THE LAST STARFIGHTER [1984] [25th Anniversary Edition] [Blu-ray] [1984 / 2011] [USA Release] The Adventure of a Lifetime is About to Begin!
GREETINGS, STARFIGHTER! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada! So begins an adventure of galactic proportions in ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER.’ After Earthling Alex Rogan [Lance Guest] conquers the Starfighter video game, and is recruited by alien Centauri [Robert Preston] to be part of an elite legion of fighters. Leaving behind his trailer park home for the outer regions of space, Alex Rogan becomes the last hope for the beleaguered Star League and hundreds of worlds – including Earth. ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ is the ultimate video game fantasy come true!
Now newly restored from a 4K scan of the original negative and featuring a 4.1 mix originally created for the film's 70mm release – never included on previous home video formats – ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ arrives loaded with brand new and archival bonus special features. So strap yourself in and the ultimate Blu-ray adventure of a lifetime is about to begin!
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1985 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for Robert Preston. 1985 Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival: Nominated: Grand Prize for Nick Castle. 1985 Hugo Awards: Nominated: Best Dramatic Presentation for Nick Castle and Jonathan R. Betuel. 1985 Young Artist Awards: Nominated: Best Young Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama for Chris Hebert.
FILM FACT No.2: ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ along with Disney's ‘Tron,’ has the distinction of being one of cinema's earliest films to use extensive “real-life” computer-generated imagery (CGI) to depict its many Starships, environments and battle scenes. ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ was Robert Preston's final role in a theatrical film. The character of Centauri, a “lovable con-man,” was written for Robert Preston with him in mind and was a nod to his most famous role as Professor Harold Hill in ‘The Music Man.’ There was a subsequent novelisation of the film by Alan Dean Foster, as well as a video game based on the production. In 2004, it was also adapted as an off-Broadway musical. ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ was shot in 38 days, mostly night shoots in Canyon Country. It was one of the earliest films to make extensive use of computer graphics for its special effects. In place of physical models, 3D rendered models were used to depict space ships and many other objects. The Gunstar and other spaceships were the design of artist Ron Cobb, who also worked on ‘Alien,’ ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Conan the Barbarian.’ The computer graphics for the film were rendered by Digital Productions (DP) on a Cray X-MP supercomputer. The company created 27 minutes of effects for the film. This was considered an enormous amount of computer generated imagery at the time. For the 300 scenes containing computer graphics in the film, each frame of the animation contained an average of 250,000 polygons, and had a resolution of 3000 × 5000 36-bit pixels. The Digital Productions Company estimated that using computer animation required only half the time and between a third to half of the cost of traditional special effects, and the result cost of $14 million for a film that made about $29 million at the box office.
Cast: Kay E. Kuter, Dan Mason, Lance Guest, Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Barbara Bosson, Norman Snow, Robert Preston, Chris Hebert, John O'Leary, George McDaniel, Charlene Nelson, John Maio, Robert Starr, Al Berry, Scott Dunlop, Vernon Washington, Peter Nelson, Peggy Pope, Meg Wyllie, Ellen Blake, Britt Leach, Bunny Summers, Owen Bush, Marc Alaimo, Cameron Dye, Geoffrey Blake, Kimberly Ross, Wil Wheaton, Bob Kenaston, Ed Berke, Bruce Abbott (uncredited), Stephen Douglas Butler (uncredited), Maggie Cooper (uncredited), David LeBell (uncredited), Mary Charlene Napp (uncredited), Suzanne Snyder (uncredited) and Lee E. Stevens (uncredited)
Director: Nick Castle
Producers: Edward O. Denault, Gary Adelson, John H. Whitney Jr. and Robert E. Swanson (uncredited)
Screenplay: Jonathan R. Betuel
Composer: Craig Safan
Costume Designer: Robert Fletcher
Make-up and Hair Department: Brian Wade (Make-up effects technician), Lance Anderson (Mechanical effects make-up), Rick Stratton (Make-up lab sculptor), Terry Smith (Design make-up), Werner Keppler (Technical make-up), Audrey Levy (Key hair stylist) and Gerald Solomon (Assistant hair stylist)
Special Effects: Darrell Pritchett, James Camomile, Joseph C. Sasgen, Kevin Pike and Michael Lantieri
Cinematography: King Baggot (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Color by Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, French and Spanish
Running Time: 100 minutes
Region: Region Free
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Universal Pictures / LORIMA Production
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: With the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ [1984] for generations growing up in the 1980’s, it can seem like a very tongue in cheek little film that likely holds a special place in many hearts. Clearly inspired by the huge success of the ‘Star Wars’ trilogy, the movie tells the story of an unassuming teenager recruited to join an intergalactic defence force thanks to his video game prowess. The film’s an ambitious sci-fi endeavour that fails to match the grandeur of George Lucas’s “galaxy far, far away,” but one still has to admire its effort and great heart.
‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ concerns Alex Rogan [Lance Guest], an American teenager living in a trailer park in the middle of nowhere. Aside from his girlfriend Maggie Gordon [Catherine Mary Stewart], who acts as his personal cheerleader, Alex Rogan is surrounded by nothing of importance and seems destined to lead a dull life that crushes all his dreams.
However, Alex Rogan does have a knack for a particular video game, The Last Starfighter and takes out his frustrations with a nightly ritual of trying to beat the game. And then, one night, Alex Rogan does just that, but before he can relish his accomplishment he’s introduced to the game’s inventor, Centauri [Robert Preston], who offers Alex Rofan a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This involves being whisked away to an alien planet, as Centauri explains the video game’s war between the Rylan Star League and Ko-Dan Empire is, in fact, real and happening right now and the fact that Centauri actually invented The Last Starfighter video game. So through a combination of misfortune and fate, Alex Rogan becomes their last hope.
In the 1980’s we had a lot of teenage angst and a sense that anything is possible, usually on the cusp of puberty, are the common themes found in films of the 1980’s. So many protagonists were teenagers with humble origins with big dreams. ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ is a perfect example of that formula.
The two leading actors Lance Guest and Catherine Mary Stewart are the main aspect of ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER,’ and of course the only inspired bit of casting comes with the actor Robert Preston as Centauri. It’s a role many say is a tribute to his earlier performance as con-man Harold Hill in ‘The Music Man’ [1962]. Much like Alec Guinness in ‘Star Wars’ [1977], Robert Preston was a seasoned and acclaimed actor whose resume outclassed his co-stars and Robert Preston really seemed to enjoy being part of this goofy sci-fi adventure.
‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ is noteworthy in Hollywood history as it was one of the first films to extensively use computer graphics for its visual effects. Modern audiences will likely be put off by some of the chintzy VFX today, as the technology
has advanced so much in 35 years, but nothing about them looked cheap at the time. Many were ground-breaking and marked the beginning of the industry’s move away from scale miniatures.
The screenplay for ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ was inspired by Jonathan R. Betuel, who is something of an enigma. After the film got made, Jonathan R. Betuel started working on other projects based on stories that he had written, but most of them never got off the ground. In a 2015 interview, Jonathan R. Betuel complained he was forced to work with “directors from another planet” and that his projects got stuck in an “endless development roundabout.”
‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ was a modest success when it opened in the summer of 1984. With comparisons to ‘Star Wars’ firmly laid by critics at the time, the film had an even better afterlife on cable and home video. One of the first films to take full advantage of the burgeoning field of computer generated graphics, it’s also considered a bit of a pioneer. Today it’s fondly remembered as a laid-back and enjoyable space opera of a sort, but with genuinely likable characters and story dynamics that work better than many of its contemporaries. Directed by Nick Castle and featuring conceptual art and design by the late, great Ron Cobb, and ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ is an evergreen title for a certain generation of moviegoers who first watched it and were blown away by its cutting edge special effects at the time and was won over by its enjoyable and well-executed premise.
