Flight of the Navigator
Encyclopedia
Flight of the Navigator is a 1986 Disney
science fiction
film
directed by Randal Kleiser
and written by Mark H. Baker and Michael Burton, about a 12-year-old boy named David who is abducted by an alien space craft and finds himself caught in a world which has changed around him. It was partially shot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
) is an average 12-year-old American boy living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
in 1978. On the night of July 4, his mother Helen (Veronica Cartwright
), asks him to retrieve his younger brother, Jeff (Albie Whitaker), from a friend's house on the other side of the woods. While in the woods, he falls down an embankment into a ravine and is knocked unconscious. He awakes after what seems like a few moments, and walks home only to find that everything around him has changed because it is suddenly the year 1986. The police take him to a house where he is reunited with his family, now aged by eight years. The shock of it all causes him to pass out.
Meanwhile, an extraterrestrial spacecraft has crashed into some power lines. NASA
agents convince the Police that it is theirs and take it to their base, intending to study it, but find it seamless and impenetrable. In the meantime, David is taken to the hospital for a medical examination and to discover why he hasn't aged. The doctors begin performing tests on his brain and find it containing accurate information pertinent to the alien spacecraft that is at the NASA base; alerted to this fact, NASA operative Dr. Faraday (Howard Hesseman
) requests him to be taken to the NASA facility (the same place where the UFO is kept) to unravel the truth behind this. Further scans reveal that his brain contains alien data and star charts leading to an alien planet named Phaelon, 560 light-years from Earth. The concept of time dilation due to faster-than-lightspeed travel is used to explain how he may have been in space for only 4.4 hours, while eight years passed on Earth.
David befriends an intern named Carolyn McAdams (Sarah Jessica Parker
) and tells her to let his parents know that the institute plans to keep him longer than the promised 48 hours. The next morning, he hears a voice calling to him telepathically. He escapes from the room by hiding in a service robot and is taken to the hangar where the ship is stored. Once inside it, he meets its robotic pilot, an artificial intelligence calling itself a Trimaxian Drone Ship from the planet Phaelon, whom he subsequently nicknames Max (voiced by Paul Reubens
). Referring to him as "Navigator", Max accepts his command to escape the base.
The ship takes off from the NASA facility and subsequently hides on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean
. Max informs David that his mission was to travel the galaxy, collect biological specimens, and take them back to his home planet of Phaelon for analysis before returning them to the place and time from which they were taken. His sensors had discovered that humans only use 10% of their brain and as an experiment, David's brain was filled with miscellaneous information, including star charts. Max then returned him to Earth, but didn't take him back to his proper time, fearing that humans were too delicate to survive time travel. When trying to leave Earth and return home to Phaelon, Max accidentally crashed the ship into some power lines, erasing all the star charts and data necessary to return home from its computer. He therefore needs the information placed in David's brain to complete his mission and return home.
Max prepares to perform an encephalic scan on David, during which he shows him the remaining alien specimens he has yet to return to their homeworlds. David bonds with a Puckmaren, a small and harmless alien species and the last of his kind, since his homeworld was destroyed. After a while, Max performs the scan, but in the process also contracts the ability to feel and express emotions, making him more human-like in behavior, but also more erratic, stubborn and argumentative.
David and Max start bickering as to their next course of action, to which Max's response is to shut down and allow the ship to fall from its orbit, taunting David to execute his title as navigator for real. He manages to activate the manual controls and takes over. They travel the Earth trying to decide what to do next, being tracked and chased by NASA all the way. In the meantime, Carolyn has made contact with David's family and told them about his departure in the ship; as a result, Dr. Faraday puts them under house arrest.
To find the way to his family, David uses a gas station pay phone, calls home and catches Jeff, asking him to send a signal so that he can find their new house. He successfully signals the ship by lighting David's old bottle rockets and other fireworks. He is initially thrilled that he will soon return home, but becomes despondent upon realizing that he has lost eight years of time with his family. Upon arriving at his house and seeing the NASA people waiting for him, he decides that he does not belong in 1986, bids his family goodbye and tells Max to return him to his own time, regardless of the risks.
Max reluctantly travels back in time with David and successfully returns him unharmed and at the same moment he left. He makes his way home and finds everything the way he left it before he disappeared. He and his family take off in their boat to see the fireworks and he makes up with Jeff. He discovers that he has retained one memento from his experience: the Puckmaren. The only other one to know of this is Jeff who agrees to keep it a secret. The film ends with Max flying home to Phaelon amidst the 4th of July fireworks, shouting "See ya later, Navigator" to David.
ers, who remembered the film from their childhoods.
