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The Silence of the Trees
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The Silence of the Trees Science Is The Topic For The Nineteenth Virtual Symposium “Science” Is The Topic For The Nineteenth Virtual Symposium “Silent Running” is one of my favorite science fiction movies ever. It was made in 1972. I was twenty one years old, if that helps to date it. The movie starred Bruce Dern as Freeman Lowell, a botanist and ecologist on the American Airlines space freighter Valley Forge. The Valley Forge is fitted with geodesic dome greenhouses and is parked in an orbit beyond Saturn. It’s part of a fleet of such freighters and they’re loaded with trees and plants from a dystopian and barren planet Earth, where all natural botanical life has been erased. The project is intended to preserve some species for eventual return to Earth. Freeman Lowell is a bit of a misfit, alienated from the other crew members, and takes his task of the preservation of the trees as a sacred duty. He’s something of a joke to his fellow crewmen and spends most of his time in the greenhouses with the forest and the forest creatures.  The crew gets an order from Earth to jettison and explode the domes so that the freighters can return to Earth to haul more profitable freight. The crew rig the domes with nuclear charges without thinking twice, glad to be returning home. After seeing four of the domes destroyed, Lowell mutinies and resolves to save the remaining domes and their cargo of trees. He kills one crew member and locks the other two in the other dome, where they are destroyed along with the greenhouse in the following nuclear explosion. Lowell has three robot tenders, maintenance drones, to help him in maintaining his remaining forest dome. He names them Huey, Dewey and Louie after Donald Duck’s nephews, and later reprograms them to plant and care for the trees by themselves, unattended. He then aims the Valley Forge at Saturn and slingshots around the planet, shooting off into space. Louie is lost in the process, but Lowell has two remaining robots and programs them to play cards with him for companionship in addition to their foresting duties. After some time, Lowell is appalled to see that the forest is dying, and realizes that they aren’t getting enough sunlight, so he rigs sunlamps in time to save the forest.  Finally, realizing both that his time is limited and that the robot drones are capable of caring for the forest forever without his help, Lowell jettisons the dome and detonates a nuclear charge, destroying the Valley Forge and himself in the explosion. As the movie ends we see the robot Dewey faithfully nursing the forest with his watering can. The movie was at least once criticized as being simple minded. Maybe that was part of its appeal to me. There’s nothing pretentious about it. Freeman Lowell is alienated from the barren Earth of our near future and from his crewmates, who see their assignment as a hardship duty and just a lonely and boring job that they’d gladly trade for a less isolated station. It suits Lowell perfectly though. In another life and another time he might have been a forest recluse and woodsman. He was born out of his proper time and place and finds more comfort in the trees and the wildlife it sustains. I could identify with Lowell immediately and although it was hard to watch him murder his crewmen, I could sympathize- there were enough men, too many men- but only just this one remaining precious dome containing what was left of the flora of a once verdant planet Earth. I’ve often been more at home with the trees than with other people and I cherish the quiet and the solitude I find there. The story of “Silent Running” was uncomplicated and profound only in its simplicity. It came at a time of a recognition that Earth itself is a spaceship carrying a precious cargo, and that cargo isn’t simply us, it’s an interconnected and complex ecosystem that has nurtured us since time immemorial. As much as we separate ourselves from nature, we’re a part of it and it’s in our DNA. When we obliterate it in pursuit of wealth we’re removing a far greater, far richer treasure from our lives and our spirits and it leaves us feeling bereaved. I hope we avoid a future like the one in “Silent Running” but there is some small comfort in the image of the geodesic dome with its forest surely and certainly gliding through deep space, its drone gardeners trundling along with their little watering cans.  Become a member now and get a free tote bag. |
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I was 10 then, and I don't remember ever seeing this movie, nonetheless, thanks to you, I find it interesting, and some I can relate to.....I know...I'm weird  I'll look for it and see if I can find it.!!!! Great post!!!    WITHOUT PASSION LIFE IS NOTHING
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I was 10 then, and I don't remember ever seeing this movie, nonetheless, thanks to you, I find it interesting, and some I can relate to.....I know...I'm weird I'll look for it and see if I can find it.!!!! Great post!!! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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A movie? Damn...I thought I found a lead for my dream job. Seriously. I think I'll see if that movie is available from the library. Sounds like it would be well worth a couple of hours to check it out.  When the tides of life are against you And the current upsets your boat Don't think of things that might have been Just lay on your back and float Ed Norton / The Honeymooners 1954
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I remember watching this movie and not understanding why the other people couldn't understand his love of the trees. Simple, that's me. Great entry for the symposium, Kk The observant make the best lovers, I may not do right, but I do write, I have bliss, joy, and happiness in my life, Kitkat Come check out my blog KItkat1415 check out this post by me Adventures In Body Grooming #39 April Topic Link: What Lies Beneath If April Showers Oh Bloody Hell What Kind Of Weather Turns Me On Bloggers Symposium 40
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A movie? Damn...I thought I found a lead for my dream job. Seriously. I think I'll see if that movie is available from the library. Sounds like it would be well worth a couple of hours to check it out. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I always like hearing how and what influenced you in some way, makes me think I know you just a little bit better. I don't remember the film, well maybe just vaguely and I surely didn't watch more than a minute or two. I was about thirteen and surely had other things on my mind. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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 Something about this made me think of The Pale Blue Dot.I'm sure this movie had other themes. I can sure relate to saving the trees!
