There is an homage to this ship in the Expanse. During one of Rocinate's battles where they have to shoot down multiple torpedoes closing from several directions the ship goes into a spin to allow it to fire more easily at the targets with its PDCs. If you look at Holden's monitor you can see that they are using "Attack program: DEATHBLOSSOM".
GUNSTARS ARE AWESOME Grig: [scoffs] Death is a primitive concept. I prefer to think of them as battling evil in another dimension. Alex Rogan: In another dimension? How many are left? Grig: Including yourself? Alex Rogan: Yeah. Grig: One!
One of the first 'Space Fighters' that attempted to use real space 3 vector physics to fight its battles. In contrast, the Star Wars ships seemed to be stuck in WWII Air/Gravity physics. This one was the real deal back then. Well done on the modeling!!
klinton kavanagh, there was one in the works but with the passing of the actor who played Centuri they just couldn't get anyone who fit the bill perfectly and so it's been in limbo ever since.
I'd like to see a remake of the original and THAN a sequel.... The original, though good for the time shows its age too much. Not to mention is a bit cheesy at points... I still love this movie... I saw it in theaters when I was about 10 years old... Loved it and still do!
Actually, I think we do see the Gunstar’s particle beam cannons firing during the final battle with the Ko-Dan dreadnought. After Grig restores power, the Gunstar makes a strafing run against the dreadnought’s belly. Though the beams are the same color as the lasers, the blasts used against the dreadnought are bigger and are fired in pairs, originating from those particle beam mounts. So it would seem the particle cannons are indeed used for larger, slower-moving targets, as you surmised.
Martian Dawn you can also see them used in the video game simulation. They have a different appearance from the lasers and they did get used against Capital ships.
@@Mr_Welch Came here to say this. The videogame sequences clearly show two kinds of weapons fire. Here's a good example. ua-cam.com/video/AJRmY9VXf1g/v-deo.html
I just rewatched it frame-by-frame, and you are actually right. At 1:16:59 in the movie (Alex's first strafing run) , you can see the blasts unequivocally coming from the upper ports in the "wing root", not from the laser turrets that are in front of them. Amusingly, in Alex's second, last ditch attack at 1:21:37, you can see it unequivocally coming from the laser turrets - which also makes sense.
Ended up taking me about 12 hours more work than I expected. I thought this would be an easy ship to model but it really is a very vERY thorough and intricate design. Wish I had tome to do more with it! Bless your heart if you know this ship well! :D
Can you do the Earth Alliance Starfury?! Maybe even the MS-06 zaku. I've always had a fascination with space mecha as they actually seem very practical in null g and the Zaku is the benchmark All purpose grunt MS.
There is a wireframe version of this ship on the net somewhere, it was in battleclinic, is was supposed to be scaled properly and set up to be used to help properly model this beast. Obj max lightsaber and 3ds formats were included in the dl.
I still love this movie. Great story, great music, and great effects. This ship has superior firepower than any other ship in any Sci-Fi series and movies. I still hope for a sequal. NOT a reboot!!!!
The funny thing about this movie: I actually read the Alan Dean Foster adaptation for it more times than I actually saw it. It still blew me away with all the Nintendo and Williams arcade references. Plus, the latent tactical skills that Alex possessed.
This was my 4th favorite movie growing up with the Star Wars trilogy being rated as my top three. I was born in 78 and have always been a huge fan of sci-fi. Thanks for doing this video, it brought back memories and put a smile on my face.
The Gunstar is a fine ship and in a way could even fit into the star wars universe if it wanted too.For the longest time the only way I saw this movie was from a vhs tv recording my dad made in the early 90's.I got it on blu ray a few years ago and wow it was like watching a new movie.It really is a gem of the 80's. Needs a sequel more than anything not a reboot.
I would love to see a space battle of a squadron of gunstars going at it with the armada.You know I think a movie would do it justice maybe it needs a tv series and it ends with a movie.
In this day and age if they did a sequel is would be crap sorry to say. I would love that more than anything but I don't believe they would ever get the right people to do it.
I think the Gunstar could take on many fighters from other universes due to its maneuverability and 360 degrees of coverage. What an exceptional design.
One scene that would have been cool to see as a deleted scene from this movie was during the Battle between the Gunstar 1 and the Codan Armada was if down on Rylos showing the President and everyone else watching the fight and seeing the look of surprise on they're faces at seeing a single Gunstar going up against the entire Codan Armada and for those that survived at StarFighter Command who might have worked on the prototype Gunstar 1 at seeing the ship in it's first battle and using the untested Death Blossom would have been really neat to see.
The tandem pilot/gunner crew layout reminds me of real-life helicopter gunships. It seems very possible the people who made this movie were inspired by aircraft like the AH-1 and AH-64.
@JSENNER83 notice how the hud works when alex looks around during the pre flight checklist. plus the guns turning to where he looks. fighter pilot huds of advanced aircraft such as the f-22, f-35 and apache attack helicopters also do this
@JSENNER83 when was the first time it or something analogous turned up in a mainstream film? aside from the Clint Eastwood "Firefox" this was i think one of the earliest such depictions.
I haven't seen the movie in ages and now I should watch it again. Your demonstration leads me to believe this ship would be a terror in other universes, and would probably be able to out-perform most other fighters put against it. I see it as something like a Tie Defender meant to move like a Cylon Raider, a terrifying concept I wish more sci-fi shows would explore.
I tend to agree. This was a solid design wayback in the 80s when, as you pointed out and know, space fighters handled like "WW2 Aircraft" then actual space fighters. Hard to compare to other universes entries into this but front runners are of course the various fighters from Babylon 5, Battlestar reboot and the larger ships in The Expanse. However the Gunstar would obviously be a major contender in this arena. Great channel you got going and yes The Last Starfighter needs a sequel with a decent modern budget. They could still go with the slightly tongue in cheek style of the original or do a more serious approach with some good dramatic acting.
I really enjoyed this! The Last Starfighter was underrated in my opinion. Yes, it was a bit cheesy. But I still loved it. To answer your question: I think the Gunstar would more than hold its own against even the First Order TIE's and the Resistance's X-Wings.
I’d say it’s one of the most powerful star fighter class ships out there period. I love the x-wing, but give me a choice and it’s a gun star every time!
Great vid. The distinctive sound of gunstar lasers took me right back to childhood and brought a smile to my face. When death blossom was activated, there are some kind of blue spherical appearing blasts. I speculate that those are the “particle beams” but I don’t really know.
Those are 'photon bolts'-- the missiles. In space, a missile will not leave a smoke trail. The exhaust gas will splay out in a wide fan as it expands into the vacuum. That's why the exhaust plume of the Gunstar's missiles are so wide as to appear like orbs from a distance. What the Death Blossom program did was modify the standard Gunstar's missile magazine into a multi-tube battery that was exposed as the panels opened up. Rather than launch missiles four at a time through the standard launch tubes, Death Blossom fired them all directly from the magazine bay.
I sure hope to see a sequel as this movie is almost 40 years old as it came out back in 1985 and if they do do a sequel it sure would be awesome to see Lance Guest reprise his role of Alex Rogan and maybe even seeing if Earth learns of the Star League.
It's funny that the guy who played Grig in this movie was the same guy who played the 'Old Man' in the Original Robocop just 2 years later as the Last Starfighter came out in (1985) and the original Robocop came out in (1987).
