Line #3 Film/Starman


1	[[quoteright:290:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1277775647_e6816fecf6_9891.jpg]]
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3	->'''Mark Shermin:''' Have people from your world been here before?
4	->'''Starman:''' Before. Yes, we are interested in your species.
5	->'''Mark Shermin:''' You mean you're some kind of anthropologist? Is that what you're doing here? Just checking us out?
6	->'''Starman:''' You are a strange species, not like any other... and you'd be surprised how many there are. Shall I tell you what I find beautiful about you?
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8	Creator/JohnCarpenter's 1984 film ''Starman'' is a kind of ''[[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'' for adults, played as a RoadTripPlot of all things. Fans will argue that it's a beautiful, beautiful love story between [[AlienAmongUs a man from the stars]] (Creator/JeffBridges) and an Earth woman (Creator/KarenAllen), while dissenters will counter that it's a mediocre ClicheStorm.
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10	Starman arrives on Earth as a result of Earth having transmitted welcome messages to any alien life, and clones himself an [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith environment suit]] -- the [[NakedOnArrival naked]] form of Jenny Hayden's dead husband. Jenny is very freaked out by this, and at first only wants to get away from the freaky dead ringer for her deceased husband. But she (eventually) agrees to take him to Winslow, Arizona, where he has his only chance to meet up with the other aliens and go home. Naturally, this leads to a long road trip (Starman has gotten dressed by this point) involving a lot of learning about life on Earth, bonding, and ultimately romance.
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12	As usual, the U.S. military [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill has it in for friendly aliens]]. They are led by the hard-as-nails George Fox (Richard Jaeckel), who wants to dissect or kill Starman. His obligatory MoralityPet Mark Shermin (Creator/CharlesMartinSmith) vainly attempts to convince him to do otherwise.
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14	The movie was followed by a 1986–87 [[Series/{{Starman}} TV series]] starring Robert Hays of ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' fame, set 15 years after the events of the film and featuring a WalkingTheEarth premise.
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16	Not to be confused with the Robot Master from ''Videogame/MegaMan5'', or the enemies from the first two ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' games, or the Music/DavidBowie song from ''[[Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars Ziggy Stardust]]''. And ''definitely'' not to be confused with the Creator/DCComics [[Comicbook/{{Starman}} hero(es)]] of that name.
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19	!!This film provides examples of:
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21	* AlienAmongUs: The entire premise of the film is of an alien visiting Earth to study humanity, only for things to go to shit in the process.
22	* AlienAutopsy: A live vivisection is what the military seems to have in store for Starman.
23	-->'''Shermin:''' ''(bitterly, after seeing restraining straps on a surgery table)'' Welcome to planet Earth.
24	* AliensInCardiff: Alien in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin.
25	* AnimalMotifs: Creator/JeffBridges studied ornithology and the behavior of birds to prepare for his role as an alien in human form. He particularly used the sudden jerky head movements, amongst other nuances and mannerisms, of birds. He figured that the alien would not have human characteristics and, being encased in a human body, would act with base primitive animal instincts.
26	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[invoked]] Invoked in-universe, as Shermin learns: "He yelled 'Greetings!' and melted his lug wrench?!"
27	* ButICantBePregnant: [[spoiler: After he and Jenny made love on the train, Starman proclaims "I gave you a baby tonight." Jenny says that this is impossible because she is incapable of having a child. Starman explains that he used his powers to alleviate this.]]
28	* DoppelgangerGetsSameSentiment: Though initially freaked out, Jenny finds herself falling for the Starman, who takes the form of her late husband.
29	* TheEighties: [[RetCon Retconned]] to TheSeventies in the [=TV=] show [[spoiler: [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome so that Jenny's kid could be a teen in the contemporary 1980s]].]]
30	* EnergyBeings: Starman comes from a race of these with no concept of death or biological needs, who takes on a human form to appear less threatening.
31	* FictionalAccent: Creator/JeffBridges uses a bizarre accent that sounds alien to most but feels right at home with his sudden, jerky movements and strange mannerisms.
32	* FishOutOfWater: Starman, obviously.
33	* FourthDateMarriage: According to Jenny, she and Scott got married after only a few months of dating. He would die less than a year later.
34	* FullNameBasis: Starman does this with Jenny, though he says "Jennyhayden" as one word, instead of "Jenny Hayden".
35	* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Shermin blows smoke in Fox's face after arranging for Jenny and Starman to get away.
36	* GreenAesop: Starman doesn't approve of deer hunting - killing is a foreign and horrible concept to an immortal [[EnergyBeings Energy Being]] with no biological needs. It has less to do with hunting and more to do with the alien's concept of death - there is ''no'' death, survival or even food consumption where he comes from, so he's shocked that a living creature would willingly kill another.
