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* NiceGuy: Alex, who's sick of being selfess. He's constantly helping the hapless trailer park residents with their problems, but never has any sort of time for himself. When he gets rejected for a college tuition at a university he was interested in (forcing him to go to the local state college), he suffers a HeroicBSOD.
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* RousingSpeech:
-->'''Alex:''' ''(depressed)'' Otis, I just never have a chance to have a good time around here.
-->'''Otis:''' Things change. Always do. You'll get your chance! Important thing is, when it comes, you've got to grab with both hands, and hold on tight!
-->'''Alex:''' ''(depressed)'' Otis, I just never have a chance to have a good time around here.
-->'''Otis:''' Things change. Always do. You'll get your chance! Important thing is, when it comes, you've got to grab with both hands, and hold on tight!
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* BattleCry: "Victory or death!"
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* BattleCry: "Victory or death!"death!" (Which freaks Alex out.)
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** Xur had the codes to the Barrier. It was only a matter of time after the Ko-Dan armada breached the barrier to destroy the Starfighter base before Xur was going to be given an unceremonious burial in space.
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* TranslatorMicrobes
to:
* TranslatorMicrobesTranslatorMicrobes: "You speak English?" "No, you ''hear'' English thanks to the translation device." ShownTheirWork as the instant the device is active, the background dialog and the loudspeaker announcer shift into English in that moment.
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* [[TheGreys Grey Alien]]: [[spoiler: What Centauri looks like without his human mask.]]
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* TheFaceless: Beta before shaking hands with Alex. (This appearently is some sort of DNA extraction / analyzer, as Beta is growing a new face - Alex's - that night.)
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* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Xur flees in an escape pod to fight another day. Unfortunately, as of right now, there is no sequel to The Last Starfighter to resolve this.]]
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* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Xur Xur flees in an escape pod to fight another day. Unfortunately, as of right now, there is no sequel to The ''The Last Starfighter Starfighter'' to resolve this.]]
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** Maggie appears to have nobody but Granny, with no mention of her [[DisappearedDad dad]] ''or' her [[MissingMom mom]].
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** Maggie appears to have nobody but Granny, with no mention of her [[DisappearedDad dad]] ''or' ''or'' her [[MissingMom mom]].
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--->'''Alex:''' [[FlatWhat *disbelieving stare*]]
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In Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, the change of \"best in the star league\" to \"exceptional\" removes the need to mention the other pilots\' demise, as there is no longer a comparison between him and them.
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* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's an exceptional Gunstar pilot, despite having grown up in a trailer park on Earth. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the video game was a training tool.
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* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's an exceptional Gunstar pilot, despite having grown up in a trailer park on Earth. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the video game was a training tool.
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* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's an exceptional Gunstar pilot, despite having grown up in a trailer park on Earth. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the video game was a training tool, and Alex was the sole remaining starfighter following the assault on the base.
to:
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's an exceptional Gunstar pilot, despite having grown up in a trailer park on Earth. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the video game was a training tool, and Alex was the sole remaining starfighter following the assault on the base.tool.
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* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's an exceptional Gunstar pilot, despite having grown up in a trailer park on Earth. It doesn't hurt that all of the other Star League pilots are killed.
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* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's an exceptional Gunstar pilot, despite having grown up in a trailer park on Earth. It doesn't hurt that all of This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the other Star League pilots are killed.video game was a training tool, and Alex was the sole remaining starfighter following the assault on the base.
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* SeriousBusiness: Getting a high score in a video game is so important that it gets the entire trailer park's attention.
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* SeriousBusiness: Getting a high score in a video game is so important that it gets the entire trailer park's attention. Perhaps justified; there doesn't seem to be a whole lot else to ''do'' in that neighbourhood besides getting drunk, high or laid.
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natter
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* IKnowMortalKombat: The whole point. Very JustifiedTrope, as explained above.
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* IKnowMortalKombat: The whole point. Very JustifiedTrope, as explained above.movie is an explicit justification of this trope: the video game is designed to be a training and recruitment tool.
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* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's a better pilot than anyone else in the Star League, despite growing up in a trailer park on Earth.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as he learned the controls and practiced the tactics on the video game.
** Also, at the time of his flight, he was the ''only'' pilot in the Star League, as the others were killed.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as he learned the controls and practiced the tactics on the video game.
** Also, at the time of his flight, he was the ''only'' pilot in the Star League, as the others were killed.
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* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's a better pilot than anyone else in the Star League, an exceptional Gunstar pilot, despite growing having grown up in a trailer park on Earth.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as he learnedEarth. It doesn't hurt that all of the controls and practiced the tactics on the video game.
** Also, at the time of his flight, he was the ''only'' pilot in theother Star League, as the others were League pilots are killed.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as he learned
** Also, at the time of his flight, he was the ''only'' pilot in the
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** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as he learned the controls and practiced the tactics on the video game.
** Also, at the time of his flight, he was the ''only'' pilot in the Star League, as the others were killed.
** Also, at the time of his flight, he was the ''only'' pilot in the Star League, as the others were killed.
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* MeaningfulEcho: When Alex repeats the attraction line from the video game, just before readying to attack the actual armada.
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* PoorCommunicationKills: A key difference between Xur and the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Kodan is their reaction to a partial transmission.
