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Silent Running (1972)
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 8:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud, isn't this the premise of the TNT series "The Last Ship"? I can't say for sure, as I have never watched the show.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Happily, sir, it really isn't. Very Happy

I haven't seen that series either, so I was careful to do my homework by reading the Wikipedia summary of The Last Ship's premise and coming up with something much different. Here's how Wikipedia describes that show.
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After a global viral pandemic wipes out over 80% of the world's population, the crew (consisting of 218 people) of a lone unaffected U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the fictional USS Nathan James (DDG-151), must try to find a cure, stop the virus, and save humanity.
________________________________

Here's a summary of my concept's premise.
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A global viral pandemic kills millions of people before a cure is found (which, fortunately, happens fairly quickly), but millions more will die if the uninfected population isn't kept away from the infected people, and if the cure isn’t rushed to the areas which need it most.

A multinational fleet of ships must work together with the land-based medical teams to distribute the cure to coastal areas, but the crewmen must limit their contact with the people on land. I haven't figure out exactly why yet, but it's important to the concept. And yet the crewmen must go ashore to provide support for the land-based medical personnel, due to the breakdown of law and order.

There's another aspect of the premise I thought of yesterday, but I was kinda hoping somebody other than me would suggest it. However, I can't resist sharing it now, just to show exactly HOW different my idea is from The Last Ship.

It occurred to me that not only would there be hostile forces on land working against the organized efforts to combat the epidemic, there would also be hostile forces at sea!

In a words . . . pirates. Shocked

The ships in the multinational fleet would have to deal with groups like the Somalian pirates who prey on cargo ships in the Indian Ocean. Like the marauders on land who try to steal shipments of the cure, these pirates would attack and rob the ships that are part of the humanitarian efforts to distribute the cure to areas that need it.

What really got me excited was when I first thought of the idea that some of these pirates could actually be rogue military ships from various countries (usually not America, but the series might use that idea in an episode).

A military ship could deceive the good guys when they encounter them at sea, acting friendly at first to bring the ships close together, and then threatening to turn their weapons on them it they didn't surrender their cargo.

Cool idea, eh? Cool

And let's not forget the worst kind of ship to turn rogue would be — submarines!

For a sub it would easy to steal a ship's cargo. Simply radio them to say they must dump their cargo overboard and leave . . . or they'll be torpedoed. (We'll explain that the cargo containers are designed to float, of course.) Once the ship is miles away, the sub surfaces and takes as much of the medicine as can be stored on the sub, leaving the rest.

That makes these guys doubly evil, because they don't even take ALL the medicine and sell it somewhere, they leave some of it to sink after the containers are breached! Sad

I think at least one episode about a rogue sub would be exciting!

At first I considered the idea that the rrogue sub would be Chinese or North Korean, but then I decided a Russian sub would be best, an old decommissioned one whose crew decides to go into business for themselves because the plague has caused the Russian economy to collapse.






The exciting climax of this episode would involve the heroic intervention of another Russian sub whose captain wants to avenge the insult to Russian honor caused by the rogue sub.





This would be a good way to illustrate the way the navies of various nations who used to be adversaries are now working together for the common good.

Anyway, I hope this answers your question, David. D

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Mar 05, 2022 2:29 pm; edited 5 times in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Terrific premise for your sci~fi show. Wish Hollywood would produce it for real.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Thanks! If you hadn't gotten me thinking about it again today I wouldn't have come up the new ideas, like the Russian subs battling it out, with USS Mobile Bay following the whole thing on sonar and trying to help out.

Did I mention that above? No, by gum, it just now came to me. Dang, Pow, you did it again. Laughing

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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A few years back on the Replica Props Forum we had a discussion on "Silent Running". People brought up that the Earth could not survive without the forests. My view is that you have to accept that a movie's universe is going to be different from the real world, and you have to accept that universe. As William Goldman wrote, there is a difference between real, real, and movie real.

In "Silent Running" there is thriving interplanetary commerce, as evidenced by the fleet of HUGE freighters. Freeman Lowell's complaint isn't that things are bad, but rather that things are boring. They have established planetary climate control, he says that the temperature is a constant 72 degrees (I think that is the temperate). Everyone has plenty to eat, even though it is synthetic. Basically Earth is a Utopia, and Utopia's are boring. There is no need, no adversity, no strife, or the need to strive. And Utopia's are hell for a man like Freeman Lowell. His shipmates are an example of Earth's population, they are content and happy with the situation, uncomprehending of Lowell's unhappiness. They just want to go back to doing cargo runs.

Unfortunately, they didn't realize that Freeman Lowell wasn't just odd, he was a raging psychopath. A fatal mistake.

I haven't seen the movie in years, so I don't remember if they gave a specific reason for removing the forests, but they at least hinted at one. To me the removal and destruction of forest, indicates a need for space. This indicates to me, an increase of population, a need for living space and commerce. But no overpopulation is mention in the movie. But if people aren't crowded, and there is plenty for all, it wouldn't matter to the people. The situation doesn't mean that there is no foliage on Earth. There will be parks, houses will have lawns and gardens. There will be green spaces, just no great forests.