Gunstar would be deadly in BSG or B5 universes. Star Wars it would probably hold its own. TIEs are probably comparable to Ko-Dan deck fighters. I'd expect Gunstar's firepower to be about as good against capital ships as a B-wing. Star Trek universe I would see it having problems. No shields is a problem there. The real weakness the Gunstar has is endurance. It relies on charged up energy for its weapons, and the ammo packs can be drained with less than one minute of sustained fire.
"And of course she's got deflector plating so she can withstand several direct hits" - Grig in the Gunstar Launch Silo. I interpreted "plating" as armor, not shields.
With the Gunstar having some powerful thrusters for different maneuvers it must have an extremely special thrust to weight ratio in it's construction for it to be so maneuverable.
This ship was one of the greatest things I saw in my childhood. I absolutely adore this move and I really hope they make the sequel they're talking about.
Possibly a descendant but for real space combat there's only so many shapes that make good sense for an intercept fighter. Both the Gunstar and the Starfury conform to that design so it may just be a case of engineering coincidence. Either way if you're playing Space Engineers both designs have a lot to teach on building a quality fighter.
@@fbi805 Not so sure about that. The physics is what dictates the design of both, and it really is the sensible way of doing it. Starfuries are a little shorter than wide, have a standing pilot, and put the pilot closer to the center of rotation. Gunstar's thrusters are a little more optimally placed (symmetric), but it puts the pilot way out front which increases the g-forces in yaw and pitch maneuvers for no real benefit. Seems like both designed for great realistic space maneuverability, but B5 paid a bit more attention to g-forces on the pilot. Then again, B5 introduced the Thunderbolt aerospace fighter a bit later which had the same seated pilot out front thing.
One of the happiest moments of my life, was when I was able to get my hands on the novelization to this movie! And don't forget, Grig dismissed Alex's descriptions of the weapons as "Kid's stuff." Leaving plenty of wiggle room for a Gunstar to hold its own, compared to fighters from the major sci-fi franchises.
That 360 degree firearc, that you get from all those turrets, makes it almost unbeatable in 1vs1 and even against a group of fighters. With a decent automated targeting system, there is no position for an enemy to hide or attack without risking getting roasted by the gunstars counterattack. Thats what most fighters don´t have and really need: rotating gun turrets. Right now, i can only remember of the SA-43 Hammerhead from Space 2063 (or Above and beyond), that have a rotatable gun too (and a backward aiming on its top).
@@LordElpme Depends on the model. Even the Clone Wars version would need a squadron to take down a Gunstar. They had a gunner for the turreted ions, very good shielding, and probably very good armor for era. They did not have good top speed and turn rate was below average. A good match would be a Gunstar vs. 2 Y-W, at 2 ARC-170s, and 2 or more V-Wings to provide feints and cover fire. Gunstar-1 flew into a staging area for Xurians and while threatened, it took down multiple ships, each with dual turrets, themselves.
aaahhh, S:AAB ; the series that didn't deserve to die... Hammerhead was an excellent 'hard sci-fi' design. Factoid; the forward gun turret of the Hammerhead used the exact automatic heavy machine gun that the UNMC did in ground combat; so a pilot could land and use it as a ground weapon, or swap out a bad unit for a functioning one.
Sci-fi, Arcade High jinx, campy characters, yep sign me up! I loved this moving growing up and the only bummer was the movie makers didn't capitalize on the marketing by making the arcade game a reality. Great video!
I remember it from when it was released and still watch it and listen to the music...oh the memories. As a note this was the first movie to use dedicated computer graphics for the ships, and laid the foundations for all the movies that came afterward. It is a testament to the skill of the makers that the graphics, though somewhat primitive still can stand up to watching today. I would agree that the gun star could make a good showing against most comparable fighters or groups of fighters in most any universe. After all, how many fighters have full 360 degree coverage in all directions? Another interesting piece of trivia... the computer model used for the gun star had close to 300,000 polygons as rendered for the hero shots. They used The fastest available Cray super computer of the time to render the shots.
To all that are talking abut things like the Star Fury from B5 - it is a 'good' hard sci-fi space fighter design. But I do not recall seeing as many thrusters so well placed on it. So IMHO I think the Gunstar beats it. :P Plus it has things like shields, better crew, and tech the Star Fury doesn't seem to. Feel free to disagree, agree, debate or discuss. :D
But it has the main maneuvering thrusters in a similar place. It's almost like if the law of physics had something to do with it. Or the Star Fury is the abandon child between a Rylan Gunstar and a X-wing. Probably born in a crazy night full of alcohol.
If we're talking realism, B5's Star Fury is something we could reasonably make as a Gunstar prototype design. Energy shields require a tech boost that is not in the B5 universe (yet). The larger particle cannon could be incorporated into the Star Fury design as well. As universes go, however, both the Gunstar and Star Fury are pretty close to realism. To me, that is what really counts, not which is more powerful. Future sci-fi authors, take notes! The Expanse is a good example as well to learn from.
I can't recall if there were ever shields in B5 but to me energy shielding for almost any kind of spacecraft, real or imagined, is an almost essential component with all the random radiation issues in space. Surely some B5 ships have shielding or at least really good armor - perhaps membari, shadows, or vorlons have shields or armor just as good.
Unless its a Tie fighter and what matters its keep a low production cost... I think I know how to fit the Star fury and the Rylan Gunstar in the same mixed universe xD
Definitely very good armor, I can tell that much. Depending on the beam weapons in ship to ship combat, it can take a ship at least three to four seconds before the opponent's armor is melted off at the aim point. (There was a clip showing a Shadow vessel getting hit by such a capitol ship beam weapon and taking that long to get critical damage.) If that hits engineering for the ship, definitely game over. For small fighter craft, shipborne main weapons would be a death sentence. I do admit, though; I like some realism in my craft. Star Wars is fine as it is, but I wouldn't call it real in how it treats space combat. To stop alpha radiation, you only need a sheet of paper. To stop beta radiation, probably a piece of wood. Gamma, about a few inches of steel. Large ships with armor would have little trouble in this respect.
This is one of my favorite 80's Sci-Fi movies, I remember going to the theater opening weekend to see it. Yes, I believe the Gunstar can school the other Sci-Fi fighters no questions asked.
I honestly think the Rylan Gunstar could definitely hold it's own in other universes. Like you said, it was purpose built to go into battle, knowing it would be outnumbered, and still come back. Most likely, I can see it being used in hit and run tactics. Get in, blow up as many things as possible, and get out; and if that fails, take everyone with you in a Death Blossom.
Yes yes! One of the best designed ships of sci-fi. The ideas of multiple thrusters and weapons turrets to cover all angles on a fighter sized craft, with a dedicated gunner is genius.
I think the Gunstar can outmaneuver most fighters in any Sci-Fi series. With the exception of the Starfury of Babylon 5. However, The Starfury lacks the armament to destroy a Gunstar. The Gunstar has been seen to take multiple direct missile hits and remain a viable fighter platform where as the Starfury only has to be struck in the cockpit to destroy it or in its thruster pylons to disable it.
Gunstar shielding and armor is significant, but the hull, itself seems reinforced. She skidded off the Command Ship and suffered no damage, even though it regained power an instant prior. The shielding may not have even been up at that instant.
