Plot Hole Catch-all

So I'm watching The Last Starfighter for the first time in at least half my life. Cute show of its time, but boy are there some gruesome deaths. Anyway. I'm at the end when Alex comes back to earth to see Maggie (spoilers). Grig comes down from the ship and Grannie pulls her shotgun. Alex calms the court folk and introduces Grig as his friend to everyone.


How is it possible that anyone but Alex can understand what Grig is saying? NONE of the Starlite Starbrite shoppers had a translator chip except Alex.


Why didn't they catch this in edit and schedule reshoots? It was never implied that the chip projected sound. Even if that's how it worked, the chip was under Alex's collar. So shouldn't everyone's conversational reactions cut to Alex, where Grig's voice (in English) should be coming from? Nope. Everyone was staring at Grig as he spoke and shook their hands.


Even Ms. Boon was staring him down with lustful eyes (NOT reacting to a projected voice from under Alex's collar), licking at her lips when pouting, "heeeelllooo...." Grig's response? A cordial, "hello" is what everyone heard, but in fact she would have actually heard lizard clicks and hissing and freaking the hell out. Rightfully so! Most probably. But no one noticed!! They all just went along with it as if this was just another day in the trailer court. What gives?


This brought me right out of the movie. I guess I can excuse my childhood self for not noticing this, but now, as an adult, I feel this is just borderline silliness. The writers took the time to introduce "alien languages" and then the translator chip. Why abandon the idea only halfway through the movie then later, at the emotional climax, pretend it never existed?! I mean, why bother?!! Stop wasting your audience's time with these coy games and just get on with the movie. Don't tease translator chips if you can't respect your audience enough to just assume we forgot.

*****I invite you all you post up and share your extreme plot holes with me!*****

I mean those holes beyond the norm. Like just how could Grandpa Joe walk through the Chocolate Factory, let alone DANCE, having been bedridden for what, 20 years? If Cypher couldn't even pronounce, "FOR the constructs" with the correct emphasis, then just what kind of programmer WAS he? How many people died from falling food in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? How COULD Buddy survive for going on 30 years by eating candy and cola? Sure, elves metabolism may thrive under such conditions, but Buddy was human. That was the central point of the movie---to FIND HIS HUMAN FATHER!

(exagerations welcome)

Ya know, I've seen this movie a couple dozen times as it is one of my personal favorites, but that never even crossed my mind. I guess it just works well in the flow of the film so I never paused to think. Was it established previously in the film that he didn't speak English?
Still, this really took you out of the movie? Like I said, I've seen it somewhere, I'd guess, between18-30 times and it never bothered me in the least and now that you point it out, it still doesn't bother me.

If you didn't catch it until 2021, then they got away with it.


Also, the translator chip is not just a projector, but a virtual teacher. It's much faster when you speak the language. In a Starfighter, tenths of seconds count. Waiting for a chip to translate between pilot and co-pilot is to add "lag" to a combat system, something the Rylan Star League can't afford. Grig's brain was programmed to learn English during his time with Alex Rogan. He was speaking English with Granny. You didn't quite get this, because they do a transition to English and they don't backtrack to explain Rylan tech.



There is a similar paradox with regard to a translation perception with Russian submarine captains who sound curiously Scottish.

No.


I will clarify tomorrow.

Alex? Of COURSE he speaks English! That's just a silly thing to ask, because throughout the first half of the movie he was speaking to his mom, Louis, etc., and spoke perfect English. Well, perfect enough for the role I suppose. It could be that this is that Scottish Russian Paradox commented on in another reply (one that I will reply to a bit later), but I think that only applies to submarines and military. Granted, Alex WAS recruited by Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-dan Armada, so that's reasonably plausible assuming similar military rules apply to space armies as well. It worked for Sting and I'm not one to split hairs, but Ko-dan feels and sounds an awfully lot like Harkonnen. Perhaps there's more to this than I first realized. However, if you meant Grig, then I have to assume no. Even Grig noted that Earth needed to "mature" before being invited to join the league anyway. Sure, he was aware of Earth, but I doubt he comfortably spoke the language---not that he would know the distinction between English and say, Pig-Latin. I mean he didn't even know what a mobile home was.

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I meant Grig.

I also did not mean to imply that Sting is Scottish. Or Russian, for that matter. I'm only speaking to space language and accents, and the curiosities they create. Thank you for clarifying.

Off topic: I was excited to recognize the Omni Consumer Products Chair on NAVs!