The little six-wheeled cars were built by Douglas Trumbull's Father. The actor wearing the crash helmet is not the actor playing the character, he was afraid of the cars, and with good reason. The cars were disassembled after filming, as they were considered too dangerous, as they were easy to tip over at high speed.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

David, that is an impressive defense of this movie! If you were my defense attorney after I'd shot somebody in Times Square, I'll bet I'd not only be acquitted, I could still get elected president! Laughing

You did so well, in fact, that I can't even argue that science fiction is not supposed to violate the laws of science and then excuse it by saying the "movie's universe is different from the real world", because you fortified your defense with sound reasons why, even in the real world, the Earth could do without forest under the global circumstances you described.

The next time I watch the DVD-R that the late Randy Everett generously gave me of this movie, I'll enjoy it more because I won't be bothered by what I've always perceived as serious flaws in the premise. You plugged the plot holes just as securely as that little Dutch boy did with his thumb when the dikes started leaking! Very Happy

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 4:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Keep in mind that this film was right in the middle of the post Rachael Carson Environmental Crisis movement stressing the importance of trees to our biosphere.

The film really didn't make much sense unless you back into it all of Pow's suppositions (all of which are great and very logical by the way!)

I think you have to assume that the untold backstories are in effect and look at the movie as a story of one man's (Lowell's) experiences in that environment.

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ralfy
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"1971 – 'Silent Running' Drones – Doug Trumbull, Don Trumbull, Paul Kraus & James Dow (American)"

Quote:
Drone #01 [Dewey} (Grey) was manned by Mark Persons.

Drone #02 [Huey] (Orange) had 2 different actors/amputees at different times. Most likely distinguished by the slightly different bases employed by each. Steve Brown was first and had a narrowed base most of the time. Chery Spark's has a stepped protrusion. Both were long cases when compared to the others. It appears as if Cheryl replaced Steve sometime through the filming.

Drone #03 [Louie] was manned by Larry Whisenhunt, aged 16.

"We Blew It? Douglas Trumbull’s ‘Silent Running’ Took the Counter-Culture Legacy of ‘Easy Rider’ As a Paean to the Planet"

http://cinephiliabeyond.org/silent-running/


Quote:
After the success of Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider head/road trip movie in 1972, Universal Studios executive Ned Tanen was keen to capitalize on the counter-culture demographic, and so gave five directors a shot to make a full-length feature on one million dollars, with little to no studio interference, and final cut. The fruits of the experiment were Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie (1971), Peter Fonda’s The Hired Hand (1971), Milos Forman’s Taking Off (1971), and George Lucas’ breakthrough artistic and financial success of the bunch, American Graffiti (1973). Within this grouping a young SFX pioneer and aspiring film-maker grabbed his chance. Douglas Trumbull, after a fruitful collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, was 29 when he chose to write and direct another science fiction film. Only rather than a grandiose meditation on “life, the universe and everything,” to paraphrase The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Silent Running is a more heartfelt parable on man’s destructive and problematic relationship with the natural resources of Mother Earth, which has survived in the hearts and minds of many who have seen it as a cult favorite, and one of several templates for Duncan Jones’ own cult hit, Moon (2009). “We’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced that SF should be frivolous, for teenage boys,” Jones said in the press kit at the time of Moon‘s release. “We’re told that the old films, the Outlands and Silent Runnings, were too plaintive, too whiney. I think that’s ridiculous.” In Silent Running, Bruce Dern as space botanist Freeman Lowell, together with his robotic drones, disobeys destruction orders and hides out, in “silent running” mode on the spaceship Valley Forge with the last remaining forest, maintained in a geodesic-dome. The opening close-up of a snail crawling along a plant’s leaf to the lyrical, flower-powered scoring of Peter Schickele could be seen as a meta-commentary on the grand, portentous opening of 2001—Thus crept Helix Aspersa.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Silent Running" Factoids.

Director & FX legend Douglas Trumbull began contemplating the idea for SR while working on the classic Stanley Kubrick sf film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

He wanted to not only say something about the future; he wanted to remove the sterility & mechanization that humans became in the 2001 movie.

He felt that one hundred years from now people weren't gonna be much different than they are nowadays.

"People are still gonna be funky."

"Astronauts aren't automatons, emotionless."

I recall reading that J. Michael Straczynski said that when he created his marvelous sf TV show "Babylon 5" that he was aiming to depict humans as they are. He felt people were full of flaws and contradictions and that they will bring all of that out into space exploration.

So, I'm guessing this was his reaction to Gene Roddenberry's creation of perfect people when he came up with "Star Trek: TOS."

I respectfully disagree with Trumbull, Rodenberry, and Straczynski . . . at least to some degree.

We are seeing people change in society with the access to computers & cell phones, aren't we?

A generation of children who've grown up with these awesome tools have changed. At least some have.