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* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Xur flees in an escape pod to fight another day. Unfortunately, as of right now, there is no sequel to The Last Starfighter to resolve this.]]
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''The Last Startfighter'' created ''all'' of its spaceship effects shots using only computer-generated images (one of the first films to do so), but since it did so during the very early days of CGI, [[ConspicuousCG said effects stand out as such]]. A Cray X-MP rendered all of the film's CGI; as a bit of perspective, the 800 [=MHz=] Pentium III processor available to consumers fifteen years later -- or the average smartphone of 2012 -- matches the processor power of the Cray X-MP (then the most powerful supercomputer in the world).
to:
''The Last Startfighter'' Starfighter'' created ''all'' all of its spaceship effects shots using only computer-generated images (one of the first films to do so), but since it did so during the very early days of CGI, [[ConspicuousCG said effects stand out as such]]. A Cray X-MP rendered all of the film's CGI; as a bit of perspective, the 800 [=MHz=] Pentium III processor available to consumers fifteen years later -- or the average smartphone of 2012 -- matches the processor power of the Cray X-MP (then the most powerful supercomputer in the world).
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Don\'t list aversions.
Deleted line(s) 130 (click to see context) :
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: A noteworthy aversion! Grig is charming and friendly and pretty cool, if a little gung-ho.
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''The Last Startfighter'' created ''all'' of its spaceship effects shots using only computer-generated images (one of the first films to do so), but since it did so during the very early days of CGI, [[ConspicuousCG said effects stand out as such]]. A Cray X-MP rendered all of the film's CGI; as a bit of perspective, the 800 [=MHz=] Pentium III processor available to consumers fifteen years later -- or the average smartphone of today -- matches the processor power of the Cray X-MP (then the most powerful supercomputer in the world).
to:
''The Last Startfighter'' created ''all'' of its spaceship effects shots using only computer-generated images (one of the first films to do so), but since it did so during the very early days of CGI, [[ConspicuousCG said effects stand out as such]]. A Cray X-MP rendered all of the film's CGI; as a bit of perspective, the 800 [=MHz=] Pentium III processor available to consumers fifteen years later -- or the average smartphone of today 2012 -- matches the processor power of the Cray X-MP (then the most powerful supercomputer in the world).
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Your/you\'re fix.
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--> '''Grig''': You're plan might really have worked. What a pity there are no starfighters left to carry it out.
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--> '''Grig''': You're Your plan might really have worked. What a pity there are no starfighters left to carry it out.
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natter. if you want Analysis, we have a whole section for it.
Deleted line(s) 156 (click to see context) :
** Possibly justified by Earth's apparently unique level of development in the current Star League... primitive enough to still be aggressive and combat-oriented, developed enough to use reason and caution. As a product of such a society, Alex would have the unique balance of traits necessary to make him a good combat pilot. Plus, most of the pilots die before ever getting their fighters off the launchpad, so there's not ''that'' much of a metric to judge him against.
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** Possibly justified by Earth's apparently unique level of development in the current Star League... primitive enough to still be aggressive and combat-oriented, developed enough to use reason and caution. As a product of such a society, Alex would have the unique balance of traits necessary to make him a good combat pilot. Plus, most of the pilots die before ever getting their fighters off the launchpad, so there's not ''that'' much of a metric to judge him against.
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* ActingForTwo:
-->'''Beta:''' Wait a minute, what are you doing ''back''?!
-->'''Alex:''' Are you kidding? It's ''war'' up there?
-->'''Beta:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Oh, sure. Save the whales, not the Universe.]]
-->'''Beta:''' Wait a minute, what are you doing ''back''?!
-->'''Alex:''' Are you kidding? It's ''war'' up there?
-->'''Beta:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Oh, sure. Save the whales, not the Universe.]]
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* YouOweMe: Beta to an absent Alex [[during his HeroicSacrifice]].
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* YouOweMe: Beta to an absent Alex [[during [[spoiler: during his HeroicSacrifice]].
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* YouOweMe: Beta to an absent Alex [[during his HeroicSacrifice]].
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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/last-starfighter.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:So all this time it was really a recruiting tool?]]
->''"Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by [[TheFederation the Star League]] to defend the Frontier against [[BigBad Xur]] and [[TheEmpire the Kodan Armada]]."''
What if you got a really high score in a video game, and the game came to life? Well that's sort of what happens in '''''The Last Starfighter''''', which serves as both an exploration and a {{deconstruction}} of wish fulfillment.
Alex Rogan spent his whole life stuck in his family's trailer park, but his wish to leave it turned into more than he bargained for when the space-shooter arcade game he managed to beat turned out to have been a scouting test to find the best space pilots in the universe. When Alex discovers the actual Star League chose him to actually fight against Xur and the Kodan Armada, he refuses to go along with it. When Alex demands to return home, he finds an android duplicate of himself, Beta, having a tough time of playing the role of Alex in the trailer park. After he reluctantly returns to space, the fun really begins.
''The Last Startfighter'' created ''all'' of its spaceship effects shots using only computer-generated images (one of the first films to do so), but since it did so during the very early days of CGI, [[ConspicuousCG said effects stand out as such]]. A Cray X-MP rendered all of the film's CGI; as a bit of perspective, the 800 [=MHz=] Pentium III processor available to consumers fifteen years later -- or the average smartphone of today -- matches the processor power of the Cray X-MP (then the most powerful supercomputer in the world).
