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The Lost Film That Accompanied Empire Strikes Back
An anonymous reader writes "'Alien' and 'Star Wars' art director Roger Christian was given £25,000 by George Lucas in 1979 to make a 25-minute medieval B-feature called 'Black Angel.' This spiritual tale of a knight on a strange quest was inspired by Christian's near-fatal fever when he fell ill in Mexico making 'Lucky Lady.' 'Black Angel' made a huge impression, not least because it shared the dark tone of 'Empire Strikes Back.' John Boorman showed it to the crew of 'Excalibur' as a template for how he wanted his film to look, and 'Black Angel' went on to influence films such as 'Dragonslayer' and 'Legend' throughout the 1980s and beyond. But it has not been seen by anyone since 'Empire' finished its theatrical run. Two weeks ago Roger Christian unearthed a print of a film that was thought lost forever, and in this interview he talks about 'Black Angel,' and provides the only picture from the film that has ever hit the Internet."
This spiritual tale of a knight on a strange quest was inspired by Christian's near-fatal fever when he fell ill in Mexico ...
That is oddly similar to the car crash that Lucas experienced shortly before graduating high school in his Autobianchi Bianchina on June 12, 1962. It was a bad wreck that I guess was highly improbable for him to survive. He was going to be a mechanic and race cars until that accident. He is also said to have conceived the idea for "the Force" as it would grow (by assimilation of aspects of some Eastern spiritual philosophies) into the "hokey religions and ancient weapons" of Star Wars. Proof that near death experiences have a very profound effect on people.
I'd provide a citation but I remember reading that off the back of a Topps Galaxy Star Wars card when I was a kid.
My work here is dung.
Did you really skim that fast? This is about a completely different movie that just happens to have been made by the same art director. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that they put out copies of this it looks really interesting.
But do your other plans for the Black Angel story make you think twice about releasing it?
Do you know something? I'm wrestling with this. I was talking about it yesterday. I still get letters, still get emails, there are threads on the IMDB going on and on about it - people guessing the story and how much it affected their mindsbut I just wonder if I brought it out now, thirty years later
I haven't seen it in thirty years myself, but I wonder if its imitators have devalued it a little, the way seven years of The X-Files made Silence Of The Lambs look dated
Exactly.
It might look like a copy of the films and TV that it inspired, which have been in circulation ever since.
I assure you that I am quite capable of appreciating Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sanjuro despite the fact that I had already seen Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy which massively borrows from them. I'm certain you were able to appreciate The Hidden Fortress after making the Star Wars Trilogy as well. So why do you doubt my ability to appreciate Black Angel?
... even if it's just a reason for people to brag that they've seen one of the original fantasy films ... even if it's just a chance for me to one up another person in conversation and promote my anti-social tendencies ... why wouldn't you release it in someway for the general public to digest in their homes?
I mean, if you choose not to release it then you have no intent to capitalize off of it and you should release it online via Veoh or YouTube or some video hosting site. Wouldn't the popularity and enjoyment from the film reward you in some way -- with it being your first film that you labored over?
I mean, even if it's just film snobs to appreciate it
My work here is dung.
What's the interest in Star Wars movies anyway?
Secondly, with regards to:
It would be interesting to see a James Bond like movie in space setting
Finally, you can turn in your geek card at the door on your way out. Thanks for playing.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
"While James Cameron was on a trip to Italy he became very ill with high fever. One night he had a terrible nightmare about a huge robot with red-glowing eyes that was trying to kill him."
It would be interesting to see a James Bond like movie in space setting
My guess is you're pretty young because the 11th James Bond film was Moonraker, which sent Bond into space.
James Bond like movie in space setting
You mean Moonraker?
We don't really live like that, do we?
Welcome to the genre known as SciFi/Fantasy ... where you can escape from your gravity bound simple life and dream ...
... or at least it did for me when I was a youth.
Take your coat off and stay awhile, it's amazingly liberating when your imagination puts you in a rebel starfighter going up against insane odds trying to take down the big bad evil empire with the ability to wield a sabre of light while controlling the very concepts of physics
My work here is dung.
Adding Jar-Jar to the Executive Producer's Cut re-release was a huge mistake and totally ruined the film for me. Everything Lucas touches turns to crap! Stop raping my childhood!
