Mmmmmm... Every sci-fi movie that came out after 1977 and into the mid to late 80's was attempting to capitalize on the explosive (read that $$$$) impact of Star Wars... however, if you're not satisfied with that tiny incapsulation let me dive deeper into the psyche.
TLS (The Last Starfighter)- the main protagonist is a young teenage boy with wondrous abilities that he does not realize make him destined for greater things (the basic mythos character). He is completely ignorant of his potential and needs a wiser character (played by character actor Robert Preston- the last role prior to his death). The character of "Centauri" was a "lovable-con-man"... pretending to be something that he isn't-- some type of hermit one might say. Pulled into a world and fight that would seem insurmountable-- well, not really it's not like has to shoot something that's only about two metres in width-- the hero, with help from his quirky alien pal (Grig) save the day in spectacular fashion... Oh, and just for the tech nuts reading this the Gunstar and other spaceships were the design of artist Ron Cobb, who also worked on Alien, Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian.
Here's the tagline for the '84 film..."He didn't find his dreams . . . his dreams found him." I guess the force was with him.
You're right-- there's nothing even remotely similar between these two films. Maybe except for the fact that Star Wars had a budget of $11,000,000 and the Last Starfighter's budget was $16,000,000--- I can't remember, which made more $$$ and inspired a generation of filmakers not to mention a plethora of copycats?