You can find Ron Cobb's designs at his website. As to the Particle Beams, you can see them in the video game. Where the lasers were lines, the Particle beams were a line of balls. Great video. Thank you for your time and effort.
love the Gunstar, it is a good well thought out ship, I would love to see a sequel or remake and sequel though I'm afraid Hollywood would ruin such a venture.
Possible spoiler for the expanse below. If you're an expanse fan they put an easter egg in the latest episode. The hero ship has to do a spinning maneuver while firing all it's pdcs. On the pilot's console you can see where the maneuver is called death blossom.
I would say the starfighter would mop up anything in the starwars universe.... until Poe Dameron discovered that you can actually turn around in space!
First off, LOVE THIS! Many props for your analysis. The only critique I have is in your assumption of the particle beam weapons. Those four black sections that you identified as the Particle Beam Cannons are actually the landing gear. Because Grig's Gun Star was a prototype with "Death Blossom" I had assumed the particle beams were removed to allow for the Death Blossom functionality/power. But again, I want to ultimately applaud this analysis!! :-)
I think the particular beam canons were only meant for capital ships assault... I'll see if I can find a good screen grab of the normal Gunships and see if there is a physical difference.
DarthAgamemnon if you look at the ship you will see that those for particle beam weapons are weapons and Atlanta gear is further away from them they have nothing touching the ground when it launches
I do believe the four black sections are Particle Beam Cannons and the four landing gear are in the back (so you are both right). If you watch the clip where they take off from the launch silo you can see how they fit together.
This is one of the very few 80s space fighters that actually looked and felt like a space fighter. I remember as soon as the aerospace rules came out for Battletech I built it in that universe, it was fantastic. The film is really just one of those good adventure stories, minor love sub plot, a bit of silly 80s style bad jokes and just an all round great film. I think i will introduce my daughter to it this weekend. She loves sci fi and her almost six year old imagination will love it.
Wow, I didn't know how badly I needed this channel. No idea why youtube recommended it to me (I haven't watched any other content like this) but the Gunstar is my favorite sci fi ship ever, and I've loved The Last Starfighter ever since the first time I saw it as a 7 year old. How did you get the HD footage of the CGI Gunstar? Did you make it all yourself? Amazing video; subscribed.
This ship was MEANT to take on fighters from the start, so I have no doubt it can show the star wars a thing or two about fighting in space. And when it can take out 30+ snub fighters in the space of a few seconds? It might not win against overpowering odds.. but even the klingons and mandalorians would have to give it respect. Star trek? They got the range to deal with ships like this but it has the armor and shields to get in way too close for comfort. After losing the first ship to it, I can easily see star fleet taking the policy of KEEPING it at range, even if they have to go FTL to do so.
Oh hell yes I remember this movie and the ship.The gunstar is one of my favorite space fighters of all time, and The Last Starfighter is one of my favorite scifi movies of all time. VICTORY OR DEATH!!!!!
I watched this movie when I was a kid and it was released in theaters. I fell in love with it not only for the awesome, buff ship, but also the fact that I also lived in a trailer park... To clarify your speculation (as best I can): 1) The 4 black bits at the intersection of the fuselage and the "wings" are not a weapons system - they are the retractable landing gears for a gravity-assisted rocket-launch style of landing. In the end of the movie, you see the Gunstar perform such a landing in the trailer park. It would make sense they would have to be large to support the massive weight of the ship landing in any gravity environment, absorbing the shock of touching down and spreading the weight of the entire ship over a large area. In addition, their being placed as close as possible on the fuselage / wing intersections would lend support to the "wings" so gravity doesn't cause them to sag, eventually ripping them off the fuselage - each "wing" has as much volume, and possibly even more mass than the fuselage itself, when you count the extra armor, the missile weapons systems, and thruster piping / engine power conversion units. If those weapons were included in that same area, it would be a crucially deadly design flaw - one rough landing or overheating, and the weapon systems would be crushed, disabled, or cause a possible chain reaction that could cripple or destroy the ship. 2) We never do see the "Particle Beams" used, not even once - I honestly think they were put in there just to fill out the roster of possible weaponry and make the ship sound that much cooler (which it didn't really need). The only weapons ever used in the movie were the lasers and missiles ("Photon Bolts"). Don't forget, it also had "Target Lights" (rudimentary practice drones) it could throw out the rear of the "wings" to give the gunner targeting practice. 3) Yes, it would out-maneuver and out-power almost any other ship in any other space movie or TV series, especially in its size class / role as a superiority fighter. Shad, over at Shadiversity, did just such a video on this as well, talking about space fighter maneuvering - almost all the "sci-fi" space fighters, save for a few rare examples like the "Starfury" from "Babylon 5", are designed around the standard configuration of an airplane: rear-facing thrusters meant to push the ship in a forward-motion, with some sort of wing sets. The issue is that with no ability to produce contrary thrust to their current trajectory (because they have no wing elevators / ailerons since there's no atmosphere in space that can be used to pitch or roll), they can't change direction once they started moving in a single direction in real-life space! This was illustrated when the steering systems were knocked out in the Kodan warship - it couldn't change course or resist gravity, smashing into a moon. 4) In terms of gunnery, almost anything in its own league and larger, save a Borg Cube or some other capital ship with fully-surrounding weapon coverage (Star Destroyer, Federation of Planets Capital-class starships), would be in pretty sad shape going up against a Gunstar, even a Starfury (mainly because it is still a smaller, less-equipped, less-thrust-capable ship, dependent on the pilot to do everything). The Gunstar ship design is much like a flying version of a tank, because it can fly along any vector course, and can still shoot in ANY direction REGARDLESS of its physical movement. This is because of the two-person system and full-spherical radar-type enemy detection warning systems - nothing could sneak up on it and stab it in the back, and any enemies out of visual range are highlighted and bracketed by the targeting computer, meaning the gunner just needs to point and shoot.
Gretings Starfighter! Not only is the design very well done of your model, the sound is spot on! Loved the movie as a kid, and I never really grew up. 😁 Thanks for the video!
This is one of my favorite movies! Thanks for the breakdown of this fighter. I've commissioned Jake Parker for his take on that Gunstar, and another I commissioned the arcade with a pinup.
This little beauty is truly awesome. She could handle just about any other fighter out there...with only the Terran Thunderbolts from B5 giving it any concern.
With all the caution out there in movie making land, either a remake or a sequel of this COULD be awesome! It was a great show for it's time and is quite rewatchable even all these years later. I was just a little too young to see it at the theater but saw it on VHS a couple years later. I have watched it several times in the last 20 years and I still love it.
Thanks so much for putting this together. I loved this movie as a kid and watched it over and over again. I remember building a replica of this out of "Contrux" toys. Hopefully that will take some folks back as well. The replica turned out really good!
I loved this movie as a kid, and still love it today. I wish they had been able to develop a video game based on the one in the movie. That would have been so cool.
One thing I love about the film is seeing the ships "over-correct" when turning, showing that they're actually compensating for vector drift in a non-atmosphere environment. It's the only space war film I can remember doing that until at least a decade later. On the particle beams, while we don't see them used in live battle, you're likely correct that they're meant for larger, slower targets. It is clearly the weapon Alex uses in the game to take out the command ship. This might give a little insight on their actual behavior. Why they weren't ever shown in the actual space scenes is a bit of a conundrum.
