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EARTH* STAR VOYAGER (Disney 1988)

 
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:08 pm    Post subject: EARTH* STAR VOYAGER (Disney 1988) Reply with quote

I was surprised to see that we didn't have a thread for this TV movie yet! Although I had downloaded it long ago, I just never got a chance to watch it until last night. I popped it in my DVD player and expected it to lull me off to dreamland, but to my surprise it kept my attention to the end.



Definitely what would be considered a "juvenile" in the vein of the old Winston series and the works of Robert Heinlien , I found the story very enjoyable in a STAR TREK light sort of way. If I were a young teenager upon viewing I would have loved it! Still....Even as an "old fart" I liked it very much.



(From Wikipedia, IDm and other sources-)

Earth Star Voyager is a Pilot Movie that originally aired as a 2-part miniseries on ABC's The Disney Sunday Movie in January 1988. It focuses on a group of over-achieving young people from a late 21st century Crapsack Earth as they trek through the stars to find a new home for the human race.

Along the way, the crew has to deal with the usual dangers of TV space travel, along with the drama and awkwardness typical of being a teenager or a young adult on television.

Soft on the Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness, as considerable Artistic License is taken with the science, no doubt to keep the show accessible to its younger viewers.

The miniseries was actually nominated for two primetime Emmys for sound editing and sound mixing.

Even though the series was never picked up, the miniseries has developed a small but vocal fanbase. Disney almost refuses to admit that this miniseries ever existed, so don't look for an official DVD release (or any kind of release, for that matter). If you look hard enough on the Internet, though, you should be able to find a copy. (A couple of excellent versions are on Youtube. Links below.)

The effects were done by Richard Edlund and were quite good for the time.







From Wikipedia : The Plot :

In the year 2082, the Earth deep-space exploration vessel, Vanguard Explorer, has suffered heavy damage, due to the efforts of Captain Jacob 'Jake' Brown trying to keep his ship out of the hands of mutineers led by his second-in-command, Vance Arthur. Feigning compliance, Jake attacks Vance and knocks him senseless long enough for him to get to an escape pod and launch into space. However, the cause of the damage on board the Vanguard Explorer is unknown.

The German-language VHS introduces the plot: "In year 2087. The Earth is dying. They must find a new planet."



It is now six years later, in the year 2088. Command cadet Jonathan Hays, twenty-one, and his best friend Jessie 'Beanie' Bienstock, a 14-year-old computer specialist, are among the young military cadets chosen to serve as the crew of Earth*Star Voyager, the planet's newest interstellar vessel.



Due to worsening ecological conditions on Earth, there is a plan in place to evacuate the planet and colonize another world. (This mission is noted on the cover of the German VHS: ).

Probes have been sent out six years ago via the Vanguard Explorer, and one has sent data back on Berenson's Star; she has a life-zone planet which has been named 'Demeter'. The mission of Earth*Star Voyager is to go to Demeter, perform a full planetary survey and return that information because if conditions on Demeter prove accurate (the probe's data indicates that human life could survive on Demeter), then the human race will colonize the world.



The plan to colonize Demeter has already begun; ships are already being built to transport the population but will take forty years to complete construction of all the necessary vessels, and the trip to Demeter, with 'plasma-thrust' engines and the Bauman Drive (named for Professor Bauman, the creator) will take 26 years. That was the rationale of choosing the crew from the Academy—for their youth and intelligence. Jonathan, as second-in-command, will assume command if Forbes is shown to be unable to continue his duties due to age.



It is also mentioned that a modified form of cryogenic suspension will be used by the crew during the voyage in order to slow the ageing process. (Beanie mentions that he'll be forty years old upon their return to Earth, and Captain Forbes also mentions that, although the process will slow their ageing, they will still age.)

Among the crew members are Lani Miyori (a communications specialist) and Luz Sansone, a fellow communications tech who takes an immediate liking to Beanie.

Also aboard are Dr. Sally Arthur, a 24-year-old M.D. and younger sister of Vance Arthur, the mutineer in the opening sequence, Huxley Welles, an 18-year-old navigator, and Dr. Leland Eugene, the ship's psychiatrist.

The crew arrives aboard the Earth*Star Voyager, and are met by Captain Forbes (the commanding officer), Brody (the ship's resident physical fitness instructor - crew members are required to engage in a physical fitness program), and 'Priscilla', the sentient supercomputer that is the primary logic circuit for the vessel - who has seemingly developed a crush on Huxley. It is mentioned that this was a concern by the programmers; Priscilla is designed from the brain engrams of Priscilla Bauman (the daughter of Professor Bauman), and as such, she has all of memories, thoughts, feelings and desires of the real Priscilla Bauman. This is slightly annoying to Huxley.



Adm. Beasley, a war hero who fought back a criminal organization called the Outlaw Technology Zone, gave them a final pep-talk and saw them off from his flagship, the Triton Corsair.

Not long after embarking on the mission, the ship has to pass through the junk belt. Immediately entering the belt, the auto-pilot is unable to travel the course plotted because the junk starts to move due to the ship's engines.

