If a Tree Explodes in Space, Does it Make a Sound? Silent Running (1972)

Today I picked out this really old sci-fi movie called Silent Running. I'd never heard of it personally, but I've been told it's a pretty big deal as a classic in the sci-fi world. I was slightly curious to see what the special effects would be like pre-Star Wars, and the story sounded like an interesting take on the future. Hit the jump to find out if this "explosive" movie was a blast from the past, or just a dud in the dirt.


The story places us in a future where Earth can no longer support, or simply doesn't have the room, for forests and plant-life. As a way of preserving the last of Earth's plants, 3 massive spaceships are made with huge domes with various climates in each. The truth of the matter is that Humanity has simply progressed past needing plants or natural food, and these dome-ships are really not much more than a curio, or a keepsake. 8 years after the project is started, funds drop out of the venture and the orders come in to jettison the domes, detonate them and return home. One man objects to the final loss of the forest, and strikes back against those around him.

This man is Freeman Lowell. He hates the synthesized food that everyone else eats, and can't stand the fact that everywhere on the planet is the same warm temperature. Sure the Earth is without disease and hunger, and everyone has a job, but that doesn't make up for the loss of the beauty of the flowers and trees, and the taste and smell of real fruit grown from the soil. In an act of desperation brought on by possibly insanity, he murders the rest of the small crew, reprograms the robot drones, and hijacks the ship.

The forest dome-ships

Probably the greatest thing about this movie are the little robot drones that waddle around the ship. There are 3 in total, and how they move about and manipulate the things around them is just really charming, and dare I say it, cute. The effects on the ships aren't too bad either, even though they are showing their age. The movie really shows its age when the ship goes through the rings of Saturn and the effect is like they're flying through a disco themed hurricane with flashing coloured lights and high winds. I guess this was before they knew planetary rings were made of rocks and such.

Lowell teaches the drones to plant a tree.

The unfortunate part of this whole movie though, is that its story just isn't very good. Other than taking over the ship, which happens fairly early in the film, not much else happens. Lowell reprograms the robots a few times to teach them to play poker or help him plant a tree, but really there's not much going on. I suspected for a while that maybe the drones would turn on him, or something would go wrong with the ship, or maybe he'd go even more crazy. But none of this happens. He just hangs around and takes care of the plants and plays with the robots.

I really couldn't recommend this movie to anyone. It doesn't have much going for it, and I didn't even get into the music. They seem to use the exact same song over and over, and it's this terribly annoying hippy song which really doesn't fit the sci-fi atmosphere of the movie. Maybe you could watch this with some friends to try and mock it for laughs, but there isn't even much to offer for that either. I could see this being a good idea for a modern remake where it's more of a thriller or the robots become sentient or something. Until then, I wouldn't even bother with Silent Running.