History YMMV / TheLastStarfighter

** Even if the CG ships are very primitive by today's standards, they arguably paved the way for a whole new way to look at ships moving in space, a tradition carried on by their {{Spiritual Successor}}s in ''Series/Babylon5''.

* {{Narm}}: The trailer park inhabitants reacting with much excitement to Alex managing to beat the game.

* GutPunch: [[spoiler: Centauri's death. Up to that point, the film had been a lighthearted space flick.]]

** There's some good make-up work as well. There are over half a dozen distinct alien species, and only the Rylans are simple RubberForeheadAliens. Grig's makeup, most notably, would have been ambitious even on the highest of ''Star Trek'' or ''Wars'' budgets, and he was done in ''1984'' with no digital assistance!

** There's some good make-up work as well. There are over half a dozen distinct alien species, and only the Rylans are simple RubberForeheadAliens.

** Also when the drifter is (replaced? transformed? awakened?) as a Xandoxan. The almost seizure-inducing malfunction of the video game screen didn't help.
*** FridgeBrilliance: He was a Xandoxan all along (remember, he had a pistol that clearly didn't come from Earth). The "drifter" was merely his disguise, which the "malfunctioning" video game stripped away (probably something Centauri secretly added to the machine for that purpose).

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaDY7DPe2LM score]] composed by Craig Safan. Especially if you bought the '90s CD expansion - no songs and the complete "Into The Starscape" (for the final scene of the film and continuing over the end credits), criminally missing from the LP that came out in 1984 (the LP version cuts out after the point in the film where Louis whoops). Taken UpToEleven with the 2015 further expansion, which has the ''entire'' score!

* UncannyValley: An accidental case. Further scenes with Beta required reshoots, and Lance Guest had to wear an obvious wig, which just emphasizes that he's playing a robot pretending to be human.

-->[[spoiler:'''Centauri:''' ''(dying)'' Alex, I want you to know that it was for the greatest good that I brought you back. Of course... it never hurts to be rich.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Grig:''' Until the next dimension, old friend.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Grig says he prefers to think of death as going to another dimension. One wonders if the team behind the infamously Bowdlerized first English dub of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' took inspiration from this.

* ActorAllusion: Intentional. As noted on the movie's DVD commentary/behind the scenes features, Centauri was always envisioned as "a galactic [[Theatre/TheMusicMan Harold Hill]]" so who better than the first and greatest Hill to play him?

* VindicatedByCable: While the film did make money in theaters, it was a hit on video and {{Creator/HBO}}.

* ActorAllusion: Intentional. As noted on the movie's DVD commentary/behind the scenes features, Centauri was always envisioned as "a galactic [[Theater/TheMusicMan Harold Hill]]" so who better than the first and greatest Hill to play him?

* FridgeBrilliance: The placement of Alex in the front seat of the Gunstar, with Grig's pilot seat in the back, seems odd, but it makes sense given the Gunstar is a weapons platform, and it gives the Starfighter the maximum field of view to fire (this is considered so important to the in-universe ship designers that they even made the chair the gunner sits in rotate to allow maximum viewing ability). This also parallels the design of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, which went into service around the same time as the movie.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaDY7DPe2LM score]] composed by Craig Safan.
** Especially if you bought the '90s CD expansion - no songs and the complete "Into The Starscape" (for the final scene of the film and continuing over the end credits), criminally missing from the LP that came out in 1984 (the LP version cuts out after the point in the film where Louis whoops). Taken UpToEleven with the 2015 further expansion, which has the ''entire'' score!

* IAmNotShazam: The spacecraft are called Gunstars. The Starfighters are the elite recruits manning their gunnery chairs.

* NightmareFuel: TheReveal of Beta, midway through his transformation into a duplicate of Alex.

* TearJerker: The death of [[spoiler:Centauri]].

* VideoGameMoviesSuck: Averted, even though technically, it doesn't have a real life video game equivalent. Considered one of the best video game movies ever.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: While the effects were ConspicuousCG even at the time (the CG effects were done with the equivalent of a smartphone's processor), the Death Blossom and Star Car sequences still hold up.

** The novelization has Xur's execution of the Star League spy -- a helmet is placed over his head, then contracts, slowly crushing his skull. At the end, all that's left of his head is a pointed nub of bone.

* FridgeBrilliance: The placement of Alex in the front seat of the Gunstar, with Grig's pilot seat in the back, seems odd, but it makes sense given the Gunstar is a weapons platform, and it gives the Starfighter the maximum field of view to fire. This also parallels the design of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, which went into service around the same time as the movie.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaDY7DPe2LM score]] composed by Craig Safan.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: While the effects were ObviousCGI even at the time (the CGI effects were done with the equivalent of a smartphone's processor), the Death Blossom and Star Car sequences still hold up.

** Even if the CG ships are very primitive by today's standards, they arguably paved the way for a whole new way to look at ships moving in space, a tradition carried on by their {{SpiritualSuccessor}}s in ''Series/Babylon5''.

* TearJerker: The death of [[spoiler:Centauri]]

* VindicatedByCable: {{Creator/HBO}} was the best thing to happen to the film.

** When Xur broadcasts the execution of the spy he's captured to the Star League.

** Even if the CG ships are very primitive by today's standards, they arguably paved the way for a whole new way to look at ships moving in space, a tradition carried on by their SpiritualSuccessors in ''Series/Babylon5''.