Earth Star Voyager

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Earth*Star Voyager

Earth Star Voyager USA custom DVD cover
Format Science fiction, Action, Adventure
Created by Ed Spielman
Directed by James Goldstone
Starring Duncan Regehr
Brian McNamara
Julia Montgomery
Jason Michas
Tom Bresnahan
Margaret Langrick
Sean O'Byrne
Peter Donat
Theme music composer Lalo Schifrin
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Language(s) English
No. of episodes 2 (aired)
Production
Producer(s) Howard P. Alston
Dennis E. Doty
Running time 96 min (without commercials) (per half)
Broadcast
Original run 15 January, 1988 – 24 January, 1988
External links
IMDb profile

Earth*Star Voyager is the name of a science fiction television movie shown on the Wonderful World of Disney in 1988. The show aired as a two-part pilot, but was never picked up for a series and has not been released on DVD, although a fan base for the pilot has grown over the years.

Contents

[edit] Cast and crew

Directed by

Writing credits

  • Ed Spielman

Cast (in credits order)

rest of cast listed alphabetically:

  • Dinah Gaston .... Lani Miyori
  • Bruce Harwood .... Dr. Leland Eugene
  • Henry Kingi .... Shell
  • Lynette Mettey .... Priscilla
  • Ric Reid .... Capt. Forbes
  • Frank C. Turner .... Willy
  • David Paul Hewitt White ... Guard

[edit] Plot

 The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article.
Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

In the year 2082, the Earth deep-space exploration Vanguard Explorer has suffered heavy damage, due to the efforts of Captain Jacob 'Jake' Brown trying to keep his ship out of the hands of mutineers led by his second-in-command, Vance Arthur. Feigning compliance, Jake attacks Vance and knocks him senseless - long enough for him to get to an escape pod and launch into space.

The German-language DVD introduces the plot: "It is year 2087. The Earth is dying. They must find a new planet."
The German-language DVD introduces the plot: "It is year 2087. The Earth is dying. They must find a new planet."

It is now six years later, in the year 2088. Command cadet Jonathan Hays, twenty-one, and his best friend Jessie 'Beanie' Bienstock, a 14-year-old computer specialist, are among the young military cadets chosen to serve as the crew of Earth*Star Voyager, the planet's newest interstellar vessel. Due to worsening ecological conditions on Earth, there is a plan in place to evacuate the planet and colonize another world. (This mission is noted on the cover of the German DVD: see image at right). Probes have been sent out six years ago via the Vanguard Explorer, and one has sent data back on Barnard's Star; she has a life-zone planet which has been named 'Demeter'. The mission of Earth*Star Voyager is to go to Demeter, perform a full planetary survey and return that information... because if conditions on Demeter prove accurate (the probe's data indicates that human life could survive on Demeter), then the human race will colonize the world. The plan to colonize Demeter has already begun; ships are already being built to transport the population (but will take forty years to complete construction of all the necessary vessels, and the trip to Demeter, with 'plasma-thrust' engines and the Balman Drive (named for Professor Balman, the creator) will take 26 years. That was the rationale of choosing the crew from the Academy - for their youth and intelligence - and Jonathan, as second-in-command, will assume command if Forbes is shown to be unable to continue his duties due to age. (It is also mentioned that a modified form of cryogenic suspension will be used by the crew during the voyage, effectively retarding the aging process.

Among the crew members are Lani Miyori (a communications specialist) and Luz Sansone, a fellow communications tech... who also takes an immediate liking to Beanie. Also aboard are Dr. Sally Arthur, a 24-year-old M.D., Huxley Welles, an 18-year-old navigator, and Dr. Leland Eugene, the ship's psychiatrist.

The crew arrives aboard the Earth*Star Voyager, and are met by Captain Forbes, the ship's resident physical fitness instructor (crewmembers are required to engage in a physical fitness program), and 'Priscilla', the sentient supercomputer that is the primary logic circuit for the vessel... and who has seemingly developed a crush upon Huxley. It is mentioned that this was a concern by the programmers; Priscilla is designed from the brain engrams of Priscilla Balman (the daughter of Professor Balman), and as such, she has all of memories, thoughts, feelings and desires of the real Priscilla Balman. This is slightly annoying to Huxley...

While checking the repairs on an airlock, Captain Forbes finds himself trapped inside with the system set to open the airlock to space; moments later, coming to check on the Captain, Jonathan finds him before the airlock opens - and before being sucked into space, tells Jonathan to keep going and to 'complete the mission'. Later, Lani is critically injured while in cryo-sleep; Jonathan finds that the physical instructor is responsible for the problems, who is accidentally killed trying to murder him.

Along the way to Demeter, they pick up the long lost astronaut Jacob 'Jake' Brown, as well as a 'Shell' - a cyborg warrior that damages the ship before self-destructing in order not to harm Dr. Arthur. The crew also explores a massive space station known as 'the World Fair', which is inhabited by warriors and researchers of the Outlaw Technology Zone, and discover how their spacecraft fits into a conspiracy concocted by the Outlaw Technology Zone and Admiral Beasley - the mastermind behind the entire plot (including the construction of Earth*Star Voyager, the selection of the crew, and the creation of the 'Shell'). However, the crew outwits Admiral Beasley and escapes (after a battle in which they use jury-rigged weapons, including a 'solar laser', and a railgun built by Jake and Beanie). Aboard the Admiral's damaged vessel, the Triton Corsair, Admiral Beasley promises that he will meet up with the crew of the Earth*Star Voyager again - someday...

Aboard the Earth*Star Voyager, Lani is found to be recovering from her injuries; Beanie and Luz (prodded by Priscilla) become a couple, it is strongly insinuated that Jake and Sally will become a couple, and Huxley is stunned to see that Priscilla (in human form) is a very beautiful woman. Beanie also reveals to Jonathan that he has decrypted the probe data - and the crew sees that Demeter is a planet with striking similarities to Earth. The last line of the miniseries goes to Jake, who says, "You know, Captain - I think we oughta go check that place out..."

[edit] Additional Information

Earth*Star Voyager fans seem to find available copies of the show either by torrent programs or private sellers. However, many agree they do not wish to have a pirated copy of the show.

While significant numbers of notes from fans since 2002 (and many more showing up as early as 1996) show up constantly asking why this show has not been released, Disney does not seem to offer any desire or effort to make this available as a release at any point in the future.

There have even been cases (while Disney denies such conversations) where Disney Movie Sales Associates have said the only place fans should even consider hope in obtaining the show, is on bootlegged media.

Of the bootleg versions available, the lesser quality media has seemed to disappear over the years, while they do occasionally pop up from time to time. Of the higher quality versions, there still seems to be two different versions available. While both contain the entire broadcast movie, one version boasts a complete movie -minus the commercials and introductions -starring the former Disney CEO, Michael Eisner. The version without the commercials seems to be one of the better quality versions, and those who find private sellers occasionally end up with the semi-rare custom DVD artwork.

[edit] External links