I can tell you a couple things about the (non?-)use of Particle Beams; there is a video somewhereabouts on UA-cam (Oliver Harper, perhaps?) that discusses the making of The Last Starfighter; The FX contractor that designed and rendered the ships and space scenes was the same startup that did much of the world rendering in TRON. TRON did not do well financially, and the company was in a bit of a makeshift state, so there was not a lot of time or talent to spare on extra effects; the space scenes were good aesthetically, but not elaborate - this _was_ only the second movie to feature full-scene CGI sequences. So great for its time, decently aged, but definitely dated. Still a personal favorite.
Thanks so much for this! I am still a huge fan of this movie since seeing it back in 1985 To my knowledge the only game made that has ever kind of resembled the game in the movie was Star Master on the Atari 2600, which I played to death back in the day!
When I first saw The Last StarFighter I was really impressed with the Gunstar 1 the only Gunstar to survive the destruction of Starfighter command but then again it was in a separate hangar and Grig mentioned the ship was an experimental prototype with a whole new series of systems and weapons and armor compared to the others including the new Death Blossom system which was untested but as seen in the movie shows the only way to use an untested system is in battle but it did have one problem as it drained the ship of all power till Grig had to reroute power and I'm pretty sure Alex would have suggested adding back up batteries to the ship till all the problems with Death Blossom were worked out.
Word from the movie (and the MAME-esque arcade game) is that Death Blossom also has a chance to malfunction. This means that it might not even activate at all.
Oh heck yes! The Last Starfighter was one of the first sci fi movies I ever got to see, courtesy of my mom, my older brother and VHS tapes. Although I do suck at it, there is an extremely accurate fan-made replica of the in-movie Starfighter arcade game that you can download that is a real pleasure to play. I think it'd be cool to see a Gunstar square off against a Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica.
Thank you for this analysis! I always wondered which weapons were what. I’m in my early 40’s and still remember this as if I were ten years old. The Gunstar is one of my favorite fighters in sci-fi.
It should be noted that the layout of having the Pilot/Navigator in a raised rear cockpit with a the gunner in the front was probably taken from the Huey Cobra attack helicopter of Vietnam War vintage and its successors the Super Cobra used by the Marine Corp and the Apache used by the Army. I agree the Rylan Gunstar was a really well thought out starfighter design especially considering it was for lighthearted (and one thing the The Starfighter Fighter has is a lot of heart) sci-fi adventure movie aimed primarily at kids. I like the vertical take off and landing feature of the design like what we see the the current SyFy series The Expanse.
with a name like "Gunstar" its already implied of it military function .. i love this ship its concept and design are probable near future capable space combat ship design
One of My FAVORITES! a very realistic ship for a very campy movie. I own it and love rewatching it from time to time. Also don't forget it had landing struts that extended from the back for vertical storage!
This is THE STARFIGHTER! It’s only rivals in maneuvering are the vipers from Galactica and the Starfury from Babylon5 and both of those are insects next to this TANK that handles like a Ferrari.
The Gunstar simply outclasses starfighters of other works. It's got the coverage of the Millennium Falcon, the maneuverability of a Star Fury, and the firepower of a Defiant.
I love the old Gunstar. You can see how much it inspired the Starfury Aurora, and paved the way for the yound sci fi writers then who are now ready to take center stage to make more advanced stories and ships.
I have 2 ships I dearly love, other the the USS Enterprise D. They are: from Space: 1999, The Eagles. Wonderful spaceships with a very "doable" design and something I can easily see us humans making in the next 25 years. Then there are the Gunstars. AMAZING is not a good enough word to describe these beauties! As shown in the video, they have a very "hard sci-fi" design that is rooted in reality of space travel and combat. The first time I saw these great ships was in the theater with my dad, watching The Last Starfighter for the first time, and immediately falling in love with them! Great movie, with spectacular ships!
Loved this movie, have the VHS, and the Gunstar is an awesome space fighter, definitely one of my favs. Hopefully we get to see at the very least a reboot movie, long as they just slightly update the cgi model, without drastically changing it.
There is an homage to this ship in the Expanse. During one of Rocinate's battles where they have to shoot down multiple torpedoes closing from several directions the ship goes into a spin to allow it to fire more easily at the targets with its PDCs. If you look at Holden's monitor you can see that they are using "Attack program: DEATHBLOSSOM".
GUNSTARS ARE AWESOME
Grig: [scoffs] Death is a primitive concept. I prefer to think of them as battling evil in another dimension.
Alex Rogan: In another dimension? How many are left?
Grig: Including yourself?
Alex Rogan: Yeah.
Grig: One!
Alex Rogan: One!? _(ranting covered by launch)_
Klingon Commander Worf: "Perhaps today is a good day to die!"
"I'll have it all figured out by the time we reach the Frontier." *beeping console* "What's that?" "The Frontier."
@@jamieolberding7731 I prefer Pratchett's dwarven version of that...."Today is a good day for someone else to die!"
@@Mythilt Okay.
One of the first 'Space Fighters' that attempted to use real space 3 vector physics to fight its
battles. In contrast, the Star Wars ships seemed to be stuck in WWII Air/Gravity physics. This one was the real deal back then.
Well done on the modeling!!
I'd LOVE to see a sequel of this movie too!
klinton kavanagh, there was one in the works but with the passing of the actor who played Centuri they just couldn't get anyone who fit the bill perfectly and so it's been in limbo ever since.
There’s a reboot in the works apparently.
Let's hope it stays true to the original movie!
I'd like to see a remake of the original and THAN a sequel.... The original, though good for the time shows its age too much. Not to mention is a bit cheesy at points... I still love this movie... I saw it in theaters when I was about 10 years old... Loved it and still do!
klinton kavanagh
It is called "Ender's Game".
Actually, I think we do see the Gunstar’s particle beam cannons firing during the final battle with the Ko-Dan dreadnought. After Grig restores power, the Gunstar makes a strafing run against the dreadnought’s belly. Though the beams are the same color as the lasers, the blasts used against the dreadnought are bigger and are fired in pairs, originating from those particle beam mounts. So it would seem the particle cannons are indeed used for larger, slower-moving targets, as you surmised.
Martian Dawn you can also see them used in the video game simulation. They have a different appearance from the lasers and they did get used against Capital ships.
@@Mr_Welch Came here to say this. The videogame sequences clearly show two kinds of weapons fire. Here's a good example. ua-cam.com/video/AJRmY9VXf1g/v-deo.html
I just rewatched it frame-by-frame, and you are actually right. At 1:16:59 in the movie (Alex's first strafing run) , you can see the blasts unequivocally coming from the upper ports in the "wing root", not from the laser turrets that are in front of them. Amusingly, in Alex's second, last ditch attack at 1:21:37, you can see it unequivocally coming from the laser turrets - which also makes sense.
it's like the mass drivers from wing commander, slower beams, but hitting harder.
Those were missiles, because they turn around and propel backwards.
Ended up taking me about 12 hours more work than I expected. I thought this would be an easy ship to model but it really is a very vERY thorough and intricate design. Wish I had tome to do more with it! Bless your heart if you know this ship well! :D
Can you do the Earth Alliance Starfury?! Maybe even the MS-06 zaku. I've always had a fascination with space mecha as they actually seem very practical in null g and the Zaku is the benchmark All purpose grunt MS.
Hey look into the Variable Fighters from SDF Macross.