Combine these experiences with a prolonged legal battle over the rights to the story, and it’s no surprise that a sequel to ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ never materialised. Even with the current trend that favour reboots and a renaissance for 1980’s pop culture, it seems highly unlikely audiences will ever get to see another Starfighter film.
THE LAST STARFIGHTER MUSIC TRACK LIST
NEVER CROSSED MY MIND (Written by Craig Safan and Mark Mueller) [Performed by Clif Magness]
INCOMMUNICADO (Written by Craig Safan and Mark Mueller) [Performed by Clif Magness]
SATISFY THE NIGHT (Written by Craig Safan and Mark Mueller) [Performed by Karen Blake and Gregory Prestopino]
RED EYES (Written by Craig Safan and Mark Mueller) [Performed by Clif Magness]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Universal Pictures and LORIMA Production presents the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ with a stunning 1080p image and shown in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but most of all this new 4K scan, and presents a glistening, gorgeous new master for this Blu-ray release, infinitely sharper than earlier Universal Pictures releases that suffered from a significant poor DNR experience. Now, grain is preserved, at times thick, but naturally resolved. Obviously, some composites and other effects create imperfections at the source. Also, a few vertical scratches lightly appear, mostly repaired and only a faint remnant left. Exceptional sharpness and detail bring out facial definition. This goes for human and alien, the makeup work easily appreciated. Exteriors on Earth capture the location shoot in full. Into space, set work is revealed, holding up against this high resolution scrutiny. The well-aged CGI does involve a little aliasing, unavoidable considering, while still offering incredible images from a nearly 40-year-old technical film. The Technicolor is slightly flat, plus the perky contrast keeps everything bright, and black levels provide a suitable counter, if not always the purest black. Space is deep enough to convincingly render a void behind the star fields though and ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ has been exclusively restored. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at EFILM. The film was graded and restored at R3Store Studios in London.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Universal Pictures and LORIMA Production brings us the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ with a 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio experience. Audio fidelity is really exciting and the composed music score by Craig Safan is an absolutely spectacular audio spectrum. Explosions rarely rattle your speakers, although the engines nicely rumble as they pass around you. The rear channels pan things around as needed, also offering ambiance. Listen for a heartbeat-like effect in Xur’s command centre. Craig Safan’s awesome composed score spreads outward, making full use of the soundstage. Audio remastering on all audio mixes was completed at Deluxe Audio, Los Angeles, USA.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Heroes of the Screen [2009] [480i / 1080p] [1.78:1 / 2.35:1] [24:19] With this featurette, we have the appearance of Catherine Mary Stewart (who looks great at 50) who really punches up this featurette, as does the mixed picture quality. Cleverly laid out in a comic book format, the featurette details the film's shooting, with a large chunk focusing on the ground-breaking computerised special effects and the make-it-up-as-we-go-along attitude of the production team. Other topics include casting, music, storyboards, and memories of Robert Preston. As an added bonus we get to view clips from the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ and we also get to view lots of in-depth behind-the-scene filming. Contributors include: Jonathan R. Betuel [Screenwriter], Gary Adelson [Producer], Nick Castle [Director], Lance Guest [Alex Rogan], Catherine Mary Stewart [Maggie], Craig Safan [Composer], Jeff Okun [Visual Effects] and Paul Power [Storyboard Artist].