After the shields and ship take some damage, Jonathan takes manual control and flies the ship through without taking further damage. While checking the repairs on an airlock, Captain Forbes finds himself trapped inside with the system set to open the airlock to space. Moments later, coming to check on the Captain, Jonathan finds him before the airlock opens.

Before being blown into space, the Captain tells Jonathan to keep going and to 'complete the mission'. Jonathan orders the ship's psychiatrist to review the crew's profiles for any hint of psychopathology.



Later, Lani mentions to Jonathan that she has suspicions of Dr. Leland Eugene, but Jonathan says he cannot go on a hunch alone. Following this, Lani is critically injured while in cryo-sleep by an apparent malfunction.

Along the way to Demeter, they pick up the long lost astronaut Capt. Jacob 'Jake' Brown, (Played by Duncan "Zorro" Regher). while stopping at an abandoned station to make some repairs. Brown initially paralyzes Huxley with a weapon, but it is revealed that he did so to prevent Huxley from walking straight into an "anti-matter zone".





Capt. Brown is accepted on board as an advisor to Jonathan and, finding out that the crew is only armed with hand weapons, volunteers to build a rail-gun with the help of Beinstock in an airlock. Jonathan then receives evidence of the death of Capt. Forbes and Lani's coma that points to Leland, the psychiatrist.

When Jonathan confronts him, Priscilla calls Jonathan about suspicious activity in the rail-gun's airlock. Jonathan investigates and finds Brody, the fitness instructor, is sabotaging the rail-gun, a fight ensues and the fitness instructor is jettisoned out of the airlock.

A transmitter is later discovered amongst his possessions, that he was apparently using to keep in contact with a blip that intermittently appeared on the Voyager's long range scans.

The crew also explores a distress signal from a massive space station known as 'the 2020 World's Fair', which is inhabited by warriors and researchers of the Outlaw Technology Zone.

The landing party is captured by the warriors after encountering one of Captain Brown's former crew members, Willy.

They discover that the mutinous Vance has also landed here and became "Top Dog" of the warriors by employing a stunner much like the one Brown used on Huxley.

A warrior, named Whistlestick, who was beaten and humiliated by Vance, explains that anyone may challenge the "Top Dog" at any time. Huxley demonstrates his skill at pickpocketing by getting the key for their cage.

Brown offers to occupy their captors by challenging Vance while the rest escape. After a difficult fight, Brown (who taught Vance how to make such weapons long ago) is able to make Vance's weapon backfire and destroys it - but spares Vance's life (unaware that Sally was watching and afraid that he would be killed by Jake).

In the ensuing ruckus, the crew and their two new allies escape.

The next discovery, explaining how Vance and Willie got to the World's Fair Station in the first place, was finding the wreckage of the Vanguard Explorer.

Capt. Brown requests permission to board it and retrieve his logs to prove that the loss of his ship was due to mutiny, and to see if there was anything left salvageable.

Beinstock, the Doctor, and he find the ship to still have some power and computer function, but also find an unwelcome guest known as a 'Shell'—a cyborg. Brown is able to shock the Shell into unconsciousness, and Doctor Arthur insists they take him to the ship to help and examine him.



In a cut-away scene, it is revealed that Adm. Beasley has become aware of the Shell's presence on Voyager, but is unable to do anything about it.

Willie explains that the Shell is a cyborg created by the O.T.Z. and, although it is only a drone, it is probably packed with explosives. The Doctor, with the help of Beinstock, is able to disarm the explosives and treat his injuries, and is able to bring the Shell back to consciousness while also keeping him immobilized.

They interrogate the Shell, and he mentions that his function is to help facilitate "Assembly". Data from the Vanguard indicates that several odd-looking ships passed by the Vanguard from the World's Fair over the last few years. Later analysis indicates the ships are modular.

The ship supposedly catches up with radio waves broadcast from Earth in the past. However, their objective was only 18.7 light years away. Especially since they had only begun the trip, they should not have received any broadcasts older than a few weeks or months old. The broadcasts they received range from 1927 to 1987, which should have been 101-161 light years from Earth by the year 2088, more than five times the distance to Demeter. Also, because light cannot vary speed, they would not have caught up to all the broadcasts at once. The broadcasts would have gradually gotten older as they traveled further from Earth. (Additional note: There is no reason to suspect that the intercepted radio signals were original broadcasts; although that is the aside made in the movie. These could be rebroadcasted (reruns) programs from Earth on the same day in the same spatial direction.)

Later on, Dr. Arthur speaks to the Shell and discovers that he was abducted and turned into a cyborg when he was young. After making some small adjustments to him to ease his discomfort, Doctor Arthur and he form a brief emotional connection before his programming returns him to his drone-state.

Later, he regains his full movement and smashes his way through the ship, damaging Capt. Brown's jury-rigged railgun weapon and one of Priscilla's processors. The Shell warns them that they must stop "Assembly" then deactivates himself rather than let his programming make him kill Dr. Arthur.



In another cut-away scene, Vance finds himself in dire straits back on the World's Fair as the warriors now hunt him for his treatment of them. Admiral Beasley appears and demands an explanation from him. Their dialogue indicates that the mutiny on the Vanguard Explorer was part of some design of Beasley's and that Beasley is somehow connected, if not in control of, the O.T.Z. After Vance reveals he was defeated by the presumed-dead Capt. Brown, Beasley leaves Vance to his fate, and returns to the Corsair. This scene is left out of some versions of the show.

