''Nightflyers'' is a 1987 American science fiction horror film based on ''

Nightflyers ''Nightflyers'' is a science fiction horror novella by American writer George R. R. Martin, released as a short novella in 1980 and as an expanded novella in 1981. A short story collection of the same name was released in 1985 that includes the ...

'', a 1980

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...

Plot

The film is about a group of scientists who begin a space voyage to find a mysterious alien being, and in the process are victimized by the ship's malevolent computer.

Cast

Catherine Mary Stewart Catherine Mary Stewart (; born 22 April 1959) is a Canadian actress. Her film roles include '' The Apple'', ''The Last Starfighter'' and ''Weekend at Bernie's''. She was also the original Kayla Brady in ''Days of our Lives''. Early life Stewar ...

as Miranda Dorlac *

Michael Praed Michael Praed ( ; born 1 April 1960), birth name Michael David Prince, is a British actor and narrator, probably best remembered for his role as Robin of Loxley in the British television series ''Robin of Sherwood'', which attained cult status ...

as Royd Eris *

John Standing Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934) is an English actor and baronet who is known as John Standing. He is the stepson of John Clements. Early life Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherin ...

as Michael D'Brannin *

Lisa Blount Lisa Suzanne Blount (July 1, 1957 – October 27, 2010) was an American film and television actress, and Academy Award-winning producer. Early life Blount was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to Margaret Louise Martin and Glen Roscoe Blount, ...

as Audrey *

Glenn Withrow Glenn Withrow (born November 24, 1953) is an American actor. Early life Withrow was born in Highland Heights, Kentucky. He has one older brother, Jeff, and one younger brother, Roger. Withrow attended Campbell County High School in Alexand ...

as Keelor *

James Avery James La Rue Avery (November 27, 1945 – December 31, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', Shredder in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Judge Michael Conover on '' L ...

as Darryl *

Annabel Brooks Annabel Brooks (born 1962) is a British actress who has appeared on television and in films since the 1980s. Biography Her first on-screen role came in 1987 when she appeared as Eliza in '' Nightflyers''. She has since appeared in productions i ...

as Eliza *

Michael Des Barres Michael Philip Des Barres (born 24 January 1948), the 26th Marquis Des Barres, is an English actor and rock singer. He appeared as Murdoc in the original '' MacGyver'', Nicholas Helman, Murdoc's mentor, on the new reboot of '' MacGyver'' (2016 ...

as Jon Winderman

Production

Development

The film is based on a novella that appears in George R. R. Martin's 1985

short story collection A short story collection is a book of short stories and/or novellas by a single author. A short story collection is distinguished from an anthology of fiction, which would contain work by several authors (e.g., ''Les Soirées de Médan''). The s ...

. Originally written in 1980, the 23,000-word novella was published by ''

Analog Science Fiction and Fact ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

''. In 1981, at the request of his editor at the time,

James Frenkel James Raymond Frenkel (born 1948) is an American editor and agent of science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction, and other books, formerly for Tom Doherty Associates (Tor Books and Forge Books). He has edited numerous pr ...

, Martin expanded the story into a 30,000-word piece, which was published by

Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

, together with

Vernor Vinge Vernor Steffen Vinge (; born October 2, 1944) is an American science fiction author and retired professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He is the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singu ...

's ''

True Names ''True Names'' is a 1981 science fiction novella by American writer Vernor Vinge, a seminal work of the cyberpunk genre. It is one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to cyb ...

'', as part of their Binary Star series. In the extended version, Martin supplied additional backstory on several characters, and named secondary characters which were not named in the original version. ''Nightflyers'' is set in the same fictional "Thousand Worlds" universe as several of Martin's other works, including '' Dying of the Light'', '' Sandkings'', ''

A Song for Lya ''A Song for Lya'' is the first collection of stories by science fiction and fantasy writer George R. R. Martin, published as a paperback original by Avon Books in 1976. It was reprinted by different publishers in 1978 and in 2001. The title is ...

'', "

The Way of Cross and Dragon "The Way of Cross and Dragon" is a science fiction short story by American writer George R. R. Martin. It involves a far-future priest of the One True Interstellar Catholic Church of Earth and the Thousand Worlds (with similarities to the Roman Cat ...

", "

With Morning Comes Mistfall "With Morning Comes Mistfall" is a science fiction story by American author George R. R. Martin, published by ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' magazine in May 1973. It was the first story by Martin to be nominated for the Hugo Award and Nebula ...

", and the stories collected in ''

Tuf Voyaging ''Tuf Voyaging'' is a 1986 science fiction fix-up novel by American writer George R. R. Martin, first published in hardcover by Baen Books. It is a darkly comic meditation on environmentalism and absolute power. This novel is a collection of re ...

''.

Adaptation

Screen and television rights were purchased by Vista in 1984, which produced a 1987 film adaptation with a screenplay co-written by Martin, with writer/producer

Robert Jaffe Robert Loren Jaffe (born May 23, 1946) is an American physicist and the Jane and Otto Morningstar Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was formerly director of the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. Biograp ...

. It was directed by Robert Collector, using the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"T. C. Blake" as he left before

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

was completed. According to Martin, writer/producer Robert Jaffe probably adapted his script from the shorter novella version, since all the secondary characters had different names than the ones he chose in the expanded version. The film grossed $1,149,470. Martin was unhappy about having to cut plot elements in order to accommodate the film's small budget. While not a hit at theatres, Martin believes that the film saved his career, and that everything he has written since exists in large part because of it.

Home media

The film was released on VHS,

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

, and

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

in 1988 by

International Video Entertainment Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...

References

External links

*
Martin on Nightflyers
{{George R. R. Martin 1987 films 1987 horror films American science fiction horror films 1980s science fiction horror films Films about artificial intelligence Films about astronauts Films about scientists Films directed by Robert Collector Films set on spacecraft 1980s English-language films 1980s American films