Favorite Character.... - Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) Discussion

[–] matwsussx 19 years ago

Gelt. I cant believe he snuffs it so soon into the battle when hes clearly the best of the mercenaries that Richard Thomas has found. The Nestor are just crap in the fight - what do they do get blown to pieces?

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[–] kingplanet 19 years ago

Morgan Woodward as Cayman of the Lambda Zone! He was a neat alien and had the best looking ship in my opinion!

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[–] mbeswick99 19 years ago

Agreed, and he has one of the best lines (forgive me if I misquote) -

Child - Mister, were you bad when you were young?

Gelt - I was never that young.

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[–] electricafroman 19 years ago

I'd have to say the girl with the fast ship. I saw this on cbs back when I was about 13 or so and all I could remember was those boobies poppin everywhere...... good times...

Too crazy for boystown; too much of a boy for crazytown.

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[–] lawrence142002 19 years ago

You're reffering to St. Exmiene, Sybil Danning was awesome in her role.

Dr. Cynic Has Spoken

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[–] Jazz_thieve 19 years ago

I'd say Gelt, cool and calm with his superior ship.

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[–] lawrence142002 19 years ago

Everybody says Gelt... Why did he die so quickly? Obviously he was the most popular... I guess you have to understand John Sayles' thinking.

Dr. Cynic Has Spoken

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[–] shawnspider 19 years ago

I did like Gelt -- he knocks off like three enemy ships in seconds, but gets killed too soon.

My favorite has always been Space Cowboy (I was a big A-Team fan)-- plus I like his whiskey and ice dispensing belt and one-liners:

"On my planet we call that meat."

"You stick around, and I'll show you Custer's last stand."

"Lane, I've been at this high school for seven and a half years...I'm no dummy."

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[–] kaiju0 18 years ago

I can't pick one. I love Sybil Danning, and St. Exmiene is very funny to me. Gelt is a personal favorite, but I love everyone but Shad and Nestor.

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[–] DarkEqualizer 18 years ago

I liked Cayman, for he was the last 'hero' to go down in flames ( not including chad's ship )plus he was a cool looking alien, he will be mised, sigh!

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[–] Polaris01313-1 18 years ago

1. I'd have to say that Gelt was my favorite. Calm and cool, but deadly and dangerous when in a fight. Definately the classic anti-hero who could give Boba Fett a run for his money.

My other favorites are

2. Space Cowboy - George Peppard was really cool in that role.
3. Shad - Richard thomas definately fit that role like a glove.
4. Cayman - Morgan Woodward was a hoot! He had some cool one-liners!
5. St. Exmin of the Valkyrie - who could forget her?
6. Nestor - definately an original alien creation. Not bad.

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[–] thomasyeung 18 years ago

When I was a kid, my favorite was Cayman. Now watching this movie back as an adult, my favorite is Space Cowboy.

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[–] thomasyeung 18 years ago

When I was a kid, my favorite was Cayman. Now watching this movie back as an adult, my favorite is Space Cowboy.

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[–] Boodikka 18 years ago

1) Cayman (would like to have seen the character as Sayles first envisioned it).

2) St Exmin. Sybil Danning's finest hour!

So WHY did you KILL my TEACHER, then? WHYWHYWHYWHYWHY?

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[–] Woodyanders 18 years ago

I thought George Peppard was very funny as the boozy Space Cowboy. I also enjoyed John Saxon as the wonderfully wicked Sandor, Sybil Danning as the sexy and vivacious Amazonian warrior woman, and especially Robert Vaughn doing a deft reprise of his weary, twitchy gunslinger role from "The Magnificent Seven." Moreover, veteran character actor and legendary acting teacher Jeff Corey has a nice part as an old blind man.

"Warren Oates died for our sins"

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] savagesteve13 16 years ago

Sybil Danning by far. I think seeing her in that "alien finger bra" made me go through puberty in minutes.

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[–] LightningLad 16 years ago

I gotta say Gelt, too. One of my favourite Vaughn roles, and suits his trademark tight-lippedness to a T. "How do you feel?" "I don't."

Watching it after many years, I was really looking forward to seeing him on that abandoned planet with all his unspendable wealth. It's an eerie scene. I love the multi-lingual neon signs on his devices, they sort of prefigure Blade Runner in my mind. He is killed too soon, though I realize the idea is that - if the villain can kill off the worst badass in the crew, the good guys are really in trouble. Unfortunately that has the backfire effect of making the lesser characters' victories somewhat unconvincing, but "unconvincing" is part of the fun of the flick. It is space opera at its lightest. At least he got a good meal first. Just wish he'd taken more of the bad guys with him.

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[–] Banjo_oz 15 years ago

Gelt, easily. As a kid and probably still now as an adult. IMO, he's the most interesting, in how tragic he is, as well as being the coolest. I agree with LightningLad... actually, this is my favourite role of Vaughn's!

As a kid, I always felt cheated he died so soon (and his ship was also my fave of the lot!), but as an adult, I can only presume it was partly because Vaughn was too expensive to have in too many scenes!

All the characters in this film are VERY memorable, even after many years. I still REALLY love Sador's half-touching, half-comedic last words, too. :)

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