----
!! ''TheLastStarfighter'' contains examples of the following tropes:
* ActorAllusion: Robert Preston essentially plays an alien version of Harold Hill from ''TheMusicMan''.
* ActualPacifist: The novelization features the League as such. They had some real trouble recruiting soldiers - and finding a politician to read them a speech.
* ArcWords: "Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada!"
* ArchnemesisDad: An InvertedTrope here -- the BigBad's father is the BigGood.
* AsYouKnow: Ambassador Enduran uses this trope almost by name -- "as you all know" -- as he mentions to the Starfighters what the Frontier is, why it's important, and how, because of a dark betrayal (he means Xur), the Frontier will soon collapse. Naturally, the audience and Alex are hearing this for the first time.
* AscendedFanboy
* BattleCry: "Victory or death!"
** The trope is also played with as Grig and Alex are first setting out:
--->'''Alex:''' Hold it -- there's no fleet, no Starfighters, no plan, one ship, you, me, and that's it?
--->'''Grig:''' Exactly! Xur thinks you're still on Earth! Classic military strategy; surprise attack!
--->'''Alex:''' It'll be a ''slaughter!''
--->'''Grig:''' '''THAT'S THE SPIRIT!'''
--->'''Alex:''' No, ''my'' slaughter! One ship against the whole armada?
--->'''Grig:''' Yes, one gunstar against the armada! I've always dreamed of fighting a desparate battle against incredible odds!
* BeamSpam
* BizarreAlienBiology: And ''how.'' It's telling that Grig, a purple lizard-like humanoid, is perhaps the most normal-looking of all the aliens in the film. And then, of course, there's the Bogati whose tentacle-thing Alex accidentally steps on.
--> '''Alex Rogan:''' I'm sorry. It was an accident, I didn't mean to step on your... whatever that is.
* TheCaligula: Xur. Strongly implied by his father, and his bizarre personality reinforces it.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Possibly by accident, since Centauri notes that the arcade machine Alex was playing was meant for somewhere else...
--> '''Centauri''': Funny thing about this is, it's all a big mistake. That particular Starfighter game was supposed to be delivered to Vegas, not some flea-speck trailer park in the middle of tumbleweeds and tarantulas.
** Played straight after Xur learns about Alex and sends an assassin to get rid of him. When Centauri warns more are coming to kill him, Alex realizes that his only chance of survival is back at the Star League where he can at least have access to a fighter craft's firepower to defend himself.
--> '''Beta''': At least up there, you have a fighting chance in a gunstar.
* CardCarryingVillain: Xur. And everyone knows it. The only reason the bad guys even listen to him is because he holds vital information. [[spoiler: Once they use it, they get him off the bridge so they don't have to listen to his villain-talk anymore.]]
* CastingGag: In either this or a very weird case of timing, Catherine Mary Stewart played a video game-obsessed girl in ''NightOfTheComet'', which was made and released around the same time.
* ChewTheScenery: Xur. Not one moment of his onscreen time is wasted without a chunk of scenery getting toothmarks.
* ChristmasRushed: Gets an InUniverse mention.
-->'''Rylan Bursar''': Return the money, Centauri.\\
'''Centauri''': Return the money! Are you delirious? Do you know how long it took to invent the games? To merchandise them? To get them in the stores by Christmas?
* CoolCar / CoolStarship / FlyingCar / TransformingMecha: Centauri's, which took the angular wedge design of the [=DeLorean=], turned it UpToEleven, then made it a ''transforming starship.''
* CoolOldLady: Maggie's grandma.
* CoolSpaceShip: The Gunstars
* CosyCatastrophe: Louis thinks this when Alex's Starfighter lands.
-->'''Louis:''' Woooo! All right, we're being invaded!
* CranialProcessingUnit: When the Beta unit (robot) impersonating Alex takes off its head, the head can continue to talk normally.
* CrazyCulturalComparison: As Alex and Grig fly through the tunnels of an asteroid, Grig mentions that it reminds him of home. That leads to a chat comparing their species' differences in families, dwellings, and games... which inspires Alex to suggest [[spoiler:hiding as the Ko-Dan Armada goes by, then make a surprise attack on them.]]
--> '''Grig''': You're plan might really have worked. What a pity there are no starfighters left to carry it out.
* TheDanza: If you listen real carefully, there is exactly one scene in the entire movie where Mrs. Boone is referred to by her first name, Bunny, which is the same first name as the actress who plays her, Bunny Summers.[[hottip:*:Pee-Wee Herman fans will know her as the costume lady in Big Top Pee-Wee.]]
* DareToBeBadass / TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Centauri's reponse to Alex's RefusalOfTheCall:
--> '''Alex:''' I'm not any of those guys, I'm just a kid from a trailer park...
--> '''Centauri:''' If that's what you think, then that's all you'll ever be!
* {{Defictionalized}}: A fan game that attempts to recreate the arcade game depicted in the film [[http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php was released 13 years after the release of the movie]]. The [[LicensedGame Atari release]] planned along with the movie never materialized, despite being mentioned in the credits.
* DescriptionCut: Happens right after Xur shows the execution of the master spy for all of the Starfighters to see.