/Never actually saw the film.
I think he's just making a general comment on Star Wars in a thread tangentially related.
And his bridge probably misses its troll.
What's the interest in Star Wars movies anyway? Star Wars in general mixes mostly Holy Roman Empire time with the arenas, races and idea behind jedi's with future living in space. We don't really live like that, do we? I don't personally understand the geeks fanware behind it either, it's more like soap opera in space. It would be interesting to see a James Bond like movie in space setting, because at least then
At this point? Nostalgia, mostly. Keep in mind that when it came out, there was literally nothing else like it.
As for myself, I was born in '84, but the Star Wars trilogy was still the first time I ever saw a movie like that (5 years old...young enough to appreciate it, old enough to remember it). Going back and watching it now, for myself, it's mostly nostalgia...they're really campy, and the special effects aren't aging well at this point (although watching the THX version (NOT the version with the CGI) helps alleviate some of the aging issues.)
Living With a Nerd
for another Star Wars film.
One word: marketing.
Yours In Astrakhan,
Kilgore Trout
In those days history was lost because of issues with physically duplicating things. Nowadays, it is being lost because we don't own the keys to the digital locks. Perhaps in twenty years we'll come to our senses and retroactively permit the breaking of today's encryption then - for what survived.
Shh.
I mean, if his _Battlefield Earth_ is anything to go by..
Also, did he hold the camera straight?
"at least then" ... what?
Come on, why did you choke? It was about half naked, sultry space women who need to be rescued and / or turned as a double agent.
Right?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I saw TESB the first week it was in theaters (I think it was like day 5). I distinctly remember the theater, the standing in line wrapping around the building in downtown DC for like an hour, and I think I can even picture the interior of the theater, but I do not remember this film. Perhaps it was just too weird for me, but somehow I'd think that it would've been talked about amongst my friends and such.
So was this included with all prints, or just selected theaters in selected cities?
The movie to see was the one that (more or less) accompanied the original Star Wars in 1976 -- namely "Alice in Wonderland: An X-rated Musical Fantasy". By far the better movie, a great piece of art that should have been the one that bore 5 sequels.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tangential
And some of us never grow up and thus we still enjoy such things and remain eternally youthful... and I guess eternally hopeful as well.
I always suspected you eldavojohn too were likewise eternally young from your many posts.
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make
Joss Whedon's new urban spin-off of Angel with Samuel L. Jackson as the vampire cursed with a soul... "Welcome to the Hellmouth," mother-fucker.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Okay, checking on IMDB it seems like this was only released in the UK and Canada. So my memory of, Christ, 30-year-old movie experiences, is not yet faulty.
Holy Roman Empire? You think that there were arenas in Germany during the middle ages? Remember the mnemonic: 'The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.'
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
At this point? Nostalgia, mostly. Keep in mind that when it came out, there was literally nothing else like it.
In many ways, there's still nothing else like it. It is a whole universe, created from scratch. Not just an extrapolation of our own, and not just the pieces you need to see for the story. Humans are common, but not special in any particular way. They mix with aliens and robots completely, and deal with each other as equals. There are lots of places where a race is shown once, in a background character, and never seen again. Most movies wouldn't bother: It's just extra expense.
There's a feeling of history and depth to the movies (especially the original trilogy), that's nearly unique. You can write thousands of books about what else is happening in the universe, because it is a universe, and not just a setting for the story.
'Sensible' is a curse word.
"First, this is slashdot, a website for nerds. Posting a question like: "What's the interest in Star Wars movies anyway?" ...is likely to get you flogged and/or hung. "
:-O
/. when an anti-star wars post is moderated insightful
I hope you're right, but it appears the mods have gone to lunch, because as of right now it's moderated: "(Score:1, Insightful)"
today is a sad day for
Why doesn't he just finish off the rest of us and post how stupid star trek is
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
In many ways, there's still nothing else like it. It is a whole universe, created from scratch. Not just an extrapolation of our own, and not just the pieces you need to see for the story. Humans are common, but not special in any particular way. .... There are lots of places where a race is shown once, in a background character, and never seen again.
Lord of the Rings did it first, and better. Also, Ringworld, to some extent.