Eric Kulp I know as Shoji Kowamori is a major airplane otaku and he takes his inspiration from US and other fighter jets.
There is a wireframe version of this ship on the net somewhere, it was in battleclinic, is was supposed to be scaled properly and set up to be used to help properly model this beast. Obj max lightsaber and 3ds formats were included in the dl.
Resurrected Starships could you do a video on the Invictus class super dreadnought from the Honor Harrington book series by David Weber?
I still love this movie. Great story, great music, and great effects.
This ship has superior firepower than any other ship in any Sci-Fi series and movies.
I still hope for a sequal. NOT a reboot!!!!
The funny thing about this movie: I actually read the Alan Dean Foster adaptation for it more times than I actually saw it. It still blew me away with all the Nintendo and Williams arcade references. Plus, the latent tactical skills that Alex possessed.
I agree the book was great!
I immediately lived this movie. I guess it's because I also grew up in " a house on wheels that never went anywhere."
You "lived" this movie? you mean you were recruited by an advanced civilization to fight aliens in outer space? What was it like?
*cave on wheels
Being a trailer park boy myself I also love this film! I actually lived in Amador County Ca where this was supposed to take place.
@@JimBobJoeB0b A cave on wheels that never went anywhere??? Fascinating!
I really hope the movie gets a sequel, it was so awesome...
Oh the stab of nostalgia. "Sorry I stepped on your...whatever it is.."
Yes I remember that scene love it!! Ah now you look human!!
@@Cirrus4000 Nice recall
This was my 4th favorite movie growing up with the Star Wars trilogy being rated as my top three. I was born in 78 and have always been a huge fan of sci-fi. Thanks for doing this video, it brought back memories and put a smile on my face.
The Gunstar is a fine ship and in a way could even fit into the star wars universe if it wanted too.For the longest time the only way I saw this movie was from a vhs tv recording my dad made in the early 90's.I got it on blu ray a few years ago and wow it was like watching a new movie.It really is a gem of the 80's. Needs a sequel more than anything not a reboot.
be a great idea
So evil Alex Rogan clones...Yes I think that would work. lolz
I would love to see a space battle of a squadron of gunstars going at it with the armada.You know I think a movie would do it justice maybe it needs a tv series and it ends with a movie.
In this day and age if they did a sequel is would be crap sorry to say. I would love that more than anything but I don't believe they would ever get the right people to do it.
ajs1031 but...what about Alex's little brother?
I think the Gunstar could take on many fighters from other universes due to its maneuverability and 360 degrees of coverage. What an exceptional design.
Hell yes !! The Gunstar !! Thank you for this, truly.
This bad boy would stomp any fighter in Sci-fi. IMHO that is. Lol. Damn I dig this ship.
One scene that would have been cool to see as a deleted scene from this movie was during the Battle between the Gunstar 1 and the Codan Armada was if down on Rylos showing the President and everyone else watching the fight and seeing the look of surprise on they're faces at seeing a single Gunstar going up against the entire Codan Armada and for those that survived at StarFighter Command who might have worked on the prototype Gunstar 1 at seeing the ship in it's first battle and using the untested Death Blossom would have been really neat to see.
The tandem pilot/gunner crew layout reminds me of real-life helicopter gunships. It seems very possible the people who made this movie were inspired by aircraft like the AH-1 and AH-64.
@JSENNER83 notice how the hud works when alex looks around during the pre flight checklist. plus the guns turning to where he looks. fighter pilot huds of advanced aircraft such as the f-22, f-35 and apache attack helicopters also do this
@JSENNER83 when was the first time it or something analogous turned up in a mainstream film? aside from the Clint Eastwood "Firefox" this was i think one of the earliest such depictions.
I haven't seen the movie in ages and now I should watch it again. Your demonstration leads me to believe this ship would be a terror in other universes, and would probably be able to out-perform most other fighters put against it. I see it as something like a Tie Defender meant to move like a Cylon Raider, a terrifying concept I wish more sci-fi shows would explore.
I tend to agree. This was a solid design wayback in the 80s when, as you pointed out and know, space fighters handled like "WW2 Aircraft" then actual space fighters. Hard to compare to other universes entries into this but front runners are of course the various fighters from Babylon 5, Battlestar reboot and the larger ships in The Expanse. However the Gunstar would obviously be a major contender in this arena. Great channel you got going and yes The Last Starfighter needs a sequel with a decent modern budget. They could still go with the slightly tongue in cheek style of the original or do a more serious approach with some good dramatic acting.
I really enjoyed this! The Last Starfighter was underrated in my opinion. Yes, it was a bit cheesy. But I still loved it. To answer your question: I think the Gunstar would more than hold its own against even the First Order TIE's and the Resistance's X-Wings.
Dude... I want a last starfighter sequel soooooooo baaaad. Well done! This was a very pleasant surprise to see this ship be Analyzed
You may finally be getting your wish.
Glory Road. Same Author. But you'll have to...*gulp* read. Hopefully you're one of the weirdos that still does that.
I’d say it’s one of the most powerful star fighter class ships out there period. I love the x-wing, but give me a choice and it’s a gun star every time!
Honestly, one of the best designed star fighters in science fiction in my opinion. I'd take this over an X-Wing any day
Great vid. The distinctive sound of gunstar lasers took me right back to childhood and brought a smile to my face.
When death blossom was activated, there are some kind of blue spherical appearing blasts. I speculate that those are the “particle beams” but I don’t really know.
Those are 'photon bolts'-- the missiles. In space, a missile will not leave a smoke trail. The exhaust gas will splay out in a wide fan as it expands into the vacuum. That's why the exhaust plume of the Gunstar's missiles are so wide as to appear like orbs from a distance.
What the Death Blossom program did was modify the standard Gunstar's missile magazine into a multi-tube battery that was exposed as the panels opened up. Rather than launch missiles four at a time through the standard launch tubes, Death Blossom fired them all directly from the magazine bay.
I sure hope to see a sequel as this movie is almost 40 years old as it came out back in 1985 and if they do do a sequel it sure would be awesome to see Lance Guest reprise his role of Alex Rogan and maybe even seeing if Earth learns of the Star League.
Loved it, bought it, still watch it, when the grandkids get old enough I'll make them watch it with me!
The legendary Ron Cobb designed it, that's why it's so awesome!
“Great! I’m a million miles from home, and a Gung Ho iguana tell me to relax...”
It's funny that the guy who played Grig in this movie was the same guy who played the 'Old Man' in the Original Robocop just 2 years later as the Last Starfighter came out in (1985) and the original Robocop came out in (1987).
Gunstar would be deadly in BSG or B5 universes.
Star Wars it would probably hold its own. TIEs are probably comparable to Ko-Dan deck fighters. I'd expect Gunstar's firepower to be about as good against capital ships as a B-wing.
Star Trek universe I would see it having problems. No shields is a problem there.
The real weakness the Gunstar has is endurance. It relies on charged up energy for its weapons, and the ammo packs can be drained with less than one minute of sustained fire.
It does seam to follow the B-Wing type of design philosophy considering the weapon load out and role.
the Gunstar has shields. this is mentioned in the movie, and in this video. you also see it take several direct hits in movie.
Yeah, i couldn't remember that. It was way too long ago since the last time i saw it...
"And of course she's got deflector plating so she can withstand several direct hits" - Grig in the Gunstar Launch Silo.
