I've just updated my LOVEFILM dvd rental list with a few space films and monster movies. I'm really looking forward to seeing 1972's SILENT RUNNING for the first time again in probably 30 years. When looking it up I was amazed how the robots HUEY, DEWEY AND LOUIE paved the way for R2D2 and the like in Star Wars seven years later. The ship, pictured above, is a huge 'space freighter' called the Valley Forge, a rather mundane name for such a huge spaceship. Again scale is difficult, it's certainly bigger than anything in the SWORD fleet I think and about the same size as the Event Horizon and the black ship in Lifeforce? The wikipeadia entry says it inspired a TV series called the Starlost? Never heard of it!
BTW I am having problems getting my Australian VHS video tape of 2001 Space Odyssey to play. Are they UK VCR compatible?
4 comments:
Hey! It's not a mundane name at all! "Valley Forge" was a battle from the American War of Independance!
Grif
I stand corrected!
Also, as noted in that Wikipedia entry, interior scenes were filmed aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge. And each of the space freighters in the film is named for a national park in the U.S. -- i.e., Yellowstone National Park, Sequoia National Park, etc. -- which hearkens back to the environmentalist message. So the name has three levels of patriotic significance for us Yanks.
If you never heard of The Starlost count yourself lucky! It's one of the most legendary debacles in SF history. It may have been "inspired" by Silent Running to the extent that Douglas Trumbull reused the geodesic dome idea in a different ship design, but that's it. A decent shot of the space ark from the show can be seen here. The Pixar film Wall-E has a much stronger connection with Silent Running.
No offence intended guys. I had no idea that the film had so much US significance. I will enjoy it even more now. Did Wall-E have hidden depths too besides the fabulous story unfolding on screen?
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