Dark Star (film) - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

In the middle of the 22nd century, mankind has reached a point in its technological advancement to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. Armed with artificially intelligent "Thermostellar Triggering Devices", the scout ship Dark Star and its crew have been in space alone for twenty years on a mission to destroy "unstable planets" which might threaten future colonization.

The ship's crew consists of Lt. Doolittle, Sgt. Pinback, Boiler, and Talby. Commander Powell, their superior officer, was killed by a faulty rear seat panel, but remains on board the ship in a state of cryogenic suspension. The crew perform their jobs in a state of abject boredom as the tedium of their task has driven them around the bend, with only each other, an increasing number of (sometimes comical) systems malfunctions (for example, an explosion in a storage bay has destroyed the ship's entire supply of toilet paper) and the soft-spoken ship's computer for company. They have attempted to create distractions for themselves - Doolittle, formerly an enthusiastic surfer, has constructed a musical bottle organ, Talby spends all his time in the ship's observation dome watching the universe go by, Pinback enjoys playing practical jokes on the other crew members and maintains a video diary of his time on board ship, and Boiler enjoys smoking cigars and target practice with the ship's laser rifle.

In his video diary, Pinback claims to be liquid fuel specialist Bill Frugge, who accidentally takes Pinback's place on the mission after failing to rescue Pinback from committing suicide by wading into a fuel tank before the mission. Pinback has also adopted a ship's mascot in the form of a mischievous alien "beachball" that refuses to stay put in the food locker and forces Pinback to chase it all over the ship.

While navigating a magnetically bound asteroid field, en route to their next target (the Veil Nebula), the Dark Star suffers damage, resulting in a malfunction with the bomb drop mechanism. To the utter disinterest of his crewmates, Talby decides to investigate the fault. Discovering a damaged communications laser in the airlock, Talby dons a spacesuit to investigate. While attempting to repair the laser, Talby is blinded and inadvertently triggers a more serious problem, causing extensive damage to the ship's main computer and a major malfunction with Thermostellar Bomb #20, which, on arrival at their target planet, becomes belligerent and refuses to obey orders and drop from the bomb bay.

While stuck in the bomb bay, Bomb #20 refuses to disarm itself - its detonation countdown is in progress and it refuses to abort the countdown sequence. The other crew members attempt to talk the bomb out of blowing up. Doolittle revives Commander Powell, who advises them to teach the bomb the rudiments of phenomenology, resulting in a memorable philosophical conversation between Doolittle and the bomb. Bomb #20 aborts its countdown and retreats to the bomb bay for contemplation, and disaster appears to have been averted. Pinback addresses the bomb over the intercom in an attempt to finally disarm it.

Doolittle has mistakenly taught the bomb Cartesian doubt; the bomb determines itself to be God, states "Let there be light," and promptly detonates. Pinback and Boiler are killed instantly. Commander Powell is jettisoned into space encased in a large block of ice, and Talby is taken away by the Phoenix Asteroids (a cluster of glowing asteroids he had a fascination with) to circumnavigate the universe. Doolittle, who previously expressed his love of surfing and how much he misses it, finds an appropriately shaped piece of debris and "surfs" down into the atmosphere of the planet, burning into an incandescent speck.