The movie opens with the shot of a silver vessel flying across the Miami skyline; however, a dog suddenly catches the object, revealing it to be a silver Frisbee
. That dog is the 1984 Frisbee Dog World Champion, Whirlin' Wizard. He and the others catching Frisbees in the opening scene was filmed at the preliminary round of the 1986 Ashley Whippet Invitational in Pasadena, Texas
(outside of Houston), whereas the ones running without Frisbees were filmed on the 79th Street Causeway, in a grass field alongside WSVN
studios in Miami.
, creating the illusion of a chrome object occupying a live-action frame, considered by many to hold up to today's standards. The CG shots were produced by Omnibus Graphics, one of the first computer animation companies, responsible for most of the classic advertising 3D animation of the '80s.
Contrary to popular belief, CGI
was not used to depict the suspended steps leading into the ship. The effect of the door liquefying to form them was achieved through stop-motion
animation by creating a series of metallic sculptures for every frame of the animation. They appeared to support David's weight with a simple optical illusion. They were mounted on thin beams which were angled in such a way that they themselves hid the beams from the camera's lens. This arrangement even allowed for slight camera movement as can be seen the first time he climbs them. Also note that when he presses on the middle one, they all move slightly.
The two full-scale spaceship hulls used in most of the shots throughout the film (one with an open entrance, the other sealed) were constructed out of thin, curved sheets of wood over a metal framework and finished with primer and reflective paint. One of the hulls underwent refurbishment and is currently used as the Cool Ship in Tomorrowland
of Magic Kingdom
at Walt Disney World. The other hull can today be seen on the Studio Backlot Tour
at Disney's Hollywood Studios
.
. It is distinct from his other scores in being entirely electronically generated, using the Synclavier
, one of the first digital synthesisers and samplers.
reported that Disney was readying a remake of the movie. Brad Copeland
was writing the script and Mandeville partners David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman would serve as producers.
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Randal Kleiser
Randal Kleiser
John Randal Kleiser is an American film director and producer, perhaps best known for directing the 1978 musical film Grease.-Life and career:...
and written by Mark H. Baker and Michael Burton, about a 12-year-old boy named David who is abducted by an alien space craft and finds himself caught in a world which has changed around him. It was partially shot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Plot
David Freeman (Joey CramerJoey Cramer
Joey Cramer was a child actor in the United States and Canada during the mid 1980s, most notable for his role in Flight of the Navigator. He appeared in the television movie Stone Fox with Buddy Ebsen and Gordon Tootoosis in 1987. Today, Cramer lives in his hometown of Sechelt, and he is...
) is an average 12-year-old American boy living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
in 1978. On the night of July 4, his mother Helen (Veronica Cartwright
Veronica Cartwright
Veronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
), asks him to retrieve his younger brother, Jeff (Albie Whitaker), from a friend's house on the other side of the woods. While in the woods, he falls down an embankment into a ravine and is knocked unconscious. He awakes after what seems like a few moments, and walks home only to find that everything around him has changed because it is suddenly the year 1986. The police take him to a house where he is reunited with his family, now aged by eight years. The shock of it all causes him to pass out.
Meanwhile, an extraterrestrial spacecraft has crashed into some power lines. NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
agents convince the Police that it is theirs and take it to their base, intending to study it, but find it seamless and impenetrable. In the meantime, David is taken to the hospital for a medical examination and to discover why he hasn't aged. The doctors begin performing tests on his brain and find it containing accurate information pertinent to the alien spacecraft that is at the NASA base; alerted to this fact, NASA operative Dr. Faraday (Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.-Early life:...
) requests him to be taken to the NASA facility (the same place where the UFO is kept) to unravel the truth behind this. Further scans reveal that his brain contains alien data and star charts leading to an alien planet named Phaelon, 560 light-years from Earth. The concept of time dilation due to faster-than-lightspeed travel is used to explain how he may have been in space for only 4.4 hours, while eight years passed on Earth.
David befriends an intern named Carolyn McAdams (Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
) and tells her to let his parents know that the institute plans to keep him longer than the promised 48 hours. The next morning, he hears a voice calling to him telepathically. He escapes from the room by hiding in a service robot and is taken to the hangar where the ship is stored. Once inside it, he meets its robotic pilot, an artificial intelligence calling itself a Trimaxian Drone Ship from the planet Phaelon, whom he subsequently nicknames Max (voiced by Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens is an American actor, writer, film producer, and comedian, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s and started his career as an improvisational comedian and stage actor...