Note, about 95% of the population does not realize the LOTR series was a book for some decades before the recent movies. I've actually heard people refer to the LOTR books as being "novelizations of the movies". Um, no.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Dude, what are you? Magnetically attracted to trolls? This one didn't even finish his thought at the end of the comment and you still had to treat it like a legitimate comment. Troll food. That's what you are, TROLL FOOD.
Oh, lots of books have done it, and many have done it better.
Movies though... There are only a very few others that have even tried.
'Sensible' is a curse word.
This lapse is actually probably understandable since most of us have tried to forget that we ever watched that particular movie. It would be nice to see a more credible Bond movie with a space theme that doesn't devolve to a cheap version of Barbarella.
Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
....Why doesn't he just finish off the rest of us and post how stupid star trek is
That has to be posted?
Dude, what are you? Magnetically attracted to trolls? This one didn't even finish his thought at the end of the comment and you still had to treat it like a legitimate comment. Troll food. That's what you are, TROLL FOOD.
Uhhh, I'd guess that he's a misanthrope.
I know that they aren't movies (at least, not yet ::shiver::) but the Elder Scrolls series, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age all contain just about everything you have talked about.
Living With a Nerd
NOM NOM NOM
Sad that the editors of Slashdot had to claim it was a film that accompanied Empire Strikes Back when it was nothing even close to that. Crazy what they'll do for a few extra bucks in advertising views huh?
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I was about to suggest "Outland" as another "James Bond in space" movie -- hey, it even has Sean Connery! Then I remembered that it was actually more like "High Noon in space."
This lapse is actually probably understandable since most of us have tried to forget that we ever watched that particular movie. It would be nice to see a more credible Bond movie with a space theme that doesn't devolve to a cheap version of Barbarella.
Hey!..Moonraker was expensive.
Phasers > Blasters.
'nuff said.
I drank what? -- Socrates
There was this movie with this run down bar scene... oh, wait.
I drank what? -- Socrates
Those fuckin' hobbit movies were boring as hell. All it was, was a bunch of people walking. Three movies of people walking to a fucking volcano.
THL phish sticks
_Anyone_ can create a whole universe from scratch. It is easy as hell. Making it interesting and coherent is the main challenge. A universe that is either interesting or coherent is pretty useless. By the standards of its time, Star Wars was astonishingly interesting, and relatively coherent (though the latter has dwindled with subsequent releases). LoTR has brilliant coherency, and is by popular opinion interesting too (though I can't generally see the attraction).
+1
What's the interest in Star Wars movies anyway? Star Wars in general mixes mostly Holy Roman Empire time with the arenas, races and idea behind jedi's with future living in space.
You seem to be mixing the Holy Roman Empire up with the Roman Empire as the Holy Roman Empire was most certainly not known for arenas and racing. As for the "and idea behind jedi's with future living in space.", I believe you're referring to the Jedi's being roughly equivalent to medieval knights in space. A more apt comparison would be with Arthurian legend as real knights, like those who were active in the Holy Roman Empire, don't have much in common with Star Wars Jedi aside from the sword play.
We don't really live like that, do we?
That's the whole point of fiction...
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Well, if you are going to bring some books to the discussion, I would include Lucas' source material, the epics of Homer.
Allow me to be one of the many who will posit
ZOMG TORRENT PLZ
Because of the sound, right?!?!?
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Yeah but Outland was sooo much better than Moonraker.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
...is likely to get you flogged and/or hung.
You will surely get hanged. Alas, none of us here are, or ever will be, hung.
every stain tells a story
... or perhaps 'Hidden Fortress'.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
". They mix with aliens and robots completely, and deal with each other as equals."
err.. No tey don't. Robots are slaves. Only the few enlightened people attempt to treat them as equals.
TO say it's not an extrapolation of our own universe is really just stupid.
Proof?
" Humans are common,"
If it is not an extrapolation, then why are there humans?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Sad that the editors of Slashdot had to claim it was a film that accompanied Empire Strikes Back when it was nothing even close to that. Crazy what they'll do for a few extra bucks in advertising views huh?
Que?
FTFA
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
you mean besides Star Trek, Alien, Lost in Space, Forbidden Planet, Cowboy Bebop, Godzilla, Mork and Mindy did it for crying out loud.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I saw TESB first night (at midnight, thank you) in Southern Maine, and I don't recall anything about this 'short'.
