The Last Starfighter

1984
PG
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

47K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,516

Lance Guest in The Last Starfighter (1984)

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Space Sci-Fi Teen Adventure Action Adventure Sci-Fi

High schooler Alex Rogan conquers the Starfighter video game, only to find out it was just a test, and is transported to another planet. He has been recruited to join a team of the best star... Read allHigh schooler Alex Rogan conquers the Starfighter video game, only to find out it was just a test, and is transported to another planet. He has been recruited to join a team of the best starfighters to defend their world from the attack.High schooler Alex Rogan conquers the Starfighter video game, only to find out it was just a test, and is transported to another planet. He has been recruited to join a team of the best starfighters to defend their world from the attack.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

47K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,516

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 nominations

Trivia
All visual effects (not practical effects like make-up and explosions) were made on a Cray X-MP computer.

Goofs
When Grig is trying to restore power shortly after using the Death Blossom, there is a cable for a 9-volt battery attached to the circuit board in his hand. However, it does not automatically mean that it can only connect to a 9-volt battery, or that something that looks like Earth-technology must be from Earth.

Quotes
Centauri: [voice in video game] Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.

Alternate versions
On the 25th Anniversary Blu-ray and DVD, a brief musical cue is missing from the soundtrack. In previous versions, the reveal of Beta's half-formed face as he pulls the bed covers away (about a half-hour into the film) is accompanied by a string/cymbal crescendo, followed by a loud, low brass/percussion sting, which then crescendos into the next scene. This cue is completely absent on the 25th Anniversary Edition (though it is audible on the commentary track).

Connections
Edited into No Feat But What We Make: 'Terminator 2' and the Rise of Digital Effects (2003)

Soundtracks
Never Crossed My Mind
(Craig Safan and Mark Mueller)
Performed by Clif Magness

User reviews198

Review

Featured review

7/10

A fun movie and... hey in it's own way... Legendary

I love THE LAST STARFIGHTER... it's a good, fun movie. A matinee type of film. It's not as great as Star Wars or some of the big budget movies of the time... (hmmm, where there any big budget Sci Fi movies other than Star Wars at the time?) The acting, though not great was charming. Lance Guest (brillantly playing Alex and the very naive Beta), Greg O'Herlihy (sp) playing the loveable Lizard creature Grig and of course.... Robert Preston as rascalous Centauri. And something that I forgot for a long time (until I saw it at a local store and had to buy it on DVD) was that this was one, if not THE, first movie to utilize CGI. Yeah, it's a far cry from what filmakers can do now with Apple Rendering software. But when I saw the movie in the Theater, I was impressed and thought that if Computer Graphics were this good in the this first movie... how much it will grow. It's a movie well worth having in your library. And as I'm watching it right now, I'm glad that I have it in mine.