Back on board Voyager, the crew have made repairs and discover how their spacecraft fits into a conspiracy concocted by the Outlaw Technology Zone and Admiral Beasley, the mastermind behind the entire plot (including the construction of Earth*Star Voyager, the selection of the crew, and the creation of the 'Shell'). The O.T.Z. ships, the Assembly, were stationed in a binary solar system to use the light from the stars upcoming alignment to give them sufficient power to join together and form an even more massive and heavily armed ship. A section of the completed Assembly was designed to allow Voyager to fit in near the bow.

Beasley's ship fires warning shots at Voyager to keep them on course to the Assembly, and then he reveals why he had chosen the best and the brightest the world had to offer to crew Voyager.

He intended Voyager not to be an exploratory vessel but a colony ship. Joining the Voyager to the O.T.Z. Assembly would give Beasley the Bowman Drive and Priscilla. This would enable him to choose whom else would get to be part of his new Utopia, while leaving the rest of humanity to rot back on Earth.

However, the crew outwits Admiral Beasley and escapes (after a battle in which they use jury-rigged weapons, including a 'solar laser' (which can gather and redirect solar energies in a beam-like fashion), and the railgun built by Jake and Beanie).

During the battle, Jake nearly sacrifices himself to hold together part of the electrical circuit that allows the railgun to be fired; he is saved by Sally. Aboard the Admiral's damaged vessel, the Triton Corsair, Admiral Beasley acknowledges Jonathan's skill as a commander, and promises that he will meet up with the crew of the Earth*Star Voyager again someday. There is an alternate scene of this in the 120-minute VHS version where Beasley is revealed to be some sort of robot or cyborg (or perhaps himself a Shell), while leaving out the promise dialogue.

Aboard the Earth*Star Voyager, Lani is found to be recovering from her injuries; Beanie and Luz (prodded by Priscilla) become a couple; it is strongly insinuated that Jake and Sally will become a couple; and Huxley is stunned to see that Priscilla (in human form) is a very beautiful woman.

Beanie also reveals to Jonathan that he has decrypted the probe data and the crew sees that Demeter is a planet with striking similarities to Earth. The last line of the miniseries goes to Jake, who says, "You know, Captain, I think we oughta go check that place out..."

A VHS rip :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDFF9sIT6jE&t=4081s

part one :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMS0y9eLSU4&t=438s

part two :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWzujWG4G9M

Disney intro with Eisner etc.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-E7puPgtkw

FROM TVTROPES : Trivia and comments :
BEWARE!!! SPOILERS ARE INCLUDED!



This show provides examples of: SCI-FI TROPES AND CLICHES :

Absent Aliens: Although "Beanie" is well-known for his interest in extraterrestrials, there is no evidence in the mini-series that humans have yet encountered sentient alien life.

Aloof Big Brother: Mixed with Big Brother Bully to a frightening extreme with Vance, who doesn't even seem to recognize Sally as his sister (or if he does, doesn't care at all for her well-being).

Amusement Park of Doom: The Outlaw Technology Zone has turned Expo Tomorrow (the 2020 World's Fair) into one of these, with elements of Circus of Fear thrown in for variety.

Applied Phlebotinum: The Bauman Drive and plasma-thrust engines that the Earth Star Voyager is equipped with. Presumably allows Faster-Than-Light Travel.
From the 'running elastic through the universe' analogy on how the Bauman Drive works, it seems that the drive is capable of allowing them to mimic FTL travel via Extradimensional Shortcut.

Artistic License – Military: Even though they ostensibly have the rank of Captain, Jacob Brown and Captain Forbes are each wearing the silver leaf insignia of a present-day Lieutenant Colonel. To be fair, this could simply be Artistic License given we are, in fact, talking about a fictional space agency.

Actually , "Truth in Television", as 'Captain' is not just a naval military rank but also an honorific; aboard ship, the title is worn by the Commanding Officer alone. One does not need the naval rank of Captain to command; it is common for Commanders and occasionally Lieutenant Commanders to be given command of vessels and be addressed as 'Captain' - and in fact, a successful 'Captaincy' (command of a naval vessel) is one of the prerequisites for some naval officers to be elevated to the actual naval rank of Captain.

The decision to not arm the Voyager before her flight (but store the components for the heavy laser weapons aboard for later assembly), and give the crew only personal defense weapons.
Sending any crew unarmed on what is basically a pathfinder mission through uncharted space on a twenty-six year mission with known enemies out there (even if it was said that the OTZ was defeated) because "Voyager is on a peaceful mission of exploration makes ''ZERO'' sense. Of course, that was all part of Admiral Beasley's Evil Plan...

Attack Its Weak Point: How Brown was able to defeat Vance in combat. He was, after all, the one who taught him how to build a force-field generator, and knew how to disable it.

