My first memory as a human being is of The Last Starfighter. I was four years old, sitting in the back seat of my mom’s old station wagon at the Middletown Drive-In, and poof. My first memory is looking up at the screen and seeing Nick Castle‘s exciting and awesome sci-fi film.

If you haven’t seen The Last Starfighter, you’re missing a movie that was about 30 years ahead of its time. In it, a young human named Alex (Lance Guest) is recruited by an alien race to fight a war to save the universe. How is he recruited? Because he’s the best person in the world at a video game called Starfighter.

With video games more popular than ever, the idea of an alien race using them to recruit sounds like an incredibly modern idea. So why not reimagine The Last Starfighter in a modern context? YouTube user Tim Gonzales did just that. Below, watch the modernized Last Starfighter trailer.

Thanks to Tim Gonzales for this great Last Starfighter trailer.

Modern Last Starfighter trailer

I think Gonzales has done an amazing job editing this trailer. The music works, it has great pace, excitement and pathos. But I kind of disagree with him calling it a “Modern Trailer.” If anything, the trailer doesn’t give away enough, and is too artistic to be the product of modern Hollywood. A real modern trailer for The Last Starfighter would have blown the end of the movie and been more direct about the story.

Recently, I was asked what movie that hasn’t been remade that I’d like to see remade. I answered The Last Starfighter. I adore the original and it holds a very important place in my life. Yet the story is so easily adaptable to modern times, I think there’s a really good remake in here just waiting to happen.

What did you think of this Last Starfighter trailer?