Atari: Game Over — Blue Fairy Film Blog

Screenwriter Zak Penn helms this documentary, looking at an urban legend that has followed the now defunct Atari, for some thirty years. Following the mythology to its source, Penn shows us the history of Atari, and how it became one of the biggest companies in America, before its eminent fall several years later.

Penn even found the actual game programmer who made “E.T.” a game that many have claimed caused the demise of the super-giant Atari. He tells his side of the story, mostly saying that he did what he could in the time allotted. He was a successful programmer who had made “Yar’s Revenge”, a game that had put the budding company on the map, and still stands as a supremely enjoyable game. “E.T.” was simply a game that wasn’t fair to the player, and had many incongruities that made it both difficult and irritating. Many cartridges were returned, and it didn’t sell especially well during the Christmas season. An urban legend sprouted that pointed to a landfill where Atari apparently buried its unsold, extra cartridges of the game, amidst scandal.

Fast forward to the present, and Penn hires out a digging crew to excavate the cartridges and prove the legend’s truth. They have to bypass the mayor, an environmental group, and the landfill’s crew, but finally the dig is underway. Many find it uplifting, like they’re proving the existence of some otherworldly entity in their backyard. Others simply find the game’s mere existence worth derision, as many have pointed to it as one of the worst games ever made.

Penn points out many interesting things throughout the documentary, including that the game may not be the worst, but has been deemed so because of its legend. Penn truly unearths (no pun intended) a rare truth in this documentary, which is that the legend may be true, but its origins are not. This is a documentary for Atari fans, as well as those that love schlock in general.