The Last Starfighter Video Game Icon
Cosmic Right Wing Power?
Two classic science fiction movies from the 1980s are
The Last Starfighter (1984) and
Enemy Mine (1985). Coincidentally both movies feature a friendship between the human race and race of lizard like aliens.
The insignia of the video game
in The Last Starfighter uses the colours red, blue, white and black. In the center is a straight sword with wings near the
handle. At the bottom is a rising half a blue star or planet. In the
background are stars
represented by white dots. On the left and right side of the sword are a pair of red and blue parabolas, that match the design of the sword.
BTA Patch
An Anthem for Cosmic Left Wing Brotherly Love?
In the alternate universe of
Enemy Mine Dennis Quad plays a flight officer in the BTA, which is short of Bilateral Terran Association. The Letters of the BTA patch are stylized shapes that use triangles, rectangles and odd shapes to represent the BTA.
Enemy Mine was originally based on a WWII film called
Hell in the Pacific.
Starfighter Insignia
But in the
Last Starfighter Alex Rogan, played by
Lance Guest, is recruited to join the gifted Starfighter Gunner Troop. The elite starfighter patch consists of a stylized white star with a long tail pointing downwards. In between the four pointed white star points is another background yellow star with four points. The top border half of the star burst consists of a black rectangle. On the lower half of the star burst is a rainbow shaped icon of black, white, dark blue, and lighter blue followed by a thin white ring and black border.
Helmet of a Starfighter
for humanoid use
In the
Last Starfighter a video games disguises itself as an entrance examination for an
elite corps of military gunnery positions. We still live in a time where video games are still considered 'child's play.' But in the not so distant future and in this classic 80s movie, video games will be as big as Hollywood and serious military business.
In
Enemy Mine the human and
lizardman alien are initially forced into an alliance for survival but human nature and
lizardman nature are able to harmonize into trust and friendship.
Before the domination of home video game systems, video games were usually played in public. In the
Last Starfighter the hero rocks the cosmos with his skillful command of the controls. On the side of the
video game cart is the first insignia of the video game. But also on his helmet we see the official mark of '
Starfighter.'
