Destination: Outer Space is the fifth film by Christopher R. Mihm and the fifth film in the Mihmiverse Shared Universe. A direct follow-up to Cave Women on Mars, the film continues the story of Captain Mike Jackson.
Set in 1992, five years after the events of Cave Women on Mars, Former Captain Mike Jackson is spending his days drinking and feeling sorry for himself, having been Court-martialed after the events of the earlier film. Luckily, his father, who originally led the railroading against him, had a change of heart and pulled some strings to get Mike reinstated. Unluckily, it was as the test pilot of the E.S.S. Venture - an experimental new spaceship with a faster-than-light speed star drive they aren't sure will work safely.
The good news is the E.S.S. Venture doesn't blow up when the drive is activated. The bad news is that Captain Jackson overshoots the projected target of Jupiter and is stranded in an uncharted section of outer space outside of clear radio contact with Earth. Thus begins a space Odyssey (not THAT one!) as Captain Jackson encounters various strange new life forms as he tries to make his way back home to Earth.
This film provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Mike Jackson.
- Aliens Are Bastards: Several examples.
- The alien bartender gives Captain Jackson a particularly strong liquor to amuse himself by watching his reaction as he first drinks it.
- Yureena Null pretends to be a mechanic only to scrap The Venture and try to sell Captain Jackson into slavery.
- The Ominai are a race of religious fanatics out to take over the universe.
- Even A.D.A.M. is a Manipulative Bastard, who uses Captain Jackson for his own ends, granting that those ends are saving his people and the galaxy from The Ominai.
- Aliens Speaking English: As in Cave Women on Mars, there are no language barriers between the humanoid aliens and Captain Jackson.
- And the Adventure Continues: The movie ends with Captain Jackson going to track down Yureena Null and his father's star drive, having taken A.D.A.M.'s ship with his blessing and installing the voice modulator based on his mother on the ship.
- Bar Full of Aliens: Captain Jackson goes to one in search of help (and a drink) after his ship crashes.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: Captain Jackson has to use the hand of one of Yureena Null's henchmen to open the hatchway to the escape pods on the Aeon Eagle.
- But What About the Astronauts?: A.D.A.M. returned to Eh'don to discover that his creators had destroyed themselves in a nuclear war.
- The Captain: Captain Mike Jackson.
- The Collector: Captain Jackson is nearly sold to one of these, who apparently collects rare species.
- Court-martialed: What apparently happened to Mike Jackson after the events of Cave Women on Mars.
- It seems Rocket Command (and Commander Jackson in particular) didn't take it well when the first manned mission to Mars came back a man short because of an alien prophecy and someone (i.e. Captain Mike Jackson) had to take the blame for it.
- Credits Gag: No alien creatures of any kind were harmed in the making of this film. Except Michael Kaiser. He was unintentionally whacked on the head a couple of times. Sorry Michael.
- Creator Cameo: Christopher R. Mihm provides the voice of A.D.A.M. and has a cameo in the Bar Full of Aliens as the man in the bathrobe with the towel.
- Driven to Suicide: Only a last-minute save by A.D.A.M. stops Mike Jackson from flushing himself into space when he runs out of food and water.
- Drowning My Sorrows: As the movie opens, Mike Jackson is such a drunken wretch he tries to open a beer bottle with his teeth after his bottle opener falls out of his reach because he is too drunk to stand up and pick it up.
- Faster-Than-Light Travel: The E.S.S. Venture is powered by a FTL star drive.
- Later, Mike Jackson travels to Krondor in search of a similar technology.
- Fun with Acronyms: The robotic probe A.D.A.M. - Autonomous Data Acquisition Module.
- Heroic BSoD: Captain Jackson has one after several days in the escape pod, talking to the voice modulator from the E.S.S. Venture as if it were his mother and complaining about how everyone who ever loved him abandoned him after the events of Cave Women on Mars.
- Hologram: Index, the interface for the super-computer A.D.A.M. built to manage the world of Eh'don.
- Later, A.D.A.M. himself after his physical form is destroyed.
- Homage: To The '50s Science Fiction in general.
- A.D.A.M. seems to be a tribute to NOMAD from "The Changeling" episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series.
- Human Aliens: The people of planet Eh'don and whatever species Yureena Null is.
- LEGO Genetics: A.D.A.M. was able to reconstitute the people of Eh'don and made some improvements, removing the aggression that led to the species destroying themselves with a nuclear war. Unfortunately, this created a species that was entirely dependent on A.D.A.M. as their caretaker.
- Made a Slave: Captain Jackson is abducted by Yureena Null with the intention of selling him into slavery.
- Masochist's Meal: Captain Jackson describes the emergency rations he finds in his escape pod as having the consistency and taste of wet cardboard.
- Mr. Exposition: Gustav.Gustav: "Now, you look here, you drunk, miserable failure - I don't care if I've known you my entire life! I don't care if our dads are best friends!"
