Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Kay E. Kuter | ... | Enduran | |
Dan Mason | ... | Lord Kril | |
Lance Guest | ... | Alex Rogan / Beta Alex | |
Dan O'Herlihy | ... | Grig | |
Catherine Mary Stewart | ... | Maggie Gordon | |
Barbara Bosson | ... | Jane Rogan | |
Norman Snow | ... | Xur | |
Robert Preston | ... | Centauri | |
Chris Hebert | ... | Louis Rogan | |
![]() |
John O'Leary | ... | Rylan Bursar |
George McDaniel | ... | Kodan Officer | |
Charlene Nelson | ... | Rylan Technician | |
![]() |
John Maio | ... | Friendly Alien |
Robert Starr | ... | Underling | |
Al Berry | ... | Rylan Spy |
Alex Rogan lives in a remote trailer court where his mother is manager and everyone is like a massive extended family. He defeats Starfighter, a stand-up arcade game to the applause of everyone in the court and later finds out he has been turned down for a student loan for college. Depressed, he meets Centauri, who introduces himself as a person from the company that made the game, before Alex really knows what is going on, he is on the ride of his life in a sports car flying through space. Chosen to take the skills he showed on the video game into real combat to protect the galaxy from an invasion. Alex gets as far as the Starfighter base before he really realized that he was conscripted and requests to be taken back home. When he gets back home, he finds a Zando-Zan (alien bounty hunter) is stalking him. Unable to go home and live, Alex returns to the Starfighter base to find all the pilots have been killed and he is the galaxy's only chance to be saved from invasion. To defeat the ... Written by John Vogel <jvogel@dgs.dgsys.com> & Spokavriel updated
None of the other reviews of this film (at least those that I have seen) understand what makes this movie so wonderful. This is one of the few movies I can recall that treat teenagers with some respect, instead of as cartoon characters. Alex has the same kinds of dreams and problems we all had at the age of 18, but he really does try to do the right thing, even when it goes against his desires. The film does not show the generation gap as a battlefield, but as a fact of life that Alex has to live with, and not one that is entirely negative.
This film is totally driven by the characters. The plot, and even the CGI, while groundbreaking for the day, are not the real magic here. It is the characters.