Trapped in Space (1994) – Nostalgia Central

This low-budget made-for-television movie – a joint American/Australian production – is based on the short story Breaking Strain by Arthur C Clarke.

The cargo spaceship Venture is on a routine, commercial transit mission to Venus when the journey turns into a life-or-death disaster after the ship violently collides with an asteroid.

The puncture damage leaves the six-person crew with enough oxygen to keep only one person alive for the remaining 22-hour journey to Venus.

The close-knit crew must somehow decide who lives and who dies.

The situation descends into paranoia and open hostility when the ship’s cowardly commanding officer, Captain Michael Howard (Kevin Colson), steals away in the ship’s solitary, single-person emergency escape pod, abandoning the remaining five crew members to fight over the dwindling oxygen supplies.

The volatile bosun, Palmer (Craig Wasson), snaps under the psychological strain and goes on a manic, murderous rampage to aggressively “shorten the list” of mouths breathing the remaining air.

The special effects and spaceship sets are noticeably cheap, and it’s a dull, routine affair, but it still manages to deliver a fair degree of suspense.

Sigrid Thornton’s leaking space suit cues the most abrupt twist, while Kay Lenz’s pet dog (“He’s a set of lungs we can’t afford!”) and a cup of poisoned coffee are also key plot hooks.

If you approach it with suitably low expectations, you may avoid disappointment.

MacNeil
Jack Wagner
Grant
Jack Coleman
Palmer
Craig Wasson
Issacs
Sigrid Thornton
Gillings
Kay Lenz
Captain Michael Howard
Kevin Colson
Tug 1st Officer
Mark Lee
Tug Pilot
Kevin Copeland
Tug Medic
Ian Stenlake
IPNN Newscaster #1
Francine Bell
IPNN Newscaster #2
Tania Martin
1st Tugman
Michael Mills
2nd Tugman
James Stewart

Director
Arthur Allan Seidelman