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(1985) Have you ever thought of traveling through time... going forward or backward to any date? That's the intriguing question aviator/inventor Max Knickerbocker (Coyote) asks 11-year-old Jonathan Knicks (Fox). Max is unaware that Jonathan is his grandson - already an adventurous time traveler thanks to a machine built by his neighbor, Henry Coogan (Carney).

Can Jonathan save his grandfather from a fatal solo flight across the Atlantic and alter the course of history? Added to the mix for comic relief are a couple of villains who keep trying to steal Jonathan's time machine.With barnstormers of the past and time travelers of the present, The Blue Yonder is the ultimate in timeless entertainment.

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Cast

• Peter Coyote............Max Knickerbocker
• Huckleberry Fox........................Jonathan
• Art Carney........................Henry Coogan
• Mittie Smith...........Helen Knickerbocker
• Dennis Lipscomb............................Finch

Credits

• Director.............................Mark Rosman
• Screenplay........................Mark Rosman
• Cinematography....................Hiro Narita
• Music............................ Steven M. Stern
• Running time.................................89 min.
• Premiered on the Disney Channel on November 17, 1985

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Newsday: 2/8/86 - "Soaring into the Past on Sweet Dreams"
It starts in the clouds and never quite comes down to Earth, which is just the way a cotton-candy fantasy should be. But watch out if you're on a sugar-free diet. Time Flyer is uncommonly sweet. But, then, what viewer wouldn't be disappointed if the Disney Sunday movie didn't perform its expected task of resurrecting lost innocence - even maybe tossing in a little that was never even there. The show wants to inspire as it entertains, not a bad idea for umpteen million wide-eyed youngsters about to head for bed...

The tale is about 11-year-old Jonathan Knicks (Huckleberry Fox) and his trip back to the year 1927 and the hero grandfather he never knew. As inventions go, his time machine isn't as cute as the flying car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's just a bunch of gears and wires that spin him around like wet wash in a dryer. Then, presto, it's 59 years ago, and there's Gramps - young, enthusiastic and ready to fly the Atlantic in his home-built biplane. He's going to beat Lindbergh...

The best of the movie is visual, beautifully indulging everyone's fantasy to fly high, wide and handsome in a cockpit biplane, goggles snug over the eyes Snoopy-style, white silk scarf snapping smartly in the wind. Jonathan gets to do this with his great old (young) grandpa...

The acting is everything the story requires. Carney, in a small role, is full of his usual, skewed good cheer. As child actors go, Fox is genuine in what amounts mainly to a look/sound cute role. In fact, for his '20s incarnation, he's turned into a little Jackie Coogan (child star of the '20s) complete with oversized, turned-around peaked cap. Coyote is excellent as young Grandpa Max, investing his strong, ingenuous persona with a Henry Fonda twang. They're all almost good enough to make you believe it when this tall, sentimental airplane story tries to tell us it's about following your dreams.

Did you know?

• On February 9, 1986 The Blue Yonder was shown on ABC renamed as Time Flyer on the Disney Sunday Movie.

• There was also an exclusive special called The Making of The Blue Yonder, which featured the stars at work, craftsmen recreating a 1920s town and stunt pilots' daring flights.

Images

• Available on video

[ The Official Peter Coyote Web Site ]