Hack an arcade machine to travel back in automotive history... What could possibly go wrong?
Released in 1987, the vaguely-named Made-for-TV Movie Top Kids (also originally known as Centurion Odyssey) is one of those telefilms Disney seems to have forgotten after airing it on their channel back in the 80s. Around the time, Mercedes-Benz was about to celebrate their centenary, and what better way to do so than to commission a movie about the history of the automobile? Disney later stepped into the picture and took up the film to be aired on their newly-established Disney Channel, with new scenes and a hacking subplot shoehorned in at Disney's behest so they can market the retooled film as an "after-school special".The premise is simple: a group of elementary school-age boys rig an arcade video game cabinet to work as a time machine after haggling a used car salesman into financing their project. When one of their friends, computer genius Eric Morgan (played by Rossie Harris of Airplane! fame), gets stuck in the past after hacking into Eric's computer car, the boys set themselves out to rescue him, with Formula One driver Niki Lauda along the way.
Besides being one of the few film appearances by the late Niki Lauda (and a very, very obscure one at that), as well as having been aired on the Disney Channel, there isn't much information about the film on the web, not helping matters was its rather vague title confounding Google searches which instead shows results about the top-grossing and/or critically acclaimed children's movies of the era unless you make your search query even more specific.
A link to the full movie can be found here
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The film provides examples of:
- The '50s: Eric and Niki wind up in a diner of the era, complete with youths in the typical fashion of the day—poodle skirts, black leather jackets, hot rods and so on.
- The '80s: With the requisite synth music and of course the 8- and 16-bit arcade machines prominently displayed.
- Anachronism Stew: Niki pilots a sleek silver glass machine from the future in a 1904 Grand Prix and no one seems to bat an eye.
- As Himself: Niki appears in the film portraying a fictionalised version of himself, racing suit and all.
- Been There, Shaped History: Niki and Eric participate in one of the first automotive races—in a futuristic glass car.
- A Bloody Mess: Eric finds himself taking a bullet wound to the chest. Fearing for his life, he pleads S.A.M. for help; the computer having a cheeky sense of humour turned what was ostensibly a 1930s bank heist into a film set, and the "blood" on Eric's chest was just ketchup all along.
- Cool Car: Loads and loads of them, from the automobile's humble beginnings in the late 1880s to the present day (or at least at the time of the film's release that is).
- Covers Always Lie: The Spanish VHS release as seen above has two kids in front of a lighthouse, none of which appear in the film proper.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Eric and Niki challenges a greaser and his girlfriend to a drag race—with a Volkswagen Beetle. With some intervention the Beetle changes to a Lamborghini Countach and outruns the hot rodding greaser by a wide margin.
- Edutainment Show: To an extent with S.A.M.'s narration describing the history of the modern automobile.
- Fun with Acronyms: The computer car's name is S.A.M., standing for Synthetic Algorithmic Mentality.
- Historical Domain Character: Quite a number of automotive industry figures appeared in the film, like Henry Ford and Emil Jellinek and his daughter Mercedes, of whom the Mercedes-Benz marque was named after.
- Hollywood Hacking: With a bunch of elementary school kids tapping into an arcade cabinet and remotely hacking a smart car in an auto show.
- Hong Kong Dub: The scenes with Mercedes dating Eric were glaringly dubbed over, hinting at the film's original incarnation.
- Human Shield: Eric becomes this when Clyde Barrow holds him hostage as they flee from a bank robbery.
- I'm Mr. [Future Pop Culture Reference]: Niki introduces himself as "Louis Chevrolet" in a 1904 race. The organiser didn't buy into Niki's ruse and outed him as an impostor.
- "Mister Sandman" Sequence: Throughout the film, we see Niki and Eric witness events from various periods in automotive history.
- Non-Actor Vehicle: Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda appears as himself in a Doc Brown-esque role.
- Omniscient Database: S.A.M. was built with an impressive library of information about the automobile.
- Outlaw Couple: Bonnie and Clyde, whom Eric crosses paths with during a robbery.
- The Roaring '20s: Eric passes by a car show with models from that era along with a bunch of flappers dancing in front of them.
- Tank Goodness: Niki and Eric are seen riding on top of a tank during the World War I segment.
- Time-Travel Romance: Eric falls for Mercedes Jellinek (yes, that Mercedes), but said romance was not meant to be—only for Mercedes herself to show up in the future, donning her white dress from the era.
- Title Drop: Operation "Top Kids" was the name of the boys' arcade machine hacking scheme.
- Translation Convention: The Benzes speak English with American accents when Eric visits them in 1870s Germany, and he has no problem communicating with them (although the police who try to arrest Daimler have accents.) Since everything is happening inside of S.A.M.’s memory, it may be an In-Universe Translation Convention by her to make things easier to understand.
- Trip to the Moon Plot: The final chapter has S.A.M. transform into a moon buggy where Eric and Niki drive around the surface of the moon, in reference to the last few missions of the American Apollo program where said buggy was used.
- World War I: A portion of the film portrays the history of the automobile around that point, which was arguably the dawn of mechanised warfare.
