Like many instalments of "The Disney Sunday Movie," "Exile" was all too obviously a pilot for a series (thus explaining the ending, as indicated by the other person to comment on this). And like the pilot of the plane in this TV movie, it crashed. (Ever since "Gilligan's Island," no one seems willing to try anything with even a slightly similar premise ever again - see also "The New People" in the late 1960s.)
"Exile" was another attempt by Patrick Hasburgh to shake off the "21 Jump Street" tag, but neither this nor the rightly short-lived "Sunset Beat" made his name away from Stephen J. Cannell (the latter is only notable for including a then unknown actor called George Clooney). In it, a group of teens and their teacher leave the US on the E.X.I.L.E. programme for a three month jaunt overseas, but the plane they've chartered to take them on the final leg has a disreputable pilot, and they wind up on an uncharted desert isle.
A complete bummer both intentionally and otherwise - not least thanks to the dialogue in Jonathan Lemkin's script ("Steve's dead, and Karen's borderline catatonic") - the movie's open ending and the lack of a series allows me to take it from there; I say they were rescued soon afterwards, thereby providing happy endings all round (except for Steve) - they got back home, and I didn't have to speculate on any further exploits of the Exilers. (Can Sarah Buxton pick 'em or what?)
"Exile" was another attempt by Patrick Hasburgh to shake off the "21 Jump Street" tag, but neither this nor the rightly short-lived "Sunset Beat" made his name away from Stephen J. Cannell (the latter is only notable for including a then unknown actor called George Clooney). In it, a group of teens and their teacher leave the US on the E.X.I.L.E. programme for a three month jaunt overseas, but the plane they've chartered to take them on the final leg has a disreputable pilot, and they wind up on an uncharted desert isle.
A complete bummer both intentionally and otherwise - not least thanks to the dialogue in Jonathan Lemkin's script ("Steve's dead, and Karen's borderline catatonic") - the movie's open ending and the lack of a series allows me to take it from there; I say they were rescued soon afterwards, thereby providing happy endings all round (except for Steve) - they got back home, and I didn't have to speculate on any further exploits of the Exilers. (Can Sarah Buxton pick 'em or what?)