Star Command (1996)

First up: This is a lame pilot movie. Let's get that out of the way. Apart from the scene where they crash in the snow/ice, and the short skirts on the women, there is nothing any good here. But it reminded me of other crappy pilot movies - like, say, "Legends of the Rangers" or that Galactica one that was set during the first Cylon war - that actually had pretty deep and dense story ideas underneath them. In other words, I feel like someone put a lot of thought into the universe that this story was set in, which might have been an interesting playground, but then they utterly fumbled the ball with this dopey TV movie.

Most of the reviews are pretty negative, but I have to admit that I rather enjoyed this piece of hokum. Someone compared the film to the Hornblower stories and I have to agree, but I'll go one step further and suggest that the Hornblower influence comes via David Feintuch's Nicholas Seafort books, the first of which, Midshipman's Hope, must have appeared a year or so before this film.The parallels are almost too striking. Junior Officers on first cruise in space, Senior officers killed in sneak attack, one hero becomes captain, sense of honour forces him to execute traitor, overcomes incredible odds, defeats enemy, etc, etc, etc. Leaving aside the hokey teen telemovie elements, this film contains a lot of the classic story elements that you often find the best space operas but rarely find in effects-driven, high-concept, Trek inspired Sci-fi films we are forced to contend with. Go on, give it chance -- A guilty pleasure.

When i first heard about this movie, I thought it was going to be another total Star Trek knockoff, but when I finally sat down and watched it, I was totally wrong. Now I may be the only person on the planet who liked it, but I have to say the best parts of this movie were Chad Everett and Jennifer Bransford. Chad's been a favorite actor of mine since I could walk, and Jennifer's portrayal of Ali had all the attitude I only wish I had(I'm really REALLY shy in real life).All in all I loved this movie, and I think UPN should re-air it soon so I can tape it :)

This was intended as a pilot for a series. Thankfully, it was never picked up. One expects better from executive producer and writer Melinda Snodgrass, who wrote several episodes for Star Trek - The Next Generation. There's not a single original idea here. Worse yet, none of the ideas copied were good to begin with.The single worst shortcoming of Star Command is its cookie cutter cast of characters. Each of them has a single distinguishing characteristic and nothing else. The Admiral's son who can't live up to the family reputation but ends up saving the day. The tough girl from the slums of LA. The rich-boy slacker. The traitorous coward. The smart Japanese female engineer. And a female African-American pilot to round out the ethnic mix who has no backstory whatsoever. Essentially, the Power Rangers without their giant robot. To add "star power," Chad Everett and Morgan Fairchild appear as "old hands" in the corps.If the heroes are from a familiar mold, the villains are plucked straight from a World War II movie. In contrast with the United Colors of Benetton kids, they're unabashedly older, Aryan types who would look completely natural saluting Hitler, which I suppose is the point since the writer beats us over the head with the parallels to old Germany, what with the blatant bigotry and the "we need elbow room" justification. Their commander even has an indistinct accent vaguely reminiscent of German. Their uniforms seem derived from the SS. Just when you think it can't get more black and white, the space cadets from the other side sit next to the good kids. Black uniforms and white uniforms.The other aspects of the production are not much better. The music is completely forgettable. Costume design is only average for a TV sci-fi movie. And the effects and production design are the usual fare for 1996, less impressive than "Space: Above and Beyond." The virtual reality is another of the most pathetic and unimaginative parts of the movie. They would add glitches in the picture every few seconds, as if we would otherwise forget that it's not part of the "real world." And somehow, I can't imagine slacker guy watching these dull, slow-moving costume pieces straight out of a romance novel. He'd want to just cut to the chase and rip the clothes off the gorgeous woman in the VR. Those VR sequences are a woman's fantasy, not a man's.It all goes on far too long. This could have been done in an hour. Still, despite all its flaws, it was somewhat watchable. Every once in awhile, we do seem to need some simplistic escapism. But we just can't shake the feeling that this would have been right at home in the pages of a comic book.