Badass Beard: Captain Brown starts off clean shaven, and then is marooned alone on a space station for 6 years. When he is found by the Earth Star Voyager, he sports ⦁ Wild Hair and a Beard of Barbarism. After he cleans up nicely, he decides to keep a neatly trimmed Badass Beard.
Since Brown is at least 10 years older than everyone else on the ship, the beard helps to reinforce that he is "A Father to His Men".
It also makes him the "Cool Old Guy".

The Big Guy: Whistestick appears to be a major champion among the OTZ warriors - but when he challenges Vance for leadership and is defeated, he's jailed with the Voyager's crew. He escapes with them and becomes a part of the crew, because it's implied that his fate under Vance would have been unpleasant.

Blood Sport: the 'Games' that the OTZ warriors engage in at Expo Tomorrow. They are used for training the warriors, for leadership challenges, and (as Vance found out) punishment for failure. Very much a "Thunder Dome" scenario.

Bodyguard Betrayal: Kinda should have seen it coming that among a group of geek types, the traitor would be the gym coach, Brody.

The Captain: Both Jonathan and Brown qualify.

Cavalry Betrayal: Admiral Beasley shows up and turns out to be the mastermind behind the whole thing, planning to start the human race over on the newly discovered planet with the young, brainy crew.

The Charmer: Huxley

Chekhov's Gun: a relationship example, where Sally talks about being attracted to an older man in Part 1, and begins to fall for the older Jacob in Part 2.

Cliffhanger: The first part ends with one of these, while Jacob Brown and Vance fight to the death.
Command Roster

Captain's Log: Why Jacob wants to go back to the remains of the Vanguard Explorer, to retrieve the records that show his first Officer Vance led the mutiny that caused the loss of his ship.

Cool Big Brother: Jonathan to Bienie, and Jacob to Jonathan. Subverted when Sally learns that her brother Vance mutinied and destroyed the Vanguard Explorer.
Crapsack World: Earth is sinking into this, and Expo Tomorrow is Thunderdome IN SPACE!!!!!!

Cyborg: For some reason called "Shells" in the world of Earth Star Voyager. One of them is hiding on the wreck of the Vanguard Explorer. Even Admiral Beasley seems to be one at the end.

Dark and Troubled Past: Jacob Brown is very tight-lipped about what happened on board the Vanguard Explorer, until Vance turns up as a Big Bad out for revenge against Brown.

Date My Avatar: The film plays this trope straight, but in reverse chronological order from usual. Priscilla is the ship's computer, a large box of plastics and metals. Thus, Huxley is simply annoyed when she falls in love with him. However, when she shows him the picture of the Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter that her personality was based on (possibly recorded from), he's amazed that a woman who looks like that would go for him. (Which doesn't change the fact that this Priscilla is, and always has been, plastics and metal.)

Diabolical Mastermind: Admiral Beasley is revealed to be one of these.

Earth That Used to Be Better: The Earth of 2088 is a world of acid rain and only partially breathable air. Jonathan and Beanie give an old woman a strange look after she says how she'll be "as right as rain" as soon as she catches her breath.

Evil Overlord: Vance Arthur sets himself up as "Top Dog" of Expo Tomorrow.

Everyone Can See It: Beanie and Luz. Lani gently teases her about it when the crew learns that the Voyager is a Generation Ship - and Luz's gaze makes it clear she's interested. At the end of the the movie, even the computer comments on it, and they become an Official Couple.

Exty Years from Now: The main action of the film is set in 2088, exactly 100 years from the year the movie aired.

Family-Unfriendly Death: For a Disney movie, it features a surprisingly high body count and violence.

A Father to His Men: Captain Jacob Brown and Captain Forbes.

Future Food Is Artificial: Earth food of the future includes "Veggie Bioburgers" with optional "Amino Sauce", "Thermachips", and "Nutrishakes" with or without "Biocyclene". The characters are eating what looks like a seaweed patty with rice cakes for buns.

Getting Crap Past the Radar: Just have a look at the workout scenes, and the more blatant sexual tension in several scenes between Sally and Jacob.

Generation Ship: The Voyager is designed to act as one of these for its 26-year mission.

Heroic Rematch: Jacob Brown vs. Vance Arthur. Brown loses his ship when Vance leads the successful mutiny, but then defeats Vance in hand-to-hand combat on Expo Tomorrow.

Human Popsicle: the crew has "cryo-sleep chambers" to slow the aging process during the voyage. They don't look particularly chilly, though.

I Know Mortal Kombat: Jonathan has the skills necessary to manually pilot the ship through the Junk Belt because he played Dodgems (a.k.a. bumper cars) when he was 7 years old.

Informed Ability: The OTZ is spoken of like it's a major threat to Earth, and Willie (one of Brown's rescued shipmates) tells him (just before they're all captured on Expo Tomorrow) "This is the Outlaw Technology Zone. They know EVERYTHING." However, all we see is the 'Thunderdome-chic' surface and the warriors, and are told that the laboratories and other research areas are located underground.

Likes Older Women: Likes Older Men: A distaff example of the Likes Older Women trope: Ship's doctor Sally. She mentions to Jonathan in Part 1 how she had a crush on her math teacher during her first year at the academy. She is also clearly attracted to Jacob Brown in Part 2. She's 24. He's 36.