I interpreted "plating" as armor, not shields.
starsiegeplayer , when he describes what he does in his cockpit, he mentions shields
With the Gunstar having some powerful thrusters for different maneuvers it must have an extremely special thrust to weight ratio in it's construction for it to be so maneuverable.
>sees "The Last Starfighter" video on Resurrected Starships
>UPVOTES
This ship was one of the greatest things I saw in my childhood. I absolutely adore this move and I really hope they make the sequel they're talking about.
Check out the starfury from Babylon 5 for another semi-hard sci-fi fighter.
Spacedock did an extremely good analysis of the SA-23E. ua-cam.com/video/214c3t7131k/v-deo.html
When I first saw the Starfury, I recognized it as having been inspired by the Gunstar.
A spiritual descendant, perhaps?
Possibly a descendant but for real space combat there's only so many shapes that make good sense for an intercept fighter. Both the Gunstar and the Starfury conform to that design so it may just be a case of engineering coincidence. Either way if you're playing Space Engineers both designs have a lot to teach on building a quality fighter.
The Star Fury is just a modified version of a Gunstar
@@fbi805 Not so sure about that. The physics is what dictates the design of both, and it really is the sensible way of doing it. Starfuries are a little shorter than wide, have a standing pilot, and put the pilot closer to the center of rotation. Gunstar's thrusters are a little more optimally placed (symmetric), but it puts the pilot way out front which increases the g-forces in yaw and pitch maneuvers for no real benefit.
Seems like both designed for great realistic space maneuverability, but B5 paid a bit more attention to g-forces on the pilot. Then again, B5 introduced the Thunderbolt aerospace fighter a bit later which had the same seated pilot out front thing.
One of the happiest moments of my life, was when I was able to get my hands on the novelization to this movie! And don't forget, Grig dismissed Alex's descriptions of the weapons as "Kid's stuff." Leaving plenty of wiggle room for a Gunstar to hold its own, compared to fighters from the major sci-fi franchises.
That was an exciting analysis of one of my all time favorite starfighters. Well done. You've earned a new subscriber today. Keep it up!
Best video I've run across in a long time. The Last Starfighter has been one of my favorite movies since I was a kid in the 1980s.
That 360 degree firearc, that you get from all those turrets, makes it almost unbeatable in 1vs1 and even against a group of fighters. With a decent automated targeting system, there is no position for an enemy to hide or attack without risking getting roasted by the gunstars counterattack.
Thats what most fighters don´t have and really need: rotating gun turrets. Right now, i can only remember of the SA-43 Hammerhead from Space 2063 (or Above and beyond), that have a rotatable gun too (and a backward aiming on its top).
Y-Wing has a Ion turret. But they are typically locked forward
@@LordElpme Depends on the model. Even the Clone Wars version would need a squadron to take down a Gunstar. They had a gunner for the turreted ions, very good shielding, and probably very good armor for era. They did not have good top speed and turn rate was below average.
A good match would be a Gunstar vs. 2 Y-W, at 2 ARC-170s, and 2 or more V-Wings to provide feints and cover fire.
Gunstar-1 flew into a staging area for Xurians and while threatened, it took down multiple ships, each with dual turrets, themselves.
aaahhh, S:AAB ; the series that didn't deserve to die...
Hammerhead was an excellent 'hard sci-fi' design.
Factoid; the forward gun turret of the Hammerhead used the exact automatic heavy machine gun that the UNMC did in ground combat; so a pilot could land and use it as a ground weapon, or swap out a bad unit for a functioning one.
@@HuntingTarg 100% agree. My Dad and I love that show and, much like Firefly later on, we were sad when it only got one season.
Sci-fi, Arcade High jinx, campy characters, yep sign me up! I loved this moving growing up and the only bummer was the movie makers didn't capitalize on the marketing by making the arcade game a reality. Great video!
I remember it from when it was released and still watch it and listen to the music...oh the memories. As a note this was the first movie to use dedicated computer graphics for the ships, and laid the foundations for all the movies that came afterward. It is a testament to the skill of the makers that the graphics, though somewhat primitive still can stand up to watching today. I would agree that the gun star could make a good showing against most comparable fighters or groups of fighters in most any universe. After all, how many fighters have full 360 degree coverage in all directions? Another interesting piece of trivia... the computer model used for the gun star had close to 300,000 polygons as rendered for the hero shots. They used The fastest available Cray super computer of the time to render the shots.
Dis
Dn't flight of the navigator do it first?
Friggin loved this movie as a kid. Those laser noises you used...INSTANT NOSTALGIA! Gunstars are amazing!
To all that are talking abut things like the Star Fury from B5 - it is a 'good' hard sci-fi space fighter design. But I do not recall seeing as many thrusters so well placed on it. So IMHO I think the Gunstar beats it. :P Plus it has things like shields, better crew, and tech the Star Fury doesn't seem to. Feel free to disagree, agree, debate or discuss. :D
But it has the main maneuvering thrusters in a similar place. It's almost like if the law of physics had something to do with it.
Or the Star Fury is the abandon child between a Rylan Gunstar and a X-wing. Probably born in a crazy night full of alcohol.
If we're talking realism, B5's Star Fury is something we could reasonably make as a Gunstar prototype design. Energy shields require a tech boost that is not in the B5 universe (yet). The larger particle cannon could be incorporated into the Star Fury design as well.
As universes go, however, both the Gunstar and Star Fury are pretty close to realism. To me, that is what really counts, not which is more powerful.
Future sci-fi authors, take notes! The Expanse is a good example as well to learn from.
I can't recall if there were ever shields in B5 but to me energy shielding for almost any kind of spacecraft, real or imagined, is an almost essential component with all the random radiation issues in space. Surely some B5 ships have shielding or at least really good armor - perhaps membari, shadows, or vorlons have shields or armor just as good.
Unless its a Tie fighter and what matters its keep a low production cost... I think I know how to fit the Star fury and the Rylan Gunstar in the same mixed universe xD
Definitely very good armor, I can tell that much.
Depending on the beam weapons in ship to ship combat, it can take a ship at least three to four seconds before the opponent's armor is melted off at the aim point. (There was a clip showing a Shadow vessel getting hit by such a capitol ship beam weapon and taking that long to get critical damage.) If that hits engineering for the ship, definitely game over. For small fighter craft, shipborne main weapons would be a death sentence.
I do admit, though; I like some realism in my craft. Star Wars is fine as it is, but I wouldn't call it real in how it treats space combat. To stop alpha radiation, you only need a sheet of paper. To stop beta radiation, probably a piece of wood. Gamma, about a few inches of steel. Large ships with armor would have little trouble in this respect.
Brings back so many memories, I loved that movie when I was young.
Terrific. I'm about to get killed a million miles from nowhere with a gung-ho iguana who tells me to relax.
This is one of my favorite 80's Sci-Fi movies, I remember going to the theater opening weekend to see it. Yes, I believe the Gunstar can school the other Sci-Fi fighters no questions asked.
A Gunstar could tank a squadron of X-Wings easily.
Not to mention what it would do to Tie Fighters
@@cteal2018The Gunstar would just rip through Squadrons of TIEs with relative ease, provided a skilled crew such as Grig and Alex.
I honestly think the Rylan Gunstar could definitely hold it's own in other universes. Like you said, it was purpose built to go into battle, knowing it would be outnumbered, and still come back. Most likely, I can see it being used in hit and run tactics. Get in, blow up as many things as possible, and get out; and if that fails, take everyone with you in a Death Blossom.
