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From: gordonl@microsoft.UUCP (Gordon Letwin)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Silent running - good and bad
Message-ID: <8741@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 16-Apr-85 13:32:11 EST
Article-I.D.: microsof.8741
Posted: Tue Apr 16 13:32:11 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Apr-85 03:37:18 EST
Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Lines: 34

I read with interest the folks who said how much they liked the
film "Silent Running", and Mark Leeper's comments on how poorly
done and inconsistent it was.  I've always agreed with both
viewpoints.

Silent Running is a terrible "ecology" film, since as Mark points
out they simply state, in a short scene, that the purpose of
the flora and fauna is simply aesthetic and that Earth is getting
along just fine without them.  This is, of course, a key fallacy
held by a lot of folks, a fallacy which will probably be fatal
to nearly all of us.  A favorite quote (I forget the author),
"The last animal on earth to become extinct will not be man."

Further inconsistencys... if these are "greenhouse" domes what are
they doing out by Saturn where the solar flux is so low?  If the
domes can be made self sufficient (as they were - it seemed trivial)
then why bother to tie up the freighters?  Why not just let the
domes orbit freely?  No need to blow them up, they could remain.
I think the analogy here was to an ocean vessel - you must be tied
to the freighter to survive.  Regardless of the support needs of the
domes, they don't need the engines and instrumentation of a space
vessel attached to them all the time.

In spite of the film being (in some ways) stupid, inconsistent, and
propagating the mistake that supports most of the ecological damage
done on earth, I still found it to be an excellent movie.  I guess
that there's no accounting for some people's tastes...

I especially liked the scene early on where the camera pans pack
from Dern (while he's at the window) to show the ships suspended
in space...

	gordon letwin
	microsoft