A former Disney animator, Don Bluth left the studio in 1979 to form his own company with several other dissatisfied animators from the Mouse House. Their approach to feature animation seems to have been a combination of rigid adherence to traditional methods gradually dropped by Disney while, conversely, a willingness to explore new innovations the older studio was reluctant to embrace. Their first feature, The Secret of NIMH (1982) was a minor hit despite extremely tight budget restrictions. Four years later, the company would enjoy an even greater box office with An American Tail, but between these two projects Bluth developed a pair of laserdisc video games for a company called Cinematronics. The first, Dragon's Lair, debuted in June 1983.

It was by all accounts a resounding success, no doubt partly because standard computer graphics of the time were extremely limited (by today's standards), and the novelty of being able to interact with fluidly-animated cartoon characters, limited though it was, appealed to children and teenagers. It was one of the first video games to charge - gasp! - fifty cents, but lines were long all that summer.

I have only the vaguest memories of these laserdisc-driven interactive games as I was past the age of loitering about the video arcades by then, so I can't say how smoothly Dragon's Lair and Space Ace unfolded in the nimble hands of a master player. However, one suspects even basic Blu-ray player technology is light years ahead of even the most complex video game program circa 1984 - yet even so playing the game today is rather like watching a movie and pausing constantly every five or six seconds while awaiting the next segment to load.

The Blu-ray disc gives viewers the option of watching the complete 25-minute story, such as it is, without actually playing the game, and without those constant interruptions. According to the back cover: "The evil commander Borf has kidnapped Ace's girlfriend, the beautiful Kimberly, and is plotting to enslave the Earth using his dreaded 'Infanto Ray,' a weapon that changes everyone it blasts into helpless babies.

"Armed only with a laser gun, Ace must find and destroy the Infanto Ray, rescue Kimberly and save the Earth."

Yeah, well, that's pretty much what happens, but anyone expecting a coherent story and characters will be disappointed. The action literally begins a few frames into the show (the "attract mode"/introduction seems to be missing from the game though it appears on the PIP commentary) and never lets up on the frantic pacing, with Ace darting from one visually interesting setting to another like a kangaroo on speed. There's not even the opportunity to appreciate the many outer space environments created for the game because it's constantly rushing ahead to the next one even before our eyeballs can get acclimated to the one being left behind.

Looking at it now, it's hard to see what all the fuss was about. For all its elaborate animation, as a game it's actually much more limited in its own way than movie-inspired predecessors like Tron and Star Wars because player participation is limited to tiny windows of time offering only a few movment/action options. When these options do appear, everything freezes up for a few seconds as the proper animated response it queued up.

The whole notion of interactive movies is itself rather self-defeating, though that hasn't stopped generally misguided entrepreneurs from pouring money into unwanted innovations they insist will revolutionize movie-going - before they're never heard from again. Bluth's two laserdisc games may have been the most successful effort along these lines but watching it now one is impressed with the animation but under-whelmed by the technology.

Video & Audio

Those who remember video arcade screens scratched and covered with greasy thumbprints will be pleased to see the shot on 35mm film Space Ace in a basically flawless 1080p high-def presentation, available in both 1.78:1 widescreen or with its original 1.33:1 framing. Again, while it plays almost like dailies or maybe a demo reel, the short animation clips that make up Space Ace look quite nice with a sharp image and great color.

The audio gets a boosts with a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix and even optional subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German.

Extra Features

The supplements aren't bad, and to the disc's credit they're all in 1080p high-def with the same subtitle options. The primary extra is a picture-in-picture video commentary with Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, and Rick Dyer. It's informative and relatively interesting, though as a plasma owner I tend to worry that these PIP extras will burn shadows into my TV. Of considerably lesser interest are a very short (five-minute) Interview with the same trio, a Demo Reel showing various incarnations of the game, and ads for other Bluth-produced laserdisc video game titles. These ads have some game-playing functions, though my player got buggy trying to access them.

Parting Thoughts

Space Ace is an intriguing package of material nicely put together, but the fun evaporates pretty quickly. It's quaintly amusing for those interested in or who remember the video arcade craze of the early-1980s, but as a game - even with the advantages of Blu-ray technology - it makes for pretty thin entertainment, a game few will want to play more than once or twice. Skip It.

　 Film historian Stuart Galbraith IV's latest books, Japanese Cinema and The Toho Studios Story, are now available for pre-order.