Love Triangle: One develops among Jonathan, Sally and Jacob.

My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Completely turned on its ear, as here the ship's computer Priscilla has a blatant crush on Huxley. Huxley is not amused, but the rest of the Command Roster thinks it's hilarious.
Given that Priscilla is the personality of a woman in her late 30's, and Huxley is either 18 or 19, does that make the computer a cougar?

Pilot Movie: given away by the opening Title Sequence that gives you the name, position, and age of each member of the Command Roster.

A Pupil of Mine, Until He Turned to Evil: Vance, who was First Officer under Jacob Brown on the Vanguard Explorer before leading a successful mutiny against Brown in the opening scene. This is assuming he wasn't already evil, in which case he would be a Deceptive Disciple. The miniseries simply doesn't give us enough background on the reason for the mutiny to settle this.

Robo Sexual: in a surprising case of Getting Crap Past the Radar for a 1980's Disney work, Priscilla actually suggests this for her and Huxley's 'relationship':

Brown: (speaking about Priscilla) Well - maybe the real one will be waiting when you get back to Earth.
Huxley: Yeah - that'd be just what I need.
Brown: Did you ever meet Priscilla Bowman?
Huxley: (warily) No...
Priscilla: (seductively) Would you like to, Huxley?
(Priscilla's human face appears on the main screen)
Huxley: (stunned at her beauty) That's Priscilla? ...and she loves me? And she wants me?
Priscilla: (in the same tone as before) ...And that's only my picture, Huxley.
(Huxley lets off a short, stunned gasp of disbelief)

Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Hoo, boy. Where to begin? The big question is how much time actually elapses between the ship's launch and Assembly, given that the latter takes place in another star system and the crew does not age visibly.
Case in point: Their final destination is about 20 light years away, and the trip is expected to take about 13 years. Suppose the events of the movie take place over a 2 month period. After 2 months, they've reached a binary star system, which can be no closer than 4 light years if "Twin Suns" is indeed Alpha Centauri. So...they went 20% of the way in 2 months, but they need more than 12 years to go the final 80%?
Also, space station Blue Star Gamma, Expo Tomorrow, and the wreck of the Vanguard Explorer must all be relatively near to each other.

Spanner in the Works: How Admiral Beasley reacts to Brown's appearance - and has actually seen him all along, if you consider that he planed for Brown to be killed or imprisoned after Vance took over the Vanguard Explorer.
Stock Footage: Almost every pass of the ship is recycled over and over and over. Doesn't help that almost every shot is reused for the credits. (I think the "flyby" shots were mainly used after a "commercial break" to re-establish tat we are in Space.)

Teen Genius: Over half of the crew, it would seem.

Thrown Out the Airlock: Brody does this to Captain Forbes. He also got the same when he got into a fight with Jonathan after sabotaging the railgun.

Uptight Loves Wild: the dynamic that seems to exist between Sally and Brown. It's also present between the playful supercomputer Priscilla and the surprisingly uptight (around her) Huxley.

Vancouver: Was shot entirely on location there, with a fair number of the actors being Canadian. Some parts were filmed in the Soviet Pavilion built for Expo '86, the outside of Expo Tomorrow is Science World, and the glass-roofed hallway outside the ship's bridge was the BC Pavilion, which is now the Edgewater Casino.

We Are Everywhere: The Outlaw Technology Zone, which at one point controlled nearly half the Earth, but was ultimately defeated and kicked off the planet. The OTZ seems to have operatives all over the place.

What Have We Ear?: Huxley is a reasonably adept amateur magician and pickpocket. It's how he steals the key that allows them to escape the OTZ cell while everyone else watches Jacob and Vance fight.



All and all it's an enjoyable way to wile away a couple of hours. Give it a look.



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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Earth *Star* Voyager was a TV sci~fi movie that also served as a pilot for a weekly television series.

While not a bad movie, it was not outstanding either.
Had it become a weekly show the producers would have needed to really retool it in order to have a superior show.

I thought that one of the highlights was the production filming at Vancouver, Canada's Expo '86 and inside the Soviet pavilion.

This managed to give the movie both a grand scale futuristic appearance & sense of reality at the same time.

Taking advantage of the Canadian Expo was a clever idea.

The design of the ESV left me cold instead of being awed.

One of the odd features was that the space ship had a shuttlecraft secured underneath with no doors enclosing it.
Would not this expose the shuttle to all types of potential damage from cosmic rays, gamma rays, meteors, enemy attack?

As pointed out it was insane that the ship had no defensive/offensive capabilities ready when they began their trek.

I'm also trying to recall if the crew even had any hand weapons when they landed on the derelict?

I realize that this is meant to be a kid friendly Disney movie but lacking logical elements isn't going to win favor with a sophisticated audience either.

The sets, for the most part, were well done. The bridge was quite impressive. A nice touch being that a briefing room & rec room were included into the bridge design.

The crew could have a briefing & go over issues regarding the vessel but never be far from the bridge itself.

The mini-rec room was smart as on duty crew could take their breaks but also be near to the posts should an emergency arise.

The cast was likable and the uniforms decent looking.