- My Greatest Failure: Captain Jackson blames himself for Lt. Elliot refusing to return to Earth far more than anyone else did after Cave Women on Mars and his own self-hatred for driving away his friends and loved ones.
- Nepotism: It is revealed that the only reason Mike Jackson was selected to lead the first mission to Mars in Cave Women on Mars is because his father was the Commander of the space program.
- Neural Implanting: A.D.A.M. uses a knowledge transfer device to implant the knowledge of how to deactivate the electro-netic sensor net on Krondor into Captain Jackson's brain.
- No Time to Explain: A.D.A.M. is incapable of speaking plainly to Captain Jackson.
- Oculothorax: The Oculons
- Perfect Pacifist People: The new race of Eh'donians, created by A.D.A.M.
- Reverse Polarity: A.D.A.M. tells Captain Jackson he will need to "reverse the polarity to the primary reactant chamber" at one point.
- Rubber-Forehead Aliens: All the aliens that aren't puppets or don't look like ordinary humans.
- Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Ominai. They survived the destruction of Eh'don by being the one group who refused to take sides in the nuclear war that destroyed the planet. They formed a colony on a barren world, where they survived, but became embittered and came to view themselves as the chosen ones destined to take over the universe in a genocidal holy war.
- Shout-Out: Several.
- Christopher R. Mihm's cameo in the Bar Full of Aliens seems to be a nod to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (man in a bathrobe and sleeping clothes, carrying a towel.)
- Yureena Null refers to the Bar Full of Aliens as "a wretched hive of scum and villany."
- Aliens that resemble the Bat Creature from Terror from Beneath the Earth and The Monster of Phantom Lake can be seen among the alien creatures in the Bar Full of Aliens.
- Captain Jackson's fighting-style involves a lot of moves borrowed from Captain Kirk.
- Yureena Null's ship is The Aeon Eagle - "one of only two ships to make the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs."
- Captain Jackson will tap his forehead and say "Think Think Think" like Disney's version of Winnie the Pooh when he needs to come up with a plan.
- The scene in which Captain Jackson waves at Yureena Null through the escape pod porthole as he escapes from her ship seems to be a nod to the similar scenes involving the escape pods in Spaceballs.
- A.D.A.M.'s original prime directive was to "explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and civilizations."
- A.D.A.M. makes reference to the forest moon of Krondor.
- This is also likely a nod to the forest moon of Endor, as Captain Jackson has to go there to deactivate an energy shield.
- The Oculon make noises like the Sand People in A New Hope.
- With spherical heads with antenna and broad bodies, the Oculon resemble the Ro-Men from Robot Monster.
- The Ominai technology resembles the Interocitor from This Island Earth.
- As A.D.A.M. attempts to explain why it would be bad for the Ominai to complete their teleportation technology, Captain Jackson says he is "fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing", in a nod to Ghostbusters (1984).
- A.D.A.M. returns the voice-modulator based on his mother "for luck."
- A.D.A.M. later intercepts a message from a band of smugglers on the fifth planet of the Ceti Alpha system.
- Space Pirates: Yureena Null and her crew.
- Starfish Aliens: An alien with a starfish shaped head and a single eye can be seen in the Bar Full of Aliens.
- Strange-Syntax Speaker: Yureena Null, yes? Nearly everything she says is phrased like a question, yes?
- Surveillance Drone: A.D.A.M. was originally one of these, meant to scout nearby worlds for intelligent life.
- Teleporters and Transporters: A.D.A.M.'s transit beam.
- To Be Continued: The movie ends with this, as Captain Jackson goes to track down Yureena Null.
- The 'Verse:
- Josh Craig reprises his role as Mike Jackson, five years after the events of Cave Women on Mars.
- Josh Craig also reprises the role of Mike Jackson's father, Commander Jackson, in voice-over.
- Mike Jackson's former best friend is revealed to be another astronaut named Gustav, who is the spitting image of Canoe Cop Sven from The Monster of Phantom Lake and It Came from Another World!.
- Gustav says his father and Professor Jackson from The Monster of Phantom Lake and It Came from Another World! are best friends.
- Mrs. Saint Marie-Jackson from It Came from Another World! and Terror from Beneath the Earth is confirmed to have died sometime between 1987 and 1992 and to have devoted her life to cleaning up Phantom Lake. Her dying wish was for her husband to try and reconcile with their son.
- By 1992, Phantom Lake is apparently clean enough to fish in, after having spawned multiple Muck Monster beasties in The '50s.
- Mike Jackson makes reference to having an ex-wife who left him. Presumably from the shame of his being drummed out of the service and all but disowned by his father.
- We Used to Be Friends: Gustav and Captain Mike Jackson. Apparently Gustav was jealous that Mike was selected to lead the first mission to Mars in Cave Women on Mars over him and the only reason Mike got the job was because of Nepotism.
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: According to Yureena Null, gold is one of the most common elements in the quadrant into which Captain Jackson traveled. This is why she laughs when Captain Jackson says the most valuable part of his ship is the gold in the couplings.
