11) SpaceCamp (1986)

(2 's out of 5)

"There's no room for mistakes. Every 'i' dotted, every 't' crossed. That's the way I learned it. That's the way you'll learn it."

Director

Harry Winer

Cast

Lea Thompson - Kathryn Fairly
Tate Donovan - Kevin Donaldson

Larry B. Scott - Rudy Tyler

Kelly Preston - Tish Ambrose

Leaf Phoenix - Max Graham

Kate Capshaw - Andie Bergstrom

Tom Skerritt - Zach Bergstrom

In the crowded halls of 1980s cinema where nostalgia reigns supreme, some films are more fondly remembered than others. 

In the case of the 1986 sci-fi adventure movie, "SpaceCamp," it's just not talked about much, if ever. I'm unsure how fondly remembered it is. Does it have any kind of following? It just doesn't get the same attention as other movies from the same period - not even as a unique thing that happened once upon a time.

It's based on an actual space camp operated by NASA in Huntsville, Alabama, which I think is still in operation today. 

"SpaceCamp's" June of 1986 theatrical release was bad timing at its worst. Just a few months before it hit theaters, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded killing all seven crewmembers on board. I don't think NASA has been a bastion of appreciation and American pride since. But that's another topic for another time. While that tragic event isn't mentioned in the movie, I've heard it's referenced in the movie novelization. 

Anyhow, I've heard more about much worse movies from the eighties such as "The Garbage Pail Kids Movie" and "Howard the Duck" than I have about "SpaceCamp" from all the nostalgia fiends I subscribe to. Then again, "SpaceCamp" probably has redeemable qualities about it compared to those movies, but who cares about that? It's way more fun to point out the worst of the worst.

In this movie, a bunch of kids are attending NASA's summer space camp in Huntsville. 

For a few weeks, they'll learn about space travel and all that other NASA stuff. 
The movie follows teenagers Kathryn Fairly (Lea Thompson), Kevin Donaldson (Tate Donovan), Rudy Tyler (Larry B. Scott), Tish Ambrose (Kelly Preston) and 12-year-old Max Graham (Joaquin Phoenix - credited as Leaf Phoenix). 

Max is obsessed with "Star Wars" and often plays out his tasks like something out of the movie. So, he naturally gravitates towards, and becomes pals with, an intelligent but faulty robot named Jinx. 

The robot was originally designed to perform work out in

space. Thanks to its consistent overheating, and the way it takes voice commands too literally, it's decommissioned and doomed to roam the halls of space camp. Naturally, Jinx and Max declare themselves to be best friends forever. 

The camp instructor is astronaut Andie Bergstrom (Kate Capshaw) who isn't very enthusiastic about being an instructor. She's frustrated that she hasn't yet been assigned to a space shuttle mission. Instead, she has to train a bunch of teenagers, and Max, how to fly around in space. 

She's married to an astronaut and the camp's director, Zach Bergstrom (Tom Skerritt), who has walked on the moon. 

Meanwhile, Kathryn has a dream to be the first female space shuttle commander. 

Kevin also has a dream which involves Kathryn. That dream only started at the beginning of the movie. So, he hits on her as soon as he arrives. 

Kathryn's dreams are put on hold for a bit when Andie makes Kevin the shuttle commander in their simulated space flights. Kevin lacks maturity and responsibility, so he gets to be commander. 

Rudy, by the way, hopes to open a fast-food restaurant out in space. And Tish has a photographic memory though she's a tried-and-true Valley girl.

The usual camp hijinks ensue, like Kevin and Kathryn sneaking out after curfew for some "star gazing."

However, Jinx the literal robot, gives them away to Andie as they're breaking curfew.

Kevin blames Max for ratting him out, though it was Jinx's fault. He snaps at Max, who takes it pretty hard. While alone pouting over Kevin being a jerk, Max wishes he could fly in space. 

Jinx overhears this and works his magic.

The campers are allowed to sit on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis with Andie during a standard engine test. Jinx goes into NASA's computer room and intentionally causes some sort of malfunction. 

This causes the shuttle engine to ignite while the teens (and Max) are on board. So as not to cause a major catastrophe, launch control is forced to ignite the other boosters and launch the shuttle into space. 

The shuttle isn't ready for space flight. It doesn't have the necessary radio power to operate in space. And the oxygen supply is limited. There's no way it'll last until re-entry. Regardless, up they go and use whatever knowledge they have to get back to earth.

When they're out in space, Andie maneuvers the shuttle towards the space station which has a supply of stored oxygen. 

Meanwhile, the kids in the shuttle try using telemetry to communicate with ground control. And Tish tries to send Morse code which ground control doesn't pick up. 

Andie exits the shuttle and tries to reach the cannisters of liquid oxygen attached to the space station. Unfortunately, she can't reach them. 

The crew need someone small enough to maneuver through the tight spaces of the station to reach the cannisters. So, they send Max. 

He almost winds up floating aimlessly in space away from the shuttle. 

After Andie saves him, Max panics at first as he tries to get the cannisters. Kevin uses the old Jedi mind trick to boost Max's confidence. This proves to be helpful, and Max obtains the oxygen. It also helps Max and Kevin bury the hatchet and be friends again.

