Really Good Movies! The one with William Shatner

 

Title: Airplane II: The Sequel

What Year?: 1982

Classification: Weird Sequel/ Mashup/ Parody

Rating: Underrated! (1/3)

 

As I write this, I’ve been trying to fill our or wrap up certain projects, and do some new things while I’m at it. In the latter category, I definitely have the present feature, which I kicked off a little earlier than I planned for Nosferatu. Since then, I have gone through a decent pile of further contenders to follow up with, and in the process delayed my final decision long enough to end up making substitutions. What I finally came to was one I had already considered quite early, which would really have fit in just fine with one of my other features. My decision to cover it here is ultimately a statement about just how highly I regard this movie, which in prevailing opinion has been overshadowed by its predecessor. I present Airplane 2, a sequel to perhaps the most famous and successful parody of all time, and as I will argue, if anything, it improves on the original.

Our story begins, after an inexplicable playing of the Battlestar Galactica theme (see… Space Mutiny?), with a quick reintroduction to our protagonists, and all is not well. Ted Striker has been declared insane, after working as a test pilot for the first commercial space shuttle, leaving Elaine with a new man aboard the shuttle’s maiden voyage to the Moon. But Striker insists that it’s all a coverup to hide that the shuttle is unsafe, and finally makes his break to warn Julie. Naturally, they end up aboard the shuttle together just as disaster strikes, leaving the shuttle under the control of a renegade computer on a course into the sun. Then the authorities realize that one of the passengers is suicidal over a male health issue, and has a bomb from the airport gift shop. It’s up to Striker to save the day again, with just a little help from a familiar face at the lunar colony!

Airplane II was a 1982 film from Paramount Pictures, released as a sequel to the 1980 disaster-movie parody Airplane! It was possibly the first direct sequel to a parody, and further noteworthy for introducing science-fictional elements to an originally mainstream/ “straight” franchise. The film was written and directed by Ken Finkelman in his feature debut, without the participation of the original film’s writers David and Jerry Zucker or director Jim Abrahams. Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty returned in their roles as Ted Striker and Elaine, with Peter Graves also returning as Captain Peter Oveur. Other old and new supporting cast included Lloyd Bridges, John Vernon (see Killer Klowns From Outer Space), Chuck Connors (see… Tourist Trap???), and William Shatner as Commander Murdock. The film was released in December 1982, with some advertising incorporating Christmas elements not featured in the movie itself. It was a possible commercial disappointment, earning $27 million against a $15M budget compared to the original’s $171M gross. Reviewers were also mixed, with Roger Ebert giving the film 2 out of 4 stars. Following the poor pox office of this film and the same year’s Grease 2, Finkleman shifted to writing for television. Both Airplane films remain available on disc and digital platforms.

For my experiences, Airplane stands out in hindsight as a film I grew up with without really experiencing it firsthand. I’m sure I saw it at least once on 1990s-vintage TV, probably in part, and a few years later, I saw the sequel in a similar fashion. Both left me amused, without really living up to the praise I had heard for the original before and since, and I don’t recall finding one really preferrable to the other. I finally watched the around 2016, on yet another of my epic rides to work, and got to the sequel quite recently, after seeing a few clips of Shatner’s superb performance (plenty more on that momentarily…). Finally, for the present review, I broke out a 2-pack of both movies that I had ordered as part of a lode of material I’m still working my way through. After watching both, I came through ready to proclaim that the sequel is, if not exactly the better film, at least equal, with plenty that makes it good and unique on its own terms.

Moving forward, if there’s a “con” to get out of the way, it’s that a lot of the humor has aged poorly, with a hefty “cringe” factor. In this respect, I find it not much better or worse than other parodies I have dealt with, like Galaxina and Caveman, not to mention the original, which was already ruder and cruder than people seem to remember. What’s harder to assess are a handful of gags that carry real political heft, particularly at the expense of the Catholic priest. In hindsight, these are things that should never have been considered “funny”, yet it’s impressive enough to see them talked about, especially in a work as unassuming as this. The upside is that the competent cast and well-paced story are as entertaining and flat-out funny as any of the jokes, already a common redeeming feature of vintage parodies. The further rapport among the cast and characters gives a surprising depth that orthodox wisdom would dictate to be beside the point, yet is exactly what countless “spoof” movies since have floundered for want of. It will suffice to say that this is the difference between Galaxy Quest and Meet The Spartans; one is as memorable as its source material, where the other is forgotten in 2 years, let alone 20.

Turning to the pros, I find a lot to talk about with the science fiction side of it, and again, the strongest vibe is gratuitous worldbuilding that “should” have been unneeded. At face value, this version of the solar system is as cardboard as Thrilling Wonder Stories, as the shuttle careens through regions that would take a dedicated space probe years to reach. At the same time, however, there are flashes of convincing authenticity. My favorite, in the running for the “one scene”, is when a stewardess is asked to clarify “a tad” off course, and matter-of-factly says, “In space terms, half a million miles.” The science fiction gets in top gear when Shatner arrives, hamming it up in a lunar colony where the staff openly remark that their own equipment doesn’t actually do anything. The extravagant detail shows all the more in the almost distractingly good special effects, like a shot of the shuttle flying through an asteroid. I finally looked this up, absolutely sure there had to be someone involved I would know by their name or their work. The top 2 I came up with were Bob Dawson, whose credits include The Day After and multiple Trek films, and the late Phil Kellison, an old crock who had actually worked with Willis O’Brien; and if you don’t know that name, what are you doing on my blog???

That leaves the “one scene”, and I had to go with Shatner. His surprisingly short screen time starts with him talking on a “view screen” with a subordinate about the approaching shuttle, and complains when said subordinate points out they have no control tower. After he emerges, he is further informed that Ted Striker is in the pilot’s chair. After repeating the name, he muses, “Never heard of them.” Then he says, with perfect deadpan timing, “Actually, that’s not exactly true; we were like brothers.” Of course, it turns out that he’s yet another survivor of the infamous Macho Grande incident we have heard about through both movies. That’s when he comes to a specific prop that fans have identified as appearing in Star Trek and many other films and shows, and we get the best gag in the movie. It’s a great moment from an actor who for all the ribbing has had a long and versatile career that isn’t over yet.

In closing, I feel like the one thing left to argue about is whether I should have covered this one before now. As I regularly explain, a lot of my decisions are effectively random, and this was one of the ones that just kept getting shuffled around. On top of that, I never really got a handle on where it would “go”. It could definitely have worked as an entry when I was doing Space 1979 (have I mentioned lately I have an ebook?), except even there, I never dealt with a sequel to a non-genre film, unless you count Jaws 3. Ultimately, it was the kind of movie I simply needed a little extra time to cover, which I think is a fair enough assessment of the film itself. On the surface, it’s a routine if not forgettable sequel, yet on closer examination, it’s deeper and better than you might remember or expect, which is exactly what I intend to cover with this feature. I for one am happy to give it my vote. “We’re familiar with it…”