While I grew up with a strong VHS obsession with Flight of the Navigator and Masters of the Universe, I’m not sure if The Last Starfighter ever quite made it to the UK market, not like it might today anyway, but had heard of its existence. Released in 1984, the film roots itself in the era with an arcade game and a bizarrely strange, yet very watchable, adventure as The Last Starfighter tells the tale of Alex Rogan (a perfectly cast Lance Guest), who’s an arcade game lover whose hopeful dreams come true when he finds himself unexpectedly enlisted to fight in an interstellar war. Obviously.

Directed by Nick Castle, who has the excellent film trivia of being the man behind the Michael Myers mask in Halloween, this was my first flight with The Last Starfighter – and to the Planet Rylos. While the films have an essence of those two, I mentioned above, there’s also elements of a few other things, and it’s not even TRON. The opening credits are a crossover of Star Wars and Star Trek, especially with the John Williams-esque orchestral score that’s somewhat of a combination of his work but, as you’ll hear on the extras from composer Craig Safan, this was the point, and Safan was affordable. The film then sees director Castle open up the story with some genuinely lovely establishing shots in a friendly, slightly middle-class trailer park called Starlite Starbrite in the unknown hills of California, or most likely the outskirts of L.A.

At this park, we’re introduced to a range of human characters, of all shapes, ages and so forth – plus a ginger Jonesy-like cat – before tightening in on Alex, a young chap playing an arcade video game called Starfighter, which looks like an updated version of Asteroid but with a deeper story. It’s then gradually revealed that Alex doesn’t want to be like the other kids in the park – and he tells this to their faces – but one thing is keeping him there, and that’s the chemistry with Maggie (played by an impressive Catherine Mary Stewart) and their relationship is key to a lot of moments. Oh, one thing, I should point out that ‘the kids’ are supposed to be teenagers, but all look mid-twenties and in real life, they were.

So, while Alex does dreams of a better life, he instead helps out his family and also probably won’t get to go to college as they haven’t got the money but does have one skill: Playing that Starfighter Arcade Game. In fact, he’s so good that he beats the high score and the whole ‘village’ comes out to watch and celebrate with him. We have to remember these are slower times and with not much else to do, but it’s feel-good and will lead us to what comes next. After Alex basks in the record-breaking gaming victory, a futuristic-like DeLorean (one year before BTTF came out) appears and inside it is the inventor of the game he’s just won. Spookily, the inventor ‘Centauri’ (played excitingly by Robert Preston in his final screen role, and a little like Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life), invites him into his car and off their go… into space.

But, let it be noted, this is a Spaceship Car, and he’s essentially kidnapped because left in his place is a ‘beta,’ which is a doppelgänger android, so no-one knows he’s been abducted. Also, went for the moment under the duvet when a quite shocking changeling is revealed. It was unexpected. Anyway, from here The Last Starfighter is an enjoyable romp, despite some obvious aging issues, but none are really about the content, it’s more about the graphics and cheesier elements, yet there’s a lot of fun here. The film championed early 80s CGI work and they freely admit in the special features that they knew they’d never compete with the big Sci-Fi at the time, and had to make do. There’s a decent number of practical effects, full of creatures that would fit into any other space opera, and alongside inventive set designs, crazy languages, funny set pieces, this is good escapism and somehow doesn’t feel like it rips off anything too much. The reason for this is because at its heart, it tries to focus on the characters and the build up of the story, over the showier elements – in a 1984-release sense.

In general, this is an enjoyable tongue-in-cheek ride, and I can it fitting in perfectly as a cult classic. The performances are good to, and it’s often brave with its directorial decisions, often endeavouring to mix up some comedy (and it is funny, with the kid Louis getting some top class one-liners), drama and sci-fi all in one, much like Guardians of the Galaxy has championed in recent years. And I have to throw in a special mention for Dan O’Herlihy as Grig, who’s a big part of the proceedings as well, as a kind of lizard man (a bit like a Silurian from Doctor Who) who brings humour and perspective to a lot of what Alex is trying to achieve later on.

I thought the new restored 4K scan, from the original negative, came across sharply with only the CGI graphics not standing the test of time but due to the general nature of the ‘feel’ of the film, you can go along with it. Also, as briefly mentioned, because the main story is more about the people involved, they decided not to focus too extensively on the graphics although this can’t be avoided in the late-in finale, which also goes full Asteroid with its outcome.

The Special Features offer a nice touch, they’re not too extensive but there’s a decent array of insight from a selection of those involved. Across the featurettes, which I’ve listed below, they talk about the use of early Wire-framed CGI with Kevin Pike and also Greg Bear, and all the testing and learning that was involved in that process – plus how difficult it was to score a film which only involved looking at a screen of white dots, much like you were putting music to a game of Pong.

Writer Jonathan Betuel talks about his career, and how he was writing for many years without weightier success but found a way to write scrips quickly, and somehow the moment just fell into place for The Last Starfighter, after he’d seen someone always playing an arcade game at a local joint where he stopped, and how he then decided to re-work the central element of The Sword in the Stone for the narrative – and you can see this process in the film. I’d also recommend checking out the featurette with Estil Vance, who built the original game that never existed, because he loves arcade games in films that aren’t actually made – but then creates them, I mean that’s some excellent dedication! And some concluding thoughts:

• I enjoyed the catchy phrase ‘Victory or Death!’
• Plus, the line from Alex to his duplicate Alex self “Save the whales but not the universe, hey”?
• Finally, once they say never press the death plasm/blossom(?), you’ll need to wait until they press it!

The Last Starfighter is out now from Arrow Films, order here: https://amzn.to/3S64qX9

Greetings Starfighter! Here’s your full list of Special Features and extras:

• Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films from the original camera negative
• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Uncompressed 2.0 stereo, 5.1 DTS-HD MA and 4.1 audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary with star Lance Guest and his son Jackson Guest
• Audio commentary with Mike White of The Projection Booth podcast
• Maggie’s Memories: Revisiting The Last Starfighter – interview with actor Catherine Mary Stewart
• Into the Starscape: Composing The Last Starfighter – interview with composer Craig Safan
• Incredible Odds: Writing The Last Starfighter – interview with screenwriter Jonathan Betuel
• Interstellar Hit-Beast: Creating the Special Effects – interview with special effects supervisor Kevin Pike
• Excalibur Test: Inside Digital Productions – interview with sci-fi author Greg Bear on Digital Productions, the company responsible for the CGI in The Last Starfighter
• Greetings Starfighter! Inside the Arcade Game – an interview with arcade game collector Estil Vance on reconstructing the Starfighter game
• Theatrical and teaser trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ferguson
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing by Amanda Reyes and sci-fi author Greg Bear’s Omni magazine article on Digital Productions, the company responsible for the CGI in The Last Starfighter
• Limited Edition slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ferguson