Silent Running

1972. The brilliant collaborator of 2001, a Space Odyssey, Douglas Trumbull takes off into a space adventure, his first film. 

Silent Running is a strange science-fiction movie, between an avant-garde film about the environment (one of the first) and a hippy Robinson Crusoe's adventure. With time, this low budget film -1 million $- has become a well-loved classic among science-fiction fans. 

In it, we find what has since become typical of the genre : shots of spaceships, robots (played by legless cripples) planets, and the depth of a private hearing at the ends of the universe. 

Douglas Trumbull remembers the special effects of 2001 while showing space forest guard Freeman (!) Lowell's loneliness, obsessed with what today we coulds call his "ecological" ideal. 

(To the left of the character, fruit and vegetables from the domes where the last natural specimen grow.)

Then a zoom out showing the hero's insigifiance in the immensity of the deserted universe. 

(Valley Forge... does this name sound familiar ? It's the name of a WWII aircraft carrier, used in the movie for some scenes.)

We can also find scenes of the spaceship's journey. We can see Saturn, which was intially supposed to appear in 2001.

Silent Running is in line with 2001 but develops a totally new subject. 

Thanks to the illusion created by special effects and a new narrative, space finds its depth.