Ice Pirates (DVD)

OK, that makes it sound like something out of an old Buck Roger's serial. Yet, this spoof of every sci-fi theme, idea, and movie is a delight to watch. Tons of puns, a space herpy, sword carrying robots, space battles, combat and a somewhat interesting plot. Water. There isn't enough water and out there, somewhere, is a planet full of it. Only problem is everybody thinks the planet is some kind of myth. So nobody has tried to find it. But one Princess, played by Mary Crosby, may know where it is - for her father may have found it. Maybe. Who knows. Yet the pirates end up having to help her - or end up like your male cat. Who is not longer *cough* male. If you get my drift. The point is, those in power do not wish the planet to be found. One of those in power is John Carradine, a ruler on life-support, who does not wish to release his power or his body. So it becomes a quest-adventure in which the Heroes must find the water planet before The Powers That Be. Oh, and it seems some other pirates want to find the planet also. Also starring Anjelica Huston, John Matuszak, and Ron Perlman this movie is full of scenes that are just plain laugh-out-loud funny. I mean, two words - Pimp Robot. Enjoy!

This film is still one of my favorite classic comedies of the 80's. I first saw it when it came out in the theaters in '84 when I was a high school senior. I laughed my ass off. I still do. I remember a lot of my friends who had seen it, too, back then would go around saying, "The school has herpes," as a reference to one of our favorite lines in the film. Plus, the end sequence is the best parody of a certain classic sci-fi film and a famous cartoon show (I don't want to name any of it here to avoid spoiling it for anyone who hasn't yet seen it) and had me laughing with tears in my eyes the first time I saw it on the screen. Oh, and another thing — I firmly believe that Matt Groening borrowed the look of the alien in the restroom for the "time-sniffing" aliens that appeared in several episodes of "Futurama".

Whoa. "The Ice Pirates" was far more than I bargained for. I knew this was a camp classic that nearly ruined the careers of everyone involved, but in retrospect it's a train wreck that needs to be seen to be believed. That the film lampoons (or attempts to lampoon) multiple famous movies, particularly "Star Wars", is obvious. The gags are generally below the Mel Brooks "Spaceballs" level, but like a train wreck, you can't look away. After an initial bout of robots versus chainmail, we learn that water is now the scarcest commodity in the galaxy, and pirates routinely hijack freighters full of ice. The sets and effects are amazingly cheesy, the screenplay is terrible, and the acting matches perfectly. There's even a princess on a ship and some laser fights. Where have I seen that before? Anyway, my favorite part of the movie is the appearance of John Carradine who is looking even older and grumpier than normal in an aluminum foil jumpsuit with sequins. He is, of course "The Supreme Commander". Despite wanting so badly to be a lighthearted "Star Wars" clone, this really looks more like a badly acted game of "Asteroids" instead. Much like another famous space film, the good guys get taken prisoner, and after a brief "power to the people" subplot that goes nowhere there is a pitiful automated shaving and castration scene that is wholly unnecessary. Because that's obviously subtle and nuanced, it leads into an unbelievable masquerade ball and robotic pimp, which is likewise beyond belief. Because this is a plot composed of numerous tiny subplots, we next get an apparent homage to "Alien" with an egg hatching scene. (This is actually referred to as the "raucous tubeworm" or "space herpes" subplot.) There's a clear "Star Wars" cantina scene knockoff (complete with latex alien picking space mucus from its nose hole), all of which, naturally, leads to a frog woman dragster driver taking the cast to a miniature burro and javelina farm in the desert. There they meet a crotchety time warp survivor and fight bounty hunters in the "Mad Max" part of the movie, while the gopher puppets bring "Caddyshack" to mind. Fearless leader Jason (Robert Urich) is motivated to find the legendary seventh world with its water processing plant (any guesses as to what planet that turns out to be?) After the obligatory unicorn goring, disembodied head John Carradine comes back as a projection (like Leia did) and gives them the coordinates to the seventh world. Make sense so far? This leads to an unpleasant spaceship ride complete with burros and javelinas in an enclosed area, and tawdry romance in the "passion storm". (Gag! Wretch!) There's a predictable climax and happy ending and after going through the time warp and ageing the heroes find the legendary seventh world, which is of course Earth, and prattle on incessantly about how beautiful it is. The end. How this didn't utterly destroy the careers of Robert Urich and Anjelica Huston I will never comprehend but I enjoyed this in a way that was likely not intended. None of the jokes or premises were entertaining, but the entire "everything and the kitchen sink" amalgam made me laugh repeatedly at how ludicrously bad this movie is. It is relentlessly horrible, but it's so bad that it comes full circle to good in spite of itself. If you like bad sci-fi epics, spoofs of dubious quality lampooning many much better movies, or just John Carradine shining in spangled glory, "The Ice Pirates" is a groanfest not to be missed.

Crazy funny!!!

Good movie

Great retro movie!! loved this movie in the 80's still love it today. Great cast, you get to see a lot of the current superstars in the raw...They live up to the hype in this movie!

As an old time, space adventure comedy with a satisfactory ending sure to please this is something you can see time and time again! Makes a great collectible!

Réception dans les temps. Très satisfait !

Quality fine. A shame the studio cut the budget and tried to turn it into a comedy. Gripping SF Space movie.

Alles im grünen Bereich 👍

I absolutely love this movie it's fantastic it's one of my favorite movies to watch on tv and Robert Urch so hamsom very appealing he did a great job playing the character he played they did a great job making it and the lady that played the princess did a great job and it gets so chaotic whith every thing that happens but that's part of it so funny and entertaining They did a great job making if you like action movies you will like this one😀😀👍.

Great film