History Film / TheLastStarfighter

* 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. Justified in that the Ambassador is orating a standard "Welcome to the Star League, New Starfighters" speech given to new recruits.

* FighterLaunchingSequence: PlayedForLaughs, as the ship takes off when Alex is basically told that he has to take on the Kodan Armada all by himself, and he's likely cussing up a storm under his helmet.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While Centauri seems like SnakeOilSalesman, he means it when he says he always had the best intentions for Alex. He's also correct in pointing out that while Earth isn't advanced enough to be introduced to the Star League, they're still in danger from the Kodan armada and thus Alex has every right to help fight the Kodans.

* ActorAllusion: The character of Centauri is clearly based on Creator/RobertPreston's most famous character, Harold Hill from ''Film/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.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While Centauri seems like SnakeOilSalesman, he means it when he says he always had the best intentions for Alex. He's also correct in pointing out that while Earth isn't advanced enough to be introduced to the Star League, they're still in danger and deserve the right to help defend themselves.

* SnakeOilSalesman: Centauri is a space version, peddling video games around the galaxy but conveniently failing to mention that they are a recruitment tool.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: When Alex's mom comes home, he's beaming from breaking the ''Starfighter'' record ("This is where they're going to say it all started"); his mom is a flat "that's nice, dear", then reveals Alex failed to get enrolled in the university he wanted, which crushes the entire mood.

* LikeADuckTakesToWater: Alex manages to be an exceptional Starfighter, despite having grown up in a trailer park on Earth. Justified as Alex has been playing the game repeatedly, and since the gunner's real controls are actually near-identical to the game's, the game has actually been training Alex to operate a GunStar. Alex inherently has the rare skill and reflexes needed to be a Starfighter.

* DeathInAllDirections: The "Death Blossom" special weapon in Alex's prototype Gunstar.

* PornStash: "Back to sleep, Louis, or I'm telling Mom about your [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Playboys]]!" (Followed by...)

* CoolCar: Centauri's, which took the angular wedge design of the [=DeLorean=], turned it UpToEleven, then made it a transforming starship. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvtt94Oz4N4 It's alien enough to be impressive to the average human, but not so alien as to be suspicious.]]

* AcePilot: Alex mostly fulfills this trope, but slightly subverts it as he is a talented ''gunner'', not a pilot - Grig, the navigator, takes care of that, and the Gunstar, though fast and heavily armored, doesn't seem to be particularly maneuverable.

* BizarreAlienBiology: It's telling that Grig, a lizard-like humanoid, is perhaps the most normal-looking of all the aliens in the film (other than the Rylans, who look mostly human, other than having big foreheads and white hair in unusual styles). And then, of course, there's the Bogati whose tentacle-thing Alex accidentally steps on.

* BloodKnight / ProudWarriorRace: Bogati, though they're never seen in action.

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Most of the Starfighters are from a race of [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} Cthulhumanoids]] that are noted for their love of fighting. Given their still tiny number, this is only relative to the rest of the pacifist Star League.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: Averted with Centauri's true form, which has red eyes but is not evil. Still striking enough to cause a minor JumpScare the first time we see it.

* SequelHook: Xur escapes. (Too bad there never was a sequel)

* {{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 23 years after the movie]]. The [[LicensedGame Atari game]] planned along with the movie and mentioned in the credits never materialized. 2 years later it was released as ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iabq8cSmYiE Star Raiders II]]'', with the player fighting enemies resembling Ko-Dan fighters from the Zylon Empire.[[note]]InNameOnly sequel to [[VideoGame/StarRaiders a highly successful game.]] considered a KillerApp for 8-bit Ataris back in 1979, itself an adaptation of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' with [[SerialNumbersFiledOff lawyer-friendly names]]. The true sequel was stuck in a mostly finished state since shortly after UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.[[/note]] While quite good [[FairForItsDay for 1985]] and fairly close to the film, it still has TwoDSpace.

* {{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 23 years after the movie]]. The [[LicensedGame Atari game]] planned along with the movie and mentioned in the credits never materialized. 2 years later it was released as ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iabq8cSmYiE Star Raiders II]]''.[[note]]InNameOnly sequel to [[VideoGame/StarRaiders a highly successful game. One might notice the enemies resemble Ko-Dan fighters.]] considered a KillerApp for 8-bit Ataris back in 1979, itself an adaptation of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' with [[SerialNumbersFiledOff lawyer-friendly names]]. The true sequel was stuck in a mostly finished state since shortly after UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.[[/note]] While quite good [[FairForItsDay for 1985]] and fairly close to the film, it still has TwoDSpace.

* {{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 23 years after the movie]]. The [[LicensedGame Atari game]] planned along with the movie and mentioned in the credits never materialized. 2 years later it was released as ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Raiders_II Star Raiders II]]''.[[note]]InNameOnly sequel to [[VideoGame/StarRaiders a highly successful game]] considered a KillerApp for 8-bit Ataris back in 1979, itself an adaptation of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' with [[SerialNumbersFiledOff lawyer-friendly names]]. The true sequel was stuck in a mostly finished state since shortly after UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.[[/note]] While quite good [[FairForItsDay for 1986]] and fairly close to the film, it still has TwoDSpace.

'''Grig:''' Death is a primitive concept. I prefer to think of them as battling evil... in another dimension!

* CoolCar: Centauri's, which took the angular wedge design of the [=DeLorean=], turned it UpToEleven, then made it a transforming starship.

* MundaneMadeAwesome: Granted, beating a difficult video game is worthy of a high five or two, but when Alex goes for, and beats the Starfighter record, the trailer park acts as if The Beatles just came to town (though it is probably the most exciting thing that's happened there lately).

* DeadpanSnarker: Beta, surprisingly - the ''clone'' is snarkier than the original.
-->'''Beta:''' ''(rolling his eyes)'' Oh. Save the whales but not the universe.

* {{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 23 years after the movie]]. The [[LicensedGame Atari release]] planned along with the movie never materialized, despite being mentioned in the credits.

-->'''Rylan Bursar:''' ''(on seeing Alex, and clearly unimpressed)'' ... ''eh sanchay..!''[[note]]From contextual clues, "eh sanchay" probably means "a human"[[/note]]

-->'''Rylan Bursar:''' ''(on seeing Alex, and clearly unimpressed)'' ... ''eh sanchay..!''

* {{Irony}}: Centauri chuckles to Alex that the Starfighter arcade machine was never intended to be delivered to a trailer community -- it was intended to be shipped to UsefulNotes/LasVegas. One of the greatest Starfighters ever lived (Centauri's words) was found in the middle of nowhere.

* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: After Alex initially refuses TheCall, Xur sends an assassin after him. Centauri's [[spoiler:near-sacrifice]] show him that his only chance of survival is with the Star League.