The Last Starfighter

Now, just imagine, there's a large galaxy out there...some where and out there, there's a war, it's between (can you guess? no?! Ok...) the good guys and the bad guys. Now, it seems that the good guys are getting there bottoms kicked and need some new pilots to help 'em fight. Now, this being the 1980's (on Earth anyway), how would you recruit an intergalactic warrior?...video games!!!! Oh yeah! That's right!

So, in the tradition of all Sci-fi's, Alex Rogan (trailer park handyman and never-done-nuthin'-never-gonna-do-nuthin' bloke) is playing this game where he's the pilot of a Gunstar and fighting Xur and the Ko-Dan armada, when he wins the game and tops the high score, subsequently triggering a beacon and notifying both a headhunter and a mercenary.

Long story short, Alex is replaced with a doppleganger, heads off for spaceship training and goes to war to save the universe, the Earth, his girlfriend and all trailer-park life everywhere.

Quite probably down to the Sci-fi craze of the 1980's, The Last Starfighter, with a budget of $15,000,000 grossed nearly $30 mil! Not bad.

Fun Fact: a sequel with the director, screenwriter and star, Lance Guest (Jaws-the revenge) is in the pipeline.