripoff, it makes the list because it's a bad attempt at a parody only saved by the nostalgia surrounding it's tragic star.

A prime example of a film produced on the quick and dirty in order to cash in on the 'Star Wars' phenomenon, "Starcrash,"  like "Battle Beyond the Stars," manages to rise above it's cheap budget to deliver some poor quality, yet highly entertaining cheese. Starring Caroline Munro as Stella Star, leading a group on behalf of Christopher Plummer on a rescue mission for his son, David Hasselhoff. We'll stop there, because honestly, that's all you really need to know, a young Hoff gets Hasseled.

Where do we begin with what could be considered the most notorious of all "Star Wars" knockoffs, Turkish Division? "The Man Who Saves the World" is absolutely wretched, and yet cheesy in a way in which you may not be able to look away. Featuring awful costumes, a plethora of stolen "Star Wars" footage, and a script that had to be written with a crayon or maybe finger-paint, director Çetin Inanç (you've never seen any other movie he's made, promise) manages to entertain with inane quotes like "thousands of years passed, and the solar system was replaced with the galaxy system" while doing it with a straight face. Just another entry into the Wild West days of bootleg VHS and DVDs sold around the globe. 

"Krull" is a knockoff that deserves more love than it gets. Heavily influenced by Lucas and Frank Herbert's "Dune," "Krull" may be light on plot, but it does have one thing no other film, including "Star Wars" has...The Glaive. Basically an overgrown ninja star boomerang with retractable blades, the Glaive manages to be cooler than a lightsaber, and keeps this film, along with it's pulsating score by the late James Horner, a nostalgic classic.

In the early 1980s, Peter Strauss was everywhere; from dating President Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis to TV movies to low-budget sci-fi movies like "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone."

"Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" is an interesting knockoff of "Star Wars," not because it's good, because it isn't, but the way in which the film's producers were so blatant in its imitation. 1983 brought with it the final installment of the 'Star Wars' saga, 'Return of the Jedi', and in order to best it's May 25, 1983 release date, the grifters behind "Spacehunter" though it would be a novel idea to release the film on May 20, 1983, you know, just to give audiences an even quicker fix of sci-fi, as they impatiently waited for the release of the film they actually wanted to see. 

Roger Corman strikes again with "Space Raiders," his pseudo sequel to the much, much better "Battle Beyond the Stars," which only shares a space setting with its predecessor. Like in "Star Wars,"  of course there's a young kid who rises up to fend off the forces of evil, which, wow, how bad is evil if it can be vanquished by kids in every movie? As b-movies go, you could certainly do worse, but why bother? This is a film that only exists for those who like their knockoffs cheap and trashy. Corman had a knack for finding skilled actors who may have fallen out of favor, and in the early '80s he tapped Vince Edwards who hadn't seen much screen time since the early '70s. 

Another tongue-in-cheek effort, "Ice Pirates" is trash, but its somewhat enjoyable trash featuring a solid cast including Robert Urich as captain of a group of space pirates whose quest for water (a common MacGuffin) finds them in the middle of a swashbuckling love story (what?). Maybe the thing that separates "Ice Pirates" from the usual knockoffs is that it has no problem laughing at itself along with the audience. Also it features castration-by-assembly line, something George Lucas clearly missed the boat on.

Maybe "The Last Starfighter" isn't a blatant "Star Wars" knockoff. By 1984, Lucas finished his trilogy, and audiences were looking for the next best thing, and in the mid-80's there was only one thing people loved as much as "Star Wars,"  it was playing at the arcade. Although the plot of "The Last Starfighter" avoids blatantly ripping off "Star Wars," the look and feel might be a different story, largely due to artist Rob Cobb, whose work previously appeared in 'Star Wars' also unlike similar knockoffs, the film boasted an early form of CGI, which may look wildly antiquated through 2017 eyes, but 33 years prior were beyond cutting edge for its time.

There is no denying the gorgeous and meticulous rotoscoped animation that came from Ralph Bakshi supersedes the fact that "Starchaser: The Legend of Orin" is a pure "Star Wars" knockoff. Featuring the story of a chosen one (as always) who teams up with a space pirate (miraculously not named Han Solo) to battle an evil warlord bent on destruction with only a lasersword to aid in his quest. Yes, it's very much a knockoff, but it's still beautiful to look at.

Yes. "Masters of the Universe" is based on a toy line, but that doesn't stop this film from being a "Star Wars" knockoff extraordinaire. Even though "Masters of the Universe" and its hero He-Man (woefully miscast in this film with Dolph Lundgren) were wildly popular, the filmmakers still felt that the only way this live-action version could succeed was to try and rip off 'Star Wars' as much as possible, turning the hokey yet somewhat iconic villain Skeletor (Frank Langella) into a Darth Vader-like figure with his own knockoff army of stormtroopers, also dressed in black. That said, there are more than a few bright spots, and despite a clear lack of budget, the film is still very watchable, even if it's all wrong.

The Schwartz is with us on this knockoff/parody of "Star Wars." Mel Brooks was out of the directing game six years before he committed to "Spaceballs," a spoof of "Star Wars" that would foreshadow the sort of direct parody of films he'd go onto direct (except for "Life Stinks," which stunk). For his part, George Lucas was high on the idea of his bread and butter being parodied, but remained pretty adamant about one thing: No "Spaceballs" merchandising allowed (something that turned into one of the film's best in-jokes).

Ok, so "Eragon" might be a little late to the party of Star Wars rip-offs, but that doesn't mean that it's not a shameless knockoff. Granted, "Eragon," based on the first book of author Christopher Paolini’s young adult series (also accused of stealing from "Star Wars"), trades spaceships for dragons, all the familiar elements are clearly on display, repurposed for audiences whom the filmmakers clearly don't believe know any better. Unfortunately for the production team, audiences did know better, and this trilogy stopped cold after just the first film, and frankly, we're all better for it. 

This is just petty, but we had to do it. As fun as it was to see the return of the "Star Wars" universe after the disastrously mediocre prequel trilogy 10 years prior, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is little more than a note-for-note knockoff of George Lucas' original film, and while it's clearly a safe move for new owner Disney, it still feels genuinely lazy in a time where the filmmakers and director J.J. Abrams could've gone anywhere they wanted to go with the expansive and mostly uncharted universe that Lucas inspired. One can only hope that "The Last Jedi" takes the franchise away from normal expectations and somewhere new.