The film, intended as a pilot for a series on CBS, was written and directed by Tom Holland, who chose to be credited as "Alan Smithee" on the later extended home video release.

The film was broadcast as a television pilot on CBS from 10:45 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. (Eastern Time Zone) on Saturday, August 3, 1991, but was not picked up as a series.

Reviewer Eoin of theactionelite.com explained this difference, writing, "The length was doubled by padding it with deleted scenes (including Holland’s cameo as a rapist), and tedious montages were created utilizing every bit of alternate footage imaginable.

Holland was so disgusted by the extended version that he had his directorial credit switched to Alan Smithee – though many video boxes still touted him as the director.

"[2] In a critical review of the film, David Bushman of Variety wrote, "unfortunately, it can't resist the temptation to be cute and sentimental, and thus it often loses momentum.