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Flight Of The Navigator (1986)

Flight Of The Navigator Movie Poster
J

oey Cramer stars as twelve year old David Freeman in this fantasy movie, aimed squarely at the family market. David is a typical fun-lovin' all-American kid, out playing in the woods with his younger brother Jeff.

One day, when they are going home to prepare for an outing on the lake that night, David is startled by a train and falls into a ravine, knocking himself out.

When he wakes, it's dark, so he runs home, not wanting to be late for the trip. But when he gets there, his parents have moved, everything has changed - it's eight years later. Unsurprisingly, David passes out once more.

He wakes in hospital, and there are his family, who want to know one thing - where has he been? David has no memory of the missing years, and so some NASA guys arrive to try and piece together what had happened. Or at least that's their story. The truth is that they have found this silver spacecraft that crashed into some electricity cables, and they are looking into any strange events that might explain more about the craft, where it is from, and most importantly, how to get inside and learn its secrets.

After finding loads of star maps and stuff inside David's subconscious mind, David escapes (with the help of his new friend Carolyn, played by Sarah Jessica Parker) and he manages to get to the craft, which opens a door and lets him in.

It turns out that David was taken by the craft eight years before for study, and something went wrong when it tried to return him to the time he was taken. Now the craft (controlled by a computer called Max) says that David is the Navigator, and only he can help get things back to normal.

They fly off, visiting much of the world, and allowing Max to learn more of the culture around him. But they always stay just one step ahead of the NASA people, who want their prizes back...

Don't forget that Flight Of The Navigator is now available to order on DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...

Written By: Paul Shrimpton [Contact]
 

In a similar way to the River Phoenix/Ethan Hawke movie "Explorers" (1985), it's a little difficult to categorise this movie.

It could easily be Family, Sci-fi, Comedy. Children's, or Fantasy. It's a fairly typical Disney movie, with some fun stuff, some ok performances, some predictable scenes, and some average dialogue.

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Director Randal Kleiser started off in episodic TV, doing episodes of such series as "The Rookies" and "Starsky and Hutch" before graduating through TV movies like "The boy in the plastic bubble" to the big time with the massive smash hit "Grease" in 1978. He next directed the seminal "Blue Lagoon" in 1980.

Paul Reubens (credited as Paul Mall) who plays the voice of Max is Pee-Wee Herman. -Thanks to Antonio

Davey's brother in the movie is played by Matt Adler, who later went on to star in both North Shore and Dream A Little Dream. -Thanks to Dan Renfrow

Joey Cramer was also in 1984's "Runaway" with Tom Selleck...he played his son. -Thanks to Greg

In very much a case of life immitating art, Joey Cramer appears to have literally disappeared off the face of the earth. He featured in "Stone Fox" in 1987 and was last seen in little known movie, "It's my Party", in the mid 90's. Who's to say, Max hasn't 'borrowed' him for research once again? -Thanks to Dave Paynter

There is a heavy reference to ET: The Extra Terrestrial in the movie, when David makes Max stop at a petrol station, so that he can 'phone home'.

The Spaceship from the film, Max, can now been found on the MGM Studios Backlot Tour at Walt Disney World, Orlando FL. Max is quite prominent and can now be seen as you board the train for the tour, and also part way round. -Thanks to Anthony Collins

The music that plays when the kid first gets on the ship sounds a whole lot like the music that plays on Space Mountain, Anaheim. Also, the ship appears on the Space Mountain queue video. It appears during the scene, or comercial, where crazy Larry is hawking spaceships. -Thanks to Adam

"Girls Just Want To Have Fun" star Sarah Jessica Parker has a small appearance as Davey's nurse who helps to sneak him out of the military site. -Thanks to Dan Renfrow

Randal Kleiser was George Lucas' roommate when they were studying at U.S.C. -Thanks to Steve-O

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Rediscover your favorites! If you like Flight Of The Navigator or 80's Sci-Fi / Fantasy classics, then be sure to check out this list: ..... Empire Strikes Back ..... Night of the Comet ..... Aliens ..... Back To The Future ..... Last Starfighter ..... Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ..... Circuitry Man ..... Brazil ..... Blade Runner ..... Thing ..... Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan ..... Return to Oz ..... Starman ..... Somewhere In Time ..... Strange Invaders ..... Short Circuit .....[More]



 


Effects for the movie were supervised by Jeffrey Kleiser, who is the brother of director, Randal. They have often worked together and Jeffrey's career has gone from strength to strength. He recently served as creative adviser on "The X-Men" in 2000.

The laser effects were provided by Hollywood's premier "laser effects technician", Doug Dulmage who did similar work in Beverly Hills Cop II amonst other movies.

There were actually two spaceships used in this film. One was used for the scenes in which David entered and exited the craft while it was parked on the ground. The other one was used for flight scenes. -Thanks to Jonathan Lim

As the Space ship exits the Hanger, forks (from a Fork Lift) can be seen supporting the craft. -Thanks to Adam

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Florida Locations
Flight Of The Navigator Movie Locations
 Flight Of The Navigator Locations
 
The 1st house used in the movie in the beginning is on Idlewild St. In Ft. Lauderdale, FL, right on the intercoastal. [Thanks to Brad Davis]

I understand a house at 2515 Arbor Drive (or Southwest 30th Terrace) in Fort Lauderdale in the Riverland area was also used but I have not been able to find anything to substantiate that. Can anyone else help with that? [Thanks to Kathy Freeman]

FPL's Port Everglades Powerplant in Ft. Lauderdale, early in the movie scene, was in the plant's switchyard. [Thanks to Michael Dart]

Can you help? Do you know any of the Fort Lauderdale, Florida filming locations used for Flight Of The Navigator? [Please send them in]

Flight Of The Navigator DVD
 
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Flight Of The Navigator DVD -USA
[NOT Widescreen][STEREO or SURROUND]---
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Flight Of The Navigator UK / Europe or Region 2 DVD
[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]
[STEREO or SURROUND]
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There are some ok backing tracks in the movie (again, typical of the time) and the only song that really stands out is a pretty long rendition of 'I Get Around' by the Beach Boys. To our knowledge, these have never been released as a soundtrack.

The score for the movie was written by Alan Silvestri and the score CD has been out of print for some time. It contained 12 tracks. Use our search feature to try and find a copy. [Thanks to Khalid]

The music video on tv in the scene with Sarah Jessica Parker's character and David at the base is 'lose your love' by blancmange. -Thanks to Steve

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Soundtrack Available: Used On CD


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"Take off on the ultimate fantasy adventure!"

 
Flight Of The Navigator Picture
Joey Cramer plays David Freeman, a boy lost in his own future.
Flight Of The Navigator Picture
"What do you mean, come out? I don't know how I got in!"
Flight Of The Navigator Picture
Max shows David just what his ship can do...
Flight Of The Navigator Picture
The Navigator finds his route home.

Flight Of The Navigator Movie Details
Year:
1986
Studio:
Walt Disney Productions
Director:
Randal Kleiser
Starring:
Joey Cramer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Howard Hesseman, Paul Reubens
--
Genre:
Sci-Fi / Fantasy
  
+
It did reasonably well on release, because it fitted well into the 'family sci-fi' category of the mid-eighties.
-
You never really ever care enough to want to see if David gets home...

Flight Of The Navigator Links
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Flight Of The Navigator and all movie images are ©1986 Walt Disney Productions.
All original content is ©1999, 2008 Fast Rewind WebSites. Page Written By: Paul Shrimpton