ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Would you believe it, I actually saw this movie at a drive-in 1984. My darlin' daughter was only four and the apple of my eye, and my infant son was just one year old and not yet a thorn in my side.

Back in 1984 CGI was wonderfully stylized, looking like true artwork and not like fake reality. As Pow stated in another thread:

[Gord Green]

Don't forget the soundtrack, Bud! One of the BEST of the era----and it was a great era of soundtracks!

I loved this movie!

It was the same kind of "coming of age" film as with Luke in Star Wars, but this time it was a college bound kid from a trailer park reaching for the stars and living out his computer-game fantasies by saving the galaxy through his skill and heart. His speech to the trailer park residents and his mother at the end and his ascent to the stars with the girl of his dreams was wonderful!

[Brent Gair]

Here in Canada, this nerd is a science correspondent for Discovery Channel. He's Alan Nursall.



I was surprised to discover that he is the brother of the delightful Catherine Mary Nursall/Stewart.

[MetroPolly]

I actually used to love this movie! I would watch it whenever it was on the Disney channel (back when they didn't have commercials).

Weird fact: the guy playing the alien co-pilot is the same guy who plays the villain in Halloween III. I had no clue 'til I watched it much later and recognized the voice.

[Brent Gair]

[MetroPolly]

Not to mention starring in Fail Safe, I forgot that in my last post.

Question: how does a guy go from that to playing an alien in makeup so heavy his mom wouldn't recognize him?

I would ask the same of Frank Langella in Masters of the Universe, but I don't want to start screaming.

[Gord Green]

Even through the makeup (Very well done as a matter of fact!) his personality came through tremendously!

An actor plays the part and tries to make it a believable performance. Only a real artist could understand this.

This was a great performance, as was Robert Preston's and Lance Guest's. The result was a memorable film.

[MetroPolly]

Couldn't agree more. Maybe I'm a bit of a snob about fantasy makeup. Sorry bout that.

[Gord Green]

This was an absolute "feel good" movie. Just what the media was made for! I love everything about this film, the music, the actors, the spirit, the great little brother, the loving mother, the girlfriend and the denizens of the trailer park!

This is a film made for watching over and over!

[Bud Brewster]

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Watch the clip below and listen for my favorite moment in this entire movie! One of the trailer park residents says —

"We're gonna be famous aren't we, Otis?"

— and Otis replies with —

"Yes, sir! The whole world . . . the whole universe is gonna hear about us! Starlite, Starbrite, the place where Alex and Maggie left for the stars!"

Those lines — along with the little brother yelling, "WOOOOW!" as he stands at the video game and looks up to see the actual starship lift off — provide a terrific closing scene for this remarkable movie!

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___________ The Last Starfighter closing scene


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Zackuth]

I saw this in the theater when it came out. I really enjoyed the movie and I still do. Dan O'Herlihy was great as Grig, the copilot. I thought the CGI was animation and only figured out later what it really was.

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's the best items I found for this movie in IMDB's Trivia section (the text in blue).
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The first movie to do all special effects (except makeup and explosions) on a computer. All shots of spacecraft, space, etc were generated on a Cray X-MP computer.





Note from me: The article at the embedded link in this statement states a fascinating fact. Today, the poor Cray Y-MP [the more powerful successor to the X-MP line] — which would have set you back over $20 million — would barely be able to run Windows Vista. Even a low-end laptop today has more power than that machine.

The alien script seen on the computer screens in the movie is actually Hebrew with some variations.

Note from me: Proof positive that the "Lost Tribe of Israel" was abducted by aliens!

Jonathan R. Betuel was working as a cab driver when he wrote the first draft of the script.

Note from me: Proof positive that some of those New York cab drivers are "illegal aliens" of the MIB kind!

Although Wil Wheaton's speaking scenes were cut, he can be seen in two scenes[u]running around the trailer park early in the film (wearing a red football jersey), and in the final scene, where he is obscured, standing behind Louis (wearing a blue jacket, possibly over the red jersey).





Note from me: How 'bout a sequel in which Alex Rogan meets Wesley Crusher . . . in space.

In addition to the major "Star Trek universe" roles later played by "Starfighter" cast members Wil Wheaton and Marc Alaimo, several others in the movie's cast were guest stars in various "Star Trek" franchises. They include Dan Mason, Barbara Bosson, Norman Snow and Geoffrey Blake. But notable among them is Meg Wyllie ("Granny Gordon") who played one of the Talosian "keepers" in the Star Trek (1966) pilot, Star Trek: The Cage.





Note from me: In the hypothetical sequel I suggested above, Alex and Wesley discover that Granny is a Talosian who is making all the trailer park residence believe they're still young and living in the Star Lite, Star Brite trailer park.

Robin Williams was offered the role of Xur, but passed.





Note from me: If this is true (I don't believe everything read in IMDB Trivia), it would have been a very poor idea. After all, this movie was made just two years after the hyperactive Mr. Williams was in Mork and Mindy!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Maurice]

Atari was supposed to make games based on the film (as noted in the credits) but they were never commercially released. According to a friend of mine who worked at Atari from near the beginning to the final end of the arcade group in 2000, a screening was arranged so the Atari people could see the film in workprint stage (few to no visual effects) and they all realized the film was not going to be a blockbuster, so Atari put the brakes on the games.

The home computer version developed for the Atari 800 was eventually retooled into game Star Raiders II, which came out in 1986. The enemy ship designs are right out of the movie, even if the names and game action have been altered.

The unreleased movie version got leaked at some point. The two are compared here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8w-y72i1_8

As to the mythical arcade game, someone in the programming group had a little fun for April Fools (I think) and, apparently inspired by the term Ko-Dan Armada, created the Ko-Dan Armadillo, which was a big armadillo which would appear in place of the Command Ship. I've seen a hard copy printout of the thing at my friend's place. I'll ask him to photograph it for me.
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"The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
― Orson Welles

[Bud Brewster]

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It looks a lot like Solaris, a video game I played with my kids for many hours in the 1980s.
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_______________ Atari 2600 Solaris in STEREO!


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Maurice]