Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
‘Did you just drop by for coffee or did you plan to stay for the cocktail hour?’
Star Wolf is a 1978 Japanese TV show based on the books of Edmond Hamilton.
‘Rocky, how often do I have to tell you that you should stop reading those science fiction novels’
and possibly drawing inspiration from Star Wars...
'I got it!'
Almost definitely.
In the 1980s the series was re-edited by producer Sandy Frank into a pair of feature films called Fugitive Alien.
‘Now listen to the rest of the story’
Following the exploits of Star Wolf warrior Ken who has a fit of conscience when his people invade earth
'Bang bang bang, you're dead'
and ends up joining an earth spaceship where his alien super strength makes him a valuable asset.
And right away this is an issue because Ken killed a whole bunch innocent people.
It’s nice he draws the line at kids, but there is an implication that it’s only because this one had the same name as him.
‘He was getting ready to shoot a little boy whose name also happened to be Ken’
That’s pretty shaky moral ground for a hero and, make no mistake, Ken is the hero.
‘Oh no you don’t!’
The show might as well be retitled ‘isn’t Ken awesome?’.
‘Ken congratulations, that was great’
‘Fantastic! Good work Ken’
In addition to this basic problem, when spaceships move the stars move with them,
Some of the editing has not translated well
and...
‘And this little darling is your morale officer no doubt’
I also found this weird.
‘I don’t want you to move from this spot’
You do, and I’ll spank you again.
‘I kinda think I’ll like it’
Whoever made the ship can’t spell pressure…
or temperature…
and I don’t think they understand how space works.
‘Increase altitude’
'It's too late sir.'
The dialogue is clunky,
‘Right on’
with everyone narrating what they’re thinking,
‘A space craft, I'll have to hijack one’
Even though there are frequent internal monologues.
‘Watch it Ken, this might be a trap’
and a narrator.
‘This crew had better learn to get along, it's going to be a difficult mission.'
One thing it’s not short of is talking.
‘I don’t feel like talking’
Another thing is storylines.
‘Who asked you?’
We’re looking at Fugitive Alien and Star Force: Fugitive Alien 2, together because,
that’s the only way you view them.
‘I don’t understand’
When I said this was edited from a TV show, I’m not sure how much editing went on,
you can still spot when an episode ended.
‘Ken, good work’
Then the movie stops to recap what happened last week, or in our case, minutes ago.
'Valvastar is the strongest source of evil in our universe.'
Above all, this retains an episode of the week structure, but without episodes.
'Don't talk nonsense.'
So the Ken is arrested on the politically incorrect planet of the wealthy Arabs.
‘Well look who’s in trouble’
The crew face a black hole,
‘Bacchus 3 has entered the black hole, but how will they get out of there?’
and the heat of an exploding star...
'Tammy it's alright.'
'Help me!'
before blowing up a superweapon.
‘Superweapon?’
by breaking into a high security military base.
‘I haven’t seen those guys here before’
Medium security.
Then they must protect a scientist’s daughter.
‘The problem is my father, ever since he developed that bomb, all sorts of people have been trying to kill him’
‘Look’
Boy, she wasn’t kidding.
But the point is, none of this has anything to do with Ken’s basic storyline.
‘I suspected that all along’
He is an outcast from his own warlike people who are trying to kill him for his betrayal.
‘I don’t understand, what have I done to deserve this?’
But that story largely vanishes from the second half of the first film
'shut up.'
and only returns fifteen minutes before the end of the sequel
‘Don't talk nonsense!’
When, I’m guessing, we leap ahead several episodes, so everyone’s costumes change from...
'check that out.'
to...
'That's not very wise.'
and the series finale is jammed into the remaining runtime,
'He must be destroyed by a star wolf.'
which may explain why Ken suddenly appears in the bad guy’s headquarters without any real explanation of how he got in.
‘Star Wolf’
'You came for me?'
If you can stomach all of this, and make allowances for horrific dialogue
‘I don’t like that guy. And I don’t like you either’
and an escape plan that involves them parking a spaceship next to a secret base and hoping no one notices.
'Just in time.'
Then you still have to face the biggest problem.
‘Sir, I’d rather go and fight than sit here bored out of my mind’
It is monstrously boring,
‘Don’t say that’
partly because it’s three and a half hours and the plot only happens at the beginning and the end.
‘And that’s not the worst part’
But mainly because, this isn’t what it is, it’s a TV show and needs to be watched in that episodic format.
‘He’s talking sense for once’Or not at all.
Or not at all,
'I'm not your real mother, but I'm proud to die for you'
'Don't die!'
thanks for watching.
Fugitive alien was suggested to us by patreon shadow Brad Webb, if you'd like to join us on patreon then click here
'You're stuck here'