David Freeman

David Freeman is a time traveling 12 year old boy and the protagonist in the movie Flight of the Navigator.

Background
David Scott Freeman was born in 1966 and was the eldest son of William and Helen Freeman. He enjoyed his usual routine of playing frisbee with his dog Bruiser whom he trains for the Frisbee Championship, school and hanging out with his friends. His brother Jeff was born when David was four and he always enjoyed teasing his elder brother which resulted in a lot of quarreling to which his parents always got caught inbetween.

Personality
At the beginning of the film, David is shown to be an average boy who resents the insults by his 8 year old brother of Bruiser never being able to catch a frisbee and quite fierce too when he gives Jeff a Noogie for telling his parents that he has a crush. He is also very shy around girls, especially when he sees a school friend Jennifer and has to ask his father's advice. During his strange experience of being brought back eight years into the future, he is at first afraid and scared, but gradually he starts being braver after finding out what really happened to him, shows determination and towards the end is grateful to be back in his own time with his parents and even shows forgiveness towards his younger brother.

Role in the Film
It is July 4, 1978 and David enters Bruiser in a Dog Frisbee competition where he loses. Jeff rudely remarks that Bruiser will never learn to catch a frisbee, but his older brother is certain that he will eventually. The family decide to have some burgers for dinner to celebrate. After dropping Jeff off at the Johnsons' house, they goes home with David quietly saying hello to a friend. He asks his father for advice so he tells him that you have to take a chance using the term "If you want to learn to swim, you just have to jump in the water."

Later while David is feeding Bruiser, Mrs. Freeman asks David to go to the woods to pick up Jeff, so he goes taking Bruiser with him. While looking for his brother, he gets separated from Bruiser and Jeff gives him a fright by jumping out of a tree. Furious, David tries to chase him but hears Bruiser barking in the distance. He finds him near a huge ravine, as he leans over to take a closer look, he loses his balance and falls to the ground below, knocking himself unconscious. He awakes after what seems like a few moments and after climbing out of the ravine, returns home calling to Bruiser whom he thinks is still there. He goes to his house and is amazed to see an elderly woman answer the door, he rushes inside finding everything different with even his room being changed to a study with an elderly man inside who assures him that no one will hurt him and asks for his name and address. David finally breaks down and cries asking for his parents.

He is escorted to the Police Station where the Police try to find out who David is, he answers all their questions and the Police are amazed that he says it is the year 1978 and Jimmy Carter is still President of the USA. They take him to a house where the Freemans are now staying and is surprised to find that his parents have aged with even Bruiser looking different. It is all too much for him and he faints.

Later he wakes up in a hospital bed with David asking what is happening, he is even more astonished to see his brother Jeff has aged as well to a 16 year old. Jeff tells David that it is now the year 1986 and he should be now 20 years old. His brother shows him a lost and found flyer of David stating his name, age and every other description. Jeff continues to tell him what happened after he went missing. His parents made him stick the flyer on every telephone pole and tree every Saturday and refused to believe that he was dead. Mr. Freeman comes in and tells a scared David that he has to stay in the hospital because they need to find out where he had been for the last eight years and tests would be conducted to help him remember. David keeps hearing someone calling him and at first thinks he's dreaming. Next Morning he is talking to a nurse about what happened to him that very night, he recalls everything, but the doctors and his family see that his brain is giving visual patterns of an unusual alien intelligence.

As the Freemans are getting ready to go back home, they are visited by the lead NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientist Dr. Faraday who had captured a ship very similar to the one in David's thoughts and had noticed the images from his head at the lab. He asks the boy to help him sort out this mystery, which he at first refuses, but after hearing that Faraday only needs 48 hours to give him the truth of where he has been for the past eight years, why he can't remember, the unusual brain activity and why he hasn't aged. David eventually agrees and goes with Faraday to NASA's main headquarters where David hears the voice calling him again.

Faraday shows David his room filled with lots of toys and gives him a special exclusive NASA cap, then he locks him in with the control operated door. He turns on the TV and is surprised by the arrival of a robot named RALF (Robotic Assistant Label Facilitater) and it's controller Carolyn McAdams, they become good friends with David amazed and disappointed that his favourite show Starsky and Hutch was cancelled, they now show music videos and the cokes are now several types.

Next Morning, David calls his family in Faraday's office. Mr. Freeman tells him that they are sorting out his new room and miss him greatly. Mrs. Freeman reminds Faraday of his promise that David would return home in 48 hours.

In a section of the facility, David is wired up to a computer and is asked several questions about what happened on the night of his fall, his brain reveals strange alien data and star charts leading to a strange planet called Phaelon, 560 light-years away from Earth. He was taken away to the planet and was travelling there beyond the speed of light leaving him only 4.4 hours on Phaelon while eight years passed on Earth which is the reason why he never aged. It is all too much for David, especially when the computers show answers to things he never even said. He frees himself from the equipment and runs off. Faraday decides that 48 hours is not going to be enough time to get the information he needs and puts David down for a whole week.