Leaf Phoenix as Max in "SpaceCamp."

Jinx overhears this exchange between Kevin and Max, and gets really super robot-jealous. 

Distraught with a broken robot heart, he barricades himself in the computer lab and threatens to press his self-destruct button that was, for reasons perhaps explained in a deleted scene, built into his system. 

Jinx contacts the ground control crew through the computer system threatening to do himself in while expressing his undying love (or what his robot circuitry thinks is undying love) for Max. 

Jinx also tries to contact Max to tell him how much he loves him. Since communication is limited, his message can't reach Max who's floating around in space, tethered to the shuttle, trying to get some extra oxygen. 

So, Jinx pushes his self-destruct button. Fortunately, there's a malfunction...because it's NASA.

Jinx is arrested by the robot police and immediately sentenced for robot crimes against human emotion. Max hears about this while out in space and can't stand being apart from Jinx at a time he needs his buddy most. In a moment of absolute despair, Max untethers himself from the shuttle, and floats away into the abyss of space. He's surprisingly rescued by a race of aliens calling themselves Starthulians from a planet known as Drxxyisius VI. 

Their leader, Kleeborp, explains that on their planet, they have no concept of love. So, Max has to explain this and all the other outlandish, silly ways of earth. And hilarity ensues.  

Ok...I made all that up about Jinx, Max, and Kleeborp because the rest of the movie is ridiculously predictable. What really happens is that the kids are accidentally sent into space. There are problems. Death and doom are imminent. Ground control nearly locks out Max in space as they take over the shuttle by autopilot. Kevin ends up maturing real fast which lasts for about five minutes, and overrides the autopilot to save Max.

Tish's Morse code finally reaches ground control. Though the shuttle missed the window of opportunity to land at Edwards Air Force Base, Kathryn thinks they can make it by landing at White Sands in New Mexico. They're going to land there no matter what. And they do. 

"SpaceCamp" is a summer camp comedy mixed with the drama that could have easily popped out of the head of someone like John Hughes and be a space version of something like "The Breakfast Club" or some other 80s teen movie. It tries to be advanced, maybe sophisticated, as it's completely wrapped within a promotional plug for NASA. 

"SpaceCamp" wants to be taken seriously. It has a slight hint of sci-fi fantasy thanks to the inclusion of Jinx. It's also an adventure thriller, and a kid's movie, and a teen flick. 

There was a lot of potential for "SpaceCamp" but thanks to lousy dialogue and a boringly predictable premise, it takes a nosedive into the heap of seldom spoken of 80s movies. It's a story seen over and over again. 

Even with the music composed by the legend himself, John Williams, nothing really stands out in this movie except Lea Thompson from "Back to the Future" simply because she's Lea Thompson from "Back to the Future." And it's Joaquin Phoenix's second film. So, there's that.

I'm sure science and astronomy fans might find this movie interesting in some way or another. 

Tate Donovan, Lea Thompson, and Kelly Preston.

And maybe 80s nostalgia buffs fawn a little more over "SpaceCamp" than the rest of us as it has all the typical tropes of the decade. 

Lea Thompson is the cute intelligent overachiever who's there to actually be an astronaut someday. In other words, she takes her time at the camp seriously. 

Then there's the cool hot guy, Kevin, who doesn't take much seriously and has the hots for Lea Thompson.  

There's the Valley girl who's cute but not cute enough to take the lead. She's there to help make science look hip and fun, as though anybody can take on science. She spouts lines like, "Well I did this audit at GPL on Radio Astronomy; it was unbelievable! I mean can you imagine an extra-terrestrial disc jockey? I mean like listening to radio waves from space? I mean like waiting for signs of intelligence?"

Yeah! Like... total Valley girl!

Rudy is the token black guy. And Max is the dorky kid who just wants to be a part of the team while living in his own little Star Wars world. 

Finally, there's the adorable sidekick robot who becomes "friends" with that kid.

"Max and Jinx... Friends... For-e-ver."

Content-wise, there's really nothing wrong with "SpaceCamp." It has its appeal as a family movie. 

I feel like it wants to be a crazy hijinks-filled kids camp movie but also wants to tread on a more intelligent level because NASA is part of the equation. It's NASA trying to appeal to the "new generation" - totally rad and awesome science, man - while trying to be above that. 

With its timing amidst harsh opinions about NASA, there's no chance "SpaceCamp" could have been a success back in 1986. And whether it managed to gain a cult following or not since then, I honestly don't know. 

The movie just sort of exists out there as this thing that has since come and gone. 

It feels like you'd watch as part of an attraction at EPCOT Center rather than a feature film.  

At the bare minimum, it has an entertaining innocence about it as soon as the crew makes it out to space. And the actors do as good a job as they can with what they're working with. 

Otherwise, it's a dry "adventure" that doesn't offer much except a sales pitch for NASA's camp. Even that is done rather poorly and without much thought. The last thing NASA needed to attach its name to shortly after a horrific shuttle disaster is a movie about a shuttle disaster in which the lives of youth are threatened thanks to a faulty NASA robot. Well done, NASA. Wasn't there enough egg on your face already?