''Solar Crisis'' is a 1990 Japanese-American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by Richard C. Sarafian (credited as

Alan Smithee Alan Smithee (also Allen Smithee) is an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project. Coined by the Directors Guild of America in 1968 and used until it was largely discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by ...

). The screenplay was written by Joe Gannon and

Tedi Sarafian Tedi Sarafian is an American screenwriter. He was a co-writer of ''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'' (2003). He is the son of Richard C. Sarafian, and the brother of Richard Sarafian Jr. and Deran Sarafian and the nephew of Robert Altman. He i ...

(credited as Crispan Bolt), based on Takeshi Kawata's 1990 novel ''Crisis 2050''; Kawata co-produced the film. The film was first released in Japan in 1990, and in the United States in 1992. The cast features

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated ''Jonny Quest (TV series), Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "O ...

as Steve Kelso,

Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Cinema of the United States, Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction f ...

as Admiral "Skeet" Kelso,

Peter Boyle Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. He is known for his character actor roles in film and television and received several awards including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. ...

as Arnold Teague, Annabel Schofield as Alex Noffe,

Corin Nemec Joseph Charles Nemec IV (born November 5, 1971), known professionally as Corin Nemec, is an American actor, producer, and screenwriter. He was billed as Corin "Corky" Nemec or Corky Nemec until 1990. Nemec is known for playing the title characte ...

as Mike Kelso, and

Jack Palance Walter Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk, , ''Volodymyr Ivanovych Palahniuk''; February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American screen and stage actor, known to film audiences for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominat ...

as Travis. The executive producers were Takeshi Kawata and Takehito Sadamura. FX cinematographer

Richard Edlund Richard Edlund, (born December 6, 1940) is an American visual effects artist and inventor. He was a founding member of Industrial Light & Magic, having already founded Pignose amplifiers, and later co-founded Boss Film Studios and DuMonde V ...

and veteran sound editor James Nelson served as producers.

Plot

To stop a

solar flare A solar flare is a relatively intense, localized emission of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun's atmosphere. Flares occur in active regions and are often, but not always, accompanied by coronal mass ejections, solar particle events, and ot ...

from destroying the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, Steve Kelso is tasked to drop an artificially intelligent bomb on the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

from the spaceship ''Helios''. Arnold Teague, who believes the danger to be overstated, attempts to

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

the mission so he can profit from the panic. Teague's agents on Earth clash with Kelso's father, Admiral "Skeet" Kelso, and his son, Mike.

Cast

Production

In November 1989, ''Solar Crisis'' began shooting, with an announced budget of US$30 million (equivalent to $ million in ).

Nippon Steel (previously known as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal until 2019) is Japan's largest steelmaker, headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company has four business segments, which are steelmaking, engineering, chemicals, and systems solu ...

, one of the investors, announced a Japanese theme park based on the film. Scientist Richard J. Terrile served as a technical advisor. He at first tried to convince the filmmakers to avoid sending a crew to the Sun, calling it unscientific. When it was explained to him that audience would demand such a plot point regardless of scientific accuracy, Terrile said he realized his job was to make impossible situations sound more plausible.

Release

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' quoted the final budget as US$43 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The film opened in Japan in 1990, where it underperformed. In response, the producers extensively recut and reshot scenes to secure an American

distributor A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design ...

. Sarafian had his name removed from the credits and replaced with the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

alias "

". Sarafian's son Tedi, who performed rewrites, was credited as " Crispan Bolt". Producers Edlund and Nelson also brought in Rene Balcer to do uncredited rewrites.

Reception

''TV Guide'' rated it 2/5 stars and wrote:

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{Richard C. Sarafian 1990 films 1990s science fiction thriller films American science fiction thriller films Japanese science fiction thriller films English-language Japanese films American space adventure films Films based on science fiction novels Apocalyptic films Films based on Japanese novels Sun in film Films about artificial intelligence Films about astronauts Trimark Pictures films Films scored by Maurice Jarre Films directed by Richard C. Sarafian 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1990s Japanese films English-language science fiction thriller films 1990 science fiction films