The Last Starfighter (Collector's Edition) [4K Ultra HD]

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Now newly restored from a 4K scan of the original negative and featuring a 4.1 mix originally created for the film’s 70mm release, The Last Starfighter arrives loaded with exclusive and archival bonus features. Strap yourself in: the Ultra HD adventure of a lifetime is about to begin! Incredible Odds: Writing The Last Starfighter – a new interview with screenwriter Jonathan Betuel (9:28) Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Amanda Reyes and sci-fi author Greg Bear’s never-before-published Omni magazine article on Digital Productions, the company responsible for the CGI in The Last Starfighter – FIRST PRESSING ONLY Limited Edition Reversible Poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork – FIRST PRESSING ONLY WIth that out of the way, let's look at the film and its extras. The plot is, as dialogue in the film notes, The Sword In The Stone but, instead of Excalibur, our hero Alex (Lance Guest) breaks the all-time record on a video game which turns out to be a test to find beings capable of becoming a Starfighter. Alex is whisked away to an alien war while a robot double takes his place as a decoy for starfighter hunters.

You'll get your chance. The important thing is when it comes you've got to grab it with both hands. Now newly restored from a 4K scan of the original negative and featuring a 4.1 mix originally created for the film's 70mm release, The Last Starfighter arrives loaded with exclusive and archival bonus features. Strap yourself in: the Ultra HD adventure of a lifetime is about to begin! Greetings Starfighter! Inside the Arcade Game – an interview with arcade game collector Estil Vance on reconstructing the Starfighter game Greetings Starfighter! Inside the Arcade Game - an interview with arcade game collector Estil Vance on reconstructing the Starfighter gameAt the center of The Last Starfighter is a teenager named Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), who lives in a trailer park at the dusty outskirts of his hometown. Dreaming of escape but trapped by his family’s meager finances, Alex finds solace in the Starfighter arcade cabinet that’s parked outside a nearby convenience store. After one day achieving a high score, Alex finds himself abruptly greeted by the game’s creator, Centauri (Robert Preston), who reveals himself to be an alien of the race mentioned in Starfighter, and that Alex’s performance qualifies him to be the pilot of a real starfighter on the frontline of a brutal sectarian war.

Where the limitations come in seem to be related to the resolution the effects were rendered in. On the old DVD, and even on the previous Blu-ray, it wasn’t as obvious, but the new restoration mixed with the improved resolution makes the rough edges of the effects a little more obvious. These issues primarily come down to jagged-edges mixed with moiré patterns, and as the perspective on a rendered object changes those aliasing artifacts become even more obvious. The sequence where Alex first arrives to the space station, like when he passes Saturn, may be the worst example of this.

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You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada. Crossing the Frontier: Making The Last Starfighter (720p; 00:32:02) – archival 4-part documentary on the making of the film

A caption reads: The Last Starfighter. A Lorimar Production. A Universal Picture. Coming this summer. well, with a slightly warmer ambience in the Arrow version. All in all, this is another fantastic upgrade of a cult item by Arrow which should certainly Excalibur Test: Inside Digital Productions – interview with sci-fi author Greg Bear on Digital Productions, the company responsible for the CGI in The Last Starfighter This 4K Ultra HD release of The Last Starfighter comes with the same three audio mixes as Arrow’s 2020 Blu-ray release and they sound just as good. One is a stereo mix in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, one DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, and a DTS-HD Master Audio 4.1 mix originally created for the film’s 70mm release and never included on any home video format before the 2020 Blu-ray release from Arrow.

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Another highlight is the interview with composer Craig Safan, who had to compose the score with little visual aid to go off of for the CGI-dominated sequences. His inspiration from John Williams and experience with electronic instruments helped to make his memorable and triumphant score. Interstellar Hit-Beast: Creating the Special Effects – a new interview with special effects supervisor Kevin Pike (10:15)

This film was ahead of its time and its visual effects may seem a bit jarring and out of place today, but for those who lived through the era or for those interested in films from the era, it doesn’t get much more keyed in than this. Arrow’s 4K Ultra HD release is reference quality and another of their releases that instantly brings the FOMO. The Last Fighter comes to Ultra HD Blu-ray from Arrow Video featuring 2160pHEVC encoded video and lossless DTS-HD 5.1/4.1/2.0 Master Audio sound. Incredible Odds: Writing The Last Starfighter (1080p; 00:09:27) – an interview with screenwriter Jonathan BetuelAll in all, The Last Starfighter is highly derivative of other sci-fi films, though it’s produced with such gumption and inspiration that you end up appreciating how it builds off of the popular sci-fi before it. Add Craig Safan’s expansive, sweeping score and it comes as no surprise as to why this film has survived the test of time.