Can confirm what others have said...movie was filmed aboard the REAL USS Nimitz...including all the shots of planes launching and landing and flight deck operations. The Japanese planes were modified WW2 US trainer aircraft, and there is some stock footage mixed in, but the modern Navy aircraft are all real. The film of the Pearl Harbor attack starting at 33:18 is from the movie Tora, Tora, Tora (1970).
The CAG of the Nimitz later got into a lot of trouble, because he took an under the table payment from the film producers to let them film more time than the Navy had agreed to.
Whats strange is that it is that this movie is as far back in time as pearl harbor was to the date of this movie. The USS Nimitz was only 5 years after her commissioning and she is due to be decommissioned in two years after 50 years of service
Not many reactors watch this one, and I'm glad you did. It's such a classic. Yes, the special effects aren't fantastic, and the story needs a little work, but the concept is really thought provoking and I love it
I served in the Marine Corps from 1977 to 1983. My MOS was 7011, Expeditionary Airfield Equipment Technician. I installed and operated land-based, portable arresting gear to stop tailhook aircraft. I was stationed mostly at MCAS El Toro, Santa Ana, CA. I was also stationed at MCAS Futemna, Okinawa, Japan. I worked mostly with the F-4 Phantom, A-4 Skyhawk, A-6 Intruder, E-2 Hawkeye and later, the F/A-18 Hornet. It was an interesting job and my experience landed a career in civilian life as a 9-1-1 Dispatcher. Semper Fi!
I was a crewmember in CIC/NTDS during this filming. Real jets, real crew, real pilots. A recruiting film for sure as the star of the movie is "USS Nimitz" B.O.H.I.C.A. ( for those that know fill in the remainder : )
YES! An all time classic no one reacts to. Thank you so much. Fun fact! The navy pilots who were doing the flight scenes of the F-14s with the Zero got over eager and flew much more than they should have. Cost (taxpayers) millions. Everyone got in trouble.
Fun Fact #2! This movie casts a lot of Douglas family members, in front of and behind the camera, to the point where Hollywood insiders called it "Nepotism The Movie"
Fun Fact #3! This is a classic predestination paradox where something had to happen because it had always happened, in this case it explains the explosive technological progress of the US during and after WWII. It's a lot easier to present this kind of time travel since you don't have to worry about changes such as Twin Pines Mall becoming Lone Pine Mall.
I love how you describe this film. Great concept but it’s not fully realized. A common complaint about this film is that it doesn’t go all the way. I would LOVE to see this remade as a miniseries. Add those extra battles and dramatic moments. Find a way to change history…show the modern US navy against the WWII Japanese fleet. Could be amazing. With today’s concepts of multiverse we could definitely have a movie that delivers the “more” that this movie lacks.
Excellent Summary. 2 Issues: We all tske for granted how much Cinema Tech/VFX have advanced in the last 45😂 years. Also in 1980 (35 years after Hiroshima), it was a lot more sensitive to show the 'real' Nimitz destroying most of the Japanese fleet and then needing to attack Japan? I think we were ecen in danger back then of being asked to leave our Okinawa Bases? Just my thoughts.
There is acutally a precident for this; the guy wrote a book about it. A guy flying from Bermuda to Florida got caught in a tunnel of clouds. I forget the exact details but he basically arrived an hour or so early and only used 1/3 his fuel.
It's been done as "The Time Tunnel" where 2 scientist bounced uncontrollably between historic events, As "Quantum Leap" where a small group bounces between alternative lives in alternative worlds, As "A Sound of Thunder" where stepping on a butterfly during the time of the dinosaurs changes all evolution on Earth and is seconds away from entirely eliminating humans. It's like the paradox in "Terminator" where someone from the future has to sire a child born before he was. If Owens hadn't gone into the past, The Nimitz would have been different ---- As would all of the other changes he must have made. The ultimate paradox would have occurred if they had stopped the Japanese. That would have changed the entire population of the world ------ Each person is the result of a single sperm, joining a single egg at an exact moment in time. Change ANYTHING that changes the mood, location, food or anything that brought them together at that exact moment, under those exact conditions and you get a different person or no person at all. The Butterfly Effect on conception is massive and the result of a nearly infinite number of things that nudge each person into slightly different activities and choices.
Good reaction. The movie novelization was written by Martin Caidin, a well-known author of his time for whom aviation and aerospace was kind of a specialty. He also created 'The Six Million Dollar Man'. The book is VERY good, if you can find it, and adds a great deal of extra detail. It is generally held that landing on a carrier is the most stressful, physically and mentally, AND arguably the most dangerous thing that ANY pilot may face on a regular basis.
When this film was made, even in training ALL naval vessels were fully armed, to include nuclear weaponry. As far as the crew goes, 48 of them were credited as actors, and this was the first attempt to film modern jets. They had some failures, when they first tried to film the F14 taking off, the jetwash actually blew the camera and operator down the runway. During the filming that was a real-life emergency recovery with the overrun gear net system due to hook failure.
In 1980 The Military was still dealing with the negative remnants of the Vietnam War. The DOD saw this movie as a great opportunity to turn this around, this was the reason for the unrepresented access to all areas of the Nimitz. Unfortunately, the shooting scene, which was done on a sound stage without the DOD’s prior approval caused the DOD to curtail access during the filming of Top Gun. It’s my understanding that some of the film from The Final Countdown was used during the filming of Top Gun. When the F-14s flew past the Zero's one of the planes did momentarily lose control.
FWIW, there is a channel called Grim Reapers which uses a combat flight sim for fun and to run tests. They have a series of videos in which selected modern forces try to take down that specific Japanese fleet. The modern carrier was just overkill.
The US Navy were very involved in this movie. After this, they saw a notable increase in applications to join. This is what encouraged the Navy to REALLY get involved with Top Gun (a movie that inspired a lot of people to become Navy pilots). Also, the scene where one of the Tomcats suddenly dips was not actually planned. The stall speed of the F14s was very close to the cruising speed of the movie "zeros" - the pilot did briefly lose control of the plane, but managed to save it.
LOVED this movie and the concept. The film of the Tomcats flying was truly amazing. They used B-25 bombers as camera planes. At one point the camera guy actually touched the nose of one Tomcat with his foot, they were flying so close. The shot of the Tomcat pulling up close to the water was WAYYYY too low. Some admiral pulled aside the pilots and said "holy shit. How low was that?" The female lead, the secretary.. was not very nice to the other cast members or pilots, very aloof. There is a great making of documentary about this movie on youtube. Kirk Douglas gave a lot of direction advice to make the movie better. If it was possible, they filmed and showed the ship instead of just sitting in rooms.
