Tikkabik

So SciFi showed The Last Starfighter this afternoon, and it caught James' attention -- we watched it from start to finish. I am once again reminded of why this movie remains one of my favorites.

For those of you who don't remember, The Last Starfighter tells the story of Alex Rogan, a young man from a trailer park in the middle of nowhere whose life is indeed going nowhere until he discovers that his prowess at a video game has catapulted him into an interstellar war unknown to the human race. He's kidnapped by an alien shyster masquerading as a human and finds himself at the controls of a vessel known as a Gunstar, where he saves the Star League from Xur and the Kodan Armada, aided by his navigator, a reptilian alien named Grig.

The Last Starfighter was remarkable for its time because all of the film's major special effects were done with CGI. It wasn't a big hit in its day, but it's become something of a cult classic since then, and it's even spawned a freeware video game (that's unfortunately only for the PC) modeled to replicate the game seen in the movie.

Sure, it's a bit cheesy -- simplistic plot (hero saves the universe, wins the girl, rockets off to adventures unknown), but it's sweet and it's a basic hero tale, and a story about a boy who saves the galaxy by playing video games is custom-made for me. I'm just as happy that it seems to be catching the attention of a new generation.