I am working on a review for "The Last Starfighter" that I plan to put up here on these boards. Anyone remember this wonderfully cheesy movie?
First one to ever use CGI more than just as CGI, etc.
his movie was always so cool--only thing that ticks me off is that Wil Wheaton (Wesley from Star Trek The Next Generation) is supposedly in this movie in a small part as one of the annoying little brother's buddies--but I have seen this movie several times and cannot find him. Was he cut out of the flick or something?
NOTE:
Just in case you never saw the flick and are curious about it--it's about this kid who lives in a trailer park and is forced to help out other people with their tv antennas etc.--but he wants to go to college in the city and get a job. The only joy he ever really gets is out of playing a local arcade game. When he beats the big score he finds out the game is actually a training excercise for space wars millions of galaxies away. The movie has all sorts of great stuff--cheesy CGI, robotic clones, alien con-men, X-wings with fat butts. You name it.
I still like this one, though parts of it didn't age well. The CGI spacecraft might look dated, but I think they look good enough and I love the general design of the Gunstar.
By the way, fans of "The Last Starfighter" who also love Lego should check this out:
Teaser Image:
(http://www.fleebnork.com/model/gunstar_thumb/gunstar01small.jpg)
The webpage:
http://www.fleebnork.com/?m=gunstar
(I first saw this years ago and had to do a search to find the page again.)
I really like this movie. It's good fun, thoughit has been years since I last saw it. I wanted to be a gunstar gunner!
-Ed
Quote from: respectmeordye3 on December 03, 2007, 06:55:28 PM
his movie was always so cool--only thing that ticks me off is that Wil Wheaton (Wesley from Star Trek The Next Generation) is supposedly in this movie in a small part as one of the annoying little brother's buddies--but I have seen this movie several times and cannot find him. Was he cut out of the flick or something?
Yeah, his scenes were cut, but I don't miss him. (And anyway, there's another crucial
Trek performer in the cast, if you've got quick eyes.)
Last Starfighter used to be on cable in the mid to late 80s all the time...
Any movie that taught us that playing video games would enable us to save the universe is good.
Quote from: sideorderofninjas on December 03, 2007, 11:46:46 PM
Last Starfighter used to be on cable in the mid to late 80s all the time...
Any movie that taught us that playing video games would enable us to save the universe is good.
Yep, in it's day, it was the ultimate gamer's fantasy.
The graphics do look a bit Tron-ish by today's standards, but extremely well done for the early 80s. The time and equipment required to render special effects for an entire movie in those days must have been ridiculous.
The thing that makes the movie a favourite of mine is it's tongue-in-cheek approach. A nice adventure with a generous amount of humour that doesn't seem forced. Robert Preston especially stands out for me.
Quote from: nshumate on December 03, 2007, 11:17:12 PM
Quote from: respectmeordye3 on December 03, 2007, 06:55:28 PM
his movie was always so cool--only thing that ticks me off is that Wil Wheaton (Wesley from Star Trek The Next Generation) is supposedly in this movie in a small part as one of the annoying little brother's buddies--but I have seen this movie several times and cannot find him. Was he cut out of the flick or something?
Yeah, his scenes were cut, but I don't miss him. (And anyway, there's another crucial Trek performer in the cast, if you've got quick eyes.)
I don't have quick eyes.
who is the other trek cast member and where can I see him?
Quote from: respectmeordye3 on December 04, 2007, 01:44:35 PM
Quote from: nshumate on December 03, 2007, 11:17:12 PM
Yeah, his scenes were cut, but I don't miss him. (And anyway, there's another crucial Trek performer in the cast, if you've got quick eyes.)
I don't have quick eyes.
who is the other trek cast member and where can I see him?
Her.
(http://www.coldfusionvideo.com/l/laststarfighter-a.jpg)
The old grandma with the Walkman was the lead Talosian (aka "bumhead") from the pilot "The Cage" (later recycled as the two-parter "The Menagerie").
Nice catch Nathan! The amazing thing is that the computer fx were rendered on a Cray supercomputer. They could probably be done now a consumer grade PC.
I saw this when it first came out in theaters. I think that I was 9 at the point.
I haven't seen the movie in quite some time but I sometimes see the DVD in the 5 dollar bin at the local Wally World. I might just have to pick it up now.
I liked this movie when I was a kid. I agree that it didn't really age well, but I saw it not too long ago. It's still fun to watch. The scenes with Beta were good (except that one scene where it's painfully obvious that the head is a fake head).