Copied this from another video The pilot who basically did a hammerhead and pulled out real close to the water was then U.S. Navy Commander Richard "Fox" Farrell (VF-84 XO). He did kick up quite a bit of seawater and was really pushing the envelope with the Tomcat. WWII ace-in-a-day Archie Donahue was one of the Zero pilots. The Zeroes (converted AT-6 Texans) were flying with the throttle to the stops and the Tomcats were flying at stall speed (note wings fully extended in most scenes). That was so they could get both aircraft in the same shot at the same time. There is a two hour interview with the wingman, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Alan “Shoes” Mullen, discussing behind the scenes filming, "THE FINAL COUNTDOWN Movie - Shoes Interview | Mover Clips".
This movie has a link to Babylon 5, actually two. Martin Sheen appeared in the B5 movie River of Souls. The Japanese pilot taken onboard the Nimitz was Soon Tek Oh, the Korean actor who also played in your favorite B5 episode, TKO. He was the alien Muta Do.
As I recall this was the first Hollywood/defense department collaboration. And the Navy rolled out the red carpet. If you are really interested in the concept, this scenario has also been recreated by a Flight Simulator group called Grim Reapers. th-cam.com/video/yS6zYmUz2IA/w-d-xo.html
The Axis of Time Trilogy of books by John Birmingham has a similar premise though there it is a one-way trip. An international naval taskforce from 2021 is transported to the Battle of Midway and changes history. Books 2 and 3 then deal with the aftershocks and how the world of the 1940s tries to deal with a superior military force who does not really like how the governments of the time run things (eg the US Marine complement is run by a African American tough-as-nails general who does not appreciates being called 'boy' by the local racists)
I saw this film while stationed at Charleston AFB. Charleston also has a large Navy base. The scene of the Tomcats splashing the Zeros had the crowd roaring. I was fortunate enough to meet Martin Sheen only a few years later in West Berlin at Tempelhof Central Airport while he and Sean Penn were filming "Judgment in Berlin" on location.
FYI, I randomly got a chance to board and visit the Nimitz in 2006 in San Francisco. Fast-forward to Summer 2024. I was driving through Bremerton and saw it docked. Apparently being decommisioned. Closed the loop for me
I live in Virginia Beach, about 15 miles from naval station Norfolk, the home port of the Nimitz, and have several friends who were on-board during the filming. Actually, this film had a rather modest budget, relying quite a bit on what was provided by the U.S. Navy. Extended battle scenes would have been pretty much impossible, re-takes of some of the flying sequences proved very expensive. By the way, at about 15:49 when one of the Tomcats pulled out of a power dive you can see the jet exhaust hitting the surface of the water. The pilot, one of the squadron commanders, said in an interview, "We didn't mean to get NEARLY that low. It was close."
There is nowhere else the film could have gone without it being a much bigger movie. If they had attacked then the US would probably not have entered WW2 so would the Nimitz even have been built? But they did produce a film that involved time travel that also fitted with the history as we know it (mostly). There were a number of stupid points, the senator starting a fight in the helicopter, and the Japanese prisoner not being in cuffs and attached to the table. But generally a fun movie.
I’m inclined to agree with Cdr. Owen’s comment that things only happen once, and that historically (in this movie) there WAS a modern CVN in the waters off Hawaii for a few hours before the attack, but it was never detected by anyone who survived and did not interfere with the Japanese attack so events occurred the way they did. They were just playing their predestined parts.
I am reminded of the old Twilight Zone episode "The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms"- A modern day National Guard 3 man tank crew on a training exercise is transported back to 1876 and the Battle of Little Big Horn- Custer's last stand. Ultimately they can't bring the tank to the battle because it breaks down, but the 3 NG members see the battle taking place and go to help fight never to be seen again. Later when their commanding officer goes looking for them, the search party comes across the Custer Battlefield National Monument with the names of the soldiers carved into the Memorial stone... There they see the names of the tank crew added to the fallen soldiers. It's too much of a coincidence so all the Commander says is "Too bad" (they couldn't bring the tank with them). So in this case the modern crew DID fight in the battle, but couldn't make a difference because all they had was 20th century rifles. If The Final Countdown went down that road- it would have gone into total MCU territory with too much to explain. Part of me would have loved to see that battle, but I totally understand why they didn't. Kind of the greatest C-block in movie history.
I love this movie, but I can never remember the name of it. To me it is always that movie where Kirk Douglas commanded the Nimitz. I'm also very disappointed at the end when he says not all of us made it back and sheen immediately thinks of the man left behind and neither one of them mentions the seven US soldiers who were killed
30:10 Mark! Hehe! Because of his personality, it makes sense to me! 😅 What people have asked is about a flare pistol being able to do that! Like, "Why would anyone ride inside such a vulnerable helicopter?!" 😂😅
my favorite line in the novel was the reaction by a 1940's guy was what he said about the jet planes, was how "the [jet] planes were impossible. that the [jet] planes were able to fly straight up faster than their planes flying straight down".
*RIGHT ON!* This is one of my favourite sci-fi films since I first saw it as a teenager in the early 1980s and such a hidden gem! I've only seen ONE other full reaction to this film on YT, so this is a special treat! Gave a thumbs up even before starting!
just my favorite movie of that year. Immediatly build a F14 and a Nimitz Revell model back then. As far as i remembered the US Navy dont get money. Was the best Navy commercial
0:33 Mark! Ray! Thank you very much for this reaction video! It has been a long time coming! 🎉 I saw your preview prologue! As I warned before, this movie is based on a novel by Martin Caiden! It is Science-Fiction, not Fantasy! It is meant to make you feel like it may have secretly happened! We know that the air raid attacks against Pearl Harbor still happen! Had they been prevented, it would be in the Fantasy Genre. MC also wrote the novel "Cyborg" that I was able to find and buy as a used book. The series "The Six Million Dollar Man" is based on it. "DC" used to acknowledge that the name of their character "Cyborg" is taken from the book, et cetera. Similar to how the makers of the original "Karate Kid" movie acknowledge "DC" for giving them permission to use that moniker! 😊
You definitely should watch this insight video about this movie "The Final Countdown". Ward Carroll offers some really great insights, behind scenes stuff and general commentary about the movie and the US Navy involvement (as you pointed out, they were showing off their toys hehe). Really great insights, and I enjoyed his video a lot --> th-cam.com/video/nzMiKjzFbOg/w-d-xo.html
If you want to watch a Nimitz aircraft carrier take on the Imperial fleet a couple of TH-cam channels have used sophisticated simulators to reproduce that. Even if the carrier doesn't use its nukes it doesn't end well for the Imperial navy. They also did videos for a modernized Iowa class battleship in WWII. TLDW the biggest problem long term is maintenance as modern naval vessels have very sophisticated maintenance needs and after a year would start to lose functionality without the ability to obtain replacement parts. A modern ship's technical library would provide the biggest impact long term.
DISAPPOINTMENT. At no point were the Japanese turned back by a Swedish 80's rock-band directing power-ballards of immense magnitude at the attacking waves of Zero fighters. I want my money back, Hollywood.