--> '''Centauri''': Heh... so! You still wanna leave... and miss all the excitement?
--> ''[Cut to Centauri and Alex in the car, returning to Earth]''
* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Centauri, after his [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]] to save Alex from an assassination attempt.]]
* DisappearedDad: No mention is made of Alex and Louis' father. To some viewers, this implies that Jane, their hardworking single mom raises them by herself.
** Maggie appears to have nobody but Granny, with no mention of her [[DisappearedDad dad]] ''or' her [[MissingMom mom]].
* DisneyDeath
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Xur's introduction at the Starfighter home base.
* TheEighties: Primarily the video gaming culture that had spawned that decade.
* EverybodysDeadDave: Alex
* EvilIsHammy: Xur, oh so very much. It's amazing the hull of his command ship was able to withstand his vast [[ChewingTheScenery scenery chewing]].
* EvilLaugh: Xur at the end of his speech to the Starfighter base personnel. He also did it in the faces of the Ko-Dan commanders and the First Officer was all for throwing him out the airlock right there and then.
* FaceDeathWithDignity / FacingTheBulletsOneLiner: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U7rOUSvYM8 By one of the villains]] -
-->'''Kodan Officer''': We're locked into the moon's gravitational pull! What do we do?\\
'''Commander Kril''': We die.
* FacePalm: A rather unusual one by Beta when he sees a Zandozan landing to Earth, since his ''head'' is on the window sill. It's sort of a third-person face palm.
* FamousFamousFictional: Lampshaded with Alex not knowing who Galoka is.
* {{Fanfare}}
* FinalSpeech: Centauri's big death scene.[[spoiler:Or so we think.]]
* FollowTheLeader: ''StarWars'' (and not just the movies either...).
* TheGameComeToLife
* GuyInBack: {{Inverted}}. The hero is a gunner, which would traditionally be a GuyInBack in any other setting. In this case, the ''pilots'' are evidently considered the GuyInBack to the gunners, however. [[ItMakesSenseInContext It makes sense]], of course, if you realize that this movie is based around {{Rail Shooter}} video games.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Beta]]. Centauri, [[spoiler:who gets better]].
* {{Hologram}}
** HologramProjectionImperfection: While Xur's HugeHolographicHead is appearing in the Starfighter base.
** HugeHolographicHead: Xur
* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler:After saving the galaxy, Alex and Maggie leave Earth to train future Gunstar pilots...or something]]
* IHaveNoSon: Xur's father invokes this.
* IKnowMortalKombat: The whole point. Very JustifiedTrope, as explained above.
* ILikeThoseOdds: One Gunstar against the entire Ko-Dan armada. Grig likes the idea, but subverts the Trope in that he thinks it'll be a BolivianArmyEnding.
* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: Earth isn't advanced enough to even know about the Star League, much less participate. Centauri retorts it's irrelevant.
-->'''Centauri:''' Earth's in danger too, isn't it?
* IWishItWereReal
* KillAndReplace: Zandozan assassins do this to a local cop and a hitchhiker.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: [[spoiler:The Star League base is destroyed by three asteroids launched from a giant meteor gun.]]
* LastStarfighter: The TropeNamer.
* LicensedGame: Atari Inc. was originally slated to develop arcade and home video games based on the movie. They were cancelled for various reasons, including the sale/division of Atari Inc. into Atari Games and Atari Corp. The home computer game was eventually released (with minor changes) as ''StarRaiders 2''.
* LosingYourHead: The Beta unit.
* MacrossMissileMassacre / MoreDakka: Death Blossom.
** In the novelization, the ArcadeGame tries the tactic against Alex, but fails since each missile assumes that the pilot attempts to dodge the attack. Near the end of the book, Alex defeats the Ko-Dan armada through sheer ''[[ImprobableAimingSkills awesome shooting skills]]'', saving the super weapon on their final attack.
* TheMothership
* TheMusical: This was adapted into an off-Broadway musical. Seriously, this exists. (If you're curious, the Death Blossom is simulated using a swiveling rolling chair.)
* MookChivalry: Death Blossom aside, the final showdown would have had a very different result had the Ko-Dan fighters attacked in a faintly organized fashion. This is actually justified as Alex takes out the communication turret they usually use for this purpose in his first attack run.
* NoodleIncident: Grig mentioning Centauri's "old Excalibur (Test) tricks"[[hottip:*:Which Centauri points out that he didn't use]]) when he finds out how Alex was recruited.
** On a lesser note, Centauri's RuleOfThree mention of Galoka and the Ulus.
* {{Novelization}}: Written by AlanDeanFoster. Most noted for a ''vastly'' expanded showdown against the Ko-Dan, including "refueling" the Gunstar by flying it near the surface of a star.
* ParentalObliviousness
* PassingtheTorch: As Alex and Maggie head into space, his younger brother, Louis steps up to the Starfighter video game, and watches as the Gunstar flies into the stars. It's implies that Louis might join his brother among the stars.
* PerfectPacifistPeople: The Star League, who had to recruit from hundreds of member planets to find a roomful of warriors who "possess[ed] the...gift". The novelization even describes the League President as turning queasy at hearing their BattleCry.
