Naturally, the audience and Alex are hearing this for the first time. As You Know.: Ambassador Enduran uses this trope almost by name - 'as you all know' - as he mentions to the Starfighters what the Frontier is, why it's important, and how, because of a dark betrayal (he means Xur), the Frontier will soon collapse.Archnemesis Dad: An Inverted Trope here - the Big Bad's father is the Big Good.Arc Words: 'Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada!'.He's quite surprised to learn that it's a recruitment tool. And You Thought It Was a Game: Alex (and everyone else in his town) thinks the Starfighter video game is just that.All Just a Dream: Beta assures Louis of this when he sees Beta take off his own head and start working on it.īeta: Louis.The novelization makes it clear that both speakers need translators and handwaves Grig talking to the humans at the end by saying that Alex taught him some English before they landed.Afterwards, aliens are heard speaking English even when Alex isn't around, but this is likely Translation Convention. Alex has to wait a bit until they give him a translator. Aliens Speaking English: Centauri does, due to already being familiar with Earth from producing and distributing the Starfighter video games, but the Rylans and other aliens don't.Alien Non-Interference Clause: The Star League has no intention of contacting Earth until it matures.They had some real trouble recruiting soldiers - and finding a politician to read them a speech. Actual Pacifist: The novelization features the League as such.Actor Allusion: The character of Centauri is clearly based on Robert Preston's most famous character, Harold Hill from The Music Man.Ace Pilot: Alex mostly fulfills this trope, but slightly subverts it as he is a talented gunner, not a pilot - Grig, the navigator, takes care of that, and the Gunstar, though fast and heavily armored, doesn't seem to be particularly maneuverable.The Gunstar chair that Alex sits in allows for full 360 degree movement, including flipping him upside down at one point, which makes even more sense, as the Gunstar is sort of an outer-space gunship, made to attack opponents in any direction regardless of the one the ship is aimed at (as opposed to the Ko-Dan, who are in traditional 'fighters'), and Alex is the gunner, not the pilot. 2-D Space: The at-the-time brand new CGI effects allowed for a rare aversion of this trope the battles are fought in a very noticeable 3D environment.The Last Starfighter provides examples of:

The last starfighter movie