In 1980, an assistant in the Department of Defense, Warren Lasky, is assigned by his mysterious chief Richard Tideman to visit the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz commanded by Capt. Matthew Yelland as an observer of the routines. Lasky learns that Commander Air Group (CAG) Richard T. Owens has a great knowledge of history. Out of the blue, the vessel faces a weird storm and they find they have traveled back in time to the eve of the attack of Pearl Harbor on 06 December 1941. When the two Japanese Zeros attack the motorboat of Senator Samuel Chapman, the crew of the Nimitz rescues the senator and his assistant Laurel Scott. But Lasky soon learns the senator had disappeared on that day and Capt. Matthew Yelland is planning to attack the Japanese. Will these actions create a time paradox? (fonte: Imdb)

Un dramma di fantascienza centrato sul viaggio di ritorno di Nimitz, la più grande portaerei nucleare della US Navy nel Pacifico nel 1980. A causa di una misteriosa tempesta elettrica, i membri dell'equipaggio scoprirono che la loro nave tornò indietro di 40 anni al 6 dicembre 1941, alcuni Ore prima dell'attacco giapponese a Pearl Harbor. Mentre i giapponesi avanzano rapidamente verso le Hawaii, il capitano Douglas Douglas, un esperto del Dipartimento della Difesa (Martin Sheen), comandante dell'Air Force (James Pontino) e un membro del senato (Charles Dorning) sono costretti a scegliere tra due opzioni: Pearl Harbor o un contrattacco che cambierebbe la storia per sempre. Il film è stato girato sulla vera portaerei Nimitz in collaborazione con la Marina e l'equipaggio degli Stati Uniti durante la crociera estiva del 1979 nell'Oceano Atlantico.

An unremarkable time-travel film about a modern US Navy aircraft carrier that gets thrown back in time to the eve of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Should they attempt to stop the Japanese attack (which one modern carrier could fairly easily do) or should they let history take its course? The question becomes moot as just before they launch the attack, they are thrown back into the future (present day).

The premise of the plot is more interesting than the execution of the story, and copping out by not allowing the modern navy to intervene leaves the viewer wondering what the point of the film was. (In fact, I understand that it was the pilot for a tv series that never got made.) Well, it makes a nice recruiting film for the US Navy, with lots of good carrier and F-14 Tomcat action. One rather feels that the sheer sexiness of the aircraft carrier footage influenced the commissioning of 'Top Gun' a few years later (though this is not generally admitted); I can imagine a studio executive saying "Love the flying, but lose the time travel angle!" ( )