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Dark Star poster

Movies that feel likeDark Star (1974)

A group of scientists are sent on a mission to destroy unstable planets. Twenty years into their mission, they have to battle their alien mascot as well as a "sensitive" and intelligent bombing device that starts to question the meaning of its existence.

If you loved Dark Star, the closest films we have are Ikarie XB 1 (1963), Kin-dza-dza! (1986) and Spaceballs (1987). All three share Dark Star's cerebral and awe feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Man in the White Suit (1951).

🍅 74% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. John Carpenterwittyplayfulcerebralawe
5 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium · ARROW

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If Dark Star hit the spot, these will too

Ikarie XB 1 poster
Ikarie XB 1
1963 · dir. Jindřich Polák
🍅 100%★ 6.9science fiction

Both are working the same pair: the future, space travel

The difference: Reviewed even better

The year is 2163. Starship Ikaria XB-1 embarks on a mission deep into space in search of alien life. During their perilous journey the crew confront the effects of a malignant dark star, the destructive legacy of the 20th century and, ultimately, the limits of their own sanity.

Kin-dza-dza! poster
Kin-dza-dza!
1986 · dir. Georgiy Daneliya
★ 7.8comedy · science fiction · adventure

Witty and playful in the same breath

The difference: Leans harder into adventure than Dark Star does

Two Soviet humans previously unknown to each other are transported to the planet Pluke in the Kin-dza-dza galaxy due to a chance encounter with an alien teleportation device. They must come to grips with a language barrier and Plukian social norms (not to mention the laws of space and time) if they ever hope to return to Earth.

Spaceballs poster
Spaceballs
1987 · dir. Mel Brooks
🍅 53%★ 7.1comedy · science fictionPrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: space travel

When the nefarious Dark Helmet hatches a plan to snatch Princess Vespa and steal her planet's air, space-bum-for-hire Lone Starr and his clueless sidekick fly to the rescue. Along the way, they meet Yogurt, who puts Lone Starr wise to the power of "The Schwartz." Can he master it in time to save the day?

Galaxy Quest poster
Galaxy Quest
1999 · dir. Dean Parisot
🍅 90%★ 7.4comedy · science fiction · adventureParamount+

Cerebral where it counts, awestruck underneath

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

For four years, the courageous crew of the NSEA Protector — Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, Lieutenant Tawny Madison, and Doctor Lazarus — set off on a thrilling and often dangerous mission in space... until their series was cancelled! Now, twenty years later, aliens under attack have mistaken the Galaxy Quest television transmissions for "historical documents" and beam up the crew of has-been actors to save the universe. With no script, no director, and no clue, the actors must turn in the performances of their lives.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy poster
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2005 · dir. Garth Jennings
🍅 60%★ 6.7adventure · comedy · science fiction

Comedy built on wit, twice over

Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession poster
Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession
1973 · dir. Leonid Gaidai
★ 8.2comedy · science fiction

Science fiction with a pulse of play, in both cases

The difference: Trades the awe of Dark Star for an angle of its own

A scientist builds a time machine and accidentally sends his apartment complex manager and a petty burglar to 16th century Moscow, while Tsar Ivan the Terrible travels to 1973.

(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1 poster
(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1
2004 · dir. Michael Herbig
★ 5.5comedy · science fiction · adventure

Common ground: the future

Hundreds of years after humans have settled on Mars, Regulator Rogul and Lord Jens Maul lead a force of Martians to Earth in order to conquer the planet. Queen Metaphor looks to the gay heroes aboard the Dreamship Surprise – Captain Kork, Mr. Spuck, and first engineer Schrotty – for help.

Silent Running poster
Silent Running
1972 · dir. Douglas Trumbull
🍅 71%★ 6.6science fiction · adventure · drama

Cerebral science fiction, and it commits to that

After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes poster
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
1971 · dir. Don Taylor
🍅 75%★ 6.3action · science fiction

Both lean on awe more than on comedy

The world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a spacecraft. Intrigued by their intelligence, humans use them for research - until the apes attempt to escape.

The Man in the White Suit poster
The Man in the White Suit
1951 · dir. Alexander Mackendrick
🍅 100%★ 7.2comedy · science fiction

Witty comedy in both cases

The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune selling clothes made of the material, but may cause a crisis in the process. After all, once someone buys one of his suits they won't ever have to fix them or buy another one, and the clothing industry will collapse overnight. Nevertheless, Sidney is determined to put his invention on the market, forcing the clothing factory bigwigs to resort to more desperate measures...

Aniara poster
Aniara
2019 · dir. Pella Kågerman
🍅 70%★ 6.3science fiction · drama

Both lean on ideas more than on science fiction

A ship carrying settlers to a new home on Mars after Earth is rendered uninhabitable is knocked off-course, causing the passengers to consider their place in the universe.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture poster
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1979 · dir. Robert Wise
🍅 51%★ 6.4science fiction · adventure · mysteryParamount+

Both are built on the same subject: artificial intelligence

When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command.

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The best-reviewed films that share Dark Star’s defining feeling.