Apr 2nd
Space Camp
US 1986. Twentieth Century Fox/ABC. 107m.
Youngsters at the NASA Summer Camp dream of taking off into the stars, which for some of them becomes a reality sooner than they expected.
Flimsy teenage space fantasy with sentimental asides (including an unnecessary robot sidekick), more Spielberg than Space Shuttle.
Written by: W.W. Wicket (Clifford Green), Casey T. Mitchell.
Producer: Patrick Bailey.
Director: Harry Winer.
Starring: Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, Tate Donovan, Kelly Preston, Larry B. Scott, Leaf (later Joachin) Phoenix, Tom Skerritt, Barry Primus, Terry O'Quinn.
Photography: William A. Fraker.
Music: John Williams.
Production Design: Richard McDonald.
+ the film's release was put back after the Challenger Shuttle disaster in January 1986
Space Camp
US 1986. Twentieth Century Fox/ABC. 107m.
Youngsters at the NASA Summer Camp dream of taking off into the stars, which for some of them becomes a reality sooner than they expected.
Flimsy teenage space fantasy with sentimental asides (including an unnecessary robot sidekick), more Spielberg than Space Shuttle.
Written by: W.W. Wicket (Clifford Green), Casey T. Mitchell.
Producer: Patrick Bailey.
Director: Harry Winer.
Starring: Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, Tate Donovan, Kelly Preston, Larry B. Scott, Leaf (later Joachin) Phoenix, Tom Skerritt, Barry Primus, Terry O'Quinn.
Photography: William A. Fraker.
Music: John Williams.
Production Design: Richard McDonald.
+ the film's release was put back after the Challenger Shuttle disaster in January 1986
posted by Joe at 7:52 AM
3 Comments:
I love this flick, Joe! I have a soft spot for a group of family fantasy films I grew up with on video in the '80s, which I feel owe a lot to the success of "ET"....
Space Camp, Explorers, Batteries Not Included, Cocoon, Starman, Flight of the Navigator, The Wizard, The Goonies, Young Sherlock Homes, Karate Kid... stuff like that.
I suppose that was my trouble with those 'E.T.'-type films. They were always that little bit too 'cute'.
In the case of 'Spacecamp', the idea of a little robot making friends with a little boy (the future Joachim Phoenix no less) and sending him into space, is a problem for Houston:
"credibility level critical here, Houston"!
And why is it that every mission into space always has loads of near-fatal errors going on? Call me cynical, but surely those kids would be dead before they got back to Earth in those circumstances.
yeah, well, I doubt if the kids would have even got off the ground if this was "reality"! ...but it isn't, it is just an upbeat 1 1/2 hours of entertainment for American kids/young teens, in a post "Star Wars"/"ET" cinema world. ....and quite fun it is as well. "Explorers" is better though - it has a darker feel, thanks to director Joe Dante.
...oh, and this was "the 80's", so all had to end well and happy.
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