Space Invader

Kitsch public information filler inspired by the classic arcade game

"Play Space Invaders on the road and you play a dangerous game!" There's huge kitsch appeal to this very of-its-time road safety film, which stretches its video game analogy to breaking point and beyond. It may have seemed a good idea at the time, but the attempt to surf the zeitgeist seems misjudged: its references would have shot over the heads of most older drivers, while earning the ridicule of younger ones, for whom the Space Invaders arcade game was already old hat. Still, it's a fascinating case study for the amateur (or professional) historian of arcade culture.

The 'computer graphics' employed throughout are actually an animator's approximation of video game imagery: the approach may have been borrowed from BBC's TV production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which aired the same year.