Lieutenant John Barton is sent on a special mission to deliver a special vaccine to a distant mining colony. He is infuriated to find Lee, a stowaway aboard his spacecraft. Barton has only enough fuel to carry himself and his precious cargo, and Lee's added weight insures that they will crash if she stays on board. They have gone too far to turn back, and Barton's superiors make it clear: the mission takes precedence and Lee has to be dumped into space. But she won't go quietly.
Reviews
This movie truly dishonors the short story on which it is based. Some reviewers have tried to excuse this on the basis that any short story must be padded out by screenwriters. I don't buy it. If a short story is not suitable for a feature-length movie, then it isn't. Just deal with it and make a short, or use it as an episode in an anthology. (This same short story has received much better treatment as just such an episode.) All the love story and social justice elements in the movie do nothing but detract from the fundamental themes of the original story. In particular, the main female character has been transformed from a sympathetic young woman to some sort of manic-depressive "anti-heroine" with whom we are unlikely to empathize. This movie is just sad, and not in a good way.
From the patterns of other reviewers here, it seems that if one has read the short story upon which this film is based, one thinks the film bad.On the other hand, if you have never read the short story, you will probably enjoy this film.It is a sci-fi film, yes, but the real content of the film could have transpired in any setting.Gripping, and well-acted, intellectual and philosophical, with many great reflective questions about life and being. Not an action film. If that sounds like your cup of tea, enjoy. It's great.
I tuned in a little late into the movie, and became excited when I recognized one of my favorite SF stories from the 50's! Then I started watching....JJS said "I recommend against watching it, unless you are bored out of your mind and nothing else is on." I say if you are bored either 1) Read the original story by Tom Godwin 2) Watch the 1980's Twilight Zone version instead (followed by "Cold Reading" :-) ) 3) Dig up the 50's radio version from X Minus One in that order.All are light years better than this version. Two things made this movie less effective than any of the other version: 1) the attitude of the girl 2) the added bureaucratic BS just to stretch the story into a movie time-length Both these points simply watered down the central point of the story.For those that can't deal with print or audio, definitely watch the TZ version.
I must admit that it took me a while to warm to this film, but as the story unfolded, I found myself drawn more and more into the dilemmas it posed. My only real objection to the piece were those moments when the characters seemed to take a break from events to talk about themselves and where they had come from. At times the characters almost seemed to step out of the story, and talk about themselves as though nothing out of the ordinary were happening around them.The film seems on more sure footing when it's dealing with the primary elements of the story, less so when it attempts to branch out into character development, or "backstory".