37:34 Mark! That's the battle that would have made this a "Revenge Fantasy" movie rather than Science-Fiction. That, or as I've discovered since the movie was new, "Alternative History Fiction"! 🤔 Like all of those novels about the CSA and Axis winning! But hey, in a multiverse, every possible thing has happened! 😮
Ray...the biggest reason they could not show more action is almost surely the budget. They simply did not have enough money to create a whole huge battle scene...not to mention that they did not really have the technology to make it look much good, no CGI and all. If the movie were made today with some budget for CGI effects, maybe it could happen...but back in 1981 with less than $13 million budget their only choice was to have the storm come back and stop them from attacking the Kido Butai in 1941, they had to wrap things up quick to keep to their limits.
2 possible TV shows for you to react: The Man in the High Castle - alternate history piece with defeated US divided between 3rd Reich and Imperial Japan. Space: Above and Beyond, space marines/pilots fighting aliens.
Most people are at least initially disappointed that the battle never happened, but they could not actually fight the Japanese because that obviously would have changed the course of history, creating the exact time travel paradox they discussed; though there was already the paradox of having the young and older CDR Owens (as Mr. Tildman) existing at the same time at the beginning of the movie. Presumably CDR Owens used his knowledge of modern nuclear aircraft carriers to develop the modern, nuclear powered fleet (as Mr. Tildman).
In the 'Real Navy', 1) That Japanese Pilot would have been locked in the Brigg, 2) The Captain would have reached out to Pearl Harbor and ultimately the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.
9:28 Mark! They were prepared to land with an invasion force when the air raids were finished. But to their surprise, the admiral in charge canceled the invasion plans when he felt that the bombs and torpedoes sufficed. In the Hugh Jackman & Nicole Kidman movie about Australia's version of Pearl Harbor, Imperial Japanese Marines did make landfall! 😮 They let us call it "landing" despite the lack of land. But in their lexicon, they call it "trapping" if I recall correctly. 🤔
Agreed! Fun but left wanting too much more. The movie should be remade as a modern miniseries where the trip is one way. Episode 1 the trip back and fish out of water, Episode 2 Thwarting Pearl Harbor, Episode 3 planet-wide culture shock, Episode 4 how to end WWII in six easy steps, and Episode 5 epilog for the crew trying to create new lives in this new/old timeline. With modern special effects it could be done much cheaper than the original.
What makes you think is that this movie is further in the past from today than Pearl Harbor was from when the movie was filmed. WW2 aircraft would have been hopelessly overwhelmed by a late 1970s jet ... but those Tomcats could still be threatening today. If the Tomcat 21 upgrades had been purchased, they might still be one of the world's top fighters. Aircraft just reached a point where major increases in performance were very hard to achieve.
A couple of things: Any aircraft landing (especially a het) on a carrier is a controlled crash. Watching the videos on TH-cam the navy wanted to show off it's new toy - the Nimitz - and gave the film crew unprecedented to the Nimitz for filming on the Nimitz.
You have to remember the effects that the attack created. The attack on Pearl Harbor greatly angered every American just like 911. Without that anger the 4-year long war may not have happened as casualties grew and Americans grew tired of the war. Without the anger to fuel the desire to win the war we may have settled for some type of peace negotiation with the Imperial Japanese. So it's a good thing something happening like this is impossible.
Another way to date the footage of the planes is their paint scheme. Later on, the colors took on a more pastel effect with false canopies on the bottom of the fuselage.
If you like the concept & setting, then you should check the anime: "Zipang". That anime covers similar themes of modern warships traveling back in time, crew members wanting to stick to original timeline, historical characters attempting to use future knowledge in real time. Major difference is that TFC takes place before the raid on Pearl Harbor, while Zipang takes place before the battle of Midway.
It was actually explained why they couldn’t have battles in the Japanese fleet. If they had destroy the Japanese fleet, all the events following would not have happened. That would include the USS Nimitz going back in time to fight the Japanese fleet.
I have always have a soft spot in my heart for this movie, but it is a huge tease... I agree, there is a lot of untapped potential here for other movies/series in a Sliders-esque style.
Same topic : read the books of John Birmingham, the axis of time book serie, ''weapons of choice'', ''designated target'', and ''Final impact'' written in 2004, 2005, 2007. This time a fleet of warships from 2021, highly advanced, have time travel in 1942, and really are involved in WW2, changing the history of the world !!!! GREAT READ ! the author told a similar story from this movie, but really finished this story as the movie could have done.
I saw this when I was little. Still love it! edit: On your comment about no action and no combat... That was the point. That is why the head staff retreated to a remote room and unprofessionally argue with one another on wether or not to be involved. In order to return back to the "original" world, they needed to keep a low profile and minimal interference (imagine like Star Trek prime directive) or else face the fact that Roosevelt now has a NUCLEAR CV with nuclear warheads with 40 YEARS of prior knowledge cheat codes... (because every aircraft carrier (CV) has nukes on board).
This movie presents a very interesting prospect, how would the future change if the US got its hands on a nuclear powered, and most likely nuclear armed, carrier and all of it's air wing. Just how different WWII and the early cold war would play out. It is an interesting thought experiment.
One of the very few movies where Kirk Douglas does not do what Sean Bean notoriously is most famous for in a movie, his character dying. Before there was Sean Bean, Kirk Douglas was number one. Kirk Douglas did play next to John Wayne in the movie In Harm's Way (1965) which the attack on Pearl Harbor is in the beginning. The movie includes a big cast, music by Jerry Goldsmith and great model work.
37:33, these What If scenarios are a logical headsmashers. The bootstrap paradox here and in the first "Terminator" are more bearable for me than the T2 with Kyle Reese's return to the past cancelled.
Great movie, I'm glad you had the chance to see it. Yes, I agree it leaves a person wanting to see them go up against the Japanese fleet from 1941, but I still liked the whole story.
Always loved this movie. It's a fantastic event told straight. If they had fought and then been portaled home again they would be in a future they don't belong and no one knows them. The soldiers would have "lost" their parents. Even if they were alive they would not know their children. Not fighting was the only way for them to go home.
Saw this back in the VHS days and just wrote it off as a Navy Recruitment movie. I'm not a big fan of time travel movies. Needless to say i didn't keep a copy in my collection. it's worth a watch but that's about it.
If you like reading, get The Axis of Time trilogy by John Birmingham. Same concept with plausible cause. But it's 2021 and Ford Class carrier and accompanying escorts go back to 1942 and the Battle of Midway. And they're stuck...no going home. The changes in history are immediate and range from profound (battles fought but spare parts running out) to the hilarious (US Marines "interrogating" Japanese prisoners with '70s disco music.
