A 20 year mission completed. The search for Sky High 1990.

 A 20 year mission completed. The search for Sky High 1990.

2017 for sure has had it's highs and lows. Well...I was FINALLY able to find the ultimate high.

SKY HIGH that is.

(Yes, I laughed the whole time I typed those sentences.) Any who, I'm sure for whoever knows me, follows this blog or my IG account knows that for YEARS I've been bitching and moaning about not being able to find what I truly was beginning to believe a "lost film." This being a Wonderful World Of Disney episode filmed in 1989 and released in 1990 that was supposed to be the pilot for a TV series which was named Sky High.

Sky High was about two local farm boys who really don't have much of a future in the small town they live in. Both work at a garage, and are watching life pass them by. That is until they discover one of the town's residents has just passed away. When they go to the estate sale they take a gamble and buy the barn for a whopping 500$ having absolutely no idea what's inside. Well, when they finally are able to get the locks off the doors, they are completely blown away. Inside sits a mint airplane from WWII. Both bicker and argue on what exactly they wanna do with it. Do they sell it? Do they learn how to fly? Do they junk it? Both spend the summer slowly fixing it up and befriend an old salty pilot who actually learned how to fly on this very plane forty or so years before. Once they feel comfortable enough to run the plane, the two decide to go cross country on an adventure, really not knowing where they are going, or who they are going to meet. Along the way they meet a lovely young girl who's desperate to track down her long lost sister who was last seen in Canada. Giving her a lift, they head North and put their heads together to find the missing teen. Here the three of them get into more than they bargained for and stumble into a series of zany adventures.

I vaguely remember seeing this movie I believe when it actually first aired. For YEARS I tried to figure out the name of the movie, and what it was actually about. As if the stars alined, our blog's very own mascot and one of my personal all time favorite actors Damon Martin actually played the second lead in this film next to Anthony Rapp. When I started re-watching Damon's movies during his brief film career (Pee Wee's Big Adventures, Ghoulies II, and Amityville 1992, ect) I was blown away remembering that he was actually in this movie and brought back some major childhood feels. Damon as we all know is our mascot Chip the movie loving kid, and for the last several years my crazy talented friend/artist Travis Falligant has worked with me not only designing Damon as Staystillreview's logo, but stunning pieces based off the characters he played while acting. One of which is his role in Sky High where he played the adorable denim wearing Jim Lincoln. 

Besides a few fuzzy images online there was NOTHING and I mean NOTHING about this movie. I went strictly by memory trying to track it down. I was lucky enough to nab a pretty awesome press kit by this movie including black and white stills that was in mint condition. Looking high and low, I even was crazy enough to put a 300$ bounty to some of my convention friends who ran tables finding rare and out of print films. I really gotta hand it to all of these guys. They worked their asses off trying to find this movie which honestly didn't exist anywhere. I even went on UK Ebay sites, and continued emailing Disney constantly asking if this movie ever was released on a video format? It truly felt that this was a lost cause. That this movie no matter who I emailed, and where I looked was out of print and didn't exist. Besides a few brief flashes of this movie on old 1990 Disney previews...there was zip. 

Then October rolled around.

By chance somebody uploaded the ENTIRE movie in French. I honestly couldn't believe it and watched it twice. I may not have understood a single word said, but it brought back millions of childhood memories. This was the movie I remembered watching as a kid, and it did indeed feature Damon Martin in all his glory. Frustrated, I was still grateful I was able to watch the movie and felt it was only a matter of time until I could track the movie down in English. At the time I was content with what I had which was a huge step in the right direction. 

Then early June happened...

One night just by chance I googled Sky High 1990 and was STUNNED to find two things. First the movie on VHS. Not a tapped copy, but an original VHS copy from 1990. I didn't even think twice and bid on it, winning the auction that only lasted a week. When the movie came I felt like a kid on Christmas and as dorky as this sounds, got a little emotional actually holding a real legit copy in my hands. I'm a VHS collector and I know lots of collectors, this truly is the rarest tape I own. As a huge horror person, I'm sure plenty of people are scratching their heads wondering why make such a big deal over a stupid made for TV movie? Well I guess the only way to best explain my love for this movie is three reasons. 1). It was a film that reminded me of a childhood. 2) It had Damon Martin, who not only is my blog's mascot, but a man who's film career always fascinated by no matter how brief it was during the 80's and early 90's, and 3). The thrill of the hunt. This honestly felt impossible and I may very well be one of the few people on the planet who actually own a legit copy of this movie. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to transfer this puppy onto a DVD! I mean you know it's rare when a friend of mine even tweeted Anthony Rapp who had zero idea if this movie even got a release back when it aired. 

So in closing, mission impossible became possible and I've watched this movie countless times. What's even better is if anyone is truly curious about this movie some beyond awesome cool cat uploaded the entire movie in English on Youtube. It's a cheesy movie with plenty of fun moments, and sits proudly on my shelf of fame down at Staystillreviews headquarters. 

Thank you everyone. This honestly made my year!