It’s been the white whale for filmmakers for years, with the likes of Steven Spielberg and Seth Rogen trying to shoot their remake spears into The Last Starfighter. But after years of brushing aside every request, original writer and rights-holder Jonathan Betuel is spearheading not a new film, but a TV series that will only obliquely reference the 1984 original.
The film, which some may fondly remember from the early days of home VHS machines (it was the first film this writer’s family rented), The Last Starfighter was the story of Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a video game-obsessed teenager who becomes Starfighter’s highest scorer and is whisked off to help fight in a massive alien conflict. Although initially reticent, he agrees when he discovers that the enemy has wiped out most of the pilots who trained with him.
Despite his own stand against remakes in the years, Betuel has teamed up with Andy Vick and Rick Rey, co-founders of Surreal.tv, a company that wants to combine straight narrative storytelling with Virtual Reality. The new series, known as The Starfighter Chronicles, wouldn’t directly continue the movie, but is instead a serialised story about alien law keepers.
As of right now, it’s in the very early stages and looks to use the current edge of technology the way the film created its ships and other effects using early CG technology. There’s certainly an audience for new Starfighter stories (even if it's only a crowd of film folk), assuming the series can tempt people to try VR headsets and other tech, something that is starting to build some momentum.