Krull (1983)
When George Lucas finally started making The Phantom Menace, there was only one choice to play the serene, if idiosyncratic, master who trained Obi-Wan Kenobi, Liam Neeson. But two decades earlier, Neeson wasn’t quite the respected thespian he would become, so when 1983’s Krull had a need for an imposing actor to play the axe-wielding Kegan, he took the part.
Of course, Krull has a lot in common with Star Wars, namely its melding of sci-fi with fantasy. Directed by Peter Yates, he of Bullitt and The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Krull follows the warrior prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall), whose marriage to Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) will bring peace to the galaxy. That’s bad news for the creature known only as the Beast (Trevor Martin), who sends its forces to capture Lyssa and destroy Colwyn. Together with his band of misfits, including Neeson’s Torquil and Robbie Coltrane as Rhun, Colwyn embraces his destiny to save the galaxy. Krull may not be as heady as the work Neeson would later do, but its pulp pleasure proved to be the ideal training for entering the world of Star Wars.
Dune (1984)
According to one of the weirdest bits of Hollywood trivia, George Lucas asked David Lynch of all people to direct Return of the Jedi. Lynch famously turned down the offer, but he was convinced that he should make a big Hollywood blockbuster. And so when Italian superproducer Dino DeLaurentis offered Lynch the opportunity to direct Frank Herbert‘s Dune, one of the major sources of inspiration for Lucas’ movie, he accepted.
What follows remains perhaps the oddest movie in Lynch’s filmography. The broad strokes of the Herbert story are there: a planet filled with spice, the heroic Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan), the evil Baron Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan), a rebellion that shakes the universe. But it all gets retold through Lynch’s perspective, resulting in a Dune that’s somehow weirder than Herbert intended and perhaps the most optimistic movie in Lynch’s oeuvre.
Masters of the Universe (1987)
Even six months ago, the idea of including Masters of the Universe on any type of “Best of” list seemed ludicrous. But now that we’ve seen the mess that is the most recent attempt to adapt the ’80s toy line, the 1987 Cannon film seems a lot better. Moreover, the 1987 movie may take its direct inspiration from Jack Kirby‘s Fourth World Saga, but it’s clear that the producers hope to cash in on any lingering Star Wars fever.
Masters of the Universe, of course, depicts an epic battle between He-Man (Dolph Lundgren) and Skeletor (Frank Langella) for the fate of the galaxy… for about 15 minutes of screen time. That’s because Masters of the Universe may have a huge budget for a Cannon movie, but it is still a Cannon movie, which means much of the action actually takes place in suburban California. There, He-Man and annoying not-Orko Gwildor (Billy Barty) hang around with Julie (Courteney Cox) and Kevin Corrigan (played not by actor Kevin Corrigan, but by Star Trek: Voyager‘s Robert Duncan McNeill), making the action decidedly not a long time ago and not in a galaxy far away.