). Referring to him as "Navigator", Max accepts his command to escape the base.
The ship takes off from the NASA facility and subsequently hides on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. Max informs David that his mission was to travel the galaxy, collect biological specimens, and take them back to his home planet of Phaelon for analysis before returning them to the place and time from which they were taken. His sensors had discovered that humans only use 10% of their brain and as an experiment, David's brain was filled with miscellaneous information, including star charts. Max then returned him to Earth, but didn't take him back to his proper time, fearing that humans were too delicate to survive time travel. When trying to leave Earth and return home to Phaelon, Max accidentally crashed the ship into some power lines, erasing all the star charts and data necessary to return home from its computer. He therefore needs the information placed in David's brain to complete his mission and return home.
Max prepares to perform an encephalic scan on David, during which he shows him the remaining alien specimens he has yet to return to their homeworlds. David bonds with a Puckmaren, a small and harmless alien species and the last of his kind, since his homeworld was destroyed. After a while, Max performs the scan, but in the process also contracts the ability to feel and express emotions, making him more human-like in behavior, but also more erratic, stubborn and argumentative.
David and Max start bickering as to their next course of action, to which Max's response is to shut down and allow the ship to fall from its orbit, taunting David to execute his title as navigator for real. He manages to activate the manual controls and takes over. They travel the Earth trying to decide what to do next, being tracked and chased by NASA all the way. In the meantime, Carolyn has made contact with David's family and told them about his departure in the ship; as a result, Dr. Faraday puts them under house arrest.
To find the way to his family, David uses a gas station pay phone, calls home and catches Jeff, asking him to send a signal so that he can find their new house. He successfully signals the ship by lighting David's old bottle rockets and other fireworks. He is initially thrilled that he will soon return home, but becomes despondent upon realizing that he has lost eight years of time with his family. Upon arriving at his house and seeing the NASA people waiting for him, he decides that he does not belong in 1986, bids his family goodbye and tells Max to return him to his own time, regardless of the risks.
Max reluctantly travels back in time with David and successfully returns him unharmed and at the same moment he left. He makes his way home and finds everything the way he left it before he disappeared. He and his family take off in their boat to see the fireworks and he makes up with Jeff. He discovers that he has retained one memento from his experience: the Puckmaren. The only other one to know of this is Jeff who agrees to keep it a secret. The film ends with Max flying home to Phaelon amidst the 4th of July fireworks, shouting "See ya later, Navigator" to David.
Cast
- Joey CramerJoey CramerJoey Cramer was a child actor in the United States and Canada during the mid 1980s, most notable for his role in Flight of the Navigator. He appeared in the television movie Stone Fox with Buddy Ebsen and Gordon Tootoosis in 1987. Today, Cramer lives in his hometown of Sechelt, and he is...
as David Freeman - Paul ReubensPaul ReubensPaul Reubens is an American actor, writer, film producer, and comedian, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s and started his career as an improvisational comedian and stage actor...
(credited as "Paul Mall") as Trimaxion/Max (voice) - Cliff DeYoungCliff DeYoungClifford Tobin DeYoung is an American actor and musician.DeYoung was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended California State University....
as Bill Freeman - Veronica CartwrightVeronica CartwrightVeronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
as Helen Freeman - Albie Whitaker as Jeff Freeman, 8 Years
- Matt AdlerMatt AdlerMatthew D. "Matt" Adler is an American film actor. He is best known for his work in the 1980s for his supporting roles in the teenage films: Teen Wolf, White Water Summer, North Shore, and Dream a Little Dream....
as Jeff Freeman, 16 Years - Sarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
as Carolyn McAdams - Howard HessemanHoward HessemanHoward Hesseman is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.-Early life:...
as Dr. Faraday - Robert SmallRobert SmallRobert Small is the name of:* Robert Small , 1732 - 1808) Scottish Minister, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Mathematician and Astronomer* Robert Small , American entertainment producer...
as Troy - Jonathan Sanger as Dr. Carr
- Richard LibertyRichard LibertyRichard Liberty was an American film and television actor. His film work included George A. Romero's The Crazies , the Kirk Douglas vehicle The Final Countdown, Porky's II: The Next Day, and Flight of the Navigator. Television appearances included roles on Miami Vice and Key West...
as Mr. Howard - Iris Acker as Mrs. Howard
- Raymond ForchionRaymond ForchionRaymond Forchion is an actor who has appeared in film, television and stage. Aside from several pilots and TV movies, he's co-starred on such series as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Will & Grace, The Golden Girls, Wiseguy and In the Heat of the Night...
as Detective Banks - Brittney Vance as Female Officer
- Steve Ramos as Night Guard Brayton
- Thomas WhiteThomas White-Politicians:* Thomas White, Jr., New York politician* Thomas White , mayor of San Jose, California from 1851 to 1854* Thomas White , Canadian politician...
as Darrell the Hockey Coach - Lawrence Mikashus as Fort Lauderdale Fire Department
Background information
When the film was initially released in the summer of 1986 it came and went at the box office, grossing only around $18 million; however, in later years it is fondly remembered among Generation XGeneration X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
ers, who remembered the film from their childhoods.