* PhotoprotoneutronTorpedo: The checklist that Alex runs down with Grig while they ready their Gunstar for battle, as Grig counts down:
-->'''Grig:''' 6
-->'''Alex:''' Heads up display, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 5
-->'''Alex:''' Lasers, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 4
-->'''Alex:''' Particle beam, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 3
-->'''Alex:''' Proton poles, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 2
-->'''Alex:''' Chair control, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 1
-->'''Alex:''' Let's do it.
** In the novelization, Grig states the real names involve science too advanced to translate, so he uses the game terms for the sake of convenience.
* PornStash: "Back to sleep, Louis, or I'm telling Mom about your {{Playboy}}s!" (Followed by...)
* PrecisionFStrike.
-->'''Louis:''' What the ''shit''?!
-->'''Beta:''' I ''said'' back to sleep, Louis, or I'm telling Mom about your Playboys!
* RaceForYourLove
* RammingAlwaysWorks: Faced with no other options, [[spoiler: Commander Kril gives the obligatory order of "Ramming speed!" in an attempt to run over Alex's stationary Gunstar.]]
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Averted with Centauri's true form.
* RefusalOfTheCall
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: A noteworthy aversion! Grig is charming and friendly and pretty cool, if a little gung-ho.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Beta. Except he couldn't figure out that whole tongue-in-ear thing...
* RoboticReveal
* RobotMe
* RobotNames
* RuleOfThree: Centauri trying to convince Alex to at least consider coming back.
-->'''Centauri:''' "Alex! Alex! You're walking away from history! ''History!'' Did Chris Columbus say he wanted to stay home? Nooooo. What if the Wright Brothers thought that only birds should fly? And did Galoka think that the Ulus were too ugly to save?"\\
'''Alex:''' "Who's Galoka?"
-->'''Centauri:''' Never mind.
* SeizeHim: Commander Kril gives this order to the Ko-Dan soldiers after Emperor Xur screws up.
* SentryGun: Protecting the Starfighter base. Worked well until they were sabotaged.
* SeriousBusiness: Getting a high score in a video game is so important that it gets the entire trailer park's attention.
* SimulationGame
* SnakeOilSalesman
* SpaceFighter: The Gunstars and Ko-Dan fighters.
* SuperPrototype: Justified in that the Gunstar was the ''only'' fighter to survive the assault, since it was a work-in-progress kept in a special hangar.
* SyntheticVoiceActor: The Ko-Dan mooks.
* TakeAThirdOption: The armada used a communication turret on the main ship to allow the fighters to move efficiently and be unstoppable. The main ship was wisely behind the fighters, making it nearly impossible to reach. Alex had the idea of hiding the ship until the fleet passed, allowing his one ship to catch them from behind, taking out the turret while the armada was in a non-battle formation. By the time they got the fleet in line, Alex had destroyed a good chunk of the fighters.
* TakingTheBullet: Centauri does it to save Alex from a Zandozan energy bolt.
* TechMarchesOn: Grig's amazing photo album - thousands of pictures stored in a device you can hold in your hand/tentacle/pseudopod! It seemed an impossible dream from the vantage point of TheEighties. Although slideshows on our modern phones, cameras, [=PDAs=], etc. don't go ''that'' fast.
-->'''Grig:''' "I live below ground with my wife-oid... and six thousand little griglets."
-->(shows Alex a photograph that rapidly flashes through several hundred photos of aliens)
* ThrowItIn: Test audiences loved the comedic scenes of Beta adjusting to Earth customs, so more scenes were filmed after original production had ended. You can tell which are the extra scenes by Lance Guest's wearing a wig (he had cut his hair between production work).
* TranslatorMicrobes
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's a better pilot than anyone else in the Star League, despite growing up in a trailer park on Earth.
* VerticalKidnapping: Attempted when an alien assassin is sent to kill Alex.
* VillainousBreakdown: Xur, once his allies have had enough of his [[TheCaligula bizarre personality]].
-->'''Xur:''' How dare you! I am the Emperor of Rylos! I and I alone command this entire arm-- ''(guards begin to drag him away)'' Release me! I ''command'' you! '''''YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS WITH YOUR LIVES!'''''
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: The Xandoxan assassin.
* WaveMotionGun
* YoureNotMyFather: Inverted. Xur mocks his familial relationship to his father, who in turn [[IHaveNoSon disowns him]].
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Ko-Dan general to Xur. However, this is after Xur jumped to the conclusion that the last starfighter is dead, ordered the fleet to proceed at full speed thus reducing their defensive posture and then a gunstar suddenly appears on an attack run against the command ship, about to strike it ''hard''. To the general, Xur never had ''any'' usefulness to outlive in the first place.
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[[caption-width-right:300:So all this time it was really a recruiting tool?]]
->''"Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by [[TheFederation the Star League]] to defend the Frontier against [[BigBad Xur]] and [[TheEmpire the Kodan Armada]]."''
What if you got a really high score in a video game, and the game came to life? Well that's sort of what happens in '''''The Last Starfighter''''', which serves as both an exploration and a {{deconstruction}} of wish fulfillment.
