YMMV / Battle Beyond the Stars

• Accidental Innuendo: Damn near half the dialogue in the movie comes off as unintentionally, hilariously filthy. Here's a choice selection of such lines.
  Shad: No, not from behind!

  Nell: They're going to steal his load. (This one isn't helped by the fact that Nell had just referred to them as "Jackers".)

  Cayman: Sador? This is Cayman of the Lambda Zone. Turn around, you overaged degenerate, and we'll bump heads!

  Shad: You read my mind?
  Nestor 1: Among other things.

  Saint-Exmin: You've never seen a Valkyrie go down!
• Awesome Music:
  • James Horner composed one of his earliest feature film scores (and one of the very few, if not the only one, Horner didn't conduct himself - the score was conducted by David Newman). Never one to let quality go to waste, Roger Corman reused the music in several other productions, some set in outer space (Space Raiders), some... not (Sorceress, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom). And oh so many trailers!
  • Snippets from Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek: The Motion Picture can be found in the score, complete with blaster beam.
• Complete Monster: Sador of the Malmori is the leader of a crew of vicious mutants that roam the galaxy in their large battleship, subjugating any planet he pleases. If the planet's residents attempt to rebel against him, Sador destroys the planet via the use of a weapon called the Stellar Converter. Prior to the events of the film, Sador wiped out Caymen's entire species, leaving him the sole survivor. During the events of the film, Sador invades the peaceful planet of Akir, threatening its residents, the Akira, with destruction unless they submit to him, and having his men slaughter the Akira at random as a demonstration. After the Akira recruit mercenaries from across the galaxy for protection, Sador launches an invasion on the planet, intending to wipe out the Akira in retaliation for their defiance.
• Ham and Cheese: Most of the actors involved in this film knew precisely the level of quality they were dealing with and decided to have as much fun with it as they possibly could. Exceptions were Robert Vaughn, who was only there for the paycheck, and Sybil Danning, who — as always — Took the Bad Film Seriously.
• Les Yay: St. Exmin gives bunch of euphemisms for sex, before Nanelia says she can't imagine what it must be like. St. Exmin wraps her arm around her and tells her to stick with her and she'll get a education. Nanelia eagerly agrees that she will.
• Older Than They Think: George Peppard's portrayal of Space Cowboy is almost exactly the same as the way he'd play John "Hannibal" Smith on The A-Team just three years later.
• Narm: A couple of prime sources are the exceedingly flamboyant Cayman (especially his battlecry of scream-yodeling his species name "LAZULIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"), and Yago, Sador's executive officer. His delivery of the line "They are a PROUD! FORM!!!" has to be heard to be believed.
• So Bad, It's Good: There are a lot of big-name film critics out there who — while completely destroying this film for its basic lack of quality — simultaneously are willing to talk about how fun, and epic-feeling, and memorable it is. To name two, both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel completely panned this movie... and both named it as one of their favorite bad movies ever.
• Special Effect Failure: The sound effects for gunshots gets cut off by each new shot, like it's being provided by an arcade game.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The moment just after Gelt's death.
    Shad: Have somebody prepare a meal.
    Akirite: A meal?
    Shad: Full course, then bury it with him.
    Akirite: Bury it?
    Shad: That was our arrangement: A meal and a place to hide.
  • Saint-Exmin's death, mostly cause of how happy she is about it.
  • Nell, suffering severe damage must self-destruct. Before Nell can do that however, she/it keeps confusing Shad with her previous pilot, whom had died not long before.

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