And I was checking the room, and had to stay to the first reel.
So where indeed was 'Black Angel' shown? Not out in the woods, I can tell ya.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
First, this is slashdot, a website for nerds. Posting a question like:
What's the interest in Star Wars movies anyway?
...is likely to get you flogged and/or hung.
Randal, is that you?
Yeah, one of the more disappointing aspects of them canning the series was the fact that some story lines didn't get completely evolved, and Book was a great character.
I really don't know why shows like this do get canceled, when there is such utter derivative crap on TV - actually come to think of it almost everything I see on TV these days is utter derivative low-budget crap...
When they added all those other channels, the amount of money available for TV show production remained a constant I guess, so now instead of a few channels producing shows worth watching, we have hundreds of channels each producing piles of steaming shit for the masses on almost no budget.
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
The picture I see from the link reads:
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That sure sounds dark and futuristic.. maiiseeqwell
so that he found a copy, where can we download it? :)
Dude its sopssa, I dunno if he's ESL or just young and ignorant, but hes easy to spot because he's either posting something pretty stupid (or trolling) and/or with exceedingly awkward english.
Despite the fact that he posts on ALL slashdot articles nearly 24/7, his posts are always just wastes of bytes and screen space.
...please don't.
It would be nice to see a more credible Bond movie with a space theme that doesn't devolve to a cheap version of Barbarella.
Moonraker had probably 4-5 times the budget of Barbarella, actually. :)
But I know what you meant. Just wanted to snark.
Comment of the year
It's ROI.
Shows like Survivor, American Idol, and other "reality" shows garner huge ratings, big advert revenue, and supplementary streams with the $1-per-vote call-ins. They cost less than shows with CG and writing and make more. You can't sell against that.
Book's past wouldn't have ever been revealed. He gave up his past life and forgave himself. The guy he used to be was dead and there was no need to speak of him.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
A spiritual work set in the middle ages with amazing cinematography and music, Black Angel took the gritty medieval realism of Monty Python And The Holy Grail and returned it to its roots in Mallory, Tennyson and Kurosawa.
I don't know - here's the Holy Grail returned to another root....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luVjkTEIoJc
Space epic.... coincidence? I think not!
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
FYI, sopssa uses alts to moderate his own posts.
Everyone knows that people tend to up-mod posts that have already been up-modded; he uses this to his advantage.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Because the actors are human, of course. Same reason most of the Star Trek aliens looked like humans with odd makeup.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Because he's gone to the Dark Side and enjoys our suffering! :O
Yeah, I always enjoyed authors who put effort into creating/detailing their own universe, I really enjoy Dune for the same reason. I'd also like to add the Foundation Series/LoR/Chronicles of Narnia.
I also supremely enjoyed the Red/Blue/Green Mars series.
Well, if you are going to bring some books to the discussion, I would include Lucas' source material, the epics of Homer.
Oh come on ... The Simpsons was a decent show, but hardly an epic!
And, anyway, what's that got to do with books?
Finally, I find this by chance and find the name of the short film I've been trying to find out about for the last 30 years...
And it's not available to buy... *sigh*
See the "The Seven Ups" car scene.
IIRC it was directed by the same guy that directed the French Connection car scene.
The end when they ram into a parked 18-wheeler is especially stunning.
Otherwise, merely an OK movie. A passable C-.
Seven Ups was a 1973 Roy Scheider (Jaws, 2010, French Conneciton) film, and available on Netflix's VoD.
Yeah but Outland was sooo much better than Moonraker.
But not than Barbarella.
"Do you want to come and play with me? For someone like you I charge nothing. You're very pretty, Pretty-Pretty"
"My name isn't pretty-pretty, it's Barbarella."
Even the dialogues leave Moonraker in the dust.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
I disagree. I'd rather have Han's blaster than any era trek phaser.
Huh?
You are talking out of your ass.
Lightsabers. They are the coolest weapons ever.
At this point? Nostalgia, mostly. Keep in mind that when it came out, there was literally nothing else like it.
In many ways, there's still nothing else like it. It is a whole universe, created from scratch.
Not created from scratch. Recycled from other material.
You can't take the sky from me...
They mix with aliens and robots completely, and deal with each other as equals
Tell that to the droids with the restraining bolts...
