The story of Flight of the Navigator is another sly piece of childhood wish fulfillment from the studio, this time with young David Freeman (Joey Cramer) vanishing for eight years only to show up completely unchanged - and with his brain filled with detailed information about astronomical navigation. As it turns out, he's telepathically connected to a spaceship that's using him for a crucial but benevolent mission that could have great ramifications for the galaxy. The film was the fifth theatrical feature directed by Randal Kleiser, a USC film school alumnus (and roommate of sometime collaborator George Lucas) who had scored one of the most successful debut films of all time with Grease (1978). His subsequent features like The Blue Lagoon (1980), Summer Lovers (1982) and Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) may not have screamed "Disney," but he turned out to be a comfortable fit with the studio and would return there to direct White Fang (1991) and Honey I Blew up the Kid (1992), as well as its memorable 3D theme park short, Honey I Blew Up the Audience (1994). Before his move to the big screen, Kleiser had already shown his affinity for directing young actors, albeit in a far more troubled context, in two of the most popular made-for-TV films of the 1970s, Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway (1976) and The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976).
Though not boasting major stars, Flight of the Navigator boasts an eclectic and unexpected cast including the voice of Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman, as Max. In fact, he and Kleiser would team up again for the director's next film, Big Top Pee-wee (1988). The British Columbia-born Cramer had only appeared in two films prior to this, Michael Crichton's Runaway (1984) and The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986). However, he had already tested the Disney waters with "I-Man," an episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color also starring Scott Bakula. In that one, Cramer is also given special powers by alien visitors (along with his dad). Cramer's film career dissipated right after this film, though he did take a handful of additional TV roles and reportedly can be spied as one of the party extras in Kleiser's It's My Party (1996), a groundbreaking AIDS drama based on events in the director's own experience with his ex-lover. Unfortunately, his return to Canada after retiring from acting would take a dramatic turn, with multiple arrests over the years including a much-publicized one for bank robbery in 2016.
By Nathaniel Thompson