It clearly had potential but it would have required more effort to make the show truly shine.


Last edited by Pow on Wed Apr 26, 2023 11:25 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Awesome post, Commodore Green! I'm looking forward to watching with you in the chat room tomorrow evening. Cool

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just finished watching Earth * Voyager. I'm finding that I like it much more than I originally did when I first posted here about this TV-movie/pilot by Disney.

The cast is engaging; the space ship has some marvelous sets to it; and the plot is suspenseful. I'm still not overly fond of the design for the hull of the ship; but it has grown on me a bit.

However, there are some nitpicks I have upon viewing E*V again.

Communications Specialist Lani Miyoai (Dinah Gaston) tells Captain Jonathon Hays (Brian McNamara) that she has very strong feelings of something shady regarding Dr. Leland Eugene (Bruce Harwood) the ship's psychiatrist. She says when her feelings are this strong then there is a reason for them.

Nope Lani, Dr. Eugene is fine and your intuition was wrong. Gonna be hard for the captain to believe you again.

Then again, perhaps the writers for the pilot had something planned down the road for Dr. Eugene which would confirm that there was indeed something to her feelings regarding him?

Lani's cryo-chamber is tampered with by a saboteur causing her to fall into a coma. Jonathon arrives at the Cyro Unit and attempts to pull the chamber out from the bulkhead manually.

We then see Dr. Sally Arthur (Julia Montgomery) the ship's Chief Medical physician arrive. She presses a button and the cryo-chamber slides away from the bulkhead.

How come the captain did not do that to begin with? Wouldn't he be aware that is how the cryo-chambers open? Was he in a panic and didn't think it through?
It cost valuable time for Lani's survival.

The E*V comes across the Expo station and they decide to investigate it. The very next scene has the crew descending the shuttle craft stairs onto the Expo.

How come the producer's never gave us a scene of the shuttle leaving E * V and landing onto the Expo station?

This is a science fiction TV-movie, so I want to see as many interesting visual scenes as I can. Don't you?
Perhaps there was such a scene with the shuttle flying over to and landing on the Expo but it was edited out due to time constraints.

Still, this was a two-part, three-hour movie. They should have been able to find a few minutes for a shuttle scene.

It did not appear that the E * V crew had their hand weapons with them when they were attacked by the Expo renegades.

Carrying arms into an unknown situation should be standard protocol don't you think?

I also never noticed that the E * V crew possessed any type of communication devices when they first landed onto the Expo.

While the captain & crew members are on the Expo we see that Jessie "Beannie" Bienstock (Jason Michas) the ship's Computer Specialist and resident genius is in charge.

Beannie decides to move the E*V away from the Expo. I think it was due to a mysterious vessel nearby. Jessie says that he hopes the captain can find them in the shuttle?

Find them in the vastness of outer space? Can't he send a communique to the shuttle that would leave a recorded message on where the E * V is going; and why?

Wouldn't the E * V have some form of a beacon device on it that the shuttle could follow?

Then again, just how far is the E * V going away from the Expo station? How much fuel would the shuttle have for a pursuit of the E*V?
Has Beannie calculated all that out?

When the E * V crew are held captive by the Expo people, former Captain of the Vanguard Explorer space ship Jacob Brown (Duncan Rehehr) tells the captives he will challenge the Expo leader to combat. This will serve as a distraction in order for the others to escape.

Brown then fights Vance and Jonathon and the crew watch...and watch...and watch.
Navigator Huxley Welles (Tom Bresnahan) who managed to swipe the key for the cage they are locked in from a guard even implores Jonathon to get going. But he still continues to watch the combat.

Talk about a missed opportunity by unnecessarily delaying! Jonathon almost blew their escape.

The shuttle makes it back to the E * V. Once again we have no scene showing the shuttle lifting off from the Expo station and docking underneath the E * V. Disappointing.

In another scene the E * V discovers the abandoned and ruined Vanguard Explorer which was Captain Brown's former ship. Brown wants to go over to his vessel in order to retrieve anything salvageable. He also hopes to get the ship's log entries that show that he faced a mutiny and did not simply panic and abandon his crew & ship.

Guess what? They take the shuttle over and back. And no scenes showing this at all.

Did someone on this production really dislike that shuttle design and not want to feature it except when we see it stored underneath the E*V?

Looking at the shuttle in its hanger bay (without a door door which I nitpicked previously), I was puzzled by something.

Now I could not tell but it appeared that the entire shuttle was located beneath the E * V. Meaning that the cockpit was not located inside the E * V.

If I'm correct, just how did the crew enter and exit the shuttle? Since there are not doors on the hanger; it would expose the entire craft to outer space. Crew could not survive in the icy cold of space that has no atmosphere. Not to mention all types of deadly radiation and meteors.

Does the shuttle rise up into the E*V where the crew can safely board it once that area has been depressurized?

There is no indication at all that the shuttle even does this.

Do the crew don spacesuits and then enter the shuttle?

If so, how come they are not wearing spacesuits when they explore the Expo station or the Vanguard Explorer?

Do they remove 'em before leaving the shuttle? Seems like this would cost valuable time.