37	-->'''Starman:''' ''(upset)'' ''Why'' do you do this?
38	* HumanityIsInfectious: Taking on the form of a human has caused Starman to become more humanized over the course of the film.
39	* HumanAliens: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Starman takes on human form while on Earth, his natural form being a [[EnergyBeings floating blob of light]].
40	* HumansAreSpecial: Or at least one particular human...
41	** Starman states that humanity ''is'' special, because while his race have evolved to a state where they have no physical needs and no knowledge of violence or death, they feel they've lost something, and hope to regain it by studying these humans who are so different to themselves.
42	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The rest of us, as usual.
43	* InterspeciesRomance: Possibly a subversion as Starman in human form seems to be almost biologically indistinct from human - [[spoiler:after all, he and Jenny managed to reproduce.]] Could be justified by his body, a copy of her husband, essentially being a clone that is just ''that'' biologically accurate.
44	* KlingonsLoveShakespeare: Starman can't get enough of Dutch apple pie, to the point that [[OrgasmicallyDelicious eating it is nearly a sexual experience for him]]. Turns out our primitive biological needs do have their upside.
45	* MaleRestroomEtiquette: Starman becomes quite interested in seeing a man use the urinal at a gas station's men's room, much to the man's annoyance.
46	-->'''Men's Room Guy:''' ''sigh'' [[MistakenForGay Every god-damn place you go...]]
47	* NakedOnArrival: Starman.
48	* NoNameGiven: Starman never gives his name and is never referred to as anything, not even "Starman" (although that is how he's named in the credits).
49	* OutOfTheInferno: After their car crashes into an oil truck, Starman carries a wounded Jenny out of the resulting blaze in this fashion.
50	* PostSex: Starman wears an unbelievably goofy smile after having sex with Jenny. Better than Dutch apple pie.
51	* QuietCryForHelp:
52	** Starman, having just formed, sends a nonverbal distress signal about being on an environmentally hostile planet.
53	** While Starman is compelling Jenny to drive him to Arizona, they make a rest stop at a filling station. Jenny scrawls a distress message with a pen and a paper towel, then sticks it to the mirror. Starman then inspects the ladies room and sees the message, but has to ask Jenny what "kidnapped" means.
54	* QuizzicalTilt: Starman spends most of the movie this way given he is learning the human experience as he goes, and everything is therefore bewildering and confusing to him.
55	* RecycledInSpace: During its release, it was called ''Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial'' [[AC:for adults!]]
56	* RuleOfSymbolism: Many, not the least of which is the shot of Starman resurrecting a deer.
57	* ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Averted. In the beginning Voyager II arrives at a "planet", leading the viewer to think this trope - there are no planets that look like that within the distance Voyager II traveled in the amount of time[[note]]Voyager II barely left our solar system in 2018[[/note]], however at the end of the film it is revealed that ''wasn't a planet'', it was a ''starship''.
58	* SecondFaceSmoke: Shermin does this to Fox after allowing Starman to escape.
59	-->'''Fox''': Shermin, you are finished. I will have you ''eviscerated'' for this.\
60	'''Shermin''': Well, as much as I hate to stoop to symbolism...\
61	''(Shermin takes a puff from his cigar and blows smoke into Fox's face)''
62	* SensoryOverload: Sweet food makes Starman swoon like a baby, and after having sex, he wears the goofiest grin possible.
63	* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler:Jenny's child will be this for both her dead husband and Starman, as he was conceived by Starman with her husband's DNA.]]
64	* SpheroidDropship: The ship that comes to pick up Starman at the end, which looks like a ''chrome-plated planet.''
65	* StockholmSyndrome: Jenny starts out freaked out by Starman and thinks of herself as kidnapped, but this doesn't last long when she realizes that Starman is a wholly benevolent [[EnergyBeings Energy Being]] that's just trying to get home.
66	* SuperHumanTrafficking
67	* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Jenny and Shermin's concerns of what awaits Starman if Fox catches him. Seeing as the military have an autopsy table with ''restraining straps'' waiting, their fear is justified.
68	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Starman has quite a fondness for Dutch apple pie.
69	* UncannyValley: In-universe, Starman took on a human form at least partially to not scare humans. Unfortunately, his bizarre not-quite grasp of language, human customs, or even biological needs have a tendency to make him appear quite creepy.
70	* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Played rather {{Anvilicious}}ly.
71	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Starman has no knowledge of the concept of death.
72	* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Starman's answer to his own question in the page quote: "You are at your very best when things are at their worst."

Context Film / Starman