#innerspace

Let's talk about Joe Dante's run from 1981 to 1993. Talk about a streak he was on: The Howling, Gremlins, Explorers, Innerspace, The Burbs, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and Matinee. With the exception of The Howling which I got into years later, all of these were films I was heavily into as a kid, tween and teen and watched more than once. Dante was a graduate of the Roger Corman school of filmmaking, like so many of his peers of that era and his films combined B-movie elements with nostalgia and comedy. By the Summer of 1987 I was a film geek who was really into going to the movies and Innerspace was one I saw in the movie theater and watched a lot more on VHS. Now it's getting the blu-ray and UHD treatment from Arrow Video in a limited edition release.

Arrow's new Innerspace release

In this sci-fi comedy combo, Lt. Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) is a pilot taking part in a secret science experiment where he will be in a space shuttle that is miniaturized and injected into a rabbit for potential medical breakthroughs. All seems to be going according to plan until a rival organization headed by Victor Scrimshaw (Kevin McCarthy) breaks in and tries to steal the technology mid-experiment. So instead of being injected into a rabbit, one of the scientists manages to escape with the syringe Tuck is in and injects him into a total stranger in a shopping mall, Jack Putter (Martin Short), a hypochondriac grocery store employee. Now Tuck, from inside Jack, needs his vessel to work with him to get back to original size and outrun the rivals with the help of Tuck's estranged girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan). This was high-concept and it was a classic example of the Golden Age of Steven Spielberg's production company Amblin Entertainment.

the 1987 movie poster

This is a movie I watched a ton as a tween and I dug it especially because of the comic genius that is Martin Short. He was post-SNL and SCTV and he was truly in his prime as a physical comedian. After watching it over and over, I sort of outgrew it to a certain extent. Not that it was a bad movie, just that I kind of was not feeling the same magic I felt for it upon first viewing. This blu-ray reminded me how much fun this is, especially with Joe Dante's 2002 commentary and behind the screnes featurettes. He envisioned a Martin and Lewis comedy for the 80s. There's a new commentary from film critic Drew McWeeny, a new documentary, storyboards, production stills, posters, trailers and more. There's definitely some parts to this that haven't aged well and the idea of a love triangle where one person is inside of another has since been one-upped by Being John Malkovich. But what still works is Martin Short and Dante's sense of fun he's bringing to an effects-heavy studio feature! Someday it'd be interesting if a college course or podcast did a deep exploration into the role that science had on pop culture in the 1980s, this being a prime example of that.

For info on Innerspace

As a kid I had no sense that Innerspace was not successful. It was the latest Spielberg produced movie so I wanted to see it. I didn’t know what innerspace was and I can acknowledge I didn’t really know it was about going inside the human body until I watched it. I did know Martin Short from Three Amigos but it was likely my first time seeing Dennis Quaid. So this was a movie in heavy rotation in…

me trying to be calm but my mind won’t shut up