Innerspace (1987)

A hapless store clerk must foil criminals to save the life of the man who, miniaturized in a secret experiment, was accidentally injected into him.

Director:

Joe Dante

Writers:

Chip Proser (story), Jeffrey Boam (screenplay)

Stars:

Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dennis Quaid	...	Lt. Tuck Pendleton
Martin Short	...	Jack Putter
Meg Ryan	...	Lydia Maxwell
Kevin McCarthy	...	Victor Eugene Scrimshaw
Fiona Lewis	...	Dr. Margaret Canker
Vernon Wells	...	Mr. Igoe
Robert Picardo	...	The Cowboy
Wendy Schaal	...	Wendy
Harold Sylvester	...	Pete Blanchard
William Schallert	...	Dr. Greenbush
Henry Gibson	...	Mr. Wormwood
John Hora	...	Ozzie Wexler
Mark L. Taylor	...	Dr. Niles
Orson Bean	...	Lydia's Editor
Kevin Hooks	...	Duane

Storyline

Tuck Pendleton is a cocky pilot, who is taking part in a miniaturization experiment. When some bad guys break into the lab to steal the technology, one of the scientists takes a syringe which contains the miniaturized Tuck and vessel. Now in the vessel is part of the material needed to restore him. But the other part which is the lab is stolen. The scientist's shot but before dying he injects Tuck into Jack Putter, a hypochondriac, who feels that something is wrong with him all the time. When Tuck links himself to Jack's systems, he discovers that something happened. So they go back to the lab, and discover what happened. Now they are told that unless they retrieve the material that was stolen they won't be able to restore Tuck before his oxygen is depleted. Now the government rep decides that the only thing that matters that as long as they have the other half of the material, it is useless to the thieves. So Tuck eggs Jack to go out and find the thieves. They enlist the aid of ...

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Plot Keywords:

miniaturization | hypochondriac | trapped in a human body | heroine | male objectification | 

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Taglines:

An Adventure of Incredible Proportions

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Viaje insólito

Filming Locations:

377 Filbert St., San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$27,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,739,000, 5 July 1987, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$25,893,810

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.,The Guber-Peters Company,Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The lab workers seen during the scene where Dennis Quaid is about to be miniaturized were in fact real laboratory workers, as actors would not have been suitable to performing what real lab rats do.

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Goofs

The movie depicts miniaturization as, effectively, blowing up a full-sized submersible pod and then reassembling it at a smaller scale. There are several problems with this idea: 1) the pod would weigh just as much as before, and would therefore punch a hole right through the subject it is injected into because all that weight would be concentrated in a spot the size of a blood cell, 2) the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle basically states that an object taken apart at the subatomic level would be impossible to reassemble, 3) Tuck would have died from being "molecularly isolated and displaced", 4) fluids would be impossible for a submersible to maneuver through because, at that scale, ordinary water would be like a gel to a thruster (not to mention bodily fluids which are thicker), and 5) whiskey would be impossible to drink.

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Quotes

Lt. Tuck Pendleton: [instructing him to get his jacket/car keys out of his locker] See that door?
Jack Putter: Yeah.
Lt. Tuck Pendleton: Use it.
[Jack turns away from it]
Lt. Tuck Pendleton: Well what are you waiting for?
Jack Putter: Look, don't rush me, okay? Just... just be quiet for a second, let me think this through.
Lt. Tuck Pendleton: Jack, excuse me, but I want you to factor this into your thinking, alright? You heard the man! My air supply's running out! If you don't help me, you're going to wind up with this miniaturized submersible pod floating around your insides with this teeny tiny ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The Special Effects credit at the end of the movie states "Mr Short's Interiors by Industrial Light and Magic".

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Connections

Featured in The Accidental Tourist (1988)

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Soundtracks

IS IT REALLY LOVE?
Written, Produced and Performed by Narada Michael Walden
Courtesy of WARNER BROS. RECORDS

User Reviews

Fantastic Voyage Too

INNERSPACE (1987) *** Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy. Fast-paced and frenzily funny action/comedy/sci-fi film with Quaid as a washed up military pilot who volunteers to be miniaturized in a scientific experiment a la "Fantastic Voyage" inside a bunny but is mistakenly injected into hyper hypochondriacal Short (in arguably his finest comic role) who provides the physical comedy with Ryan as Quaid's long-suffering journalist girlfriend. Nice performances and some truly eye-popping Oscar-winning visuals. Directed by Joe Dante