The Last Star Fighter — The Last Star Fighter(Blu Ray)
As a child of the mid-70s, my first experiences of video gaming were far simpler/ basic, than those of today's kids. The first impactful game I played- not at home- but in an arcade was Space Invaders- a highly basic shoot ‘em up where you were a set/ fixed spacecraft firing at lines of descending aliens. And I thought this was amazing/ wonderful- flash forward to the early 80s, and we got The Last Star Fighter- which saw a small-town teen playing an upgraded space invaders game- beating it, and getting to take part in a real space-bound shooting match/ saving several universes. The film was a great teen-focused Sci-fi picture, blending action- both space-bound & earthbound, humour, and a fair bit of heart, as well as one or two cheese romantic moments. It always stood as one of my favourite films of childhood- so it’s great to see this new reissue from Arrow Video, and while some of the effects do look rather dated- it’s a great slice of action-bound 80’s Sci-fi.
The release comes as either a UHD or Blu-Ray disc, I’m reviewing the latter. And it takes in a new 4k scan, and a good selection of extras- taking in two commentary tracks, and a selection of interviews.
The Last Star Fighter is a US production from the year 1984. It was directed by LA-born Nick Castle, who is most known for playing the shape/ Michael Meyers in the first Halloween film. He has, to date, ten feature-length credits to his name. These go from Tag: The Assassination Game (1982) which is an action thriller regarding a college assassination game that turns deadly. Comedy, drama, and musical crossbred Tap (1989), and romantic-comedy regarding a pop star who falls for a fan The Seat Filler (2006).
After the zooming through space and heroic-sounding orchestrated soundtrack credits. We drop down into a middle-of-nowhere USA trailer park- here lives thick-mulleted teen Alex( Lance Guest), his annoying younger brother Louis( Chris Herbet), and their seemingly always preoccupied/ busy mum(Barbara Bosson).
Also on the trailer park is a selection of quirky older characters, and his brunette girlfriend Maggie(Catherin Mary Stewart). When not helping around with residents of the trailer park, he goes up and plays a space invader game on a deck above the park. One night he breaks the game's record, and fairly soon up pulls a swish futuristic car. Inside is Centauri(Robert Preston) a trenchcoated man who claims he’s from out of space, and Alex needs to be a starfighter destroying the bad guys & save his & several other universes.
As the film goes on Alex goes into space, back home, then back to space. He has a mimicking humanoid living back in the trailer, so as not to arouse suspicion- but of course, he doesn't act exactly like Alex/human- hence this gives up some of the film's more humorous moments. Up in space, Alex befriends Grig (Dan O'Herlihy) a lizard-like humanoid who has a wheezy type laugh- and I wonder if he was the influence on Crichton in the UK Comedy Sci-fi series Red Dwarf.
Along the way, we get some neat/ tense in-space shoot-outs, grand explosions, and desperate plains to win against the odds. Yes, some of the spaceships & graphics do look dated- but this is to be expected to a certain extent, and if you can handle the graphics in the original Tron- you’ll be fine.
All in all The Last Star Fighter is a great and entertaining romp of a sci-fi film, with both charm, rewarding action and a likeable cast. I guess the baddies are a little stock- but not too bad, and the score is a tad contrived- but neither of these are major issues, and I still think it stands as one of the better Sci-fi films of the 80s.
Moving onto this new release, the 4k scan looks wonderful crisp, clean and full of clarity/ depth. Yes, this does make some of the effects look more dated, but I guess that can’t be helped.
Moving onto the extra side, and I’m not totally sure if any of these are new or not. I’m guessing/ presuming the two commentary tracks. The first is with star Lance Guest and his son Jackson Guest, and the second is with Mike White of The Projection Booth podcast- I played the second one, and it’s a wonderful researched, informed, and entertaining track. He starts off by discussing how the film's opening credits show the space journey back from the alien planet to earth. He talks about the film's score and its creator Craig Safan, who went on later to work with director Castle down the line. We find out the film was shot in a real trailer park- which was located to the north of LA in Soledad Cannon. He talks about the film's budget- which he believes was in the range of $22,0000, we find out the film's effects were created by a Grey Supercomputer. He discusses the film's lead character, his hopes & dreams, and how he was a reluctant hero. We find out the original script was either set in suburbia or a desert. We find out the actors said that Director Castle was always in a good mood on set. He talks about how one of the more difficult mesh-ups was between Centauri’s real car & the PC effects. Later on, he talks about how in the credits there is mention of an Atari game coming- this never happened, though there was a board game, and in 2003 someone made a few arcade game booths. We find out there were a dozen prototypes of toy figures made from the film- but these never came to production, and we find out that in 2004 the film was made into an off-Broadway musical. And of course much more- a must-play track!.
Otherwise- we get a selection of interviews- I think these were all done in the early 2000s for the previous release of the film on Arrow. These take in Maggie’s Memories: Revisiting The Last Starfighter ( 9.28) with actor Catherine Mary Stewart. Into the Starscape: Composing The Last Starfighter (9.27) with composer Craig Safan. Incredible Odds: Writing The Last Starfighter (9.27) screenwriter Jonathan Betuel. Interstellar Hit-Beast: Creating the Special Effects (10.14) with special effects supervisor Kevin Pike. Excalibur Test: Inside Digital Productions (7.46) 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 ( 7.24) with arcade game collector Estil Vance on reconstructing the Starfighter game. Lastly, we get an original trailer and a teaser trailer.
The finished release comes with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ferguson. And an 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.
It’s wonderful to see The Last Star Fighter getting this new 4k presentation- with a good selection of interesting extras, though it might have been nice to have a few more new things on the disc- but I understand sometimes this isn't possible. In finishing if you enjoy Sci-fi action in a family setting The Last Star Fighter is a must!