They can be socially isolated and therefore have become socially inept — if not downright rude.

Attention spans have reduced drastically.

I think that Kubrick might have been closer to what some humans will be like in the future in his iconic 2001 film. They'll be more cold, aloof, and analytical.

Hours and hours spent alone with technology can reduce caring and empathy with some individuals.

There are those who rate their pc & phones as being more important than the family and friends in their lives.

No, I don't think we'll see Roddenberry's perfect people in the far future. I also do not believe humans will have changed as little as Straczynski or Trumbull envision.

I think we'll see that technological access will alter humans, perhaps in ways we cannot imagine.

Filming on board the Naval ship the Valley Forge was no easy task for the production.

Nothing worked on the vessel. The production had to make sure that there was running water, electricity, lighting, wiring, TV monitors, videotape machines, and telephones.

Modern furniture had to be provided for eight of the sets, including an operating room.

Compartments & passages were revamped, modernized and painted.

On board the Valley Forge various ship compartments became business offices, dressing rooms, film screening and editing room, an FX workshop.

The cafeteria would feed a hundred people.

One of the ship's compartments served as a classroom for the teenage actors who inhabited the robotic suits.

The double amputees who worked inside those robots were: Larry Whisenhunt (16), Steve Brown (15), Mark Persons (20), and Cheryl Sparks (17).

In an interview with Cheryl she said that activities she enjoyed were horseback riding, swimming, surfing, and water skiing.

Cheryl also said that being inside the robots was actually comfortable but it could become awkward when walking in them.

The robot drones presented a problem with their manipulator arms.

Radio-control for the arms operated fine in the workshop. Once on the ship's set the metal bulkheads would interfere with the signal.

Next, a pneumatic system was tried but that did not work well either.

Finally a mechanical system for the drone arms was created that worked okay but hardly perfect.

This required many reshoots and editing with scenes showing the drone arms moving.

Some scenes even had Doug Trumbull operating the metal arm from off screen with the camera doing only a closeup of the manipulator arm.

Doug's dad called him during the shooting of the movie and told Doug that he had just designed a fantastic transmission.

Doug then decided that they could place it in some ATVs that Doug and his crew would create specifically for the movie. So the ATV racing scene in the ship's hanger deck came about due to those transmissions.

Star of "SR" Bruce Dern is a dedicated runner. Whenever he had downtime during shooting he would run.

At first he did his running on the nearby Naval Base. However, he said that with his long hair and beard stubble that got the attention of the military police.

Afterwards he decided that he would take some chalk and mark off a 1/4 mile of the Valley Forge's flight deck and he'd do his running there from now on.

Some of the teen actors were asked if they felt that they were being used or taken advantage of by working inside the drones according to Bruce Dern.

The teens said not at all. They were enjoying the experience and getting paid for it.

One even retorted, what am I supposed to be doing? Playing baseball with you; and I'll be third base?

Stock footage would be used of the space freighters on an episode of the "Battlestar Galactica" sf TV series.

Doug Trumbull would work with another domed spaceship when he created the ark for Harlan Ellison's sf TV show "The Starlost."
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

With all due respect, Mike — your comments below are both right, and wrong. (And it pains me to say it, because I wish you were right!)
Shocked

Pow wrote:
I respectfully disagree with Trumbull, Rodenberry, and Straczynski . . . at least to some degree.

We are seeing people change in society with the access to computers & cell phones, aren't we?

A generation of children who've grown up with these awesome tools have changed. At least some have.

They can be socially isolated and therefore have become socially inept — if not downright rude.

Attention spans have reduced drastically.

There's no doubt that some of what you said is true, Mike — but the method of today's social communication is less face-to-face than it is screen-to-screen! These people want to be constantly in communication with their friends, but they haven't abandoned face-to-face interaction!

They've just eliminated the periods when they AREN'T in communications with them. Sadly, however, they've eliminated the time when their aren't alone with . . . themselves. Sad

We've created a generation who can avoid introspection — people who never have to face their own mistakes. These young individuals can dodge those important moments when they face the regrets of what they've said and done — and must decide how they can make up for their own bad decisions.

Kubrick's astronauts withdrew from society because they neither wanted it or needed it. They were supremely comfortable with themselves.

Today's individuals deliberately immerse themselves in society because the can't face their own short comings.

The "happy medium" is the society we grew up in — the one in which we had fewer choices to entertain ourselves. Sometime we had to turn off the TV and talk to our family members . . . or listen to music . . . or read a book
.

Pow wrote:
I think that Kubrick might have been closer to what some humans will be like in the future in his iconic 2001 film. They'll be more cold, aloof, and analytical.

Hours and hours spent alone with technology can reduce caring and empathy with some individuals.

But today's technology doesn't leave individuals "alone with technology"! The technology connects with their friends and family!

Unfortunately, the connection is never really face-to-face. And it keeps us from being alone with ourselves to give us time to deal with those private thoughts that aren't always pleasant . . . but are always necessary for each of use to face our flaws and deal with our weaknesses.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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