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Either this means that HD-DVD really needs a shot in the arm, or Amazon is feeling particularly gracious with their stock of HD-DVDs. Either way if you love science fiction and have an HD-DVD player, you win.
Now's your chance to stock up on things and finally get that copy of The Last Starfighter in high-def.
Andy: "Sparky, look! What's that?! A spaceship?"
Sparky: "Woof, woof!"
*cue weird alien music*
If you've ever seen a classic science fiction film from the 1950s and watched a dish-shaped UFO fly into view, then you've most likely heard a Theremin. It's the electronic musical intsrument that provides the "OooooOEEEeeeeeOOoooeEEEE" sound that you usually hear during those moments. Plus, you play it without touching it, which is just plain weird, and very cool ... as is evidenced by this video of someone playing "Video Killed The Radio Star" on one. A note you can take from this: remember to turn it on.
Now, you can't really stroll down to the corner music store and pick one of these up, so what better way than to roll up your sleeves and build one yourself? Make: magazine has a PDFcast that will take you through the steps, and you'll be waving your hands around in the air maniacally in no time.
It's no secret that fans of science fiction love to spend money buying things that you wouldn't find in say, the White House. That is unless the First Lady has added a replica of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey to the Lincoln Bedroom. Something that would probably benefit the current administration. Of course, so would a dictionary. You can just see the president approaching it slowly, like the monolith, opening it and exclaiming, "My god ... it's full of words!"
Now, if you're a self-respecting fan of science fiction, particularly of the 1950s and steampunk varieties, then you may be sorely tempted to hand over your hard-earned cash to the New Zealand based special effects house Weta. In exchange, you'll be picking up one of Dr. Grordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators. Or as the laymen like to call them, "rayguns."
Yes, some bored techies at Weta workshops decided to tinker around and build these pretty nifty rayguns. Then a bright marketing person must have had the gem of idea to sell these, in specially designed, velvet-lined cases, to gullible science fiction fans around the globe. What better way to show your love for retro sci-fi than with a non-working hunk of die-cast metal that costs hundreds of dollars?
I've already pre-ordered the Victorious Mongoose.
Fair warning: if you haven't read Ender's Game or seen The Last Starfighter, then you probably don't want to keep reading this unless you're in the mood for spoilers.
So your race is facing intergalactic extinction. You've been pushed to the brink of existence. What do you do? Spend time training new troops, building a mega-spaceship to take your race to another galaxy or ... develop a video game that looks for a prodigal savior to come and prove themselves through skill with a joystick?
Apparently if you're Orson Scott Card or Robert Preston, that's exactly what you'd do. It’s actually pure (evil) genius if you think about it. You know all of those Wiis, PlayStations, and Xboxes sitting dormant in living rooms, bedrooms, and basements across the country? Perfect little training units. With a little tweaking of code you could churn out an army using The Sims 27 in no time.
In a nutshell, that's the plot of both Ender's Game, the classic science fiction novel from 1985, and The Last Starfighter, which hit screens 1984. Race faces extinction, video game gets programmed to train potential saviors, if they beat the game ... then they suit up for the real thing.
In Ender's case, he didn't know that the game he was playing all along was actually the real battle. It's a good thing he didn't decide to just screw around in the game and try and smash his ships into the nearest planet, because those were real pilots in those ships. Who knows what would have happened if he had to keep hitting the 'continue' button.
Now, the real rub lies with The Last Starfighter's Alex Rogan. He was playing an actual quarter-sucking arcade game, and when he hit the high score, lights and celebration ensued. Then The Music Man himself appears from the sky in a flying limousine and whisks him away to fight interstellar battle. Sounds simple, right? Well, consider this. In Ender's Game, Ender literally wipes the enemy out completely, unwittingly committing genocide. However, Alex only destroys Xur and the Ko-dan Armada, meaning there are going to be some really pissed off Ko-dans somewhere who are going to come back and whip the snot out of someone as revenge. Of course, Alex decides to become a teacher for future Starfighters, and takes his eye-candy girlfriend with him. But if the Ko-dans pour on a little speed, then Alex and the human race are
pretty much sunk.
But what's really puzzling is how the aliens decided to put the Starfighter game on Earth to begin with. Were there tons all over the planet? Only one? Did they go to other parts of the galaxy? Do they even play video games near Alpha Centauri? One disappointing fact about the actual arcade game used in the movie comes via Wil Wheaton, whose scenes were cut from the film. He told me "The one thing I remember clearly about that film was how disappointed I was when I saw the totally awesome video game on the set, and the only thing in the cabinet was a 4x4 grid of incandescent lights in varying colors." Not very inspiring. It boggles the mind. Since there never was a The Last Starfighter 2: Even Starfightier, we may never know what happened to the other cabinets.
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