Young Sung Production Co. Ltd. In 1985, there was still a ravenous hunger for anything that vaguely reminded people of the original Star Wars, but the films that attempted to meet this need were all over the place. The most obvious rip-offs came out quickly, with the shlocky 1978 film Starcrash probably the most infamous. But weirder derivations emerged in the 1980s, and the nearly-forgotten animated film Starchaser: The Legend of Orin is, without a doubt, the oddest and most unsettling.Released 40 years ago, Starchaser took vague story beats from Star Wars and gave them a decidedly seedy quality. Was this animated movie for kids? For science fiction buffs? For anyone? Here’s how to approach Starchaser today, if you dare. Starchaser tells the story of Orin, who looks like a mixture of Luke Skywalker and the 1980s cartoon He-Man. Like many other humans, he toils underground in a mine, working for someone called “the Mind Master” who’s also called Zygon (no relation to the Doctor Who aliens). Zygon wears a Vader-esque mask at first, but when Orin starts a revolt, Zygon reveals a purple, evil-looking face. Then, in an extremely dark moment, Zygon strangles Orin’s girlfriend, Elan. This is all you need to understand about Starchaser. The slaying of Elan would be like if Princess Leia was murdered in Star Wars’ opening moments, and then the heroes just found someone new to care about. It's a baffling choice, and Starchaser doubles down on the misogynistic with a trip to a planet where animated prostitutes take the place of goofy cantina creatures. A pirate character jokes that loveable rogue Dagg Dibrimi prefers the company of young men, a comment that manages to be both creepy and homophobic. Then there’s the female robot, Silica, who’s literally called a Fembot and is reprogrammed by Dagg to be more submissive.Look, it’s all your favorite characters. | Young Sung Production Co. Ltd.The most obvious Star Wars-esque aspects of Starchaser are Orin having random powers, and a magical sword that only appears as a hilt to everyone else. Swords that were just handles were briefly all the rage in the 1980s; there’s a faux-lightsaber in Starcrash, and even TV cartoon hero Thundarr the Barbarian had a laser sword. But Orin’s sword is particularly egregious, mostly because it's so tied up in his destiny.Starchaser also borrows heavily from Star Wars’ sound effects, specifically spaceship flyby noises. It’s unsettling, like these sound effects have been captured and put into a movie where they don’t want to live. Visually, some of the cityscapes have a pleasant Blade Runner, Jean Giraud-esque feeling, but these fleeting scenes can’t make up for the hokey story and barely concealed regressiveness. Orin’s sword is less than stellar. | Young Sung Production Co. Ltd.If you want some 1980s animated sci-fi nostalgia, Starchaser does the trick, barely. But, because it's very close to being raunchy, you’re better off just watching the original 1981 Heavy Metal or the truly unhinged 1977 animated fantasy film Wizards. There, the adult content was delivered unapologetically. Starchaser’s biggest crime is that it pretends to be an epic for a broad audience, but instead feels like fan fiction created by people who weren’t really thinking it through. Lightsabers aren’t cool because they’re bladeless swords, but because of the characters who wield them. Starchaser forgot about that elegant detail, and instead became an embarrassing homage from a less civilized age.