Later Carolyn comes in and tells David about Faraday's decision and he is furious about even more time away from his family. He asks his friend to help him escape and tell his parents about Faraday's decision. She winks in agreement. knowing that the room has one way glass with guards watching on the other side.

Later that night, David hears the voice again and decides to investigate, RALF comes in and after getting dressed and with his stuff ready, he goes inside the robot that takes him to the hanger where an unusual ship is being held. As he moves towards it, the back of the ship changes shape into steps for him to climb up on. He enters and sees something unusual in the center of the ship, as he is looking, a chair rises from the floor and the unusual thing reveals himself to be an artificial intelligence called Trimaxium Drone Ship (Nicknamed "Max" by David) and that David is the Navigator to help him complete his mission. Meanwhile the NASA guards find out that David has escaped and at once go the area where the ship is kept. David decides that now is the time to leave and orders Max to leave the area. After breaking from the restraints and laser blasting the door open, David then orders Max to take him 20 miles from their destination, but Max misunderstands the order for going up in the air and results in David almost hitting the ceiling of the ship.

Max reaccounts for his mistake by taking then back down and shows him the first class manoeuver where the ship changes shape and goes at a great speed. After arriving in their destination, Max tells him his mission was to take unusual creatures from other planets for study on Phaelon and on Earth he chose David. His sensors had discovered that humans only use 10% of their brain so he experimented on David's brain and filled it with Phaeloen information, including star charts. David asks why he was returned to Earth eight years into the future and Max answers that even though he returns his specimens back to the exact time that he collected them, David's body was too fragile to be taken back through time. After he returned David, he crashed the ship into some Electrical Pylons and his star charts were erased so he needs the ones in David's head to complete his mission. David agrees only if Max takes him back to his family. So they set off in the direction of his home. However when he asks Max to take them somewhere where they can't them, he takes them straight under the ocean. Max begins work on his study of creatures, one of them nearly takes off David's head resulting on his NASA cap being destroyed, he then befriends a Puckmaren from the planet El Pukamya.

Max is ready to scan David's brain to give the star charts. David at first refuses when he hears that Max has never done it before and fears he would fry his brain, but Max assures him that he will be safe and begins the scan resulting in him also absorbing some other things from David's brain including insults from Jeff giving him the ability to feel and express emotions, making him more human-like in behavior, but also more erratic, stubborn, and argumentative.

The ship continues to fly on, unaware that NASA is watching and tracking them down. After a while David thinks that Max is taking them in the wrong direction and they argue resulting in David saying that if he was controlling the ship, they would be home by now, so Max shuts down leaving the ship to fall from the air. He urges David to take up his title as Navigator. David finally finds the manual controls and takes over. He teaches Max about music and then the ship lands at a gas station. He asks the manager if he could borrow some change to call his family. He silently gives him some money, amazed at the unusual ship parked outside the station.

David uses the pay phone to contact home. Jeff answers and he asks him for signal that he can see from the air so he can find their new house without letting the NASA people know he's here who has now kept the family under house arrest after finding out that David was returning home and Carolyn had told them what was happening. Jeff uses David's fireworks to signal the ship and David sees it and precedes to return home, but suddenly realises that his friends would now all be 20 years old with him still being 12.

The ship lands at the house and David steps down out of the ship. He sees the NASA people waiting for him telling everyone that David may be in danger from being associated with an unidentified alien intelligence and everyone is urging him to come away from the ship. David suddenly decides that he no longer belongs in 1986 and if he stays, NASA will continuously use him for more experiments. After saying goodbye to his family, he decides to travel back to his own time with Max.

Even though Max warns him that travelling through time with him may result in vapourisation, David's mind is made up. After saying goodbye to Max and wished luck, Max begins the time travel. Lightning and flashes appear around the ship as it goes though time.

David wakes up back in the ravine where he fell. He is unharmed and after climbing out, goes back to the house. Just as he is about to open the door, he sees all his family in a speedboat ready to celebrate the Fourth of July. He realises that he is back in 1978 and everything is back the way he left it before his disappearance. He gets in the boat and is so happy to see his family again, he even forgives Jeff for scaring him earlier much to everyone's amazement. He later discovers that he has retained one memento from his experience: the Puckmaren that he finds in his backpack. The only other ones to know of this is Bruiser and Jeff who agrees to keep it a secret. As David looks up into the sky, he sees the fireworks and the ship flying through the sky with Max saying: "See ya later, Navigator!" David continues to look up and smiles.