Darkstar: The Interactive Movie

Interactive movie

Darkstar differs from the standard game format in that it contains over thirteen hours of live action cinema–far more than any previous full motion video game. Creator and Parallax Studio CEO J. Allen Williams gave a brief description of the project to the website Slightly Deranged saying:

Plot

The player is Captain John O'Neil of the Westwick. You awaken from a cryogenic sleep that has spanned a period of over 300 years. As a result of the abnormally long hibernation, you have no memory as to who you are, where you are, or why you are there. Beside you are three other sleep chambers. One is empty, the other is occupied by a beautiful woman, and in the final chamber lies the body of a man–300 years dead and missing his left hand.

Your ship is damaged and helplessly adrift in the orbit of the ominous Theta Alpha III. An unknown crew member has deleted any data that provides an explanation as to why this is.

You know, despite the emptiness and desolation, that someone is in the cold silence waiting for you.

And, as if the day isn't bad enough, the Earth has been destroyed for three centuries.

Cast

Darkstar has roughly thirteen hours of live-action cinema including a cast of all real actors. It stars Clive Robertson as Westwick Captain John O'Neil. It also features the entire original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 including its creator Joel Hodgson as Scythe Commander Kane Cooper, Trace Beaulieu as Westwick First Officer Ross Perryman, Frank Conniff as both Westwick Navigator Alan Burk and the voice of the quirky robot SIMON (Semi Intelligent Motorized Observation Network), Mary Jo Pehl as both Bridgebuilder Captain Beth Ingram and the voice of the computer Westwick Main, and J. Elvis Weinstein as Galactic Discovery II Captain Cedrick Stone. Also from MST3K is Beth "Beez" McKeever as the Westwick Pilot Paige Palmer who stars across from Clive Robertson. Darkstar was also the final work of the actor Peter Graves.

In addition to Clive Robertson and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 players, the production has a cast of nearly fifty actors, almost all of whom are local to Springfield, Missouri and the surrounding area.

Production

Darkstar was written, produced, animated, edited, and directed by J. Allen Williams over the course of nearly a decade. Though most of the credit goes to Williams alone, a number of others contributed to the enormous production. Additional animations for Darkstar were done by the prolific American illustrator and comic book artist Richard Corben who is best known for his "Den" character featured in the 1981 film Heavy Metal and for his comics featured in the magazine of the same name. Other noteworthy crew members include cinematographer Roger Jared, co-producer Mark L. Walters, electronic media producer Dahlia Clark, and composers Jimmy Pitts, Bill Bruce, and J. Allen Williams.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Darkstar was composed and performed by Jimmy Pitts (keyboards and pianos), Bill Bruce (guitars and percussion), and J. Allen Williams (bass guitar) under the moniker "Progressive Sound And MetalWorx". Two other performers include Brent Frazier (guitars) and James Lee Dillard (percussion). Additional music for was composed by Ruell Chappell, an original member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Though the soundtrack was originally intended to feature over an hour of music by the rock band Rush, negotiations with Universal Music eventually dissolved and Williams was forced to replace much of the footage with an entirely original score.

The soundtrack was released in tandem with the game and features 38 tracks of music on a 2-disk set.

Disk One

1. "Surfing the Velvet Abyss" (3:17) - by Bill Bruce
2. "Mindscape" (3:15) - by Jimmy Pitts, Ruell Chappell
3. "Mirrors Tell a Different Tale" (3:05) - by Jimmy Pitts
4. "Systematic Overload" (3:50) - by Bill Bruce
5. "Solar Wind Chimes" (1:58) - by Jimmy Pitts, Ruell Chappell
6. "Lost in Eternity (Paige's Theme)" (4:05) - by Jimmy Pitts
7. "An Insignificant, Distant Nova" (2:17) - by Jimmy Pitts
8. "FDS2" (1:49) - by Bill Bruce
9. "Dementia in Absentia" (3:52) - by Jimmy Pitts
10. "Deceptive & Dangerous" (4:15)- by Bill Bruce
11. "Noir in A Minor" (3:11) - by Jimmy Pitts
12. "Considered Gone" (1:34) - by Bill Bruce
13. "Light Years of Darkness" (2:11) - by Jimmy Pitts
14. "Requiem for a Blue Dot" (3:44) - by Jimmy Pitts
15. "147" (4:10) - by Bill Bruce
16. "Winds of Fate" (1:42) - by Jimmy Pitts, Ruell Chappell
17. "Theoretical Paranoia" (2:18) - by Jimmy Pitts
18. "Falling Down Stairs" (4:22) - by Bill Bruce
19. "A Little Dream All My Own" (3:32) - by Jimmy Pitts
20. "Winds of Fate (Reprise)" (4:41) - by Jimmy Pitts, Ruell Chappell
21. "Underneath" (4:06) - by Bill Bruce
22. "Light Years of Darkness (Reprise)" (2:14) - by Jimmy Pitts
23. "Another Time and Place" (3:06) - by Bill Bruce

Disk Two

1. "Bonechipper" (5:21) - by Bill Bruce
2. "Eternal Twilight" (6:23) - by J. Allen Williams
3. "Day of Darkness" (3:46) - by J. Allen Williams
4. "Tomorrows Children" (6:00) - by J. Allen Williams
5. "Corridors of Time" (3:16) - by J. Allen Williams
6. "The Edge of Insanity" (4:36) - by J. Allen Williams
7. "Knights of Vengeance" (5:14) - by J. Allen Williams
8. "One Two One" (4:11) - by J. Allen Williams
9. "Guardian" (7:35) - by J. Allen Williams
10. "A Trinity of Sons" (4:36) - by J. Allen Williams
11. "The Edge of Nowhere" (2:52) - by Jimmy Pitts
12. "Holy War" (5:04) - by J. Allen Williams
13. "The Secret Sign" (4:53) - by J. Allen Williams
14. "Psychic Pilgrims" (4:42) - by J. Allen Williams
15. "Lasting Memory" (4:12) - by Bill Bruce

Reception for the soundtrack has been positive. In a review of Darkstar at diehardgamefan.com, Alex Lucard rated the soundtrack as "Unparalleled" and wrote, "This is without a doubt one of the the [sic] best scores I have heard all year."

Reception

Darkstar: The Interactive Movie received a negative response from game critics. On the review aggregator Metacritic, the game has a weighted average of 36% indicating "generally unfavorable reviews.". Reviewers criticised the acting, story, appearance and technology.

Games TM gave the game 1/10, saying simply "It's not a game." PC PowerPlay also reviewed it negatively, with their 2/10 review calling Darkstar "A crime. Send this one to the colonies." XGN gave it 1/10, saying "Whatever you do, don't go out and buy Darkstar: The Interactive Movie. It's one of the worst games we ever played.".

Conversely, Drummond Doroski of Adventure Gamers gave it 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "It's not a game for everyone, as some are sure to be turned off by the rarity and simplicity of its puzzles, while others may not relish a return to the infamous days of live actors as their game characters, particularly when some of the acting reminds us why this isn't always a good idea."