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Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam

The Turkish Star Wars that karate chops the galaxy.

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It is popularly known outside Turkey as Turkish Star Wars because it incorporates unauthorized footage, music, and sound effects from Star Wars and other films.[1] Çetin İnanç directed the 1982 Turkish film Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam, which blends science fantasy, martial arts, superhero, and adventure genres, with Cüneyt Arkın as the star.[2] Over time, the movie developed a notable cult following and is widely regarded as one of the worst films ever created.[3]

Making and release

From the 1960s to 1980s, Turkish popular cinema produced many films that borrowed storylines from American blockbusters.[4] The film combines science fiction themes with martial arts fantasy action.[1] The film follows two Turkish men running through the moon-like landscape of Cappadocia, fighting blue-headed robots, giant red-bear-like things, skeletons, and zombies.[4] Some martial art skills in the film are fairly decent, but they appear in the Alderaan cantina scene with homemade aliens that look like Sesame Street puppets.[5]

A sequel, The Son of the Man Who Saved the World, was shot in 2006.[6] Çetin İnanç proposed his own sequel ideas involving zombie ninja space warriors and the abduction of presidents by aliens.[7] Anıt Ticaret first distributed the film in Turkey during November 1982.[2] BijouFlix Releasing brought the film to the United States in 2005.[2]

This film belongs to a cycle of low-budget Turksploitation superhero movies that were made from the 1970s into the early 1980s.[1] The movie shares more similarities with 1970s Hong Kong martial arts films from Golden Harvest than with the Star Wars franchise.[1]

What the cited sources add

David Elroy Goldweber has criticized the "Turkish Star Wars" fan title.[8] Goldweber notes the film is more a martial arts fantasy film than science fiction.[8] Foleyvision performed the film in 2004 with live English translation, which troupe leader Buzz Moran called the first English translation ever.[9] The translator told Foleyvision that the film "doesn't make any more sense in Turkish".[9]

Filmusik screened the film with live voiceovers and sound effects in late 2012.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'ın Bilmediğiniz Hikayesi!", Webtekno, 25 April 2018; Şafak, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'a Hollywood desteği", Yeni Şafak, 21 December 2016; "İrfan BATU Yazdı: Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam!", KIBRIS POSTASI; Williams, "The Turk who saved the world", BBC News, 10 August 2012; Goldweber, "Claws & Saucers: Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Film 1902-1982: A Complete Guide", Lulu Press, Inc, September 2023, p. 1773 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goldweber, "Claws & Saucers: Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Film 1902-1982: A Complete Guide", Lulu Press, Inc, September 2023, p. 1773; Williams, "The Turk who saved the world", BBC News, 10 August 2012; "The strange case of Turkish Star Wars: The Ottoman Empire Strikes Back", Esquire Middle East, 27 April 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hell's Ground and Turkish Star Wars", 21 June 2008; "Reviews - Film Threat - Part 2341", www.filmthreat.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Williams, "The Turk who saved the world", BBC News, 10 August 2012. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
  5. "The strange case of Turkish Star Wars: The Ottoman Empire Strikes Back", Esquire Middle East, 27 April 2014. facts only, no text reused. esquireme.com
  6. Wikipedia, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: News article from Sabah newspaper (Last accessed 29 July 2006). (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Amazing True Story of "Turkish Star Wars"", Neon Harbor, 14 November 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goldweber, "Claws & Saucers: Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Film 1902-1982: A Complete Guide", Lulu Press, Inc, September 2023, p. 1773; Williams, "The Turk who saved the world", BBC News, 10 August 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Austin Chronicle, "There Is No Try ... Foleyvision does the Turkish 'Star Wars'" (20 February 2004) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Filmusik, 'Turkish Star Wars'" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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