Trapped in Space

A nifty little sci-fi that made me think "Lifeboat" meets "Alien." No monsters in this movie and just a little blood (no gore). Thought provoking as it makes you wonder who will survive and, moreover, makes you pull for certain characters to survive. Not for those who are looking for mind boggling special effects. A good story with a very satisfying ending.

When a cargo vessel is struck by a small meteorite the captain escapes, leaving the rest of the crew with a greatly depleted oxygen supply. With time running out it becomes apparent that there will only be enough air for one person to survive to safety. The crew react in different ways to this news.

Based on a short by Arthur C Clarke the set-up for this premise was never going to be totally lacking in intelligence. Unfortunately the cheap TVM delivery of the idea is so lacking in merit that it loses whatever intelligence the short may have had. The effects are poor (with one exception being the decompressing space suit) and the characters are poorly scripted. The end result is that the story is one that has been done much better in plenty of other films (from Hitchcock's excellent Lifeboat to the iffy Lifepod) and should have been left, rather than wheeling it out again to fill 90 minutes of network time.

The cast are poor - made up of daytime soap actors. In fairness they don't really have anything to work with. All the characters are stereotypes like in disaster movies - we have the coward, the nutter, the kind one, the quiet plotting one, the nervous rookie, even a dog to make up the check list! None of them are ever developed beyond the first scene and to be honest it's hard to care who lives or dies.

Overall this has some good moments, but the poor script, poor effects, poor characters and poor actors manage to almost ruin any merit this may have once had.

TRAPPED IN SPACE is an old-fashioned B-movie, made with a TV movie budget and a cast of former soap and TV actors. The plot is similar to those found in LIFEBOAT and the ubiquitous TEN LITTLE INDIANS, with a group of five astronauts finding themselves trapped on a remote spaceship with their oxygen supply rapidly depleting. The only way anybody will survive is if a few of them die, but how can they begin to choose?

The worst thing about the story is the low budget, which gives the whole spaceship setting a cheap look, like something out of a STAR TREK rip-off. The rest of it is pretty good. The performances are effective, especially Craig Wasson (BODY DOUBLE) as the crazy guy, but the best thing by far is the script, which keeps you guessing as to what's going to happen to whom. The suspense never stops, and the tension keeps you on the edge of your seat. Let's just say that despite the family friendly rating, there's some very unpleasant stuff transpiring here.

Fantastic movie, love every second of it. The 90s vibes, the nicely spoken and acted parts, the logical script, no unnecessary cheap literally primitive music like nowadays. Very good looking actors. Love how the space station looks. Love the 90s graphics which are more realistic than from nowadays with the exaggerated cgi technology. Wonderful movie, only thing that's too bad about it, is that there weren't a whole bunch of follow ups, like 20 sequels that's how good this is, just love it.

This is much better than I expected it to be. I mean it stars Jack Wagner fer crying out loud! That it's as entertaining as this is amazes me. And you know Wagner is actually pretty good here as his character was given the most depth and personality...and I actually liked him in this!? That's never happened to me before. Jack Coleman's Grant stands out as well even if his character is never fully developed. Coleman still manages to add something mysterious to the character with his mannerisms and expression. The best thing I like about this film though is the ending which raises it above the norm in terms of 90s Science Fiction television films.