Return from Witch Mountain

Plot

Tony and his sister Tia are in need of a vacation. Uncle Bené drops them off in their flying saucer at the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles, California, after which the siblings quickly become separated from each other. A man named Dr. Victor Gannon (Lee) and his assistant Letha Wedge (Davis) happen to see Tony using his powers to save Letha's nephew Sickle from certain death. Realizing that Tony has supernatural powers, Dr. Gannon drugs the boy with a tranquilizer shot and takes him back to their laboratory. There, Dr. Gannon successfully tests a new mind-control technology on him. Under its influence, Tony is completely hypnotized and does everything that his kidnappers want him to do, including stealing gold from a museum exhibit and stopping Tia from finding them. With Tony at his robotic bidding, Dr. Gannon hopes to achieve recognition within the scientific community and worldwide power, while Letha merely wants a return on her investment. A group of would-be tough boys whom she comes across, called the Earthquake Gang are chased by the goon goons, Tia telepathically gets rid of them.The gang of boys accept her into their gang and help look for her brother. They let her sleep in their secret hideout. She often gets many visions of where her brother is. First at the gold museum where Tony is controlled by a chip attached to his ear. He unstacks the gold but is chased by Mr. Yokomoto the truant officer who thinks Tony has to go to school and chases the doctor , aunt , nephew and Tony in his mini bus. Unsuccessfully Mr. Yokomoto destroyed public property and ends up losing his job. Next Tia uses her telepathy to trace Tony's hideout but is caught by Sickle and is under the influence of chloroform. She telepathically asks Alfred the goat who is in the house to find the Earthquake gang. They chase the goat back to the hideout. In the mean time Tony , Letha , Sickle and Victor drive to a Plutonium Plant as it is more expensive than gold. Tia traces their location and describes it to be a " Big round ball" One of the members assume the location to be another place and Tia is upset. They come across Mr. Yokomoto who tells them he lost his job and the only thing that works is the radio. The news given about the plutonium plant stresses on the word "molecular flow." Tia then asks Mr. Yokomoto to drive them to the location after she magically repairs the mini bus. After Victor and gang reach the site, he shuts down the plant's cooling system. In exchange to turn it on he requires 5 million dollars in cash. The people working at the plant make arrangements for money as soon as possible. Tia reaches in time where she and Tony battle to turn on the cooling system. Tia manages to turn it on but Victor commands Tony to kill his sister. In this course of time , she understands how he is been controlled and destroys the device. Tia explains what had happened to him. He makes Victor , Sickle and Letha go on to the ceiling with no way of getting down. Mr. Yokomoto drives the kids to the Rose Bowl Stadium and the Earthquake gang come along to say bye. Tony and Tia bid farewell to the kids after they board the flying saucer back to witch mountain.

Cast

Actors Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann appear in at least four films together—this one, the original 1975 Disney film Escape to Witch Mountain, and the television film Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell. Richards portrays the roadside waitress and Eisenmann portrays the Sheriff in a re-imagined remake of the original film, Race to Witch Mountain, released in March 2009.

Jack Soo (Mr. "Yo-Yo" Yokomoto) was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the autumn of 1978, several months after the film's release. Return from Witch Mountain would be his final movie appearance, as he died the following January.

The emergency voice heard over Yokomoto's van radio—announcing the problem at the plutonium plant—is that of Gary Owens.

Filming locations

The otherwise vacant lot, upon which the children's dilapidated hideout mansion stands, was at the Alameda Street railroad yard in California, where the Rochester House (a relic from 1880s) was waiting for restoration and relocation. The house was never restored and was ultimately demolished in 1979.

Scenes of Dr. Victor Gannon's mansion, the location of his laboratory, were filmed at Moby Castle on Durand Drive, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.

The tunnel scenes were filmed at the Fillmore & Western Railway in Fillmore, California constructing a faux tunnel structure. The faux tunnel still stands and can be seen from CA-126/Telegraph Road.

The gold-bar robbery sequence was filmed at the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park, Los Angeles. The building facing the Park's Rose Garden was used for exterior shots of the museum. The scene in which Yokomoto's van is overturned and breaks a fire-hydrant was filmed near the Sunset Boulevard bridge and Glendale Boulevard underpass intersection, in the Echo Park district.

Production

The franchise was continued in 2009 with the release of Race to Witch Mountain starring Dwayne Johnson and directed by Andy Fickman.

Media releases

Return from Witch Mountain was released on VHS on June 25, 1986. It was first released as a Special Edition DVD in Region 1 on September 2, 2003, re-released on DVD in a two-movie collection along with Escape to Witch Mountain on September 5, 2006, and re-released as part of the Walt Disney Family Classics line on March 10, 2009.

On October 13, 2015, Return from Witch Mountain was released on Blu-ray Disc as a Disney Movie Club exclusive title.