Awesome work!
"SO! 'The Last Starfighter is DEAD!?'" ~ Commander Krill
Yes yes! One of the best designed ships of sci-fi. The ideas of multiple thrusters and weapons turrets to cover all angles on a fighter sized craft, with a dedicated gunner is genius.
I think the Gunstar can outmaneuver most fighters in any Sci-Fi series. With the exception of the Starfury of Babylon 5. However, The Starfury lacks the armament to destroy a Gunstar. The Gunstar has been seen to take multiple direct missile hits and remain a viable fighter platform where as the Starfury only has to be struck in the cockpit to destroy it or in its thruster pylons to disable it.
The range of the photon bolts and it's own FTL drive would assure superiority for the Gunstar as well.
Gunstar shielding and armor is significant, but the hull, itself seems reinforced. She skidded off the Command Ship and suffered no damage, even though it regained power an instant prior. The shielding may not have even been up at that instant.
You can find Ron Cobb's designs at his website. As to the Particle Beams, you can see them in the video game. Where the lasers were lines, the Particle beams were a line of balls. Great video. Thank you for your time and effort.
love the Gunstar, it is a good well thought out ship, I would love to see a sequel or remake and sequel though I'm afraid Hollywood would ruin such a venture.
Possible spoiler for the expanse below.
If you're an expanse fan they put an easter egg in the latest episode. The hero ship has to do a spinning maneuver while firing all it's pdcs. On the pilot's console you can see where the maneuver is called death blossom.
I would say the starfighter would mop up anything in the starwars universe.... until Poe Dameron discovered that you can actually turn around in space!
This vid came out this year awesome. Glad to see people still checking this baby out. this classic movie is awesome
First off, LOVE THIS! Many props for your analysis. The only critique I have is in your assumption of the particle beam weapons. Those four black sections that you identified as the Particle Beam Cannons are actually the landing gear. Because Grig's Gun Star was a prototype with "Death Blossom" I had assumed the particle beams were removed to allow for the Death Blossom functionality/power. But again, I want to ultimately applaud this analysis!! :-)
I think the particular beam canons were only meant for capital ships assault... I'll see if I can find a good screen grab of the normal Gunships and see if there is a physical difference.
DarthAgamemnon if you look at the ship you will see that those for particle beam weapons are weapons and Atlanta gear is further away from them they have nothing touching the ground when it launches
Atlanta is supposed to be landing gear
I do believe the four black sections are Particle Beam Cannons and the four landing gear are in the back (so you are both right). If you watch the clip where they take off from the launch silo you can see how they fit together.
starsiegeplayer Thank you for responding back love your videos have subscribe to your Channel love what you doing keep up the good work
This is one of the very few 80s space fighters that actually looked and felt like a space fighter. I remember as soon as the aerospace rules came out for Battletech I built it in that universe, it was fantastic. The film is really just one of those good adventure stories, minor love sub plot, a bit of silly 80s style bad jokes and just an all round great film.
I think i will introduce my daughter to it this weekend. She loves sci fi and her almost six year old imagination will love it.
Wow, I didn't know how badly I needed this channel. No idea why youtube recommended it to me (I haven't watched any other content like this) but the Gunstar is my favorite sci fi ship ever, and I've loved The Last Starfighter ever since the first time I saw it as a 7 year old. How did you get the HD footage of the CGI Gunstar? Did you make it all yourself? Amazing video; subscribed.
I loved this movie as a kid I still have it
This ship was MEANT to take on fighters from the start, so I have no doubt it can show the star wars a thing or two about fighting in space. And when it can take out 30+ snub fighters in the space of a few seconds?
It might not win against overpowering odds.. but even the klingons and mandalorians would have to give it respect.
Star trek? They got the range to deal with ships like this but it has the armor and shields to get in way too close for comfort. After losing the first ship to it, I can easily see star fleet taking the policy of KEEPING it at range, even if they have to go FTL to do so.
Oh hell yes I remember this movie and the ship.The gunstar is one of my favorite space fighters of all time, and The Last Starfighter is one of my favorite scifi movies of all time. VICTORY OR DEATH!!!!!
The movie was awesome. Also see Babylon 5 can we see a shadow ship and Vorlon ships?
Also Gundam ships and MS would be cool like the Magellan battleship.
Jean-Luc Martel the way the Shadow ships scream in your ming is fantastic.
I watched this movie when I was a kid and it was released in theaters. I fell in love with it not only for the awesome, buff ship, but also the fact that I also lived in a trailer park...
To clarify your speculation (as best I can):
1) The 4 black bits at the intersection of the fuselage and the "wings" are not a weapons system - they are the retractable landing gears for a gravity-assisted rocket-launch style of landing. In the end of the movie, you see the Gunstar perform such a landing in the trailer park. It would make sense they would have to be large to support the massive weight of the ship landing in any gravity environment, absorbing the shock of touching down and spreading the weight of the entire ship over a large area. In addition, their being placed as close as possible on the fuselage / wing intersections would lend support to the "wings" so gravity doesn't cause them to sag, eventually ripping them off the fuselage - each "wing" has as much volume, and possibly even more mass than the fuselage itself, when you count the extra armor, the missile weapons systems, and thruster piping / engine power conversion units. If those weapons were included in that same area, it would be a crucially deadly design flaw - one rough landing or overheating, and the weapon systems would be crushed, disabled, or cause a possible chain reaction that could cripple or destroy the ship.
2) We never do see the "Particle Beams" used, not even once - I honestly think they were put in there just to fill out the roster of possible weaponry and make the ship sound that much cooler (which it didn't really need). The only weapons ever used in the movie were the lasers and missiles ("Photon Bolts"). Don't forget, it also had "Target Lights" (rudimentary practice drones) it could throw out the rear of the "wings" to give the gunner targeting practice.
3) Yes, it would out-maneuver and out-power almost any other ship in any other space movie or TV series, especially in its size class / role as a superiority fighter. Shad, over at Shadiversity, did just such a video on this as well, talking about space fighter maneuvering - almost all the "sci-fi" space fighters, save for a few rare examples like the "Starfury" from "Babylon 5", are designed around the standard configuration of an airplane: rear-facing thrusters meant to push the ship in a forward-motion, with some sort of wing sets. The issue is that with no ability to produce contrary thrust to their current trajectory (because they have no wing elevators / ailerons since there's no atmosphere in space that can be used to pitch or roll), they can't change direction once they started moving in a single direction in real-life space! This was illustrated when the steering systems were knocked out in the Kodan warship - it couldn't change course or resist gravity, smashing into a moon.
4) In terms of gunnery, almost anything in its own league and larger, save a Borg Cube or some other capital ship with fully-surrounding weapon coverage (Star Destroyer, Federation of Planets Capital-class starships), would be in pretty sad shape going up against a Gunstar, even a Starfury (mainly because it is still a smaller, less-equipped, less-thrust-capable ship, dependent on the pilot to do everything). The Gunstar ship design is much like a flying version of a tank, because it can fly along any vector course, and can still shoot in ANY direction REGARDLESS of its physical movement. This is because of the two-person system and full-spherical radar-type enemy detection warning systems - nothing could sneak up on it and stab it in the back, and any enemies out of visual range are highlighted and bracketed by the targeting computer, meaning the gunner just needs to point and shoot.
