Scene of the Week: The Last Starfighter

1984’s The Last Starfighter really had everything a kid in the 80s would want in a movie. It was an out of this world adventure, filling a void left after the release of Return of the Jedi a year earlier… A major plot piece of the movie was a video game and 80s kids were the first to reap the benefits of that technology… And kids with big dreams could easily put themselves in Alex Rogan’s shoes and see that even the wildest of dreams could come true.

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) is recruited to join a team of actual intergalactic starfighters to do battle with an evil force with plans of conquering the entire universe, after Alex got the record high score in The Last Starfighter video game at the trailer park he called home.

This week’s Scene of the Week takes a look at a pivotal moment in the battle between good and evil as Alex and Alex’s navigator/mentor Grig (Dan O’Herlihy, RoboCop) try something that has never been done before… they fire the Death Blossom! Notice some of the earliest CGI used in movies and the majestic score by Craig Safan…