The movie opens with the shot of a silver vessel flying across the Miami skyline; however, a dog suddenly catches the object, revealing it to be a silver Frisbee
Frisbee
A flying disc is a disc-shaped glider that is generally plastic and roughly in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating....
. That dog is the 1984 Frisbee Dog World Champion, Whirlin' Wizard. He and the others catching Frisbees in the opening scene was filmed at the preliminary round of the 1986 Ashley Whippet Invitational in Pasadena, Texas
Pasadena, Texas
Pasadena is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Harris County, 17th-largest in Texas, and 162nd largest in the United States. The area was founded in 1893 by John H. Burnett of Galveston....
(outside of Houston), whereas the ones running without Frisbees were filmed on the 79th Street Causeway, in a grass field alongside WSVN
WSVN
WSVN, channel 7, is a television station located in Miami, Florida, USA. WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is an affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. The station has its studio facilities located in North Bay Village and transmitter based in north Miami-Dade County.WSVN operates a Key...
studios in Miami.
Visual effects innovations
Released at the dawn of 3D animation technology, Flight of the Navigator was the world's first 35 mm feature film to use environment mappingReflection mapping
In computer graphics, environment mapping, or reflection mapping, is an efficient Image-based lighting technique for approximating the appearance of a reflective surface by means of a precomputed texture image. The texture is used to store the image of the distant environment surrounding the...
, creating the illusion of a chrome object occupying a live-action frame, considered by many to hold up to today's standards. The CG shots were produced by Omnibus Graphics, one of the first computer animation companies, responsible for most of the classic advertising 3D animation of the '80s.
Contrary to popular belief, CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
was not used to depict the suspended steps leading into the ship. The effect of the door liquefying to form them was achieved through stop-motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animation by creating a series of metallic sculptures for every frame of the animation. They appeared to support David's weight with a simple optical illusion. They were mounted on thin beams which were angled in such a way that they themselves hid the beams from the camera's lens. This arrangement even allowed for slight camera movement as can be seen the first time he climbs them. Also note that when he presses on the middle one, they all move slightly.
The two full-scale spaceship hulls used in most of the shots throughout the film (one with an open entrance, the other sealed) were constructed out of thin, curved sheets of wood over a metal framework and finished with primer and reflective paint. One of the hulls underwent refurbishment and is currently used as the Cool Ship in Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland
- Tomorrowland 1955–1967 :The first Tomorrowland opened at Disneyland on July 18, 1955, with only several of its planned attractions open, due to budget cuts. The construction of the park was rushed, so Tomorrowland was the last land to be finished. It became something of a corporate showcase,...
of Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California...
at Walt Disney World. The other hull can today be seen on the Studio Backlot Tour
Studio Backlot Tour
The Studio Backlot Tour is an attraction at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It is a combination of a walking and tram tour of the backlot area of the park.-The queue area:...
at Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
.
Soundtrack
The music score for the film was composed by Alan SilvestriAlan Silvestri
Alan Anthony Silvestri is an American film composer and conductor.-Career:Silvestri is best known for his collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis, having scored Romancing the Stone , the Back to the Future trilogy , Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Death Becomes Her , Forrest Gump , Contact ,...
. It is distinct from his other scores in being entirely electronically generated, using the Synclavier
Synclavier
The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of...
, one of the first digital synthesisers and samplers.
- Theme from "Flight of the Navigator"
- "Main Title"
- "The Ship Beckons"
- "David in the Woods"
- "Robot Romp"
- "Transporting the Ship"
- "Ship Drop"
- "Have to Help a Friend"
- "The Shadow Universe"
- "Flight"
- "Finale"
Remake
On May 25, 2009, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
reported that Disney was readying a remake of the movie. Brad Copeland
Brad Copeland
Brad Copeland is an American television writer and producer, best known for his work on the Fox TV series Arrested Development.-Television career:...
was writing the script and Mandeville partners David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman would serve as producers.