HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Full disclosure - I am a retro Nickelodeon superfan. From Pinwheel to You Can't Do That on Television (the show that introduced the world to 'green slime'), I am an encyclopedia about the network's early years. That's also true about "Double Dare," the game show that introduced me to this strange place called "Space Camp."
"It's a super space adventure," announcer Harvey would yell amid the cheering throngs of children. "Launch yourself into the future at the real Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama!"
Space Camp and Nickelodeon had a tight relationship as both were growing up in the 1980s. The admission-for-two vacation to Tranquility Base was a grand prize for "Double Dare," "Finders Keepers," and other Nickelodeon programs through its infancy, sending dozens of children onto a date with space destiny.
"Double Dare" premiered in 1986, the same year as another major (for Huntsville) production - "SpaceCamp," the motion picture, starring Kate Capshaw, Tom Skerritt, and a very young Joaquin Phoenix. "Lost" fan favorite Terry O'Quinn portrayed the launch director in the film.
The City of Huntsville posted a few behind the scenes photos from the filming of the movie on the upcoming occasion of its 37th anniversary.
"The young attendees of a space camp find themselves in space for real when their shuttle is accidentally launched into orbit," the Internet Movie Database says of the film. Critics and viewers have been middling in their critique of the fantasy movie - Rotten Tomatoes, as of this writing, holds a 46-to-50% split in favorable reviews.
Despite the opinions, both the movie and the cable channel's game shows helped put the Space & Rocket Center in the minds of impressionable and curious children nationwide, and no doubt helped inspire a love of space in more than a few.
Oh, by the way - when "Double Dare" was rebooted by Nickelodeon in 2018, a trip to Space Camp was included among the show's many "fabulous grand prizes."