The E*V picks up old radio transmissions from Earth including music. Huxley enjoys the music and starts dancing away to it, but it fades as they lose the transmission.

Huxley then orders the ship's computer named Priscilla to follow the transmission. It takes the E * V off its primary course. Huxley comments that they're on a 26-year mission; so what's a 10-minute detour?

Well aside from Huxley doesn't have permission to do this at all; how about issues regarding fuel expenditure?

In the later part of their journey the E * V discovers that there is some secret space project going on called 'Assembly.'

When they finally reach Assembly, Jonathon orders it destroyed! How come? Priscilla has been unable to relay full intel on exactly what it is to the crew. Why jump to such a rash conclusion before you have all the data?

Priscilla and the E * V are absolutely vital to the nefarious Admiral Beasley's plan to populate the planet Demeter and not return as planned to evacuate humans from a dying Earth.

A cyborg that has been rescued by the crew is on board the E*V. Beasley is creating a race of such cyborgs in order to settle the planet...and keep power over the colonists.

The cyborg then awakens and proceeds to damage Priscilla.

Wouldn't that be counter to the admiral's plans as it is essential that he have the computer?

Was the cyborg just malfunctioning? Was this Beasley's plan to stop the E * V? If so, he could well have lost Priscilla in the process.

Once the E*V crew realize Admiral Beasley's evil plot there is a scene where Jonathon is talking to the admiral on the ship's main viewer.

Jonathon is attempting to stall the admiral while Brown fires a rail gun at the admiral's Corsair space ship.

Beannie is aghast that Jonathon is preparing to surrender the E*V to the admiral.

Jonathon is just putting on an act so that the Corsair will pull into range of the rail gun.

How come Beannie doesn't get this at all? He helped construct the rail gun with Brown; he's been on the Bridge all the time when Jonathon & Brown have discussed that the admiral's ship must get to within a certain range in order to fire upon it; he sees Brown with his hand on the firing mechanism for the rail gun.

C'mon, he should have picked up on Jonathon's feint.

Stalling the admiral might have been another nifty scene for the ship's psychiatrist Dr. Eugene who we don't see anymore in the latter part of this movie.

It might have been cool to have him on the Bridge and using his skills to talk to the admiral in order to stall him.

I liked the completed Assembly platform that E * V was intended to fit into like a jigsaw puzzle piece. It appeared to be a large engine system in order to get the E * V to the planet Demeter much earlier than planned.

It may have also been weaponized.

I understand that the producers wanted to end the movie with a big bang by having the E*V take out the entire Assembly with a dramatic explosion.

However, wouldn't it have been cool if the crew had the E * V fit into the Assembly and be able to use it for their own peaceful purposes?

Then again, if this is a life and death mission for all the inhabitants of Earth; should the E * V be exploring various things along the way?

The ship needs to get to Demeter in order to survey and report back to the Earth as to the conditions on the planet.

So if E * V had been picked up by ABC and become a weekly series just what was the plan?

If they checked out other planets or space phenomena along their trek each week, doesn't that cause delays to Demeter? What if the E * V is severely wrecked on one of these side missions? It could end their mission right then and there.

I assume the creators had something like this in mind that the E * V would encounter other planets, and other stuff each week. Otherwise you'd just have each episode dealing with life aboard the E * V each week...and just how many stories can revolve around that before becoming tiresome?

In spite of my nitpicks and question, I still believe that this pilot had good potential. The creators would have to address these issues I bring up, so there would have to be some retooling of the premise.

Hey, that could be done and off we'd go with the E * V on its mission.










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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2021 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

At the beginning of E*V there is a meeting of the crew with the captain of the spaceship where they are given the mission briefing.

When the captain is asked about 'weapons specifications' he replies that this is a peaceful mission of exploration. Weapons are not a high priority.

Why? Isn't it insane to venture on a twenty-six year round-trip mission and not be fully protected?

Earth can't possibly know what potential dangers the E*V could encounter in the vastness of outer space. The mission is to hopefully do nothing less than to save humanity by exploring the planet Demeter as a world to evacuate the dying Earth population to. Kinda critical.

Later on board the E*V we're informed that there are indeed long-range weapons on the spaceship. However, they need to be assembled and that will take months to do. What a reckless course of action this is!

The E*V is a brand new state-of-the-art vessel; how come the weapons weren't being built at the same time as the E*V?

I believe some sci~fi TV shows like to put forth how humane & civilized they are by not arming their space vessels. Sort of like look at how fantastic we are because we don't go in for weapons.

Never made sense to me. I get the let's not be warlike and worship our weapons and be quick to use 'em philosophy. After all, who wants to carry war out into space?
Sad commentary on humanity.

Still & all, going out into the unknown without weapons is a terrible decision.

You have to trust that the humans of E*V truly value life; that they have a code to value all life and the use of weapons is only a last resort to ensure their survival as well as the survival of humanity.

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2021 5:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow, I don't think Armstrong and Aldrin were "packing heat" on the Moon!

Although it's true that Russian Vostok and Soyuz missions had a survival pack including a firearm and amunition in case of a "wild" landing in an isolated area.



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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 12:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
Pow, I don't think Armstrong and Aldrin were "packing heat" on the Moon!