Only seen it on TV. But the problem with time travel to past events is that you can not interfere or make changes or you alter your own timeline. Any one who did die in the war has to die or ripples in time will have major effects. It's the reason you can not nip back end Hitler as his decisions during the Normandy landing help the landing .if he wasn't in command than competent generals would have been running the military and the whole outcome of the war could have been very different. Even the downing of the Zeros might have made changes 🤔
I’m 50 tomorrow & have watched this film a cpl of times, the first tike in the 80s. This is one film that if they did a remake i wouldn’t mind. Abit more budget, better fx & like you say maybe a battle in there & you’d have a really good movie.
One thing they could have done, was to let them blow away the Japanese Air Forces and Naval Fleet prior to storm Storm arriving again. Then, the storm comes back and brings them back to the original spot in the past, but them comes back again before they fight the Japanese. That would be consistent with String Theory, and allow the future to stay on the original Time Thread. Giving us a taste of what could have been, without turning the World upside down. Also, that would have been more believable if Lasky was an expert on Physics and delving into String Theory.
Cool note is that the emergency landing was real. While they were filiming the landing and takeoff footage. A plane could not get its tailhook down. So they used the barricade but the pilot was uninjured.
As far as the bit with the senator in the helicopter. Never underestimate the arrogance and stupidity of a government official. It`s a bad combination, and it`s all too common in government.
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some navy brass were in big trouble for "billings" to the production company during the filming, ward carroll did a story about it recently.
Your idea about the aircraft carrier travelling to different time periods is indeed interesting, but could work very well in a science fiction tv series, where humanity gets involved in an interstellar war with an alien antagonist, but where both parties have to travel through space via a propulsion method that has relativistic consequences for the crew on both sides. Depending on the details of the trip (like distance, and speed), both sides could end up fighting each other's forces at different moments on the timeline. In one battle, the humans have the more advanced ships and forces, and there for the overall advantage, while in another battle, the enemy forces could be further along in development, and have the advantage in a fight. In a nutshell, this story would basically be The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, which they have been trying to adapt for some time now. There is also a pretty good comic book series available about this story. On a sidenote, i would suggest another 80's sci-fi movie to watch, namely "Enemy Mine" (1985), starring Dennis Quaid, and Louis Gossett Jr..This movie starts off one way, but by about the midpoint, the story completely shifts into a different (not to mention, interesting) direction.
The senator on the yacht was real. The Navy helped out so much because they wanted to show off the new USS Nimitz. I believe if the fight had happened they would have did it wrong. I think they would have made a big air fight. In reality the F14 and A7 from the air wing would have ran out of air to air weapons. We would have most likely loaded everything down with harpoon anti ship missiles, then proceeded to bypass the Japanese fighters and sunk the 6 carriers and the 2 battleships present. The Pearl Harbor attack would have been initiated, but the planes wouldn’t have anywhere to land. This way, war is still declared, wartime production is still initiated, and it ultimately makes the US a true superpower, and still pulls us out of the depression.
They used the simulator concept in the early 1960s tv series called the Time tunnel. Good show.but only lasted one season. Another movie you may like to see from the 80s is called the Philadelphia experiment.✌️
The Final Countdown was a power ballad from the band Europe back in 1986. The film the Final Countdown in 1981. So nope...no correlation. 😂 If time travel is involved...yep...sci-fi
This was a pre detination time paradox. owens who was mr. tideman made the ship that he traveled back in time in, thus he could become mr. tideman and uphold the timeline.
I saw this movie in the theaters. I was very disappointed that they did not go for it and have the Nimitz take out the Japanese fleet. Yes, I know it did not happen that way, but this is a movie. It doesn’t have to be real.
The reason why they steered clear of idea with the 1980's carrier not engaging the Japanese fleet and letting historical events unfold the way they did originally was it would change all subsequent historical events from Pearl Harbor onward destroying the original timeline and creating an alternate timeline. You could say "Well it would have saved American lives." True but what if one of them was the next possible American dictator to rise to power? As is the naval officer left behind changed his own life and became rich since he knew the history for the next 40 years. If they had defeated the Japanese fleet and returned they'd be as out of place in the alternate 1980s new history as they were in the past.
TH-camrs who letsplay the most accurate flight sims have discovered that modern jets can't out turn a japanese zero. They instead should fly out far, turn around and mach zoom the propeller planes in repeat passes.
I also always thought that the movie chickened out on its own premise, but the inner Vulcan keeps telling me that there is no logical resolution for the resulting paradox. Everything is going to happen exactly as it already had happened. No more and no less. It's the only safe conclusion except of vourse declaring the whole scenario as impossible.
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My ship was one of the Nimitz-class carriers,..so this film always brings back happy memories for me.
An underrated classic ...
Such a great flick!
Can confirm what others have said...movie was filmed aboard the REAL USS Nimitz...including all the shots of planes launching and landing and flight deck operations. The Japanese planes were modified WW2 US trainer aircraft, and there is some stock footage mixed in, but the modern Navy aircraft are all real. The film of the Pearl Harbor attack starting at 33:18 is from the movie Tora, Tora, Tora (1970).
The CAG of the Nimitz later got into a lot of trouble, because he took an under the table payment from the film producers to let them film more time than the Navy had agreed to.
Whats strange is that it is that this movie is as far back in time as pearl harbor was to the date of this movie. The USS Nimitz was only 5 years after her commissioning and she is due to be decommissioned in two years after 50 years of service
Just to make myself feel really old, we're actually further away from this movie's release (43 years), than it was from Pearl (40 years)
I could have lived happily without knowing that info. 🤯🤪😳
Yikes
Agreed, thank for confirming I’m an old fart😂
@ yeah, like any of us wanted that confirmed! 😂
Not many reactors watch this one, and I'm glad you did. It's such a classic. Yes, the special effects aren't fantastic, and the story needs a little work, but the concept is really thought provoking and I love it
I served in the Marine Corps from 1977 to 1983. My MOS was 7011, Expeditionary Airfield Equipment Technician. I installed and operated land-based, portable arresting gear to stop tailhook aircraft. I was stationed mostly at MCAS El Toro, Santa Ana, CA. I was also stationed at MCAS Futemna, Okinawa, Japan. I worked mostly with the F-4 Phantom, A-4 Skyhawk, A-6 Intruder, E-2 Hawkeye and later, the F/A-18 Hornet. It was an interesting job and my experience landed a career in civilian life as a 9-1-1 Dispatcher. Semper Fi!
Thanks for your service brother and thanks for spending some time with our channel 😀
A6 Intruder! My 1st version of Harpoon Naval Simulation game still had those. Very versatile
Semper Fi, Mac.
I was a crewmember in CIC/NTDS during this filming. Real jets, real crew, real pilots.
A recruiting film for sure as the star of the movie is "USS Nimitz"
B.O.H.I.C.A. ( for those that know fill in the remainder : )
Bend over here it come again
@@jeffaddis5715 that is what it stands for. The 2nd line is "Our Screws Never Stop Turning"
Well done.
