Flight of the Navigator is a 1986 American science-fiction adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser and written by Mark H. Baker, Michael Burton, and Matt MacManus. It stars Joey Cramer as David Freeman, a 12-year-old boy, who is abducted by an alien spaceship and transported from 1978 to 1986. It features an early film appearance by Sarah Jessica Parker as Carolyn McAdams, a key character who befriends David in a time of need.
The film's producers initially sent the project to Walt Disney Pictures in 1984, but the studio was unable to approve it and it was sent to Producers Sales Organization, which made a deal with Disney to distribute it in the United States. It was partially shot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Norway, being a coproduction with Norwegian company Viking Film.
The film is notable for being one of the first Hollywood films to use extensive computer-generated imagery (CGI) effects. Specifically, it was the first use of image-based lighting, and an early use of morphing in a motion picture. It is also known to be one of the first Hollywood productions to feature an entirely electronic music film score, composed using a Synclavier, one of the first digital multitrack recorders and samplers.
The film has since become a cult classic and has a large cult following among science-fiction and Disney fans. In September 2017, Walt Disney Pictures announced that a reboot of it was in the works, but it was still in development in 2022.
Plot[]
On July 4, 1978, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 12-year-old David Freeman walks through the woods to pick up his 8-year-old brother, Jeff, from a friend's house, when he falls into a ravine and is knocked unconscious. When he comes to, eight years have passed, and it is now 1986. He has not aged, and his appearance exactly matches his missing child poster. He is reunited with his aged parents and the now 16-year-old Jeff.
Meanwhile, an alien spaceship crashes through power lines and is captured by NASA. Hospital tests on David's brainwaves reveal images of it. Dr. Louis Faraday, who has been studying it, persuades David to come to a NASA research facility for just 48 hours, promising him they can help learn what happened to him. Dr. Faraday discovers that his mind is full of alien technical manuals and star charts far exceeding NASA's research, and that he was taken to the planet Phaelon, 560 light years away, in just 2.2 hours (about 2,105,990.4 x c). Having travelled faster than light, he has experienced time dilation, explaining how eight years have passed on Earth, but not for him. Dr. Faraday decides to keep him there to finish his investigation, breaking his 48-hour promise.
Following a telepathic communication from the spaceship, David secretly boards it and meets its robotic commander, who introduces itself as a Trimaxion Drone Ship. David decides to call it "Max", while Max calls him the "Navigator". They escape from the facility and Max tells David that his mission is to travel the galaxy collecting biological specimens for analysis on Phaelon before returning them to their homes. Phaelon's scientists discovered that humans only use 10% of their brains, and as an experiment, filled the remainder of David's with miscellaneous information. Max returned him to Earth, but not to his own time, having determined a trip back in time would be dangerous for a human. When Max crashed the spaceship, the computer's data were erased. So, he needs the information in David's brain to return home.
While Max prepares for a mind transfer, David meets other alien specimens on board and bonds with a puckmaren, a tiny bat-like creature that is the last of his kind after a comet destroyed his planet. During the mind transfer, Max contracts human emotions and behaves eccentrically. David and his bickering trigger UFO reports in Tokyo and the United States. Meanwhile, NASA intern Carolyn McAdams, who befriended David, tells his family about his escape in the spaceship, so Dr. Faraday has them confined to their house, and Carolyn is sent back to the facility.
When the spaceship stops at a gas station, David calls Jeff, who sets off fireworks on the roof to locate their new house. David and Max arrive there, but NASA agents have tracked the spaceship. Fearing that he will be institutionalized and treated like a guinea pig for the rest of his life if he remains in 1986, David orders Max to return him to 1978, accepting the risk of vaporization. He awakes in the ravine, walks home, and finds everything as he left it. During the Fourth of July celebration, Jeff sees that the puckmaren has stowed away in David's backpack. David tells him to keep it a secret, while Max flies home across the fireworks-lit sky, calling, "See you later, navigator!"
Cast[]
- Joey Cramer as David Scott Freeman
- Paul Reubens as the voice of Max
- Veronica Cartwright as Helen Freeman
- Cliff DeYoung as Bill Freeman
- Sarah Jessica Parker as Carolyn McAdams
- Matt Adler as Jeff Freeman (16 years old)
- Albie Whitaker as Jeff Freeman (8 years old)
- Howard Hesseman as Dr. Louis Faraday
- Jonathan Sanger as Dr. Carr
- Iris Acker as Janet Howard
- Richard Liberty as Larry Howard
- Raymond Forchion as Detective Banks
- Keri Rogers as Jennifer Bradley