Sunday 17 October 2010

The Last Starfighter (1984) (* * *)

A very corny story about a video player who becomes the last starfighter to save two galaxies, but enjoyable nonetheless.


The thing about science fiction is that it can't help but be good, because it carries in it a projection of the future. That takes imagination rooted in reality. That's why so many sci fi stories have led innovation in science. Every single person has an impression of where we're going based on one's own experiences so these stories are like listening to someone else's experience.

In this story, for example, the young boy is stuck in a trailer park with only a video game for amusement. He beats the highest score just because he's so frustrated with his life and he finds that he's been chosen by a galactic talent scout to be a starfighter, based on the computer simulation of the game. How amazing of the writer to think up a deeper reason for video games - 20 yrs later the US Army is using similar techniques to train its army.

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