Salute!
@@rhudoc3745 we used it back in my Eastern Airline days. lol
I think I First heard it in a scie fi war story.. Hammer's Slammers or "The Forever War".
Loved all the time travel stuff as a kid in the 1980's. It has its flaws, but always great to see Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen in their younger days.
YES! An all time classic no one reacts to.
Thank you so much.
Fun fact! The navy pilots who were doing the flight scenes of the F-14s with the Zero got over eager and flew much more than they should have. Cost (taxpayers) millions. Everyone got in trouble.
Fun Fact #2! This movie casts a lot of Douglas family members, in front of and behind the camera, to the point where Hollywood insiders called it "Nepotism The Movie"
Fun Fact #3! This is a classic predestination paradox where something had to happen because it had always happened, in this case it explains the explosive technological progress of the US during and after WWII. It's a lot easier to present this kind of time travel since you don't have to worry about changes such as Twin Pines Mall becoming Lone Pine Mall.
@@gallendugall8913 Damn... all Zemeckis needed to do about that particular detail, was to have 3 pines in 1955.
I love how you describe this film. Great concept but it’s not fully realized. A common complaint about this film is that it doesn’t go all the way. I would LOVE to see this remade as a miniseries. Add those extra battles and dramatic moments. Find a way to change history…show the modern US navy against the WWII Japanese fleet. Could be amazing. With today’s concepts of multiverse we could definitely have a movie that delivers the “more” that this movie lacks.
They need to reboot this movie somehow
Excellent Summary.
2 Issues: We all tske for granted how much Cinema Tech/VFX have advanced in the last 45😂 years.
Also in 1980 (35 years after Hiroshima), it was a lot more sensitive to show the 'real' Nimitz destroying most of the Japanese fleet and then needing to attack Japan? I think we were ecen in danger back then of being asked to leave our Okinawa Bases?
Just my thoughts.
There is acutally a precident for this; the guy wrote a book about it. A guy flying from Bermuda to Florida got caught in a tunnel of clouds. I forget the exact details but he basically arrived an hour or so early and only used 1/3 his fuel.
So he claims. Never verified.
It's been done as "The Time Tunnel" where 2 scientist bounced uncontrollably between historic events, As "Quantum Leap" where a small group bounces between alternative lives in alternative worlds, As "A Sound of Thunder" where stepping on a butterfly during the time of the dinosaurs changes all evolution on Earth and is seconds away from entirely eliminating humans.
It's like the paradox in "Terminator" where someone from the future has to sire a child born before he was. If Owens hadn't gone into the past, The Nimitz would have been different ---- As would all of the other changes he must have made.
The ultimate paradox would have occurred if they had stopped the Japanese. That would have changed the entire population of the world ------ Each person is the result of a single sperm, joining a single egg at an exact moment in time. Change ANYTHING that changes the mood, location, food or anything that brought them together at that exact moment, under those exact conditions and you get a different person or no person at all.
The Butterfly Effect on conception is massive and the result of a nearly infinite number of things that nudge each person into slightly different activities and choices.
Good reaction. The movie novelization was written by Martin Caidin, a well-known author of his time for whom aviation and aerospace was kind of a specialty. He also created 'The Six Million Dollar Man'. The book is VERY good, if you can find it, and adds a great deal of extra detail.
It is generally held that landing on a carrier is the most stressful, physically and mentally, AND arguably the most dangerous thing that ANY pilot may face on a regular basis.
Splash the Zeros. Love the idea of this movie. The fact they don't get! the chance to alter the past and mess up our future .
When this film was made, even in training ALL naval vessels were fully armed, to include nuclear weaponry. As far as the crew goes, 48 of them were credited as actors, and this was the first attempt to film modern jets. They had some failures, when they first tried to film the F14 taking off, the jetwash actually blew the camera and operator down the runway. During the filming that was a real-life emergency recovery with the overrun gear net system due to hook failure.
That's because this was a documentary
In 1980 The Military was still dealing with the negative remnants of the Vietnam War. The DOD saw this movie as a great opportunity to turn this around, this was the reason for the unrepresented access to all areas of the Nimitz. Unfortunately, the shooting scene, which was done on a sound stage without the DOD’s prior approval caused the DOD to curtail access during the filming of Top Gun. It’s my understanding that some of the film from The Final Countdown was used during the filming of Top Gun. When the F-14s flew past the Zero's one of the planes did momentarily lose control.
FWIW, there is a channel called Grim Reapers which uses a combat flight sim for fun and to run tests. They have a series of videos in which selected modern forces try to take down that specific Japanese fleet. The modern carrier was just overkill.
The US Navy were very involved in this movie.
After this, they saw a notable increase in applications to join.
This is what encouraged the Navy to REALLY get involved with Top Gun (a movie that inspired a lot of people to become Navy pilots).
Also, the scene where one of the Tomcats suddenly dips was not actually planned.
The stall speed of the F14s was very close to the cruising speed of the movie "zeros" - the pilot did briefly lose control of the plane, but managed to save it.
LOVED this movie and the concept. The film of the Tomcats flying was truly amazing. They used B-25 bombers as camera planes. At one point the camera guy actually touched the nose of one Tomcat with his foot, they were flying so close.
The shot of the Tomcat pulling up close to the water was WAYYYY too low. Some admiral pulled aside the pilots and said "holy shit. How low was that?"
The female lead, the secretary.. was not very nice to the other cast members or pilots, very aloof. There is a great making of documentary about this movie on youtube. Kirk Douglas gave a lot of direction advice to make the movie better. If it was possible, they filmed and showed the ship instead of just sitting in rooms.
Copied this from another video
The pilot who basically did a hammerhead and pulled out real close to the water was then U.S. Navy Commander Richard "Fox" Farrell (VF-84 XO). He did kick up quite a bit of seawater and was really pushing the envelope with the Tomcat. WWII ace-in-a-day Archie Donahue was one of the Zero pilots. The Zeroes (converted AT-6 Texans) were flying with the throttle to the stops and the Tomcats were flying at stall speed (note wings fully extended in most scenes). That was so they could get both aircraft in the same shot at the same time. There is a two hour interview with the wingman, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Alan “Shoes” Mullen, discussing behind the scenes filming, "THE FINAL COUNTDOWN Movie - Shoes Interview | Mover Clips".
So martin sheen was sent just to retrieve the dog
No, he was there because Commander Owens knew he was there and had to make sure he caught his trip with destiny.
This movie has a link to Babylon 5, actually two. Martin Sheen appeared in the B5 movie River of Souls. The Japanese pilot taken onboard the Nimitz was Soon Tek Oh, the Korean actor who also played in your favorite B5 episode, TKO. He was the alien Muta Do.
also played enemy soldiers in Black Sheep Squadron and MASH.
