Solar Crisis (film)

Solar Crisis is a 1990 science fiction film from Japan America Picture Company. The screenplay was written by Joe Gannon and Tedi Sarafian (credited as Crispan Bolt, Tedi is the director's son), based on the novel Kuraishisu niju-goju nen by Takeshi Kawata, and directed by Richard C. Sarafian credited as Alan Smithee. The cast featured Tim Matheson as Steve Kelso, Charlton Heston as Adm. 'Skeet' Kelso, Peter Boyle as Arnold Teague, Annabel Schofield as Alex Noffe, Corin Nemec as Mike Kelso and Jack Palance as Travis. Executive producer Takeshi Kawata, Takehito Sadamura. Producer Richard Edlund. Cinematographer Russell Carpenter. Music composed by Maurice Jarre.

This film received a MPAA rating of PG-13, and was filmed in color with Dolby SR stereo sound. Estimated budget was about $55,000,000. It had a very limited theatrical release.

A huge solar flare is predicted to fry the Earth. Astronauts aboard the spaceship Helios must go to the Sun to drop a bomb equipped with an Artificial Intelligence (Freddy) and a Japanese pilot (as a back up if the Artificial Intelligence fail) at the right time so the flare will point somewhere else. Giant IXL Corp CEO Teague thinks the flare will not happen and wants the mission to fail so he can buy the planet cheaply while the scare lasts. Employee Haas prepares a surprise for the astronauts. While Steve Kelso commands the space ship where temperaturs rise, Steve's father Admiral 'Skeet' Kelso is searching the desert for Steve' son Mike who has gone AWOL to say goodbye to his dad but who inadvertently crossed the path of the guys from IXL after meeting desert-dweller Travis.

The novel Starfire by Paul Preuss, about a near-future spacecraft making a close encounter with the sun, appears to have a connection with this movie.

See also

• Sunshine, a film with a similar premise of dropping a bomb into the Sun to save the Earth.
• Solar Attack, a direct-to-video film by Lions Gate Entertainment with a somewhat similar plot

External links