And now it’s time for your weekly dose of sci-fi goodness, straight from the seventies to you.

Dark Star, directed by John Carpenter in 1974, takes place in the 22nd century. The movie tells the story of four men who are traveling through outer space on a brave and fearless mission to make the galaxy safe for colonization. Their objective? To identify unstable planets and blow them to bits with bombs.

After three years of spaceflight (the equivalent of 20 years back on planet earth), the crew members on board Dark Star are cranky, stir-crazy, and getting on each other’s nerves. The ship’s commander was recently killed in an accident and has been placed in a cryogenic deep freeze. In the wake of his departure, the remaining members of the ship’s crew squabble and make poor decisions which eventually lead to … <warning spoiler alert!>

…Ha! joking. We’ll you’ll have to see the movie to discover what eventually happens. But suffice it to say it is a very slow-paced film with seemingly random plot twists thrown in that just seem a little… weird. This is probably due to the fact that Dark Star originated as a 45-minute film school project by John Carpenter, and was later turned into a feature-length film by adding additional footage.

It is precisely the low-budget, bizarre aspects to Dark Star, however, that make it a fun movie. In one excruciatingly long scene, an unruly pet alien escapes from his cage and wreaks havoc on the ship. The alien is obviously nothing more than a large beach ball with feet stuck on the bottom. In another scene, one of the ship’s crew members dons a spacesuit in preparation for a spacewalk on the ship’s exterior. Upon close inspection, the suit’s breastplate looks suspiciously like… a muffin pan spray-painted with silver paint.

So sit back, grab a muffin, and enjoy a low-budget seventies sci-fi flick that definitely qualifies for the “So Bad It’s Good” award.