That's awesome
As I recall this was the first Hollywood/defense department collaboration. And the Navy rolled out the red carpet.
If you are really interested in the concept, this scenario has also been recreated by a Flight Simulator group called Grim Reapers.
th-cam.com/video/yS6zYmUz2IA/w-d-xo.html
Kirk Douglas and F-14 Tomcats...
How can you go wrong
The Axis of Time Trilogy of books by John Birmingham has a similar premise though there it is a one-way trip. An international naval taskforce from 2021 is transported to the Battle of Midway and changes history. Books 2 and 3 then deal with the aftershocks and how the world of the 1940s tries to deal with a superior military force who does not really like how the governments of the time run things (eg the US Marine complement is run by a African American tough-as-nails general who does not appreciates being called 'boy' by the local racists)
I saw this film while stationed at Charleston AFB. Charleston also has a large Navy base. The scene of the Tomcats splashing the Zeros had the crowd roaring. I was fortunate enough to meet Martin Sheen only a few years later in West Berlin at Tempelhof Central Airport while he and Sean Penn were filming "Judgment in Berlin" on location.
FYI, I randomly got a chance to board and visit the Nimitz in 2006 in San Francisco. Fast-forward to Summer 2024. I was driving through Bremerton and saw it docked. Apparently being decommisioned. Closed the loop for me
I live in Virginia Beach, about 15 miles from naval station Norfolk, the home port of the Nimitz, and have several friends who were on-board during the filming.
Actually, this film had a rather modest budget, relying quite a bit on what was provided by the U.S. Navy. Extended battle scenes would have been pretty much impossible, re-takes of some of the flying sequences proved very expensive.
By the way, at about 15:49 when one of the Tomcats pulled out of a power dive you can see the jet exhaust hitting the surface of the water. The pilot, one of the squadron commanders, said in an interview, "We didn't mean to get NEARLY that low. It was close."
There is nowhere else the film could have gone without it being a much bigger movie.
If they had attacked then the US would probably not have entered WW2 so would the Nimitz even have been built? But they did produce a film that involved time travel that also fitted with the history as we know it (mostly).
There were a number of stupid points, the senator starting a fight in the helicopter, and the Japanese prisoner not being in cuffs and attached to the table. But generally a fun movie.
Grandfather time paradox
I’m inclined to agree with Cdr. Owen’s comment that things only happen once, and that historically (in this movie) there WAS a modern CVN in the waters off Hawaii for a few hours before the attack, but it was never detected by anyone who survived and did not interfere with the Japanese attack so events occurred the way they did. They were just playing their predestined parts.
i think they had to delivery that guy back to the past,so he could arrange stuff and got the nimiz build in the first place.
@@aikrichter5403 Right. Tideman was there BEFORE they went back, and Tideman was Owen.
I am reminded of the old Twilight Zone episode "The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms"-
A modern day National Guard 3 man tank crew on a training exercise is transported back to 1876 and the Battle of Little Big Horn- Custer's last stand. Ultimately they can't bring the tank to the battle because it breaks down, but the 3 NG members see the battle taking place and go to help fight never to be seen again.
Later when their commanding officer goes looking for them, the search party comes across the Custer Battlefield National Monument with the names of the soldiers carved into the Memorial stone... There they see the names of the tank crew added to the fallen soldiers.
It's too much of a coincidence so all the Commander says is "Too bad" (they couldn't bring the tank with them).
So in this case the modern crew DID fight in the battle, but couldn't make a difference because all they had was 20th century rifles.
If The Final Countdown went down that road- it would have gone into total MCU territory with too much to explain. Part of me would have loved to see that battle, but I totally understand why they didn't. Kind of the greatest C-block in movie history.
I love this movie, but I can never remember the name of it. To me it is always that movie where Kirk Douglas commanded the Nimitz.
I'm also very disappointed at the end when he says not all of us made it back and sheen immediately thinks of the man left behind and neither one of them mentions the seven US soldiers who were killed
5:39 Mark! Ray! Wait until you see Sulu make such an entrance to the hanger deck and bay of the Starship Enterprise! 🖖
30:10 Mark! Hehe! Because of his personality, it makes sense to me! 😅 What people have asked is about a flare pistol being able to do that! Like, "Why would anyone ride inside such a vulnerable helicopter?!" 😂😅
my favorite line in the novel was the reaction by a 1940's guy was what he said about the jet planes, was how "the [jet] planes were impossible. that the [jet] planes were able to fly straight up faster than their planes flying straight down".
*RIGHT ON!*
This is one of my favourite sci-fi films since I first saw it as a teenager in the early 1980s and such a hidden gem!
I've only seen ONE other full reaction to this film on YT, so this is a special treat!
Gave a thumbs up even before starting!
It's neat to see Martin Sheen in older films. Sometimes you see Charlie Sheen. Other times you see Emilio Estevez.
just my favorite movie of that year. Immediatly build a F14 and a Nimitz Revell model back then. As far as i remembered the US Navy dont get money. Was the best Navy commercial
0:33 Mark! Ray! Thank you very much for this reaction video! It has been a long time coming! 🎉 I saw your preview prologue! As I warned before, this movie is based on a novel by Martin Caiden! It is Science-Fiction, not Fantasy! It is meant to make you feel like it may have secretly happened! We know that the air raid attacks against Pearl Harbor still happen! Had they been prevented, it would be in the Fantasy Genre.
MC also wrote the novel "Cyborg" that I was able to find and buy as a used book. The series "The Six Million Dollar Man" is based on it.
"DC" used to acknowledge that the name of their character "Cyborg" is taken from the book, et cetera.
Similar to how the makers of the original "Karate Kid" movie acknowledge "DC" for giving them permission to use that moniker! 😊
Martin Caidin was a military pilot himself, and wrote tons of aviation nonfiction. So when he wrote novels, they had a lot of verisimilitude.
I saw this in the theater onboard a cruise ship. Nothing like watching this in a room that's rocking back and forth!
Geez that had to suck
You definitely should watch this insight video about this movie "The Final Countdown". Ward Carroll offers some really great insights, behind scenes stuff and general commentary about the movie and the US Navy involvement (as you pointed out, they were showing off their toys hehe).
Really great insights, and I enjoyed his video a lot --> th-cam.com/video/nzMiKjzFbOg/w-d-xo.html
Thanks :-)
If you want to watch a Nimitz aircraft carrier take on the Imperial fleet a couple of TH-cam channels have used sophisticated simulators to reproduce that. Even if the carrier doesn't use its nukes it doesn't end well for the Imperial navy. They also did videos for a modernized Iowa class battleship in WWII.
TLDW the biggest problem long term is maintenance as modern naval vessels have very sophisticated maintenance needs and after a year would start to lose functionality without the ability to obtain replacement parts. A modern ship's technical library would provide the biggest impact long term.