Alex Rogan spent his whole life stuck in his family's trailer park, but his wish to leave it turned into more than he bargained for when the space-shooter arcade game he managed to beat turned out to have been a scouting test to find the best space pilots in the universe. When Alex discovers the actual Star League chose him to actually fight against Xur and the Kodan Armada, he refuses to go along with it. When Alex demands to return home, he finds an android duplicate of himself, Beta, having a tough time of playing the role of Alex in the trailer park. After he reluctantly returns to space, the fun really begins.
''The Last Startfighter'' created ''all'' of its spaceship effects shots using only computer-generated images (one of the first films to do so), but since it did so during the very early days of CGI, [[ConspicuousCG said effects stand out as such]]. A Cray X-MP rendered all of the film's CGI; as a bit of perspective, the 800 [=MHz=] Pentium III processor available to consumers fifteen years later -- or the average smartphone of today -- matches the processor power of the Cray X-MP (then the most powerful supercomputer in the world).
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!! ''TheLastStarfighter'' contains examples of the following tropes:
* ActorAllusion: Robert Preston essentially plays an alien version of Harold Hill from ''TheMusicMan''.
* ActualPacifist: The novelization features the League as such. They had some real trouble recruiting soldiers - and finding a politician to read them a speech.
* ArcWords: "Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada!"
* ArchnemesisDad: An InvertedTrope here -- the BigBad's father is the BigGood.
* AsYouKnow: Ambassador Enduran uses this trope almost by name -- "as you all know" -- as he mentions to the Starfighters what the Frontier is, why it's important, and how, because of a dark betrayal (he means Xur), the Frontier will soon collapse. Naturally, the audience and Alex are hearing this for the first time.
* AscendedFanboy
* BattleCry: "Victory or death!"
** The trope is also played with as Grig and Alex are first setting out:
--->'''Alex:''' Hold it -- there's no fleet, no Starfighters, no plan, one ship, you, me, and that's it?
--->'''Grig:''' Exactly! Xur thinks you're still on Earth! Classic military strategy; surprise attack!
--->'''Alex:''' It'll be a ''slaughter!''
--->'''Grig:''' '''THAT'S THE SPIRIT!'''
--->'''Alex:''' No, ''my'' slaughter! One ship against the whole armada?
--->'''Grig:''' Yes, one gunstar against the armada! I've always dreamed of fighting a desparate battle against incredible odds!
* BeamSpam
* BizarreAlienBiology: And ''how.'' It's telling that Grig, a purple lizard-like humanoid, is perhaps the most normal-looking of all the aliens in the film. And then, of course, there's the Bogati whose tentacle-thing Alex accidentally steps on.
--> '''Alex Rogan:''' I'm sorry. It was an accident, I didn't mean to step on your... whatever that is.
* TheCaligula: Xur. Strongly implied by his father, and his bizarre personality reinforces it.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Possibly by accident, since Centauri notes that the arcade machine Alex was playing was meant for somewhere else...
--> '''Centauri''': Funny thing about this is, it's all a big mistake. That particular Starfighter game was supposed to be delivered to Vegas, not some flea-speck trailer park in the middle of tumbleweeds and tarantulas.
** Played straight after Xur learns about Alex and sends an assassin to get rid of him. When Centauri warns more are coming to kill him, Alex realizes that his only chance of survival is back at the Star League where he can at least have access to a fighter craft's firepower to defend himself.
--> '''Beta''': At least up there, you have a fighting chance in a gunstar.
* CardCarryingVillain: Xur. And everyone knows it. The only reason the bad guys even listen to him is because he holds vital information. [[spoiler: Once they use it, they get him off the bridge so they don't have to listen to his villain-talk anymore.]]
* CastingGag: In either this or a very weird case of timing, Catherine Mary Stewart played a video game-obsessed girl in ''NightOfTheComet'', which was made and released around the same time.
* ChewTheScenery: Xur. Not one moment of his onscreen time is wasted without a chunk of scenery getting toothmarks.
* ChristmasRushed: Gets an InUniverse mention.
-->'''Rylan Bursar''': Return the money, Centauri.\\
'''Centauri''': Return the money! Are you delirious? Do you know how long it took to invent the games? To merchandise them? To get them in the stores by Christmas?
* CoolCar / CoolStarship / FlyingCar / TransformingMecha: Centauri's, which took the angular wedge design of the [=DeLorean=], turned it UpToEleven, then made it a ''transforming starship.''
* CoolOldLady: Maggie's grandma.
* CoolSpaceShip: The Gunstars
* CosyCatastrophe: Louis thinks this when Alex's Starfighter lands.
-->'''Louis:''' Woooo! All right, we're being invaded!
* CranialProcessingUnit: When the Beta unit (robot) impersonating Alex takes off its head, the head can continue to talk normally.
* CrazyCulturalComparison: As Alex and Grig fly through the tunnels of an asteroid, Grig mentions that it reminds him of home. That leads to a chat comparing their species' differences in families, dwellings, and games... which inspires Alex to suggest [[spoiler:hiding as the Ko-Dan Armada goes by, then make a surprise attack on them.]]
--> '''Grig''': You're plan might really have worked. What a pity there are no starfighters left to carry it out.
* TheDanza: If you listen real carefully, there is exactly one scene in the entire movie where Mrs. Boone is referred to by her first name, Bunny, which is the same first name as the actress who plays her, Bunny Summers.[[hottip:*:Pee-Wee Herman fans will know her as the costume lady in Big Top Pee-Wee.]]
