THE LAST STARFIGHTER TOY GUNS: ANOTHER BLAST!

The Last Starfighter was a classic eighties film about a whiz arcade game player called Alex who goes on to fight aliens in a distant galaxy. 

There are lot of prop space guns and pistols in the movie.

Early on in the film, around when Centauri asks him to fight in an interstellar war, Alex is in his bedroom, where we see a table full of typical teenage boy clutter.

On the table is a red toy pistol with a yellow handle. But what is it?

My You Tube screengrab is not very clear but here's the toy in close-up.

About three years ago I suggested on this blog that the toy gun was possibly a 1967 Lone Star Captain Scarlet pistol. This was die-cast and fired caps.

Looking at the close-up again the toy has a trigger guard so I now think it's unlikely to be the Lone Star gun. However, I found this picture of a Marx pistol which has the same colouring and a similar trigger guard.

It's from a Marx set called Cops 'N' Robbers, which came with a stand-up target.

It's clear though that the Last Starfighter toy does not have a silencer like this Marx gun. It looks tapered like an old Moulinex hairdryer and has a bulbous barrel tip.

Maybe the toy gun is also from the 1980's, a contemporary of the film? 

Ages ago reader Jay suggested it might be a Pez space gun. What do you think?

The search goes on. Anyone got a better screengrab of the Last Starfighter toy gun or any idea what it is readers?

*

Addendum:

There is a similarly fascinating toy gun in the film called the Super Electronic Gun.

A mere ornament in the film, the superb blog 2 Warps to Neptune takes up the story of how it became a promo give-away!.

https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/01/28/the-last-starfighter-super-electronic-gun-1985/

Addendum 2:

Turns out that 2 Warps to Neptune [sadly now defunct] was as fascinated by Last Starfighter guns as me and pretty much covered the rest, so kudos to 2 Warps as was.

Within its pages is a picture of a 1984 HG Toys Last Starfighter Target Set borrowed from the amazing archive called Parry Game Preserve [as I have done too].

Looking at the set it looks like a prototype to me. The artwork is sketchy and rushed. I can't find any other images of this set anywhere online. Can you readers?

So what of the toy gun inside?

To me it looks a lot like an unfinished version of the company's Eagle Force Commando Pistol seen here. What do you think?

I doubt very much that HG Toys produced the Last Starfighter Target Set. Is that the case readers do you think?

Last Starfighter Sequel!

Reader MJ has sent this link for a long-awaited 'Last Starfighter' sequel, which is apparently 'very, very close' and has a sizzle reel!

https://www.space.com/the-last-starfighter-sequel-sizzle-reel 

I'VE NEVER SEEN THE LAST STARFIGHTER! HAVE YOU?

I was discussing Eighties family sci-fi movies - outside of latter Star Wars - with my son-in-law the other day. He'd seen Batteries Not Included with his son Moonbase Junior, which they all loved.

Its years since I've seen it but I do recall the basic story of a tenement under threat and the residents taking up ... robots. Not sure how the bots get involved but I remember a lovely film poster with small coloured lights flitting around an apartment.

Obviously we got to talking about ET, the grand-daddy of them all with more memorable lines in it than a Bay City Rollers single. If anything encapsulates what I think life was like in the US in the 80's its ET. The food, the homes, the constant activity, the low lights over the kitchen table, the clothes and the BMX bikes. It all seemed so perfect and yet ET fell terribly ill. Whether 80's America really was like it was in ET I will have to rely on our readers from the States to tell us.

Short Circuit was discussed a little too, the story of the gangly robot with a cute name that's gone AWOL. Other than that I just can't recall a thing about it.

I mentioned The Last Starfighter and said I'd never seen it although it has come up on the blog now and then. My son-in-law had never seen it either and given he's the right age to have caught up with it I wondered who actually saw this movie?

Have you? Have you seen the others mentioned here readers? Are there more family sci-fi flicks from the big hair decade?

COVER MYSTERY

I had thought this old Spanish cover art was a 'inspired' by the Last Starfighter [below] but I'm not so sure now at all. What do you think readers?

THE TOY PISTOLS OF THE LAST STARFIGHTER

The Last Starfighter was a classic eighties film about a whiz arcade game player called Alex who goes on to fight aliens in a distant galaxy. 

There are lot of prop space guns and pistols in the movie.

Early on in the film, around when Centauri asks him to fight in an interstellar war, Alex is in his bedroom, where we see a table full of typical teenage boy clutter.

On the table is a red toy pistol with a yellow handle. But what is it?

My You Tube screengrab is not very clear but here's the toy in close-up.

About three years ago I suggested on this blog that the toy gun was possibly a 1967 Lone Star Captain Scarlet pistol. This was die-cast and fired caps.

Looking at the close-up again the toy has a trigger guard so I now think it's unlikely to be the Lone Star gun. However, I found this picture of a Marx pistol which has the same colouring and a similar trigger guard.

It's from a Marx set called Cops 'N' Robbers, which came with a stand-up target.

It's clear though that the Last Starfighter toy does not have a silencer like this Marx gun. It looks tapered like an old Moulinex hairdryer and has a bulbous barrel tip.

Maybe the toy gun is also from the 1980's, a contemporary of the film? 

The search goes on. Anyone got a better screengrab of the toy or any idea what it is readers?

*

Addendum:

There is a similarly fascinating toy gun in the film called the Super Electronic Gun.

The superb blog 2 Warps to Neptune takes up the story.

https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/01/28/the-last-starfighter-super-electronic-gun-1985/

THE LAST STARFIGHTER MYSTERY TOY PISTOL

The Last Starfighter was a classic eighties film about a whiz arcade game player called Alex who goes on to fight aliens in a distant galaxy. There are lot of prop space guns and pistols in the movie.

 

 

 

 

Early on in the film, around when Centauri asks him to fight in an interstellar war, Alex is in his bedroom, where we see a table full of typical teenage boy clutter.

 

 

 

On the table is a red toy pistol with a yellow handle. But what is it?

 

 

 

My You Tube screengrab is not very clear but here's the toy in close-up.

 

About three years ago I suggested on this blog that the toy gun was possibly a 1967 Lone Star Captain Scarlet pistol. This was die-cast and fired caps.

 

 

 

Looking at the close-up again the toy has a trigger guard so I now think it's unlikely to be the Lone Star gun. However, I found this picture of a Marx pistol which has the same colouring and a similar trigger guard.

 

It's from a Marx set called Cops 'N' Robbers, which came with a stand-up target.

It's clear though that the Last Starfighter toy does not have a silencer like this Marx gun. It looks tapered like an old Moulinex hairdryer and has a bulbous barrel tip.

 

 

Maybe the toy gun if from the 1980's like the film? The search goes on. Anyone got a better screengrab of the toy or any idea what it is readers?