Remember, back in 1984, there was a movie called The Last Starfighter?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087597/

I loved that movie. Small town boy stuck in Nowhereville gets a shot at saving the universe as a starfighter pilot because he totally kicks a$$ playing a video game. I'm sure I'd think it was awful now, but my 15 year old self loved that idea.

Turns out, my 42 year old self still loves the idea. Especially as interpreted by Terry Pratchett. Lovely tongue in cheek English humour and just enough geek to make me really happy. Most diverting! LOL ( )

A good book with classic adventure InTo ThE vIdEo GaMe! ( )

1st Read 4/5

Reread
...my mother says they were creations of Satan."
"Yes, but your mother says that about practically everything," said Wobbler
"This is true," said Yo-less gravely "It's her hobby."

Oh i so over invested in this one :lol . I rated it before from my vague memories of reading it as a kid and this time, my inner child still liked it but my outer adult was SOooo into it :) .

Firstly this would make a great film, espeically with all the 80s/90s nostalgia around now. Also while in the 90s all they had were cruise-missiles to make wars look like video games, the rise of drone warfare makes this far more relevant today.

It was johnny himself who had my outer adult really worried though. The story is so horrifying if your into it. Its like johnny was in the hitler youth, then when he finds out about what they do he had to take over for Schindler. He really feels the weight of the responsibility and my outer adult was just like.. 'someone help that poor child!' :lol .

Combined with the Troubling Times, the fever, his outbursts in school and kirstys, the small details like his meals/clothes etc. The stuff with BigMac too, THAT hit my outer adult aswell, probably more than my inner child. Plus some minor stuff about race and gender, there are just so many more layers.

There where some small quibbles, i think the first aside with the Scree-Wee should have been moved, we shouldn't have seen them up close before Johnnny does and there were a couple of bits that were a little heavy handed, mostly about the war.

However i still enjoyed this WAY more than i did as a child, and possibly given most reviews i've seen more than i should have :D .
Now for the love of god will someone please get that poor kid a decent meal! ( )

Johnny has Character

So few people seem to stnd by what they believe to be right these days. It's nice to read a tale where the protagonist does. ( )

Young Johnny Maxwell is happily shooting alien hoards in his new video game when suddenly the screen flashes a message saying the aliens surrender and are begging him to stop slaughtering them.

I was a little confused as to what Pratchett was getting at here when it dawned on me that it was written around the time of the Gulf War, when the nightly news was full of images of missile lighting up the night sky like a video game. Having a game become a horrifying war actually works pretty well as a way of exploring desensitization to violence.

Fans of Good Omens will pick up more than a whiff of The Them in Johnny and his friends, which is no bad thing. I especially liked Kirsty, who is smart and talented and has the emotional intelligence of a box of rocks; it's surprisingly refreshing to read a female character who *isn't* the empathetic one. ( )