The old Sci-Fi channel used to have a show on science and science fiction on the weekends. I don't remember the show's name. In the 90s, on one of the anniversaries of the Apollo 11 landing, they claimed that the Apollo 11 Astronauts were armed...Just in case.

It seems crazy now, but that was during the Cold War, and crazy things happened.

David.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
The old Sci-Fi channel used to have a show on science and science fiction on the weekends. I don't remember the show's name. In the 90s, on one of the anniversaries of the Apollo 11 landing, they claimed that the Apollo 11 Astronauts were armed...Just in case.

A totally bogus claim, for several reasons.

First, NASA agonized over ever ounce of weight on the Apollo ships. I highly doubt that even a single pistol would have been allowed, even if somebody was dumb enough to think the astronauts would need it.

Second, did NASA include holsters on the spacesuits? What good is a gun if you leave it in the spaceship or carry it inside your suit!

And finally, the notion that there would be ANY life on Moon whatsoever — much less dangerous life — is absurd.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think that they were worried about the moon having native life. Like I said, it was during the Cold War, so I could see them equipping the Astronauts with a firearm.

A more interesting question, is what type of handgun would they pick. An auto loader is mechanically simpler than a revolver, but a revolver would be easier to operate in a Moonsuit. What ever they would pick would need to have the trigger guard remove to accommodate the thick Moonsuit glove. Then there is the lubrication, it would have to be a lubricant that wouldn't boil off, or dry out in the vacuum, but not interfere with the operation of the weapon.

David.
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PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2022 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From TV Tropes.

Considerable Artistic License is taken with the science in this television-movie. The nature as soft SF keeps the show accessible to younger viewers.

Sidebar: Makes sense for 1988 youngsters. Younger viewers today would be more savvy I would imagine and run to their pc and check the veracity of the movie's science with legit science sites. I could envision this becoming a fact check game between friends to see who could catch the most scientific errors.

Sidebar: Smart producers in this day and age should realize this and figure that the days of just throwing any science malarkey they wanted in order to move the plot along are long gone. An audience wants to be impressed with both the SF stories, as well as a production striving to give the show as much realism scientifically as possible within a dramatic but fictional SF TV show.

They need to go all Jack Webb on their series.

E * V was nominated for two primetime Emmys for Sound Editing & Sound Mixing.

Even though E * V wasn't picked picked up as a weekly series, the movie has developed a small but vocal fan base. Disney almost refuses to admit it ever existed.

Sidebar: Ah, the mysterious vicissitudes going on in the corporate backrooms at Disney.

Simplest explanation is its been 34 years since the TV-movie's premiere. It just may have fallen by the side of the road for the company. Disney produces lots of feature films, numerous television cable series, now owns ABC and 20th Century Fox, along with the Muppets and Marvel comics.

Their plate isn't full, their entire restaurant is bursting. So them not recalling E * V decades after the fact may not be because they dismiss it or have it in for the pilot. They've just forgotten it due to the plethora of projects they have going, as well as executives coming and going since 1988.

We do love our conspiracy theories though, eh? Makes things more exciting, even when there's no conspiracy to be had.

The decision is made not to arm E * V before its critical flight (but to store the components for heavy laser weapons aboard for later assembly by the ship's crew), and give that crew only personal defense weapons.

Sending any crew with essentially a ship that is unarmed on a 26-year vital mission to save humanity through uncharted space because the ship is on a peaceful assignment of exploration makes "ZERO" sense.

Sidebar: Boy, do I agree and I mentioned it earlier. Obviously the writer wanted to have the plot point of the vessel not having weapons to play into the vulnerability of the crew when danger did indeed present itself.

It still is foolish. Outer space offers many, many wonders, but it could have just as many dangers. The mission statement is that this ship has a 26-year round-trip journey to the world known as Demeter. Demeter may just offer humankind salvation from a toxic and dying earth.

So yeah, this mission is kind of a big deal. Wouldn't you want to increase the odds of survival as much as possible for these potential saviors of our civilization? And isn't it the compassionate thing to do when you have a boatload of young people? Ya know, watch out for their interests before plunging them into the vast unknown.

Sidebar: Composer Lalo Schifrin (MIssion:Impossible) creates a nifty score for the movie.

The glass-roofed hallway we see in the background off the ship's bridge was actually the British Colombia Pavilion. It is now the Edgewater Casino.

Sidebar: That scene of the glass-roofed Expo building
off the ship's bridge always impressed me. It gave the movie an epic scale quality not often seen in television productions with their limited budgets.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 26, 2023 11:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

TV Guide Close Up:

An interstellar adventure set 100 years into the future and shown in two parts.

As conditions on Earth rapidly deteriorate, it becomes imperative to find another habitable planet.

So an advanced spaceship is built to speed a crew, aged 14 to 24, to probe a likely candidate orbiting a distant star. The ages of the crew members reflect the length of the journey---its a 26-year round trip.

They are led by an older career officer who is mysteriously---but deliberately blown out into space, the first of many unexpected events to plague the initial leg of their journey.

They also encounter the lost captain of an earlier expedition and venture into the dreaded Outlaw Technology Zone.
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