10 Failed Space Operas That Bombed With Mainstream Audiences
8. Return Of The Rip Off - Space Raiders (1983)
In 1983, George Lucas capped off his mega-successful Star Wars trilogy with its concluding chapter, Return of the Jedi. That same year, like clockwork, Roger Corman produced another space opera hoping to steal the box office scraps left in Jedis wake: the terrifically bad Space Raiders. Battle Beyond the Stars lifted its plot from the Magnificent Seven for its tale of interstellar adventure, but Space Raiders goes directly to the source for its story; the feature pilfers entire beats and scenes directly from the Star Wars trilogy. Space Raiders rip offs include a shameless facsimile of the Mos Eisley scene in A New Hope, space bounty hunters, and a mission to blow up an evil space battle station. Space Raiders contains barely any original ideas, which isnt surprising considering theres hardly any original content either. Corman reused effects, spaceship designs, and footage from Battle Beyond the Stars. Critics called foul on the obviously recycled footage, lambasting the misbegotten feature for its shameless regurgitation. The panned feature barely made a blip on mainstream audiences collective radars. Sadly, the space opera genre is littered with many pale imitations of Star Wars that did little more than put a fresh coat of paint on the Star Wars formula.