Special Feature: Crossing the Frontier: Making of ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ [1999] [480i] [1.37:1] [32:02] With this featurette, we get to view an original documentary with a fascinating look at the creation of the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ and its ground-breaking computer-generated visual effects and featuring behind-the-scenes footage and some of the computer artists who blazed the trail for a new era of effects technology at Digital Productions. Also included are comments from leading artists at Industrial Light and Magic who discuss the historical importance of ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ in the annals of the visual effects field. Once again we get to view clips from the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ and we also get to view lots of in-depth behind-the-scene filming. But most of all, they give great praise to Craig Dafan for his brilliant original composed score to the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER.’ Contributors include: Lance Guest [Alex Rogan], Jonathan R. Betuel [Screenwriter], Gary Adelson [Producer], Nick Castle [Director], James D. Bissell [Art Director], Robert Preston [Centaur], John H. Whitney Jr. [Associate Producer], Gary Demos [Technical Executive], Ron Cobb [Production Designer], Jeffery A. Okun [Visual Effects Coordinator], Kevin Rafferty [Senior Drafter / Encoder], Rick Sternbach [Illustrator], Larry Yaeger [Software Developer], Craig Safan [Composer], Dennis Muren [Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM] and John Knoll [Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM].
Special Feature: Image Gallery: With this featurette, we get to view Nine different image galleries and they are as follows: The Cast [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [3:35]; “Starfighter” Arcade Game [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [5:41]; Starfighter Command [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [20:54]; The Starcar [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [11:05]; The Gunstar [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [10:14]; Ko-Dan Amada [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [12:02]; Alternate Awards Ceremony Ending Scenes [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [5:56]; Anatomy of a Starfighter Computer-Generate Image [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [5:00] Promotion and Merchandise [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [3:57].
Special Feature: Teaser Trailer [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [1:33] With this featurette, we get to view the Original Teaser Trailer for the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER.’
Special Feature: Theatrical Trailer [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:47] With this featurette, we get to view the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER.’
Special Feature: Audio Commentary with Nick Castle and Ron Cobb [2011] [1080p] [2.35:1] [100:12] With this featurette, we get to hear this very interesting special audio commentary with Director Nick Castle and Production Designer Ron Cobb, and Nick Castle compares the structure of ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ to a “musical without music,” and Nick Castle says he tried to avoid Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas touches as much as possible, but didn't always succeed. Nick Castle likens Lance Guest to a teenage Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda, and divulges that the original names of the two lead characters were Skip and Penny. Ron Cobb discusses the film's slightly primitive digital effects, and the challenges involved in creating procedures that are easy to perform today. As we get near to the end of this Nick Castle and Ron Cobb audio commentary, they say that one thing about the specially effects for the film ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ was the first to use computers and was a giant gamble by Gary Adelson [American Television Producer] who went out on a limb into breaking new ground and we were at first very sceptical if the project would get off the ground, but luckily Ron Cobb was steering the project with the special effects and were very worried also if the film could be finished on time and if the project could also be finished on time, and at that point of this audio commentary comes to an end and both of them say, “well see, this is about the end of our commentary on ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ and we hope you enjoyed our audio commentary and we hope you liked the film and it has been a great deal of fun to be along for the ride for both of us.” All in all, this audio commentary is very straightforward but never dull; and this is a very engaging audio commentary dialogue that matches the film's laid-back feel to the film.
Finally, this Blu-ray release of ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ [1984] is a staggeringly excellent upgrade in every category. The film itself is like a warm blanket —perfectly cosy and a much-needed shot of good old positivity. With a nearly perfect presentation and wonderful assortment of extras new and old, this is definitely the kind of upgrade that fans of the film have clamoured for and will really appreciate. More Buck Rogers than Buzz Lightyear, ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ recalls the cheesy space serials of yore, but does so with such good intentions and youthful exuberance, it's hard to resist this wholesome sci-fi fantasy. A couple of new supplements set this Blu-ray apart from the previous HD-DVD, but the video and audio are a totally brilliant upgrade, so fans of ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ should definitely make this Blu-ray release their upgrade decision, because this 1080p upgrade transfer beats the previous standard DVD release by a mile, and should please the legions of diehards fans of ‘THE LAST STARFIGHTER’ whom this 25th Anniversary Edition is tailor-made and well worth purchasing. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
