Nowadays
many movies have 3D animated effects in them. My goodness,
these effects are used to cover up and hide things in movies
that have no reason to have 3D effects in them. In the early
eighties, when 3D was a new art form, and the next
generation of video games was rising (with whopping 8 bit
graphics), there were two movies that highlighted all that
the 3D world of movies and video games had to offer. Today,
we'll be discussing the second of these two movies, The Last Starfighter (1984).
Alex
Rogan was a normal high school student growing up in a
trailer park. He has hopes, aspirations, dreams, and a
desire to get away and experience the adventures life has to
offer. After mastering a video game, he is visited by a man
who informs him that the game was a simulator for a real
scenario in space and the galaxy is in desperate need of his
assistance. After figuring out that this visitor, named
Centauri (Robert Preston), wasn't totally crazy, he embarks
on the adventure he could've only dreamed about, and of
course, saves the galaxy while getting the girl in the end.
For
anyone who doesn't know this, every twelve-year-old boy has
the following dreams: The dream that he has super powers,
the one where aliens are real, and when he learns all the
video games his parents have been telling him are useless
pays off, and he saves the world as a result of his video
gaming expertise. The Last Starfighter hits squarely
on these dreams for young males. As a twelve-year-old when I
first saw this movie, I was blown away by it. It focuses on
the trials and tribulations of being a kid in today's
society.
Even
though it was over twenty years ago, many of the
technologies that we take for granted today were beginning
to be a part of the lives of youngsters. One of the
"biggies" was the early days of video games.
The Atari 2600
had been out for some time and that was a staple, but what
would come out in the next few years would change
everything. Movies like Tron (the other movie I
referred to earlier) and The Last Starfighter, had
shown what the future of gaming was about to offer. Sure, it
took many years to get to the level of effects that could be
accomplished in the movies to hit the gaming circuit, but
these were the foundations as to what we see in all games
every day.
The
visual effects of The Last Starfighter are fantastic,
even for early stages of animation. The story focuses on
what is the foundation of so many heroes in fiction. A youth
thrown into an extraordinary situation, completely out of
his element, where his talents (that were shunned in his
life up until then) are now needed and rewarded. Alex Rogan
goes from being a kid to being a man and saves the lives of
hundreds of star systems while he's at it. He is shocked
when he meets his alien pilot, Grig. As his character grows
you learn that Grig's life on a different planet isn't so
different than Alex's. Grig has a wifeoid and six thousand
little griglets, sure, but they are a family and need their
world to be a safe place just as Alex needs his world to be
a safe for his family and loved ones.
Lastly,
The Last Starfighter is one of the first fantasy
movies where we get to see the type of gamebreaker we see in
so many video games today. "Deathblossom" was the prototype
weapons system in the Gunstar, the space ship Alex and Grig
fly. It's a kick-ass multi-turret, spinning, kill as many
bad guys as you can in one blow flying machine, and it's
sweet to watch. It's the weapon you wanted to have in so
many video games where you hit the "go" button and watch
everyone disappear. It certainly would've made Asteroids a
much easier game as while growing up. We would all sit and
wait for the Deathblossom to go off and cheer when it did.
The
Last Starfighter is one of those fantastic coming of age
movies that is great for all audiences. It focuses on the
types of issues young men all have to deal with when it
comes to being socially awkward, and how they learn to
outgrow it and be a man when the time comes. It is filled
with great special effects and was groundbreaking in its
take on the use of 3D animation for both video games and
movies. I really love catching this movie from any moment in
the storyline because it's fun from beginning to the demise
of the enemies at the end when the commander answers his
dying soldiers queries of "What shall we do now," with a
very noble, "We die."
In fact, I think I'll go and sit down and watch it again
right now.
Stumblebum Studios Archives
Nowadays
many movies have 3D animated effects in them. My goodness,
these effects are used to cover up and hide things in movies
that have no reason to have 3D effects in them. In the early
eighties, when 3D was a new art form, and the next
generation of video games was rising (with whopping 8 bit
graphics), there were two movies that highlighted all that
the 3D world of movies and video games had to offer. Today,
we'll be discussing the second of these two movies, 
Alex
Rogan was a normal high school student growing up in a
trailer park. He has hopes, aspirations, dreams, and a
desire to get away and experience the adventures life has to
offer. After mastering a video game, he is visited by a man
who informs him that the game was a simulator for a real
scenario in space and the galaxy is in desperate need of his
assistance. After figuring out that this visitor, named
Centauri (Robert Preston), wasn't totally crazy, he embarks
on the adventure he could've only dreamed about, and of
course, saves the galaxy while getting the girl in the end.
For
anyone who doesn't know this, every twelve-year-old boy has
the following dreams: The dream that he has super powers,
the one where aliens are real, and when he learns all the
video games his parents have been telling him are useless
pays off, and he saves the world as a result of his video
gaming expertise. The Last Starfighter hits squarely
on these dreams for young males. As a twelve-year-old when I
first saw this movie, I was blown away by it. It focuses on
the trials and tribulations of being a kid in today's
society.
Even
though it was over twenty years ago, many of the
technologies that we take for granted today were beginning
to be a part of the lives of youngsters. One of the
"biggies" was the early days of video games.
The Atari 2600
had been out for some time and that was a staple, but what
would come out in the next few years would change
everything. Movies like Tron (the other movie I
referred to earlier) and The Last Starfighter, had
shown what the future of gaming was about to offer. Sure, it
took many years to get to the level of effects that could be
accomplished in the movies to hit the gaming circuit, but
these were the foundations as to what we see in all games
every day. 
The
visual effects of The Last Starfighter are fantastic,
even for early stages of animation. The story focuses on
what is the foundation of so many heroes in fiction. A youth
thrown into an extraordinary situation, completely out of
his element, where his talents (that were shunned in his
life up until then) are now needed and rewarded. Alex Rogan
goes from being a kid to being a man and saves the lives of
hundreds of star systems while he's at it. He is shocked
when he meets his alien pilot, Grig. As his character grows
you learn that Grig's life on a different planet isn't so
different than Alex's. Grig has a wifeoid and six thousand
little griglets, sure, but they are a family and need their
world to be a safe place just as Alex needs his world to be
a safe for his family and loved ones.
Lastly,
The Last Starfighter is one of the first fantasy
movies where we get to see the type of gamebreaker we see in
so many video games today. "Deathblossom" was the prototype
weapons system in the Gunstar, the space ship Alex and Grig
fly. It's a kick-ass multi-turret, spinning, kill as many
bad guys as you can in one blow flying machine, and it's
sweet to watch. It's the weapon you wanted to have in so
many video games where you hit the "go" button and watch
everyone disappear. It certainly would've made Asteroids a
much easier game as while growing up. We would all sit and
wait for the Deathblossom to go off and cheer when it did.
The
Last Starfighter is one of those fantastic coming of age
movies that is great for all audiences. It focuses on the
types of issues young men all have to deal with when it
comes to being socially awkward, and how they learn to
outgrow it and be a man when the time comes. It is filled
with great special effects and was groundbreaking in its
take on the use of 3D animation for both video games and
movies. I really love catching this movie from any moment in
the storyline because it's fun from beginning to the demise
of the enemies at the end when the commander answers his
dying soldiers queries of "What shall we do now," with a
very noble, "We die." 