Love this film, just watched the Blu ray, but... Voyager was launched in 1977, so assuming the film is set in present day ie. 1984 that's only seven years later. Voyager would have been somewhere around Jupiter ( Voyager only left the Solar System last year).So where was the alien from?
And while I'm at it, why did the helicopter's threaten and fire at Jenny and Starman at the end? They were in a huge crater, where did they think they were going to go?
You're being too logical. For most people the the fact that the Voyagers had already been traveling so many years must mean they were at least as far as the next star by now - just a convenient mcGuffin really.
Also they started shooting because that's what the bad/stupid guys do.
^Agreed that you can't think too logically about Voyager still being in our own solar system in 1984, hell even as a little kid in the 80s I wondered about this point, b/c even THEN I knew Voyager was still in our own solar system....but you just had to roll with the idea that pretends that Voyager has somehow reached a distant star system and that's where Starman is from.
shareNo no that would be a true goof and not "thinking too logically". See below that it was a ship (not a planet) that picked up Voyager.
Yes, even in 1984, enough people would've known about the idea that it would take Voyager many thousands of years to reach another star. There's no way they would've made that part of the story.
What is a bit confusing is - well, did Voyager alert/invite them to our existence, or had they been coming here already? Make up your mind, storytellers.
You're right, it IS a plothole. I have no problem admitting this. On the other hand, it is rightfully called a MacGuffin - something needed to move the plot along: We, as a species have invited aliens to visit us. What would happen if one took us up on the invitation?
I mean, you can't set the movie in the year 46,000. You have to set it at "now."
Did Voyager alert/invite them to our existence, or had they been coming here already? Make up your mind, storytellers.
For many years it fooled me too, but the sphere that Voyager flew into was a ship rather than a planet. In that respect, it could have been anywhere, even just passing through our solar system. Note how the ship that comes to collect him at the end looks just the same with a ring around it.
With reference to the helicopters firing at them, the government wanted Starman dead or alive and were planning to dissect him.
The big man in the helicopter wanted to scare them into stopping.
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