Talk:The Last Starfighter

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If I recall correctly, Alex does not "beat" TLS; he "beats" the posted high score. I think it was 1,000,000.

Both. In the film it doesn't show what his final score is, only that it is in excess of 960,000. (The one million figure comes from Alan Dean Foster's novelisation.) Alex does end up destroying the Ko-Dan command ship in the training game, which is the ultimate goal IIRC. thefamouseccles 00:37, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)

In addition, it is not Grig that returns Alex to Earth, but Centauri. He gives him a communication device, so, if he changes his mind, he can return to Rylos and take up the fight. Grig remains on Rylos, working on a modification to a new Gunstar - DeathBlossum - which he makes outside of the main hangar, thus avoiding the meteor assult from Xur.

Contents 1 "CGI generated image" 2 Video game 3 First to use CGI 4 Trivia items 5 Translator

[edit] "CGI generated image"

67.161.36.50 wrote in an editing title: "CGI" stands for "computer generated image", so "CGI generated image" is wrong. I thought that "CGI" means "computer generated imagery", so "CGI generated image" means "computer generated imagery generated image" means "image generated by computer generated imagery", which repeats words but is grammatically and semantically valid. Anthony Appleyard 19:23, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Speaking of CGI, "The Last Starfighter" DVD has a bonus section that features CGI X-wing fighters circa 1978. They were done by the same guys that did the CGI for "The Last Starfighter": Digital Productions. If you haven't seen the DVD, check out: http://www.cylon.org/films/last-intro-01.html

[edit] Video game

Atari wrote a "Last Starfighter" videogame for their Atari 5200 but it was never released. The game was complete except for the Gunstar having no shields so a single hit destroys it.

There definitely was a version for the Atari 800, and it was really cool. -- 213.39.198.56 (talk) 04:24, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] First to use CGI

I changed the line saying it was the first major movie to use CGI extensively. Tron pre-dates it by 2 years, and I am sure there were other films before it.99DBSIMLR 15:22, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

The first film to use real computer graphics for SFX was Westworld. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bizzybody (talk • contribs) 23:00, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia items

I don't see how the following are related to this article except by merely containing the same elements:

• In an episode of the ill-fated Clerks: The Animated Series, Randal Graves is recruited to build a pyramid after receiving the highest score in a fictional arcade game called "Pharaoh."
• In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Moon Master," Meatwad is recruited by the Mooninites in their battle against the monster Gorgotron following Meatwad's success at the fictional console "Moon Master" video game.
• In "Sentries of the Last Cosmos," an episode of Batman Beyond, an arcade game (from which the episode gets its title), is used as a recruiting tool for a criminal. [1]

Ok, but so what? You're going to list each and every time something uses video game recruiting in its story? I don't see how this is trivia for The Last Starfighter. Then this one tries to tie it to the movie, but doesn't have a citation:

• The recruiting-through-a-video-game premise seen in this movie inspired how the main characters got their powers in the Super Sentai series Denji Sentai Megaranger.^{[citation needed]}

I'm calling original work on this one. I think it's more likely that someone is assuming that this movie was an influence.

Remember: recruiting through a video game itself was an urban myth (stated in the article) that the movie drew its premise from.

If these trivia items are apropos to the movie somehow that I'm missing, they need to be reworded.

The "death blossom" references get a little spurious as well. Unless there's evidence or a citation that indicates that the term "death blossom" was in fact inspired by this movie, you can't always claim it. I would buy the US military reference, but not necessarily the anime reference. It's quite possible that they just came up with term separately. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Angelo (talk • contribs) 16:20, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. Removing some of the trivia indicated above. The US military use of "death blossom" has a citation that seems legit indicating the term was inspired by The Last Starfighter so that one stays. Sbacle 17:54, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Translator

That was one of the cheapest props ever in a SciFi movie. It's simply the circuit board from a cheap LCD clock that was commonly available in the 1980's. The visible side in the film is the back side with the microchip mounted "glop top" style. You can also see the silver cylinder of the quartz crystal and the semi-circular cutout for the battery. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bizzybody (talk • contribs) 04:37, 29 May 2008 (UTC)