DISAPPOINTMENT. At no point were the Japanese turned back by a Swedish 80's rock-band directing power-ballards of immense magnitude at the attacking waves of Zero fighters. I want my money back, Hollywood.
EUROPE
37:34 Mark! That's the battle that would have made this a "Revenge Fantasy" movie rather than Science-Fiction. That, or as I've discovered since the movie was new, "Alternative History Fiction"! 🤔 Like all of those novels about the CSA and Axis winning!
But hey, in a multiverse, every possible thing has happened! 😮
Ray...the biggest reason they could not show more action is almost surely the budget. They simply did not have enough money to create a whole huge battle scene...not to mention that they did not really have the technology to make it look much good, no CGI and all. If the movie were made today with some budget for CGI effects, maybe it could happen...but back in 1981 with less than $13 million budget their only choice was to have the storm come back and stop them from attacking the Kido Butai in 1941, they had to wrap things up quick to keep to their limits.
The movie was so good, i just wanted more.
@@RKnights I know exactly what you feel like. 😁
The Movie that was before Top Gun and did it first!
2 possible TV shows for you to react:
The Man in the High Castle - alternate history piece with defeated US divided between 3rd Reich and Imperial Japan.
Space: Above and Beyond, space marines/pilots fighting aliens.
Second for both
Also, if you can bear another subtitled movie "2009: Lost Memories". Won't spoil the story, hope will endorse by Likes.
Most people are at least initially disappointed that the battle never happened, but they could not actually fight the Japanese because that obviously would have changed the course of history, creating the exact time travel paradox they discussed; though there was already the paradox of having the young and older CDR Owens (as Mr. Tildman) existing at the same time at the beginning of the movie. Presumably CDR Owens used his knowledge of modern nuclear aircraft carriers to develop the modern, nuclear powered fleet (as Mr. Tildman).
In the 'Real Navy', 1) That Japanese Pilot would have been locked in the Brigg, 2) The Captain would have reached out to Pearl Harbor and ultimately the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.
Of Course, they would have rushed through the technology changes in order recreate the Ammunition and Jet Fuel.
9:28 Mark! They were prepared to land with an invasion force when the air raids were finished. But to their surprise, the admiral in charge canceled the invasion plans when he felt that the bombs and torpedoes sufficed.
In the Hugh Jackman & Nicole Kidman movie about Australia's version of Pearl Harbor, Imperial Japanese Marines did make landfall! 😮
They let us call it "landing" despite the lack of land. But in their lexicon, they call it "trapping" if I recall correctly. 🤔
There was no invasion force.
Agreed! Fun but left wanting too much more. The movie should be remade as a modern miniseries where the trip is one way. Episode 1 the trip back and fish out of water, Episode 2 Thwarting Pearl Harbor, Episode 3 planet-wide culture shock, Episode 4 how to end WWII in six easy steps, and Episode 5 epilog for the crew trying to create new lives in this new/old timeline. With modern special effects it could be done much cheaper than the original.
Agreed, this should be redone
There's an anime called "Zipang" with a similar premise. The modern ship is permanently stuck in the past, if I remember correctly
A friend in the military saw this at a base theater. The audience was aroar at "Splash the zeros."
What makes you think is that this movie is further in the past from today than Pearl Harbor was from when the movie was filmed. WW2 aircraft would have been hopelessly overwhelmed by a late 1970s jet ... but those Tomcats could still be threatening today. If the Tomcat 21 upgrades had been purchased, they might still be one of the world's top fighters. Aircraft just reached a point where major increases in performance were very hard to achieve.
38:20 Mark! The author did take notes from his research and accounted for the real MIA mysteries. 😉
A couple of things:
Any aircraft landing (especially a het) on a carrier is a controlled crash.
Watching the videos on TH-cam the navy wanted to show off it's new toy - the Nimitz - and gave the film crew unprecedented to the Nimitz for filming on the Nimitz.
sorry the that should be unprecedented access to the Nimitz
You have to remember the effects that the attack created. The attack on Pearl Harbor greatly angered every American just like 911. Without that anger the 4-year long war may not have happened as casualties grew and Americans grew tired of the war. Without the anger to fuel the desire to win the war we may have settled for some type of peace negotiation with the Imperial Japanese. So it's a good thing something happening like this is impossible.
Another way to date the footage of the planes is their paint scheme. Later on, the colors took on a more pastel effect with false canopies on the bottom of the fuselage.
If you like the concept & setting, then you should check the anime: "Zipang". That anime covers similar themes of modern warships traveling back in time, crew members wanting to stick to original timeline, historical characters attempting to use future knowledge in real time. Major difference is that TFC takes place before the raid on Pearl Harbor, while Zipang takes place before the battle of Midway.
It was actually explained why they couldn’t have battles in the Japanese fleet. If they had destroy the Japanese fleet, all the events following would not have happened. That would include the USS Nimitz going back in time to fight the Japanese fleet.
28:32 Mark! Uh, no Army personnel involved! They would be "soldiers"! You have Navy seamen/sailors and their Marines! 😊 ⚓️
I have always have a soft spot in my heart for this movie, but it is a huge tease... I agree, there is a lot of untapped potential here for other movies/series in a Sliders-esque style.
They used to play this movie on TV when I was growing up.
Same topic : read the books of John Birmingham, the axis of time book serie, ''weapons of choice'', ''designated target'', and ''Final impact'' written in 2004, 2005, 2007. This time a fleet of warships from 2021, highly advanced, have time travel in 1942, and really are involved in WW2, changing the history of the world !!!! GREAT READ ! the author told a similar story from this movie, but really finished this story as the movie could have done.
I saw this when I was little. Still love it!
edit: On your comment about no action and no combat... That was the point. That is why the head staff retreated to a remote room and unprofessionally argue with one another on wether or not to be involved.
In order to return back to the "original" world, they needed to keep a low profile and minimal interference (imagine like Star Trek prime directive) or else face the fact that Roosevelt now has a NUCLEAR CV with nuclear warheads with 40 YEARS of prior knowledge cheat codes...
(because every aircraft carrier (CV) has nukes on board).
If you liked this youll love the Anime ZIPANG.
This movie presents a very interesting prospect, how would the future change if the US got its hands on a nuclear powered, and most likely nuclear armed, carrier and all of it's air wing. Just how different WWII and the early cold war would play out. It is an interesting thought experiment.
Yep real plance, no CGi. CGi of modern standards simply didn't exist much before 2000 let alone in the early 1980's.
Such a great movie
@@RKnights Agreed. :)
My mom and I went and saw this at the theatre when I was 13 . We both thought it was a cool movie
One of the very few movies where Kirk Douglas does not do what Sean Bean notoriously is most famous for in a movie, his character dying. Before there was Sean Bean, Kirk Douglas was number one.
Kirk Douglas did play next to John Wayne in the movie In Harm's Way (1965) which the attack on Pearl Harbor is in the beginning. The movie includes a big cast, music by Jerry Goldsmith and great model work.