* DareToBeBadass / TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Centauri's reponse to Alex's RefusalOfTheCall:
--> '''Alex:''' I'm not any of those guys, I'm just a kid from a trailer park...
--> '''Centauri:''' If that's what you think, then that's all you'll ever be!
* {{Defictionalized}}: A fan game that attempts to recreate the arcade game depicted in the film [[http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php was released 13 years after the release of the movie]]. The [[LicensedGame Atari release]] planned along with the movie never materialized, despite being mentioned in the credits.
* DescriptionCut: Happens right after Xur shows the execution of the master spy for all of the Starfighters to see.
--> '''Centauri''': Heh... so! You still wanna leave... and miss all the excitement?
--> ''[Cut to Centauri and Alex in the car, returning to Earth]''
* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Centauri, after his [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]] to save Alex from an assassination attempt.]]
* DisappearedDad: No mention is made of Alex and Louis' father. To some viewers, this implies that Jane, their hardworking single mom raises them by herself.
** Maggie appears to have nobody but Granny, with no mention of her [[DisappearedDad dad]] ''or' her [[MissingMom mom]].
* DisneyDeath
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Xur's introduction at the Starfighter home base.
* TheEighties: Primarily the video gaming culture that had spawned that decade.
* EverybodysDeadDave: Alex
* EvilIsHammy: Xur, oh so very much. It's amazing the hull of his command ship was able to withstand his vast [[ChewingTheScenery scenery chewing]].
* EvilLaugh: Xur at the end of his speech to the Starfighter base personnel. He also did it in the faces of the Ko-Dan commanders and the First Officer was all for throwing him out the airlock right there and then.
* FaceDeathWithDignity / FacingTheBulletsOneLiner: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U7rOUSvYM8 By one of the villains]] -
-->'''Kodan Officer''': We're locked into the moon's gravitational pull! What do we do?\\
'''Commander Kril''': We die.
* FacePalm: A rather unusual one by Beta when he sees a Zandozan landing to Earth, since his ''head'' is on the window sill. It's sort of a third-person face palm.
* FamousFamousFictional: Lampshaded with Alex not knowing who Galoka is.
* {{Fanfare}}
* FinalSpeech: Centauri's big death scene.[[spoiler:Or so we think.]]
* FollowTheLeader: ''StarWars'' (and not just the movies either...).
* TheGameComeToLife
* GuyInBack: {{Inverted}}. The hero is a gunner, which would traditionally be a GuyInBack in any other setting. In this case, the ''pilots'' are evidently considered the GuyInBack to the gunners, however. [[ItMakesSenseInContext It makes sense]], of course, if you realize that this movie is based around {{Rail Shooter}} video games.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Beta]]. Centauri, [[spoiler:who gets better]].
* {{Hologram}}
** HologramProjectionImperfection: While Xur's HugeHolographicHead is appearing in the Starfighter base.
** HugeHolographicHead: Xur
* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler:After saving the galaxy, Alex and Maggie leave Earth to train future Gunstar pilots...or something]]
* IHaveNoSon: Xur's father invokes this.
* IKnowMortalKombat: The whole point. Very JustifiedTrope, as explained above.
* ILikeThoseOdds: One Gunstar against the entire Ko-Dan armada. Grig likes the idea, but subverts the Trope in that he thinks it'll be a BolivianArmyEnding.
* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: Earth isn't advanced enough to even know about the Star League, much less participate. Centauri retorts it's irrelevant.
-->'''Centauri:''' Earth's in danger too, isn't it?
* IWishItWereReal
* KillAndReplace: Zandozan assassins do this to a local cop and a hitchhiker.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: [[spoiler:The Star League base is destroyed by three asteroids launched from a giant meteor gun.]]
* LastStarfighter: The TropeNamer.
* LicensedGame: Atari Inc. was originally slated to develop arcade and home video games based on the movie. They were cancelled for various reasons, including the sale/division of Atari Inc. into Atari Games and Atari Corp. The home computer game was eventually released (with minor changes) as ''StarRaiders 2''.
* LosingYourHead: The Beta unit.
* MacrossMissileMassacre / MoreDakka: Death Blossom.
** In the novelization, the ArcadeGame tries the tactic against Alex, but fails since each missile assumes that the pilot attempts to dodge the attack. Near the end of the book, Alex defeats the Ko-Dan armada through sheer ''[[ImprobableAimingSkills awesome shooting skills]]'', saving the super weapon on their final attack.
* TheMothership
* TheMusical: This was adapted into an off-Broadway musical. Seriously, this exists. (If you're curious, the Death Blossom is simulated using a swiveling rolling chair.)
* MookChivalry: Death Blossom aside, the final showdown would have had a very different result had the Ko-Dan fighters attacked in a faintly organized fashion. This is actually justified as Alex takes out the communication turret they usually use for this purpose in his first attack run.
* NoodleIncident: Grig mentioning Centauri's "old Excalibur (Test) tricks"[[hottip:*:Which Centauri points out that he didn't use]]) when he finds out how Alex was recruited.
** On a lesser note, Centauri's RuleOfThree mention of Galoka and the Ulus.
* {{Novelization}}: Written by AlanDeanFoster. Most noted for a ''vastly'' expanded showdown against the Ko-Dan, including "refueling" the Gunstar by flying it near the surface of a star.
