The Boy in the Plastic Bubble
The Boy In the Plastic Bubble is a 1976 made-for-TV movie inspired by the lives of David Vetter and Ted DeVita, who had to live in containers that protected them from all pathogens, since they lacked effective immune systems, a result of a congenital immune deficiency called SCID (X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome). It stars John Travolta, Glynnis O'Connor, Diana Hyland, and Robert Reed, and it was produced by Aaron Spelling. Historic astronaut Buzz Aldrin makes a special appearance in this feature.
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble is arguably one of the most influential and best-remembered made-for-TV movies of the 1970s. A quarter century later, its premise was satirized in the feature film Bubble Boy.
This Emmy-award winning made-for-TV movie first aired on November 12, 1976, on the ABC television network.
Plot summary
Template:Spoiler The film centers on Tod Lubitch, who was born without immunity. This means that contact with unfiltered air may kill him, so he must live out his life in incubator conditions. He lives with his parents, since they decided to move him from the hospital where he was being kept as a boy. He is constricted to staying in his room all his life, where he eats, learns, reads and exercises, which is protected from the outside world by various coverings. As he grows up, he wishes to see more of the outside world, and meet regular people his age. He is enrolled at the local school after being equipped with suitable protective clothing, similar in style to a cosmonaut's suit. He falls in love with his next door neighbor, Gina Briggs, and he must decide between following his heart and facing near-certain death, or remaining in his protective bubble forever. In the end, after having a discussion with his doctor who tells him he has built up some immunities which may possibly be enough to survive the real world, he steps outside his house, unprotected, and Gina and he ride off on her horse.
Accuracy & Criticism
The "Bubble Boy" who inspired this film, David Vetter, had himself an opportunity to watch this film in videotape, and noted how unsterile was Tod's use of the spacesuit. "David laughed at the idea that his character could simply wear the space suit back into the isolator without contaminating the bubble." [1]
Main cast
- John Travolta - Tod Lubitch
- Diana Hyland - Mickey Lubitch
- Robert Reed - Johnny Lubitch
- Ralph Bellamy - Dr. Ernest Gunther
- Glynnis O'Connor - Gina Biggs
See also
- Boy in the bubble
- "The Bubble Boy", an episode of Seinfeld.
External links
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