Nightflyers (1987)

Professor hires a spaceship to get to the source of weird signals from deep space. The trip is cut short however when the ship's computer gets jealous because the captain is in love with one of the female passengers and it gets homicidal.

Director:

Robert Collector (as T.C. Blake)

Writers:

George R.R. Martin (novel), Robert Jaffe (screenplay)

Stars:

Catherine Mary Stewart, Michael Praed, John Standing

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Catherine Mary Stewart	...	Miranda Dorlac
Michael Praed	...	Royd Eris
John Standing	...	Michael D'Brannin
Lisa Blount	...	Audrey
Glenn Withrow	...	Keelor
James Avery	...	Darryl
Helene Udy	...	Lilly (as Hélène Udy)
Annabel Brooks	...	Eliza
Michael Des Barres	...	Jon Winderman

Storyline

A scientific group set out on a journey into space to find a magical creature. What they find is a killer computer on the ship they chartered.

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Plot Keywords:

possessive mother | killer computer | insane computer | man versus machine | stabbed in the back | 

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Taglines:

Where they're headed isn't the mystery. What's taking them there is.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Catherine Mary Stewart played a character who was black in the source novella.

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Quotes

Audrey: D'Brannin, this is farcical! First, no research ship, and now a hologram instead of a crew? I don't operator like this!

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Connections

Featured in Trailer Trauma 3: 80s Horrorthon (2017)

User Reviews

Sad adaptation

OK, so this movie isn't all that fantastic. Having been a LONG time fan of George R. R. Martin, and having literally cried real tears at the ending of this short story, I was a little disappointed in the way this was converted from story to movie. The many changes made no sense to me at all, and as is usual in a situation like this, the movie ends up being nearly terrible. Still, it has many redeeming features, including the To Die For gorgeous Michael Praed, the always fun Catherine Mary Stuart (playing what was a black amazon woman in the book as a rather uninteresting white girl - can't blame HER for that). It's really not the casts fault that the script was mangled. Even the crazy Michael Des Barres is great, but I would have rather seen the oh-so-cool pocket void-head explosion brought on by the blood-pressure-increasing psychic drug scene, over the silly cuts-off-half-his-head-and-he-keeps-on-fighting nonsense this movie had.

The whole thing with Royd's "mother" was badly handled - in the book, she was sinister and creepy, terrifying and powerful, here she's kinda creepy and somehow pathetic, instead of tragic and still sympathetic as she is in the book.

The book is MUCH better - all of Martin's short stories are just awesome - and I have to admit, I envisioned Michael Praed when I read Royd Eris's adventure, and that probably helped bring on the tears when it reached the end. The movie's ending is, in the sense that it didn't make me cry, better, but the tragedy that was Royd Eris's life in the book is really the better quality ending.

Like Sandkings, the TV version takes out all the fun parts, dumbs down the smart parts, and assumes we can't deal with the complications and ideas as presented by Martin in the originals.

Shame on whoever made the changes, you could have kept the same cast, and not changed the story any, and it would have been a MUCH better movie. All in all, it's not a bad sci fi romp, but don't expect much. Read the book after you see it, and you'll be amazed.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 April 1988 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Nightflyers

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,149,470

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,149,470

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vista Organization

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1