Book's past wouldn't have ever been revealed. He gave up his past life and forgave himself. The guy he used to be was dead and there was no need to speak of him.
Quite likely, you'd only be allowed to learn his past in a final series finale. But my question was not where did he come from, but where is he going.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Isn't there some law that says you have to put these kinds of films on YouTube? Anyway, there ought to be.
You cannot just announce that a really influential film was made and not put it on YouTube. That's unfair. It's like eating a chocolate bar in front of your friends and refusing to share it.
I am anarch of all I survey.
Actually, blasters do sound better than phasers. But phasers rock everything else.
I drank what? -- Socrates
Nuh-uh.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
...is likely to get you flogged and/or hung.
You will surely get hanged. Alas, none of us here are, or ever will be, hung.
I'm hung......of course I'll never get to use it but it's huge.
Just don't count Alien:Resurrection. Still, the world created in Aliens is still "earth"... Everything in your list (I don't know about Cowboy Bebop) originates on earth... not "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."
:) No movie, not even the mighty Blade Runner has stuck with me and fully enveloped my life like Star Wars. All other movies I watch are compared to them. I grew up living, breathing, and experiencing Star Wars. Sure I made Lucas rich, but I thank him for some great stories (so they were old hat) set in a universe that was cool. There was no Prime Directive... no one was attempting to make out with the green alien chick, and the menace was larger, more sinister and more expansive than Aliens who suck your face. (That's not to say I don't enjoy Trek and Alien... Aliens is my favorite of the series, and I love the director's cut of Alien 3). I just love Star Wars MUCH more. I am truly a Star Wars fanatic.
I know you put Mork & Mindy in there for the laugh track, and it doesn't diminish Alien or Trek... but Star Wars was something else... it wasn't earth. They looked human, and the world was fully realized. There was stuff going on, even before the S.E.'s. It was grimy, dirty, and lived-in. It wasn't 2001. And for that, Lucas should be praised.
They are still my favorite movies of all time, and I saw A New Hope at a DRIVE IN theater in Santa Clara, California for crying out loud.
It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
In many ways, there's still nothing else like it. It is a whole universe, created from scratch. Not just an extrapolation of our own, and not just the pieces you need to see for the story. Humans are common, but not special in any particular way. .... There are lots of places where a race is shown once, in a background character, and never seen again.
The Chronicles of Narnia did it first, and better. Also, Ringworld, to some extent.
Note, about 95% of the population does not realize the LOTR series was a book for some decades before the recent movies. I've actually heard people refer to the LOTR books as being "novelizations of the movies". Um, no.
Fixed that...etc....etc.... Tolkin only wrote LOTR because he a Lewis flipped a coin to decide what to write next.
Everything was created from existing material. The "nothing new under the sun" is pretty commonplace in our Western Civilization.
That's not to say that Lucas didn't blend the existing material into a wonderful package that enthralled millions. (because he did. heh.)
It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
What I'd like them to unearth is the television series My Living Doll.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Before reading TFA, my first thought was that someone had finally made a movie of this most excellent short story. Oh well, I can hope.
Marco...that was Portugese.
Long ago, in a thread tangentially related...
What happened to you slashdot? First funny comments were getting modded insightful for karma. Now insightful posts are getting modded funny. Has the whole world goNE CRAZY?
Anybody want a peanut?
Now where's my natalie portman and hot grits?
I wish, but /. system rarely gives me any mod points.
Now I have no idea if I am talking about the same movie, but when I was very small, my dad took me to see ESB (I was a SW nut at that point, being about 6 years old). The theatre that showed it was running two films one after another - and I remember being quite disappointed when we walked in - I briefly saw the end of the previous film (ESB, the starscape after Luke gets his hand repaired, Han buggers off in t'Falcon), then a pause and then... This incomprehensible short film about a knight in some dark woods - followed by the main event. I have no idea what that film was, but this sounds eerily like it. Possible?
10 PRINT "SCUNTHORPE"(2 TO 5): GO TO 10
Fuckin' A
Is it just me, or do you hate it when people say "Is it just me..."?
Blasters make more gory fights.
Phasers just makes the targets disappear.
use blasters if you need to leave a mess for someone, Phasers if you don't want anyone knowing what you did.
Be seeing you...