Why does DIsney hate "Earth Star Voyager"?
- Thread starter Ian Keldon
- Start date
There most likely is, but as I said, the company doesn't care about some to most of its old TV shows, and this pilot movie's no exception-heck, most of the (original) movies shown on the Disney Sunday Movie haven't been rerun or put on home video (and as I said before, my favorite Kim Possible isn't on DVD as a complete series or as season sets.)
^^ Fluppy Dogs. Look it up.
ESV had great production design for the hero ship and an interesting concept for the awakening-to-environmentalism 1980s. It's a product of its time, but best left there IMO. I'm sure that had it gone to series, they would have swiftly found a way to get to Demeter before too long had elapsed. I mean, how long could they have been dealing with Admiral Beasly and the vast emptiness of open space? It surely wouldn't have been them stumbling across remnants of humanity's early space exploration EVERY week, which is pretty much ALL they did in the miniseries.
Mark
ESV had great production design for the hero ship and an interesting concept for the awakening-to-environmentalism 1980s. It's a product of its time, but best left there IMO. I'm sure that had it gone to series, they would have swiftly found a way to get to Demeter before too long had elapsed. I mean, how long could they have been dealing with Admiral Beasly and the vast emptiness of open space? It surely wouldn't have been them stumbling across remnants of humanity's early space exploration EVERY week, which is pretty much ALL they did in the miniseries.
Mark
^For the record I don't think much of ESV-it's way too white bread in the main casting, and as you said, the plotting's not that well-executed; it's as if the Mouse wanted to emulate Star Trek-TNG, but with Wesley Crusher as captain and the other teens from 'Coming of Age' as the main crew. It could be remade and shown on Disney Channel and Disney XD, but the crew would need a lot of diversity and the show needed a better plot.
That's true.. They had the one Asian bridge crewer but unceremoniously put her in a coma just as the action starts (almost odd since they shot it in Vancouver, which has a *huge* Asian population even in the 1980s). Mind you, they had a First Nations guy playing the pitiable Shell antagonist, which I guess was a little progressive. The rest of space was bascially white-washed except for a background crewman or two.
Looking at the cast list, I totally missed that the guy who would would play Byers from X-Files was aboard as well in a supporting role. Neat.
Mark
Looking at the cast list, I totally missed that the guy who would would play Byers from X-Files was aboard as well in a supporting role. Neat.
Mark
The concept of "Star Command" had potential and I remember Melinda Snodgrass taking about what she hoped to do if it went to series. It sounded interesting. Too bad the pilot wasn't better.
^The intent was great, but the writing and execution (mainly the set, model, and costume design) sucked.
That too wasn`t anything amazing, and the only good thing about it that I liked was the 15-year old girl pilot, who I used as a template for a character in a novel that I was once working on.
That too wasn`t anything amazing, and the only good thing about it that I liked was the 15-year old girl pilot, who I used as a template for a character in a novel that I was once working on.
I had also (mistakenly) remembered this cast as being more diverse than it was, and was annoyed when that wasn't the case.
I didn't even recognise him until I looked up the cast! It's remarkable how much younger he looks, considering he'd be playing Byers just five years later.
I loved those spacecraft though.
When was the last time you saw asteroid based ships on screen--escpecially one like the (first) Dragonship?
Agree. Space Academy (1977-78) and it's sequel series Jason Of Star Command (1978-80) spaceships were great. The asteriod based Space Academy/Star Command and Dragonship were extremely interesting visually. The Seeker and Starfire spacecrafts were excellent too.
I think you've gor your ''Star Command''s mixed up. I never saw the (Melinda Snodgrass) UPN Movie of the week that is being discussed here, but I'm assuming they didn't have asteroid ships. That's Filmation's Space Academy/Jason of Star Command you're thinking of.
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If I remember correctly, "Earth * Star Voyager" (I remember the "*" in the original TV Guide adds) aired as a Sunday night Disney movie of the week thingy, in a lot of the same markets that were just premiering "Star Trek: The Next Generation" at the same time, same night. I just remember I was in a community theater play at the time, and I made my parents record the TNG and ESV premiers for me while I was away, as they were both on the same night (and luckily my parents were TV junkies and had 2 different TVs, both with VCRs hooked up to them) and I stayed up late at night in the living room few inches from the TV watching both eith the volume down real low...
Of course, my memory may be a bit dodgy. But I wonder if Earth * Star Voyager was basically over-shadowed by The Next Generation, which had much better special effects. (A lot of what we saw on the main computer screen in ESV were just basically line drawings, there were very little exterior shots of spaceships.)
I remember really liking EVS, even a bit better than TNG, and I wanted to see more.
Of course, my memory may be a bit dodgy. But I wonder if Earth * Star Voyager was basically over-shadowed by The Next Generation, which had much better special effects. (A lot of what we saw on the main computer screen in ESV were just basically line drawings, there were very little exterior shots of spaceships.)
I remember really liking EVS, even a bit better than TNG, and I wanted to see more.
Actually, there are 2 adult characters (though there would only be one of them on the show as a regular had it gone to series.)
The premise of the show was that there was one older adult in command, who would be to old to complete the mission, and the kid who was his first officer would replace him eventually, and children of the current crew would be the ones to complete the missions, as it was a 40-year round trip.
Oddly enough, a premise like this would fit nicely on a channel like CW, who's shows are often sci-fi or fantasy based and aimed at teens and young adults, like "The Tomorrow People" re-re-boot and "The 100".
Speaking of "The 100", that was a show that I refused to watch for the very same reason, but a friend talked me into it and I watched the okay first season and the last part of the really excellent 2nd season, and now I'm hoping that there is really going to be a 3rd season. It was a lot better than I expected. (Unlike Netflix's "Between", which was *okay*, but not great.)
TNG debuted in September 1987. E*SV came along Jan 1988.
For giggles I checked an episode guide, on the 2 weekends ESV aired, the TNG episodes were Datalore, and Angel One. No wonder you liked ESV more...
The 100 was renewed for a 3rd season, which won't premiere until mid season.