The fat brother of the star fury aurora? :-P
Actually if you do a versus series consider this one vs the Star fury. Both universes seem very compatible.
The Starfury was actually inspired by the Gunstar.
Not fat, roided.
And now I'm imagining a force that uses both Star Furies and Gunstars as fighters and heavy fighters respectively.
An Earth Alliance with Gunstars in it would be truly fearsome.
Gretings Starfighter!
Not only is the design very well done of your model, the sound is spot on!
Loved the movie as a kid, and I never really grew up. 😁
Thanks for the video!
Definitely one of the best movies ever made!! It's awesome to see someone do a video like this
This is one of my favorite movies! Thanks for the breakdown of this fighter. I've commissioned Jake Parker for his take on that Gunstar, and another I commissioned the arcade with a pinup.
This really takes me back. The gunstar doesn’t rock as much as you do for making this video
last star fighter, right up there with Labrynth, and other childhood favs not critically acclaimed. fun stuff. thanks for the vid.
The Gunstar would leave any Star Destroyer in shambles..
This little beauty is truly awesome. She could handle just about any other fighter out there...with only the Terran Thunderbolts from B5 giving it any concern.
With all the caution out there in movie making land, either a remake or a sequel of this COULD be awesome! It was a great show for it's time and is quite rewatchable even all these years later. I was just a little too young to see it at the theater but saw it on VHS a couple years later. I have watched it several times in the last 20 years and I still love it.
Thanks so much for putting this together. I loved this movie as a kid and watched it over and over again. I remember building a replica of this out of "Contrux" toys. Hopefully that will take some folks back as well. The replica turned out really good!
Blast.. from the past.. My favourite ship! Your coverage, makes me a subscriber
I loved this movie as a kid, and still love it today. I wish they had been able to develop a video game based on the one in the movie. That would have been so cool.
The Gunstar looks like a beefed up Starfury, and I am not complaining.
Got nostalgia tingles when I heard the first 15 seconds of this vid... One of the few movies I got to watch in theater when I was a Kid.
Love this ship, and i learned more about it thanks to you...
Nice ! I love some non mainstream work from time to time. And " hard sci fi ", a lot ! This is the kind of starfighter I would choose.
0:00-0:04 I really like that little fanfare, it's so nice
One thing I love about the film is seeing the ships "over-correct" when turning, showing that they're actually compensating for vector drift in a non-atmosphere environment. It's the only space war film I can remember doing that until at least a decade later.
On the particle beams, while we don't see them used in live battle, you're likely correct that they're meant for larger, slower targets. It is clearly the weapon Alex uses in the game to take out the command ship. This might give a little insight on their actual behavior. Why they weren't ever shown in the actual space scenes is a bit of a conundrum.
I can tell you a couple things about the (non?-)use of Particle Beams;
there is a video somewhereabouts on UA-cam (Oliver Harper, perhaps?) that discusses the making of The Last Starfighter;
The FX contractor that designed and rendered the ships and space scenes was the same startup that did much of the world rendering in TRON. TRON did not do well financially, and the company was in a bit of a makeshift state, so there was not a lot of time or talent to spare on extra effects; the space scenes were good aesthetically, but not elaborate - this _was_ only the second movie to feature full-scene CGI sequences.
So great for its time, decently aged, but definitely dated. Still a personal favorite.
I loved this movie, and I hope Hollywood decides to make a sequel someday. Maybe The Next Starfighter.
Thanks so much for this! I am still a huge fan of this movie since seeing it back in 1985 To my knowledge the only game made that has ever kind of resembled the game in the movie was Star Master on the Atari 2600, which I played to death back in the day!
One of my favorite movies. I actually saw it in the theater. Yes..I'm old.
When I first saw The Last StarFighter I was really impressed with the Gunstar 1 the only Gunstar to survive the destruction of Starfighter command but then again it was in a separate hangar and Grig mentioned the ship was an experimental prototype with a whole new series of systems and weapons and armor compared to the others including the new Death Blossom system which was untested but as seen in the movie shows the only way to use an untested system is in battle but it did have one problem as it drained the ship of all power till Grig had to reroute power and I'm pretty sure Alex would have suggested adding back up batteries to the ship till all the problems with Death Blossom were worked out.
Word from the movie (and the MAME-esque arcade game) is that Death Blossom also has a chance to malfunction.
This means that it might not even activate at all.
Oh heck yes! The Last Starfighter was one of the first sci fi movies I ever got to see, courtesy of my mom, my older brother and VHS tapes.
Although I do suck at it, there is an extremely accurate fan-made replica of the in-movie Starfighter arcade game that you can download that is a real pleasure to play.
I think it'd be cool to see a Gunstar square off against a Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica.
Thank you for this analysis! I always wondered which weapons were what. I’m in my early 40’s and still remember this as if I were ten years old. The Gunstar is one of my favorite fighters in sci-fi.
It should be noted that the layout of having the Pilot/Navigator in a raised rear cockpit with a the gunner in the front was probably taken from the Huey Cobra attack helicopter of Vietnam War vintage and its successors the Super Cobra used by the Marine Corp and the Apache used by the Army. I agree the Rylan Gunstar was a really well thought out starfighter design especially considering it was for lighthearted (and one thing the The Starfighter Fighter has is a lot of heart) sci-fi adventure movie aimed primarily at kids. I like the vertical take off and landing feature of the design like what we see the the current SyFy series The Expanse.
with a name like "Gunstar" its already implied of it military function .. i love this ship its concept and design are probable near future capable space combat ship design
I really liked this when I first saw it as a kid, and the main theme is EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
omg one of my absolute favorites. thank you for this!
One of My FAVORITES! a very realistic ship for a very campy movie. I own it and love rewatching it from time to time. Also don't forget it had landing struts that extended from the back for vertical storage!
This is THE STARFIGHTER! It’s only rivals in maneuvering are the vipers from Galactica and the Starfury from Babylon5 and both of those are insects next to this TANK that handles like a Ferrari.
The Gunstar simply outclasses starfighters of other works. It's got the coverage of the Millennium Falcon, the maneuverability of a Star Fury, and the firepower of a Defiant.
I love the old Gunstar. You can see how much it inspired the Starfury Aurora, and paved the way for the yound sci fi writers then who are now ready to take center stage to make more advanced stories and ships.
Just showed my 8-year-old this movie. 25th anniversary Blu-ray edition. That boy is ready to join the Star League!
I have 2 ships I dearly love, other the the USS Enterprise D. They are: from Space: 1999, The Eagles. Wonderful spaceships with a very "doable" design and something I can easily see us humans making in the next 25 years. Then there are the Gunstars. AMAZING is not a good enough word to describe these beauties! As shown in the video, they have a very "hard sci-fi" design that is rooted in reality of space travel and combat. The first time I saw these great ships was in the theater with my dad, watching The Last Starfighter for the first time, and immediately falling in love with them! Great movie, with spectacular ships!
Love this movie, even as a kid I recognized the angled main thrusters and figured their function.
Loved this movie, have the VHS, and the Gunstar is an awesome space fighter, definitely one of my favs. Hopefully we get to see at the very least a reboot movie, long as they just slightly update the cgi model, without drastically changing it.
Love the Gun Star! Great video with special effects my Guy !
Movie was also great, one of my favorites, seen about 100 times.....