Marooned

Turner Classic Movies is showing 1969's Marooned tonight. This came out when I was in junior high and in "the Space Club" at school. I remember we took a bus into Hollywood to see it at the Egyptian Theater. It was a big deal for all us geeky "space" kids, a very exciting film about astronauts trapped in space in an Apollo-like spaceship. Well, we thought it was exciting at the time.

Less than a year later Apollo 13 did it for real and it was much, much more gripping. I remember going into the "Space Club" room at school during lunch-hour to watch the news as the Apollo 13 accident unfolded. Now that had us on the edge of our seats!

The last time I saw Marooned it hadn't aged well, but I think I'll give it another try anyway. It was written by Martin Caidin, the guy who wrote Cyborg on which was based The Six Million Dollar Man TV show. Also, you have Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, Gene Hackman, Lee Grant and Mariette Hartley and that's not too shabby of a cast.