37:33, these What If scenarios are a logical headsmashers. The bootstrap paradox here and in the first "Terminator" are more bearable for me than the T2 with Kyle Reese's return to the past cancelled.
This is one of my all time favorite movies.
Great movie, I'm glad you had the chance to see it.
Yes, I agree it leaves a person wanting to see them go up against the Japanese fleet from 1941, but I still liked the whole story.
Always loved this movie. It's a fantastic event told straight.
If they had fought and then been portaled home again they would be in a future they don't belong and no one knows them. The soldiers would have "lost" their parents. Even if they were alive they would not know their children.
Not fighting was the only way for them to go home.
Saw this back in the VHS days and just wrote it off as a Navy Recruitment movie. I'm not a big fan of time travel movies. Needless to say i didn't keep a copy in my collection. it's worth a watch but that's about it.
Yeah that strafing run on the ship would went through both of those guys.
“The Philadelphia Experiment” 1984 would be another one to watch after this one. Kinda a reverse plot.
If you like reading, get The Axis of Time trilogy by John Birmingham. Same concept with plausible cause. But it's 2021 and Ford Class carrier and accompanying escorts go back to 1942 and the Battle of Midway. And they're stuck...no going home. The changes in history are immediate and range from profound (battles fought but spare parts running out) to the hilarious (US Marines "interrogating" Japanese prisoners with '70s disco music.
Only seen it on TV.
But the problem with time travel to past events is that you can not interfere or make changes or you alter your own timeline.
Any one who did die in the war has to die or ripples in time will have major effects.
It's the reason you can not nip back end Hitler as his decisions during the Normandy landing help the landing .if he wasn't in command than competent generals would have been running the military and the whole outcome of the war could have been very different. Even the downing of the Zeros might have made changes 🤔
I like the theory this is bubble universe time travel. Everything that happens in the bubble will eventually disappears.
Saw this when it first came out…it teases you, then throws in a twist…
I’m 50 tomorrow & have watched this film a cpl of times, the first tike in the 80s. This is one film that if they did a remake i wouldn’t mind. Abit more budget, better fx & like you say maybe a battle in there & you’d have a really good movie.
One thing they could have done, was to let them blow away the Japanese Air Forces and Naval Fleet prior to storm Storm arriving again. Then, the storm comes back and brings them back to the original spot in the past, but them comes back again before they fight the Japanese. That would be consistent with String Theory, and allow the future to stay on the original Time Thread. Giving us a taste of what could have been, without turning the World upside down. Also, that would have been more believable if Lasky was an expert on Physics and delving into String Theory.
Dr. Who rules: "Fixed moment in time"
Doing anything else would give the TVA a conniption fit.
Apparently external scenes shot on the actual "Nimitz".
Cool note is that the emergency landing was real. While they were filiming the landing and takeoff footage. A plane could not get its tailhook down. So they used the barricade but the pilot was uninjured.
Ward Carroll (callsign: Mooch) has a fighter channel, and he just did a thing on The Final Countdown filming!
As far as the bit with the senator in the helicopter. Never underestimate the arrogance and stupidity of a government official. It`s a bad combination, and it`s all too common in government.
some navy brass were in big trouble for "billings" to the production company during the filming, ward carroll did a story about it recently.
Your idea about the aircraft carrier travelling to different time periods is indeed interesting, but could work very well in a science fiction tv series, where humanity gets involved in an interstellar war with an alien antagonist, but where both parties have to travel through space via a propulsion method that has relativistic consequences for the crew on both sides. Depending on the details of the trip (like distance, and speed), both sides could end up fighting each other's forces at different moments on the timeline. In one battle, the humans have the more advanced ships and forces, and there for the overall advantage, while in another battle, the enemy forces could be further along in development, and have the advantage in a fight. In a nutshell, this story would basically be The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, which they have been trying to adapt for some time now. There is also a pretty good comic book series available about this story. On a sidenote, i would suggest another 80's sci-fi movie to watch, namely "Enemy Mine" (1985), starring Dennis Quaid, and Louis Gossett Jr..This movie starts off one way, but by about the midpoint, the story completely shifts into a different (not to mention, interesting) direction.
I remember seeing this as a kid -- I loved it.
The senator on the yacht was real. The Navy helped out so much because they wanted to show off the new USS Nimitz. I believe if the fight had happened they would have did it wrong. I think they would have made a big air fight. In reality the F14 and A7 from the air wing would have ran out of air to air weapons. We would have most likely loaded everything down with harpoon anti ship missiles, then proceeded to bypass the Japanese fighters and sunk the 6 carriers and the 2 battleships present. The Pearl Harbor attack would have been initiated, but the planes wouldn’t have anywhere to land. This way, war is still declared, wartime production is still initiated, and it ultimately makes the US a true superpower, and still pulls us out of the depression.
They used the simulator concept in the early 1960s tv series called the Time tunnel. Good show.but only lasted one season. Another movie you may like to see from the 80s is called the Philadelphia experiment.✌️
What you suggested was an Outer Limits episode, with an Airliner. There was only so much aviation fuel on board.
A very underrated movie. Now you should react to "Capricorn One" 1977
23:30, that senator died... in January 1941.
Amazing film. My pops introduced me to it
The Final Countdown was a power ballad from the band Europe back in 1986. The film the Final Countdown in 1981. So nope...no correlation. 😂
If time travel is involved...yep...sci-fi
This was a pre detination time paradox. owens who was mr. tideman made the ship that he traveled back in time in, thus he could become mr. tideman and uphold the timeline.
I saw this movie in the theaters. I was very disappointed that they did not go for it and have the Nimitz take out the Japanese fleet. Yes, I know it did not happen that way, but this is a movie. It doesn’t have to be real.
The reason why they steered clear of idea with the 1980's carrier not engaging the Japanese fleet and letting historical events unfold the way they did originally was it would change all subsequent historical events from Pearl Harbor onward destroying the original timeline and creating an alternate timeline. You could say "Well it would have saved American lives." True but what if one of them was the next possible American dictator to rise to power? As is the naval officer left behind changed his own life and became rich since he knew the history for the next 40 years. If they had defeated the Japanese fleet and returned they'd be as out of place in the alternate 1980s new history as they were in the past.
TH-camrs who letsplay the most accurate flight sims have discovered that modern jets can't out turn a japanese zero. They instead should fly out far, turn around and mach zoom the propeller planes in repeat passes.
I also always thought that the movie chickened out on its own premise, but the inner Vulcan keeps telling me that there is no logical resolution for the resulting paradox. Everything is going to happen exactly as it already had happened. No more and no less. It's the only safe conclusion except of vourse declaring the whole scenario as impossible.
Such a good movie! Thanks for this! Where are your buds, bud?
We can't meet all the time. So, There are some reactions that will be just me.