Dear Brad Copeland,

If you need a refresh: Flight of the Navigator Rave

Yes, Flight of the Navigator is undoubtedly 80’s. There are some surface elements that can afford to be upgraded, but there are also fundamental human elements that should be left alone. Here are some thoughts.

It is worth noting that the script is being written by Brad Copeland. He is most known for My Name is Earl as well as the movie Wild Hogs. I’ve seen only a couple of episodes of My Name is Earl, and from these select viewings I am filled with hope. However, Wild Hogs was a bummer – so, let’s just pretend that this hogwash of a movie doesn’t exist. Indeed. Let us cling tenaciously to the wit that abounds in the scripts of My Name is Earl and give hope that Copeland will be/currently is in this mindset when writing Flight of the Navigator. If nothing else, I’d like to hope that the charm, sincerity and all-out awesomeness of the original movie would be enough of an inspiration to come up with a stellar script.

It is my impression that the remake, if handled properly, could be, among other things, a crushingly amusing mirror of the fads, people, and events of today; a comedy of the present day, in a classical sense. Therefore, I deem it absolutely necessary that the remake keep the math that is utilized in the original: David loses eight years because of the effects of traveling near the speed of light. This is a significant amount of time in a young man’s life, as well as the course of events of this modern time in which we live.

Max, the droneship, may or may not need too much of a facelift. Its exterior’s sleek and aerodynamic design is pretty ubiquitous with what the general populous would imagine a small space craft would appear to be. As for the interior of the ship… Well, again, we’ll just have to trust the art director on this one. I honestly feel that nothing should change. It’s totally rad how all of the systems can be accessed, interfaced with, and emerge from within the seemingly empty silver interior. At the very least, give us the same slow panning shot of the initial glimpse of the interior that the original movie implements – gives me goosebumps every time I see it.

When performing the mind transfer to regain the lost star charts, Max also unwillingly collects David’s human memories. The Droneship’s vocal representation is then transformed from a stale, foreboding timbre to none other than Pee-Wee Herman’s characteristic lunacy. This can, without a single shred of doubt, be replaced in the remake. Napolean Dynamite, or something. Something. Anything. ANYTHING! But, remember, it’s gotta be topical to the first five years of the 21st century.

Dr. Faraday is the head NASA scientist who is most eager to learn from David and Max. In the original movie, this character is played Howard Hesseman – of TV’s “Head of The Class” program. I feel that it would be appropriate for Ed Harris to assume this roll in the remake; really, for no particular reason other than I kinda have a thing for Ed Harris. I dunno. Don’t judge me. Likewise, it would also create extra dimension of drama if Copeland created a 2nd in command to Faraday. This character should be played by Mike Rowe. And since the movie takes place in Florida, and it's hot in Florida, Mike Rowe should be without a shirt in every scene he's in. Don’t judge me.

And let us not forget the soundtrack. From what I’ve come to learn it is Alan Silvestri’s (Back to the Future, Predator – off the top of my head) first soundtrack created entirely in the digital realm. Such an approach was appropriate, and the proof is in the pudding. The soundtrack augments the atmosphere, drive, feeling of the movie. For the remake I foresee a match foretold in the stars: a collaboration between David Gilmour and Sounds From the Ground. The outcome of such a creative effort would yield nothing short of cosmic regality. A perfect sound for a worthy movie remake.

Aside from Silvestri’s music, there is a scene where David assumes manual control of the droneship. He instructs Max to scan the radio waves for some good tunes. After a few rejects they come to “I Get Around”, The Beach Boys’ epic tune that appropriately inspires David to activate the ships hyperockets and zip and zoom confidently through canyons and soar effortlessly through the endless sky. The moral during this brief scene is beyond words and tugs on my heart strings every time watch it. For the remake I would love to see this scene embellished and treated like a full-length music video. Throw in as much CGI as you people want; gimmie zoom shots; turn the inside of the droneship into a party. This is the apex of the story. Have fun with it.

But for all the giggles, laughs, and viewing comfort that could come from a cinematic facelift, I deem it absolutely crucial that the dramatic elements of FOTN remain untouched. David is 13 years old. He is the navigator. He knows where he wants to go, and it’s his choices, his decision-making, that may or may not get him there. Sometimes he makes wrong turns. Sometimes his emotions cloud his judgment. But the fact the he continues onward, unshaken, is a valuable life-lesson.

Flight of the Navigator is a wholesome tale of innocent wonder, coming of age, the desire to acquire knowledge, and familial love that crosses space and time. The ball is in your court Copeland, don’t screw it up.

Yes, Max, those are geeks.

Flight of the Navigator is an awesome movie.

It’s about a 12 year old boy, David, who is borrowed from his home time of 1978 for study by a being of superior intelligence. Part of the Trimaxium Droneship’s (Max) study is to fill David’s brain with star charts and observe what happens when the human mind is exerted to maximum processing power.

Afterwards, David is returned to the exact spot that he was abducted, but because of the complications of the special theory of relativity, he comes to learn that it is now eight years later – everything has changed, except David. Meanwhile, on its way out of earth’s atmosphere, Max is accidentally snagged in high voltage power lines, thus erasing its memory of the very same star charts that David currently and unknowingly has stored in his brain. Now they need each other: Max needs David’s star charts to return to its home planet, David needs Max to elude NASA scientists and government officials and return safely to his family.

Awesome. Good stuff, man. Good Stuff.

I enjoy this movie. Always have. In fact, I would be comfortable declaring that “I grew up with” Flight of the Navigator. I remember boogie boarding on Pacific Beach in ‘94, imagining that I was skimming along at incredible speeds like the navigator’s spaceship, all the while sounding out Silvestri’s theme music. I remember thinking I was all cute using the “Compliance!” response when Mrs. Eastman asked for my math homework.

This movie could have very well planted the seeds for my layman interest in the workings of the universe, as well as cultivated a deep, fantastic yearning to zip and zoom in a small, single passenger space pod while blasting and singing along to awesome music:

How envious I am to be in that very seat.

As time progresses it is easy identify how watching Flight of the Navigator as a youth has shaped who I’m becoming as an adult.

Good stuff, man. Good stuff.

Originally, this blog post was going to wrap itself up right about here. The initial intent was to simply rave about an awesome movie that continues to tug on my heart strings. However, during the course of composition I stumbled across a pertinent bit of information…

I went to Google to search for a relevant graphic to head this post and began to enter: “Flight of the Navi…” Google, doing what Google does, gave a drop down menu offering search suggestions based on what I had typed in thus far. Naturally, the first completed suggestion was what I had initially sought: “Flight of the Navigator.” The second suggestion read: “Flight of the Navigator remake.”

Flight of the Navigator REMAKE?!


A flurry of emotions came to me: Firstly, there was the obligatory knee-jerk reaction of “Hollywood is running out of ideas, so Disney is just gonna go and befoul a movie that I grew up with? Just leave it alone!”; Followed quickly by, “Well, given the cinematic advances of recent years perhaps a face-lift is actually a pretty cool idea!”; Followed quickly by disgust at myself, “How dare I think so shallowly about the ‘wow’ factor of CGI! The story runs deeper than that.” And so on.

Then I decided to actually go with the Google search and read and learn what is said about the remake. I know, right? Read and become informed before jumping to conclusions…

Now armed with what little information about the remake that is given, I’m going to expand on this Rave post about Flight of the Navigator, and discuss what would make its remake a legitimate effort. My goal is to be as level-headed as possible.

Part 2: A level-headed, sort-of-biased-but-not-biased examination of what would make Flight of the Navigator's remake legit COMING SOON