* ParentalObliviousness
* PassingtheTorch: As Alex and Maggie head into space, his younger brother, Louis steps up to the Starfighter video game, and watches as the Gunstar flies into the stars. It's implies that Louis might join his brother among the stars.
* PerfectPacifistPeople: The Star League, who had to recruit from hundreds of member planets to find a roomful of warriors who "possess[ed] the...gift". The novelization even describes the League President as turning queasy at hearing their BattleCry.
* PhotoprotoneutronTorpedo: The checklist that Alex runs down with Grig while they ready their Gunstar for battle, as Grig counts down:
-->'''Grig:''' 6
-->'''Alex:''' Heads up display, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 5
-->'''Alex:''' Lasers, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 4
-->'''Alex:''' Particle beam, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 3
-->'''Alex:''' Proton poles, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 2
-->'''Alex:''' Chair control, check.
-->'''Grig:''' 1
-->'''Alex:''' Let's do it.
** In the novelization, Grig states the real names involve science too advanced to translate, so he uses the game terms for the sake of convenience.
* PornStash: "Back to sleep, Louis, or I'm telling Mom about your {{Playboy}}s!" (Followed by...)
* PrecisionFStrike.
-->'''Louis:''' What the ''shit''?!
-->'''Beta:''' I ''said'' back to sleep, Louis, or I'm telling Mom about your Playboys!
* RaceForYourLove
* RammingAlwaysWorks: Faced with no other options, [[spoiler: Commander Kril gives the obligatory order of "Ramming speed!" in an attempt to run over Alex's stationary Gunstar.]]
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Averted with Centauri's true form.
* RefusalOfTheCall
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: A noteworthy aversion! Grig is charming and friendly and pretty cool, if a little gung-ho.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Beta. Except he couldn't figure out that whole tongue-in-ear thing...
* RoboticReveal
* RobotMe
* RobotNames
* RuleOfThree: Centauri trying to convince Alex to at least consider coming back.
-->'''Centauri:''' "Alex! Alex! You're walking away from history! ''History!'' Did Chris Columbus say he wanted to stay home? Nooooo. What if the Wright Brothers thought that only birds should fly? And did Galoka think that the Ulus were too ugly to save?"\\
'''Alex:''' "Who's Galoka?"
-->'''Centauri:''' Never mind.
* SeizeHim: Commander Kril gives this order to the Ko-Dan soldiers after Emperor Xur screws up.
* SentryGun: Protecting the Starfighter base. Worked well until they were sabotaged.
* SeriousBusiness: Getting a high score in a video game is so important that it gets the entire trailer park's attention.
* SimulationGame
* SnakeOilSalesman
* SpaceFighter: The Gunstars and Ko-Dan fighters.
* SuperPrototype: Justified in that the Gunstar was the ''only'' fighter to survive the assault, since it was a work-in-progress kept in a special hangar.
* SyntheticVoiceActor: The Ko-Dan mooks.
* TakeAThirdOption: The armada used a communication turret on the main ship to allow the fighters to move efficiently and be unstoppable. The main ship was wisely behind the fighters, making it nearly impossible to reach. Alex had the idea of hiding the ship until the fleet passed, allowing his one ship to catch them from behind, taking out the turret while the armada was in a non-battle formation. By the time they got the fleet in line, Alex had destroyed a good chunk of the fighters.
* TakingTheBullet: Centauri does it to save Alex from a Zandozan energy bolt.
* TechMarchesOn: Grig's amazing photo album - thousands of pictures stored in a device you can hold in your hand/tentacle/pseudopod! It seemed an impossible dream from the vantage point of TheEighties. Although slideshows on our modern phones, cameras, [=PDAs=], etc. don't go ''that'' fast.
-->'''Grig:''' "I live below ground with my wife-oid... and six thousand little griglets."
-->(shows Alex a photograph that rapidly flashes through several hundred photos of aliens)
* ThrowItIn: Test audiences loved the comedic scenes of Beta adjusting to Earth customs, so more scenes were filmed after original production had ended. You can tell which are the extra scenes by Lance Guest's wearing a wig (he had cut his hair between production work).
* TranslatorMicrobes
* TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer: Alex. He's a better pilot than anyone else in the Star League, despite growing up in a trailer park on Earth.
* VerticalKidnapping: Attempted when an alien assassin is sent to kill Alex.
* VillainousBreakdown: Xur, once his allies have had enough of his [[TheCaligula bizarre personality]].
-->'''Xur:''' How dare you! I am the Emperor of Rylos! I and I alone command this entire arm-- ''(guards begin to drag him away)'' Release me! I ''command'' you! '''''YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS WITH YOUR LIVES!'''''
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: The Xandoxan assassin.
* WaveMotionGun
* YoureNotMyFather: Inverted. Xur mocks his familial relationship to his father, who in turn [[IHaveNoSon disowns him]].
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Ko-Dan general to Xur. However, this is after Xur jumped to the conclusion that the last starfighter is dead, ordered the fleet to proceed at full speed thus reducing their defensive posture and then a gunstar suddenly appears on an attack run against the command ship, about to strike it ''hard''. To the general, Xur never had ''any'' usefulness to outlive in the first place.
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