Earth Star Voyager: Part 1

After years of voting, this is my first comment. It is sad that Disney has not released this movie (preferably on DVD). I also have a copy of this movie, still watchable fortunately.

This movie was enjoyable with an original plot and interesting views of a future Earth. The portrayal of computers and other technology as it could impact society makes this movie a gem as well. As a teenager planning on a career with space, I admired the opportunity these young explorers had.

The movie is somewhat dated. The special effects are not the best and the acting is a little cheesey in places. But the story is very interesting and having it told from a teenager's viewpoint (the age of most of the crew) helped make this movie memorable for me.

I saw this movie about 12 years ago on ABC in 1988. It was and still is a great movie. The plot is original and is very reasonable. I watched it as I grew up and loved every minute of it. It is too bad that Disney didn't bring it back as a re-run or put it out on video. I taped this movie off of ABC when it was aired in 1988 but it is a little worn. I wish there were somewhere that I could get it on DVD. This is one of many great films that I watched then, Earth Star Voyager is still a great film. They should bring back the characters 26 years older than in 1988 and see if they made it to Demeter!

Considering what it was up against, with a low budget and science fiction being so new in the television world, Earthstar Voyager is an extremely good B movie. We taped it off of TV years ago and even though we didn't tape the beginning of the second part, it still remains a family favorite. Why? It has an exceptional plot, considering what it had to work with (No aliens, no ultra, clichéd bad guys) it's hard to find excitement in space without those, but the movie is able to keep a good pace. Most of this is because of the script, which is very clever, and a cast that was able to click and be believable. Duncan Reghre excels and I must admit that Huxley's character is one of my favorite sci-fi characters ever. Add to these good parts the humor that just being a B movie can add (The exact same shot of the ship used every time, the outfits that the bad guys wear looking like they raided a costume store, etc.)and you've got a pretty fun movie. Unfortunately, unless enough people remember it, it will go down in the vaults as one of "Disney's failures" and never be re-released even on television. If they were to re-release it, however, I see it holding the possibility of becoming quite a cult classic.

And when I say "younger viewers," I mean younger viewers in 1988, not today, who have a shorter attention span and need more special effects. In fact, today's kids would find the 1988 vintage PC-generated computer graphics on the control screens laughably primitive. (Which they were even by the standards of the day. Most late '80s videogames had much better graphics.) Because of the low budget, the show is almost completely shipbound, except for a few scenes on Earth early on and a fight on Expo Tomorrow halfway through, which doesn't fool anyone with its clearly soundstage atmosphere. The Voyager sets are a variety of vacuformed plastic panels assembled into various compartments, including the lounge, the gym, the corridors and the airlock. Yet the interior did feel somewhat well-designed and -realized as a ship. There are a few space shots, mostly two or three repeated ad infinitum, with the same cheesy music playing. But you can't expect a megabucks blockbuster from a family-oriented pilot produced for the Sunday Disney movie. This was one of the early efforts at reducing production costs by filming in Vancouver, a practice since adopted by many TV shows and movies.

The movie was part "Star Trek," part "Lost in Space," part "Space Academy" and part "SpaceCamp" I actually enjoyed this much more than the early episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" broadcast in the months preceding this, which were so serious and self- important. Bienstock was a dead ringer for Will Robinson, redheaded kid super-genius (with a dollop of Wesley Crusher added). In fact, this is actually much more enjoyable than the 1998 "Lost in Space" movie, which had the splashy effects but not the fun. The cast was generally fine, if a little stiff at times, even veteran Duncan Regehr, whose head-thrashing electrocution spasms in the climax were hilariously amateurish. Pity the show was never picked up, so the young actors never had time to hone their craft.

Alas, aside from the relatively stock plot (including the transparent ruse at the end), the writer really played fast and loose, betraying a poor understanding of science. Here they are, just starting out their mission, and they almost immediately find the Vanguard Explorer. How could the Vanguard Explorer find Demeter with its probes so quickly when it was so close to Earth? (They weren't out there that long since much of the crew including Vance was still young.) They also catch up to a whole passel of radio transmissions from Earth, ranging from Lindbergh's flight to stuff from the '80s. But seeing as how the speed of light (and radio waves) can't vary, there's no way all those signals could all be in the same spot for them to be received simultaneously. In fact, even the newest signals they intercepted, Oliver North's Iran-Contra testimony, should have been 100 light years from Earth (100 years old at the time, traveling away at the speed of light). They were taking 12 years just to get the 18 light years to Demeter, so catching up to signals that should have been up to 160 light years out at the beginning of the mission is supremely silly.

It looks like the show would have had Admiral Beasley chasing them all the way. But since the Triton Corsair was faster than Earth Star Voyager, why did they need Voyager? And transporting billions of humans almost 20 light years to another planet? How long would the trip have taken? With that much life support needed for 6+ billion humans on a 12-year trip, couldn't they just have cleaned the Earth? Was the hitherto rare Baumann Drive that easy to manufacture that they could build them by the millions? That has to be one of the silliest "science fiction" ideas I've ever heard. They would have been better off spending their resources building O'Neill space colonies, especially since they had to build the giant Voyager just to transport a small crew.

Do you want to feel old? Imagine first watching this movie where they say it will be a 26-year mission. Feels like a very long time in the future, right? Guess what? If it were real, we'd be closing in on the end of the mission today, after 19 years. Time flies.

I love this Movie! Where can I get it? I had copied it from TV and lost it in a fire! Please tell me where I can find it!!! A lot of the actors have gone on since this film and I can see it is in their biography! I so wish that it was easier to find. To me it was an awesome movie back then and I still love it! But don't tell my friends! Hehe! They would think I was SCI-Fi Nerd! Oh wait! I am! LOL! I love star Trek Don't get me wrong.... but when i was a kid I saw this and could just totally relate to one of those teenagers being me! I wish I could have been in the movie! Even if i was just an extra in the fight scene or a bad guy! The computer voice of Priscilla was so funny! She had Human Qualities! "We don't like our failures hanging around... Do we?" I loved the idea of the Bracelet that Vance Arthur had! I wanted my watch to be one of those! Beanie? He is just so smart! Huxley? Hmmmm... I liked the name...! Dr. Eugene? Wound way to tight! Captain Forbes? Victim of misfortune! Sally Arthur? She's so pretty! Admiral Beasley? Funny bad guy! Jake Brown? Big Muscles On The Captain.... Caaaaveman!!!! That was Malnourished! That was so funny!