KOOKOON: THE REHASH

COCOON: THE RETURN (1988)
dir: Daniel Petrie

KOOKOON: THE REHASH
#287, June 1989
w:Dick DeBartolo
a: Jack Davis

Sequel to the movie Cocoon (see previous post). Everybody that went ito the planet Antares earlier comes back to earth to rescue the life forms they didn't get to the first time around. About half the film is about the escapades of the humans seeing friends and family. The parody doesn't get into that much, since they only have four pages, putting their story arcs into the introductions in the splash panel. Probably just as well because when you're twelve you just want to see the science fiction stuff.

Missing from the parody is the plotline where they get their friend Bernie (Jack Gilford) to get over his dead wife and fix him up with the woman who runs the hotel they're all staying at (Elaine Stritch).

They all come back to see Bernie but don't tell him they're only there for a few days. Ben (Wilford Brimley) tells his grandson (Barrett Oliver) he's coming back through the TV even though the mother (Linda Harrison) doesn't believe him. Jack (Steve Guttenberg), who owns the boat, is now giving tours and selling knick-knacks, and helps the aliens when they return. His romance with Kitty (Tahnee Welch) continues. Meanwhile, Ben teaches his grandson how to hit a ball. One of the cocoons they're trying to rescue is taken by a local maritime institute for study, and they discover a body inside.

Alma (Jessica Tandy) passes the playground of a daycare center, and heals a bruised child with her alien powers, then does so well with all the children there she's offered and considers a job there. Young'uns give the old men a hard time so the men challenge them to a basketball game and win. Jack and Kitty go on a proper date and she loses control at the restaurant in a sequel to the alien sex scene from the previous movie.

Alma is hit by a car while while working at the daycare center and is unconscious in the hospital. Her husband Joe (Hume Cronyn) hasn't told her that his leukemia has gone into remission since he's become mortal again. Since he will die soon anyway, he gives his life through his healing power to save hers. They all sneak into the institute to get the body that was taken from them before they have to go back into space.

The staff knows something's going on but a sympathetic doctor (Courteney Cox) lets them escape. Brian Dennehy's character shows up at the end.

In the parody, Ben his wife go back, though in the movie they stay behind so they can see their grandson grow. Art and Bess (Gwen Verdon) go back because she has become pregnant and they want their child to live forever like them.