Last Starfighter DVD

[Gregory DG]

Just rented this tonight... What the heck, it was a freebie. Anyway, I'm looking at the back of the case and it reads:

 

"Video game available from Atari, Inc."

 

Now, this DVD was apparently released in 1999. Wouldn't they know the game wasn't ever released (except for the proto that turned into Star Raiders 2)?

 

Anyway, thought it was funny...

[Gregory DG]

Well, I also found it interesting that the guys who did the digital effects for Starfighter also did a CGI X-Wing test for Lucas back in 1978. Apparently Lucas didn't like CGI! (What's funny is that I used to dream about redoing the effects back then that would be better and cheaper. Turns out someone tried it!)

[Gabriel]

Just rented this tonight... What the heck, it was a freebie. Anyway, I'm looking at the back of the case and it reads:

 

"Video game available from Atari, Inc."

 

Now, this DVD was apparently released in 1999. Wouldn't they know the game wasn't ever released (except for the proto that turned into Star Raiders 2)?

 

Anyway, thought it was funny...

 

There are three options.

 

1) Whoever designed the back cover simply copied the original credit block, and no one in the process ever pointed out that the Atari mention wasn't needed anymore.

 

2) The legal department didn't know the game was never actually released, and saw the Atari label was still in existence, so they insisted on having the citation there as a cover-their-ass issue.

 

3) It's an inside joke for fans of the film.

[ten-four]

Hi...

 

The Last Starfighter from 1984 in Arcadeversion is here.

 

[jaybird3rd]

1) Whoever designed the back cover simply copied the original credit block, and no one in the process ever pointed out that the Atari mention wasn't needed anymore.

I'd say that this is the most likely scenario. The Last Starfighter DVD seems to be a pretty slapdash effort overall; aside for the nice "making of" featurette, not a lot of effort seems to have been put into it (the transfer was recycled from laserdisc, etc). I'd love to see them re-release it with an anamorphic transfer.

 

Speaking of Last Starfighter (just some pointless daydreaming here) ... I was watching it the other day and found myself wondering whether it would be a good candidate for a modern, "Star Trek: TOS"-style special effects makeover. It was a box office disappointment in its day so I know it will probably never happen, but I think the film would benefit from an upgrade. The Cray-generated visuals weren't as complex and detailed as they could have been even in 1984 (Digital Pictures had to drastically simplify them to meet the deadline), and there are times when the low production budget really shows (the translator device made of wristwatch guts, the lack of a background during most of the Rylos celebration scene, etc). A properly done upgrade could remedy these things while respecting the original production design.

Edited July 26, 2007 by jaybird3rd

[mos6507]

I don't know about redoing the effects. It would be like redoing the effects of Tron. While they did the best they could at the time with the FX, I think it works better having the FX be recognizably CG considering that the plot of the movie involves a videogame coming to life suddenly, kind of the reverse of Tron.

[opeygon]

Just rented this tonight... What the heck, it was a freebie. Anyway, I'm looking at the back of the case and it reads:

 

"Video game available from Atari, Inc."

 

Now, this DVD was apparently released in 1999. Wouldn't they know the game wasn't ever released (except for the proto that turned into Star Raiders 2)?

 

Anyway, thought it was funny...

 

 

this makes perfect sense if the guy who happens to be running off ten thousand copies of the movies lives in hong kong or something and doesn't care what the label says and couldn't read it if he wanted to

[+FujiSkunk]

Did Atari make the arcade cabinets used in the movie? If so, maybe that's what the credit is referring to, something akin to the credits given costume designers, special effects directors, etc.

 

Or, perhaps part of Atari's licensing of the title legally requires their name be included in the credits, and the studio is playing it safe and honoring the contract, even if the company on the other side of the contract isn't what it used to be.

 

Edit: Okay, the credit says "available from Atari, Inc." so that counts my first suggestion out. I'm still inclined to believe it may have been a legal requirement, though.

 

...(the transfer was recycled from laserdisc, etc). I'd love to see them re-release it with an anamorphic transfer.

 

Not that I disagree there could be a nicer DVD release, but, the current one looks pretty good to me. It is an anamorphic transfer, and I don't see any obvious composite video artifacting to suggest it came from a laserdisc master (unlike, say, Jackie Chan's Mr. Nice Guy, which very obviously came from a composite source).

Edited July 27, 2007 by skunkworx

[JB]

...(the transfer was recycled from laserdisc, etc). I'd love to see them re-release it with an anamorphic transfer.

 

Not that I disagree there could be a nicer DVD release, but, the current one looks pretty good to me. It is an anamorphic transfer, and I don't see any obvious composite video artifacting to suggest it came from a laserdisc master (unlike, say, Jackie Chan's Mr. Nice Guy, which very obviously came from a composite source).

What bugged me was there's a lot of specks from film damage.

 

Why they'd go to the effort to restore the audio and and upsample it from stereo into 6-channel XTREEM surround and do NOTHING to the video is beyond me, but... it's irksome.

[Gregory DG]

Here's that X-Wing Test. Can you believe this was done in 1978!

[andy_bernstein]

"I'd say that this is the most likely scenario. The Last Starfighter DVD seems to be a pretty slapdash effort overall; aside for the nice "making of" featurette, not a lot of effort seems to have been put into it (the transfer was recycled from laserdisc, etc). I'd love to see them re-release it with an anamorphic transfer."

