| | | | Airplane II: The Sequel
(1982) |
ithout the involvement of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker, this sequel should have been a disaster, right? This should have been a studio-ordered disaster that ruined the legacy of the original AIRPLANE...
...Actually, it's quite funny.
Picking up where the first AIRPLANE left off, we meet Ted Striker again, having lost Elaine again and now institutionalized at the Ronald Reagan Home for the Mentally Ill. However, he's not mentally ill (you and I both know that): he's there as part of a cover-up.
You see, Ted, after test-flying a new passenger shuttle called the Mayflower One, found it was unsafe. In order to save money and launch on the exact date, a lawsuit is bnrought against Ted and he is declared legally incompetent.
Ted may have had a point with the whole "unsafe" thing, as after the launch, the ship's computer, ROK 9000, develops a mind of its own and sets the ship on a crash course for the sun. With the co-pilot and navigator ejected (leading to a funny parody of two entirely different scenes from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY), and Captain Oveur (Peter Graves, reprising his role) gassed trying to deactivate ROK, it's up to Ted, who has escaped, to try and deactivate ROK and land the shuttle. He also has to deal with a impotent mad bomber (Sonny Bono), Elaine's fiancee, who is a member of the flight crew, and the fact that the shuttle is completely out of coffee. All the while, he's assisted by Steve McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges, reprising his role), The Sarge (Chuck Connors), and Commander Buck Murdock (William 'The Shat' Shatner).
Highlights include a mother checking her baby in to be stowed in the hold when told she can only bring one item on board, a man trying to shave with a straight-razor as the shuttle descends, a game of Jeopardy played on board (with original host Art Fleming in a cameo) with the category of "Famous Airline Disasters," an impotency clinic called the Des Moines Institute that several characters are oddly familiar with, and a cameo by "Love Boat" theme singer Jack Jones in one of the funniest bits in the film.
New writer/director Ken Finkleman (writer of GREASE 2. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you) does an admirable job of stepping up to the plate for ZAZ. He does rehash some gags from the original, but manages to come up with some original ones as well.
Among our returning players are Robert Hays (Ted), Julie Hagerty (Elaine), Lloyd Bridges (McCroskey), Stephen Stucker (Controller Jacobs, or Johnny Hinshaw under a new name), Al White (one of the Jive Dudes), Frank Ashmore (Victor Basta in the original, now a controller in the sequel), and Lee Bryant (Mrs. Hammen), among others.
 Don't forget that Airplane II: The Sequel is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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A sequel that is just as good and funny as the original.
Ken Finkleman does an admirable job of keeping the "play it straight" tone of the original, and comes up with some good gags. Everyone was game to do another movie, and that shows in their performances.
Then again, how could you hate a movie where William Shatner is at his overacting best?
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This film was created with the obligation that its creative team return for a third installment. Expectations were so high that the next film was promised at the end of the credits of this one. When the film was released to mediocre box office sales, plans for Airplane III were cancelled but the ad remains in most prints. 
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The window behind the "Transcendental Air" desk (the airline for Hare Krishnas) shows the cityscape from Logan's Run (1976).
William Shatner's character orders a profile on everyone who's seen The Sound of Music (1965) more than four times. That film was directed by Robert Wise, who also directed Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), which starred William Shatner three years earlier.
The truck that Ted leaps out of to get into the skyport is named "Ken's Trucking" and has a Canadian maple leaf on it. This is an inside joke since "Ken" is Writer-Director Ken Finkleman who is from Canada, hence the Maple Leaf.
The hanging lady in the first airplane movie reprises her role as the first victim of Striker's anecdotes as the vomiting lady.
When the shuttle takes off the music from "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) is played. The navigator is played by 'Kent McCord' who played Captain Troy on "Galactica 1980" (1980).
At one point Stryker, speaking to William Shatner's character Buck Murdock, says "Roger, Murdock..." Roger Murdock was the co-pilot in the first film played by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
At the Alpha Beta base, a technician tells Buck Murdock that the piece of equipment he is working on has red lights that go back and forth, with no other apparent purpose. This piece of equipment has been seen in many science fiction movies and television shows (including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation), but its function is never explained.
In a classic gag, a car is used to jump-start the Space Shuttle prior to launch. The model of car is a 1958 Ford Edsel, noteworthy as one of the biggest marketing flops in automotive history.
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The Zucker/Abrahams directing trio ('Jerry Zucker' , David Zucker & Jim Abrahams) claim (on the audio commentary on the DVD release of Airplane! (1980)) never to have seen this film. They initially agreed to a sequel and then baulked at the idea at a later date. The movie went ahead without their permission and despite their protests - thus, they refused to watch a single frame of it upon its release - and still haven't over 20 years later.
The sound effects as the boy in the control room is "playing" with the incoming plane's radar are from the Atari 2600 game Yars' Revenge (1981) (VG).
Writer/director Ken Finkleman provides the voice of ROK 9000, uncredited.
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|  |  |  | | Airplane II: The Sequel
Locations |
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We don't know the shooting locations used for the filming of Airplane II: The Sequel... 
Can you help? Do you know any of the filming locations used for Airplane II: The Sequel? [Please send them in]
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Music by Elmer Bernstein and Richard Hazard. Sadly never available.
The theme music used in this movie is from the TV series "Battlestar Galactica" (1978).
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