Inspired by The Last Starfighter last week, this episode is all about our favourite movie aliens from the 1980s and 1990s.

Not the films, but the creatures themselves: the designs, the performances, the personalities, and why some of them stuck with us for decades.

From lovable companions like Max from Flight of the Navigator, to nightmare fuel like The Thing, we each bring five picks to the table and count them down to a shared Top 10.

Along the way we cover:

• Why some aliens work because they aren’t monsters
• The brilliance of performers inside suits and behind puppets
• How design, sound, and movement sell an alien more than CGI ever could
• And why a few of these choices still hit harder today than they did back then

Funny, nostalgic, occasionally horrifying - this is a love letter to the aliens that shaped a generation of sci-fi, with some terrible impressions and questionable accents.

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We had such a good time recording this episode - both the interview with Lance (who was lovely) and myself and AJ chatting about a movie he'd never seen before!

This didn't go the way I thought it would.

In July 1984, arcades were basically cathedrals, Apple had just launched the Mac, and one teen in a trailer park was about to save the entire galaxy… because he was too good at a video game.

This week GB and AJ revisit The Last Starfighter (1984), the cult sci-fi adventure that helped pioneer early CGI space battles and delivered one of the most relatable heroes of the decade.

And yes, we’re joined by Alex Rogan himself: Lance Guest.

Lance takes us behind the scenes of Centauri’s Recruit, how he landed the role, what it was like leading a fast-paced shoot with limited takes, and playing both Alex and Beta Alex (including reshoots, sickness, makeup, and a wig that absolutely did the job).

We also dig into what makes the movie feel like a warm nostalgic comfort-watch: the trailer park community, the slow-burn first act, the Star Wars / WarGames vibes, and why this film still hits if you’ve ever dreamed of escaping small-town life for something bigger.

In this episode:

• Why The Last Starfighter was a risky early CGI leap
• Lance Guest on being “bored and terrified” while starring in every scene
• The charm of Alex Rogan as the ultimate “ordinary guy” hero
• Beta Alex, reshoots, and that creepy under-the-bed version you maybe didn’t see on VHS
• Why people either love this film… or they’ve never seen it

If you grew up with arcades, VHS sci-fi, and big dreams of space adventure… this one’s for you.

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Nearly 40 years after Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man, a new 2025 adaptation hits cinemas, promising a darker, more faithful take on the Stephen King novel, with Edgar Wright in the director’s chair and Glenn Powell in the lead.

So… what went wrong?

In this Fast Forward episode, GB and AJ break down why The Running Man (2025) never quite works.

From a muddled tone and flat world-building to a lead character we struggle to care about, this remake somehow manages to be neither fun nor brutal. We also dig into the “Arnie problem”, whether Glenn Powell was miscast, and why the film never feels like an Edgar Wright movie at all. Maybe he was just the wrong person to direct this. And we LOVE Edgar.

We went in hopeful. We left apologising to the people we dragged along.

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