 

Check your DVD Installation / settings. The Universal DVD released back in 1999 contains an Anamorphic transfer (done especially for the DVD as the Japanese laserdisc used a non anamorphic D1 Master albeit in widescreen / 2.35:1 format).

 

The HD DVD released this past week is a decent upgrade but nothing great.

 

BTW- I strongly disagree with your opinion about the DVD. Back in 1999, this Collector's Edition was highly revered (and still is to this day). Plus it was the baby of Sharpline Arts (David Fein & Michael Matessino) who were the main personel behind the Director's Edition of Star Trek The Motion Picture.

 

Considering they almost had zero budget to work with (welcome to Hollywood), their DVD of TLSF is one of their greatest achievements.

 

Their website is currently being rebuilt (www.sharplinearts.com) but the previous one contained a great making-off about their Last Starfighter DVD.

[SRGilbert]

BTW- I strongly disagree with your opinion about the DVD. Back in 1999, this Collector's Edition was highly revered (and still is to this day). Plus it was the baby of Sharpline Arts (David Fein & Michael Matessino) who were the main personel behind the Director's Edition of Star Trek The Motion Picture.

 

Considering they almost had zero budget to work with (welcome to Hollywood), their DVD of TLSF is one of their greatest achievements.

 

Their website is currently being rebuilt (www.sharplinearts.com) but the previous one contained a great making-off about their Last Starfighter DVD.

I seem to recall that DVD being a pretty expensive one for quite a while too, with an MSRP of $35, kinda high for a one disk edition.

[Tempest]

I keep hoping that they're release some of the deleted scenes.

 

Tempest

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I don't know how this could be in proper anamorphic mode. On my DVD player I still have black bars on the top and bottom on my widescreen. Whereas something like Miyazaki's princes Mononoke does not, or my Riddick Trilogy set. I also noticed not just the specks on some scenese, but what appeared to be actual bit rot showing up from the LD transfer. In fact there is a scene just after Alex breaks the record where I believe he is talking to Maggie, and there are several parts where you clearly see a bit rot line running vertically along just off center to the left for about 3/4 of the way down the screen. This last for only about 5 seconds or so...but it is there. Also there were some parts where the film still looked as if it was a 4:3 aspect being stretched to widescreen. I can't recall clearly, but most of them were wide angle enviroment shots.

 

Still for only $10 at CircuitCity last year, I won't complain. But I might still pick up a LD version as I still find LD's sound to be superior to the digital used on DVDs today. My LDs still produce deeper fuller bass and do not distort my equipment nearly as often. I also find the basic stereo seperation to be clearer and more defined on LDs vs DVDs. Still a properly transferred DVD or all digitally done film to DVD looks damn good even on HDTVs.

[Lord Helmet]

I don't know how this could be in proper anamorphic mode. On my DVD player I still have black bars on the top and bottom on my widescreen.

 

Depends on the aspect ratio of the original film. Movies like The Last Starfighter (or Star Wars ect) are in 2.35:1 aspect ratio and WILL have black bars at the top and bottom...even on a 16:9 television. The other popular ratio is 1.85:1 which will fill a widescreen television.

[Bruce Tomlin]

I don't know how this could be in proper anamorphic mode. On my DVD player I still have black bars on the top and bottom on my widescreen.

That has nothing to do with anamorphic, other than anamorphic making it look better if your set supports a widescreen mode. Do you notice the screen change momentarily when going in and out of the menu? That's anamorphic mode going on and off.

 

Anamorphic is like stretching the picture vertically, while keeping the horizontal resolution the same. When played without "wide" mode in your DVD player, it will be down-sampled with the letterbox bars added. When played with wide mode on a regular TV set, it will look like the opposite of those HDTV sets stretching a regular picture wider.

 

But when played with wide mode on a TV set that supports widescreen, a flag will be included somewhere in the vertical retrace that tells the TV set to change its scan mode (very noticeable on a 4:3 CRT HDTV), and the TV set will display the picture using the full 480 line vertical resolution.

 

But anamorphic is specifically for 16:9 aspect ratio. 2.35:1 still needs a lot of letterboxing to fit, and even 1.85:1 needs either a little bit of letterbox or some slight trimming on the sides (16:9 is 1.77:1, and 1.85:1 is 16.65:9).

[mos6507]

Here's that X-Wing Test. Can you believe this was done in 1978!

 

Dude, that has to be bogus. The X-wings are flying backwards.

[mos6507]

BTW, do you guys think this is legit?

 

[Nukey Shay]

Here's that X-Wing Test. Can you believe this was done in 1978!

 

Dude, that has to be bogus. The X-wings are flying backwards.

 

Variable camera angles are also part of the demo.

The vid appears just as shown on The Last Starfighter DVD documantary "Crossing The Frontier". It's the real deal.

[Nukey Shay]

BTW, do you guys think this is legit?

 

 

This vid was posted before in a LSF thread...it is also believed to be the real thing.

[mos6507]

BTW, do you guys think this is legit?

 

 

This vid was posted before in a LSF thread...it is also believed to be the real thing.

 

If so, that would have been an amazingly advanced game. The framerate looks a lot better than I Robot.

[Gregory DG]

The YouTube video looks different from the Rogue Synapse version. My guess is that it's the footage made for the movie.