Remember a little film back in 1984 about an earth - based video game player who gets recruited by aliens to fight in an interstellar war? The amazing sci - fi film, The Last Starfighter, may be getting a sequel after 24 years.. I’ve heard vague rumblings in recent years that a sequel might be in the works, and now it looks like it’s actually happening.. I am definitely looking forward to this on, even though it might look like a low budget sequel, as The Last Starfighter was, and still is, one of my all time favourite movies..

Is it real? Is it actually happening? Is the ghost of Centauri ( Robert Preston ) in talks to return? And what about Lance Guest? Well fans will be happy to learn that the sequel involves the original director, Nick Castle, writer Jonathan Betuel, and actor Lance Guest.. It’s your basic ” Son of..” storyline and actually sounds pretty cool..

It is currently on the production schedule for a company called George Paige and Associates, and they list it as being distributed by Warner Brothers and Universal Pictures.. Now rumors have it that not only is it on the schedule, it’s about to start shooting next month..

It’s all but confirmed that the sequel is about to happen.. George Paige and Associates has the movie listed as one of their credits on their official site, along with a few other interesting projects, like a Jerry Stiller Janeane Garafalo team - up called The Independent.. They also list Relativity, Universal, and Warner Brothers as being involved in the project.. One of the reasons so many studios are involved may have something to do with rights issues.. The original movie was owned by Lorimar, which has since cease to exist.. When Lorimar died, the rights to its projects were sold to a variety of different companies, leaving a lot of different people holding the bag..

Having so many different companies involved may not be a bad thing though, especially in light of a report which popped up online from Variety tonight which says that Relativity and Universal have just signed a big four - year deal to co - finance four billion dollars worth of new films together.. Could one of those movies be The Last Starfighter? The timing of their deal makes it a tantalizing notion..

The one cause for concern here is George Paige and Associates, which doesn’t exactly have a track record of big - budget, quality films.. But with this deal between Relativity Media and Universal, maybe The Last Starfighter will get the kind of decent, big - budget release it deserves.. In fact we’ve already heard from some sources that this will in fact be a theatrical release, one with a mid - range budget at least.. This won’t be a film thrown on the theatrical scrapheap..

Unfortunately we won’t be able to see a couple of the original cast take on their roles again..  Robert Preston, who played Centauri, died a few years after the original movie was released from lung cancer.. Dan O’Herlihy, who played Grig, died in 2005 from natural causes at age 85..

Let’s hope Catherine Mary Stewart will be back for her role as Maggie and that Chris Hebert will leave his teaching position to become Louis Logan, Alex’s little brother..

For those who are not fimilar with The Last Starfighter, here is a run down on the movie..

Alex Rogan ( Lance Guest ), a teenager living in a remote trailer park, becomes the top player of Starfighter, a stand - up arcade game where the player defends ” the frontier ” from ” Xur and the Ko - dan armada ” in a space battle.. As corny as it sounds, this played extremely well in 1984, in the aftermath of Star Wars and in nascence of the video game revolution.. After achieving his best score, he is approached by the game’s inventor, Centauri ( Robert Preston ).. Stepping into Centauri’s vehicle, Alex is horrified to find that not only is the car a spaceship, but Centauri is a disguised alien who whisks him off to another planet..

Upon their arrival, Alex is given a flight suit and fitted with a translator to understand the League’s alien languages.. He discovers that he has been recruited as a gunner, and that the images and territories in the Starfighter arcade game represent a conflict that actually exists.. Alex is taken to the briefing area and meets fellow compatriot, Starnavigator Grig ( Dan O’Herlihy ), a jovial sauropod alien.. When confronting Centauri, Alex learns that the Starfighter game is in fact a test devised to find those ” with the gift..”

Furthermore, the game’s story about defending the galaxy against enemies is real, with a full - blown Starfighter battle preparing to be launched.. Alex is shocked by this new reality and refuses to participate, so Centauri brings him back to earth and gives him a high - tech pager to use if he should change his mind..

