Space Camp!

[Trekker4747]

In a thread about a (slightly) similarly named TV series I was reminded of this movie made in the mid-1980s starring... Well Lea Thompson is in it. It's about a group of teenagers (and a pre-teen) and a NASA astronut who're at NASA's Space Camp and through a cacophony of mistakes and bullshit end up in a shuttle to orbit where things go wrong, (since the shuttle was only intended for a launch test and wasn't outfitted for a stay in space as far as equipment and supplies.) The movie came out sometime after the Challenger disaster so it didn't quite have much box office power or much stay in the public mind but it's one I've seen (and read the book as a kid too.)

And, well, it's pretty good cheesy 80s space fun!

So I bought the DVD.

Anyone else seen this movie?

 

[sojourner]

Saw it when it came out. Even if Challenger hadn't occurred, the film would have bombed.

 

[Trekker4747]

Saw it when it came out. Even if Challenger hadn't occurred, the film would have bombed.

Perhaps, but it still is sort of a fun movie.

 

[issreliant]

I loved this movie when i was a kid, and the robot shot them into space because his kid friend wanted to go into space!

 

[RandyS]

Saw it when it came out. Even if Challenger hadn't occurred, the film would have bombed.

Perhaps, but it still is sort of a fun movie.

Agreed. I also have the DVD, and before that, the VHS since 1986. It's not a great movie, but like you say, it's fun. And it helps that John Williams composed the soundtrack.

 

[Forbin]

Kate Capshaw, yes? Damn Speilberg for taking that glorious face off the silver screen.

The stupidest thing about the movie was that NASA apparently developed a fully functional artificial intelligence, stuck it in a cute little robot, and locked it away in a closet with some junk.

 

[Trekker4747]

There's a line in the movie that Jinx (the robot) had a design flaw in him that made him unsuitable for space travel further complicated by the fact Jinx was overly literal.

 

[Admiral2]

In a thread about a (slightly) similarly named TV series I was reminded of this movie made in the mid-1980s starring... Well Lea Thompson is in it. It's about a group of teenagers (and a pre-teen) and a NASA astronut who're at NASA's Space Camp and through a cacophony of mistakes and bullshit end up in a shuttle to orbit where things go wrong, (since the shuttle was only intended for a launch test and wasn't outfitted for a stay in space as far as equipment and supplies.) The movie came out sometime after the Challenger disaster so it didn't quite have much box office power or much stay in the public mind but it's one I've seen (and read the book as a kid too.)

And, well, it's pretty good cheesy 80s space fun!

So I bought the DVD.

Anyone else seen this movie?

Saw it when I was a teen. Established one of my oldest crushes.

[Homer Simpson]Mmmmm...Kelly Preston in her underwear...Mmmmmm[/Homer Simpson]

 

[backstept]

Joaquin Phoenix, man. Craziest little Star Wars nut ever.

Also I think Space Camp is one of the best movies with regards to spaceship physics.

I used to watch this movie frequently, this and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

 

[Klaus]

The movie was in the can when the Challenger exploded, so they were kind of frakked... it had no chance.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

There's a line in the movie that Jinx (the robot) had a design flaw in him that made him unsuitable for space travel further complicated by the fact Jinx was overly literal.

Yes, he was a Christopher Bennett class service mechanoid.

 

[Trekker4747]

Joaquin Phoenix, man. Craziest little Star Wars nut ever.

Little Joaquin Phoenix was an annoying little kid in that movie everything he did was a Star Wars reference. I'm surprised the unfinished space station was made their destination in orbit for more air and not some SSI prototype to make the kid really flip the fuck out. "I know! There's air at Star Wars! We'll go get it there."

:liitle Joaquin has his first orgasm:

Saw it when I was a teen. Established one of my oldest crushes.

[Homer Simpson]Mmmmm...Kelly Preston in her underwear...Mmmmmm[/Homer Simpson]

Kelly Preston was quit the loveliness in it, but I dunno, I still have a soft spot in my heart for Lea Thompson.

It also had in it Howard Stark, er, Tom Skerritt.

 

[captcalhoun]

seen it and enjoyed it, but i prefer Flight of the Navigator.

 

[Admiral2]

seen it and enjoyed it, but i prefer Flight of the Navigator.

Flight of The Navigator was great...but, sorry, a little kid in a silversurfer-transformer ship don't beat Kelly Preston in her underwear.

I agree wholeheartedly with notion that Space Camp overall was cheesy 80's film fun.

 

[Roshi]

When it came out, it was the best film that I had ever seen. I immediately bored my parents to death because I wanted to join a space camp! Then a few months later came out Predator and RoboCop, and I was like, yeah right! because I rewtached the movie a few years later and it truly was abysmal.

Some things better stay in your memories with children's eyes...

 

[Trekker4747]

Oh, the movie is full of cheese but I can still enjoy it "as a kid."

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I watched that one quite a few times in the 80s. Once I started learning about how space travel ACTUALLY worked, I fast forwarded through the sappy drama bits and skipped to the liftoff. Not the most accurate space movie ever, but more than the average and fun to watch for every kid who ever wanted to go into space.

Also, I wanted Jinx to sound like Megatron instead of the cutesy fuzzy robot voice. Frank Welker did both voices, after all.

Mark

 

[Forbin]

There's a line in the movie that Jinx (the robot) had a design flaw in him that made him unsuitable for space travel further complicated by the fact Jinx was overly literal.

Yeah, so instead of fixing that, or adapting it, or using the parts to make a better one, the world's first successful artificial intelligence, which must have cost billions, a landmark in computer development, a milestone that man has striven for for decades, a quantum leap a century ahead of its time, is... thrown away and locked in a closet.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well he was being used as sort of a "handy man" around the place. He was only "locked in a closet" after Max had befriended him and Max hid Jinx in a closet for his own amusement. It's also possible Jinx was an ignored prototype and a second prototype was in the works somewhere in NASA learning from the "mistakes" they had in Jinx.

It is odd that such a scatter-brained robot could so easily hack into the NASA computer, cause a potential launch failure and necessitate the launch of the shuttle. (It's also beyond impossible that even during a "launch test" on the platform NASA would load the shuttle with kids/Space Camp attendees.

 

[Davros]

Joaquin Phoenix, man. Craziest little Star Wars nut ever.

Also I think Space Camp is one of the best movies with regards to spaceship physics.

I used to watch this movie frequently, this and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

The robot in the movie puts it on my list of worst movies ever made.