  At home, Alex discovers that he has not been missed because Centauri replaced him with an android called a Beta which is an exact replica of Alex.. The android tries to convince Alex to return to space and serve as a Starfighter.. Angered, Alex activates the pager so Centauri can remove the impostor.. But an alien assassin appears and tries to kill both Alex and the android.. During the resulting chase, Centauri arrives and kills the assassin, but is seriously wounded.. Centauri warns Alex that now that he has been discovered by the enemy more assassins are on the way, so his only choice is to become a Starfighter..

Alex agrees to return and finds the remains of the Starfighter base.. Centauri apparently dies from his wounds just after landing, leaving Alex alone with his friend Grig.. After getting Alex suited up in Starfighter gear, Grig places him in the gunnery chair of the experimental fighter named the ‘ Gunstar..’ Grig serves as navigator while Alex is the gunner.. Alex is delighted to find that the controls are just like those of the arcade game, but is horrified to learn that all the other Starfighters have been destroyed in an ambush launched by the Ko - dan Armada thanks to the actions of a traitor, leaving Alex alone to battle the enemy.. He briefly insists to be taken home again, until Grig points out that Xur’s plans of conquest would expand towards Earth sooner or later..

Meanwhile, on Earth, the Beta is having a difficult time replacing him, failing at Alex’s job as a repairman, ruining Alex’s relationship with his girlfriend Maggie Gordon ( Catherine Mary Stewart ) and nearly being discovered by Alex’s younger brother Louis ( Chris Hebert ).. Beta finally admits to Maggie that he is not the real Alex Rogan just as an assassin discovers the existence of the android and rushes to his ship to alert the enemy.. The android is destroyed, but not before successfully interrupting the assassin’s transmission.. An enemy commander receives the incomplete message, and Xur, the enemy’s general and Emperor of the Armada, assumes Alex is dead and orders to proceed with the invasion..

Alex and Grig attack the Command Ship destroying its communications, therefore catching the Deckfighter wing off - guard.. As the battle reaches a fevered pitch, Alex manages to keep the upper hand resorting in real life to the ” lone fighter - against - hordes ” tactics he mastered so well playing the coin - operated videogame; in the end however his weapons are depleted.. In a desperate move, he triggers the Death Blossom and destroys every single Deckfighter.. Xur escapes in a pod and lives to fight another day, while Krill and the crippled Commandship meet their end colliding into a moon.. At the victory celebration, Centauri reappears, having come out of what was actually a dormant state.. While Alex is being proclaimed the savior, he is informed that the galaxy is still vulnerable and Xur is at large.. Alex is asked to stay and aid in rebuilding the Starfighter Legion..

Alex returns to Earth, dramatically landing in the trailer park in his spaceship.. He explains to his family where he was and reveals that he has decided to return to space and serve as a Starfighter and to rebuild the Star League of Planets…. With the blessing of her family, Alex’s girlfriend decides to return with him.. The story ends with Alex’s brother preparing to play the Starfighter video game, dreaming of joining Alex in space..

A real The Last Starfighter arcade game by Atari, Inc. is promised in the end credits, but was never released.. If released, the game would have been the first arcade game to use a Motorola 68000 as the CPU.. Gameplay would have been taken from game scenes and space battle scenes in the movie and would have included the same controller that was used on the first Star Wars arcade game.. Ultimately, it was not released because the arcade machine would have had a sale price of $10,000, which the vice president in Atari considered too high.. A freeware playable version of the game, based on what is seen in the movie, was released for PC in 2007.. I am currently putting together my own Starfighter cabinet, which you can do the same and download the freeware game from here..

I really could see this working with a bigger budget and being updated for modern day videogames, forgetting piloting space ships and going hand to hand like Gears of War, after all there aren’t many games like The Last Starfighter these days… I for one am looking forward to more news about the sequel but more importantly the release of movie..