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I remember watching this movie and not understanding why the other people couldn't understand his love of the trees. Simple, that's me. Great entry for the symposium, Kk Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Something about this made me think of The Pale Blue Dot.I'm sure this movie had other themes. I can sure relate to saving the trees! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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It's a great movie, just for Bruce Dern, but It made an impact on me. We're used to movies about someone trying to heroically save the environment now, but a movie about it was a fairly new thing in 1972. "Silent Running" is something of a cult classic now. Context is everything- this was before Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, before the public was aware of the toxic pollution of the Love Canal, before the Exxon Valdez disaster. Will we ever learn? Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I agree- he always projected someone a bit unhinged, and also unpredictable, a guy outside established "norms", and dangerous. And he's a cantankerous old bastard now. I like him. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I've never heard of this movie, which shouldn't be surprising. The idea behind this movie is beautiful in it's simplicity. Although it was made so many years ago, the concept is still true today, perhaps even more so. Visit my blog It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World of NaughtyInSO, leave a comment, become a watcher. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LIVE AND LET LIVE Be happy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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An interesting post and on an appropriate day also. Vive La Difference
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I've never heard of this movie, which shouldn't be surprising. The idea behind this movie is beautiful in it's simplicity. Although it was made so many years ago, the concept is still true today, perhaps even more so.   Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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An interesting post and on an appropriate day also. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I have never watched much sci-fi but sounds like an intriguing movie , thanks for sharing Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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One of the issues that I keep bringing up, and that for some reason causes people to back away, is population control. In past generations people would strip the available resources from an area and move on. Even during the agricultural age we were still nomadic in that respect. It's one of the reasons the Sahara is a desert. We depleted every source within our reach and went somewhere else. We're running out of somewhere elses to run to. The planet has finite resources, and we keep multiplying. Men have a way of not adapting until it's nearly too late, but the way I see it, we're running out of not just Earth, but time. It does worry me- can we adapt and make changes before those changes necessarily become truly radical and draconian? We're making a latrine of our home. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Bonjour Kzoopair Je ne connais pas ce film . Mais je suis un fan de S.F. , et j'ai toujours pensée que la Terre est notre vaisseau spaciale et que tout le monde s'en fout comme si demain nous pouvions aller détruire d'autres planètes et tout recommencer indéfiniment . Voir ma signature ♥ Bisou ♥ Poton ♥ Annie Hello Kzoopair I do not know this movie. But I am a fan of S. F., and I always thought that the Earth is our spatial ship and everyone cares as if tomorrow we could go destroy other planets and start all over again indefinitely. See my signature ♥ Kiss ♥ Annie ♥
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Je n'ai pas vu ce film et je pense, comme Annie, que c'est une métaphore de notre Terre, le seul vaisseau spatial qui nous permette de faire exister notre espèce, pour l'instant. Bravo pour le résumé qui permet de suivre l'histoire de ce film. I have not seen this movie and I think, like Annie, it's a metaphor for our Earth, the only spacecraft that allows us to make our species exist, for now. Bravo for the summary that tracks the story of this film. Sommaire Et la souffrance vgtale L'être idéal ? Un ange dévasté par l'humour. E.M. Cioran
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I have never seen the movie but it sounds interesting. Great topic ... and I'm so upset that I was not the first person to bring up Soylent Green. "Soylent Green is people!! Soylent Green is people!" We're eating ourselves because we have exhausted every other natural resource on the planet. Very thought provoking. Satyr in Sheep's Skin Peruse my many stories at Satyr39s Storybook Corner or my Renaissance Era BDSM fantasy story at Serial Story Reinport39s Crowning Index. 
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will have to look for this..... great entry kzoo!!!
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I had forgotten about this movie. I'll need to watch it again, but thanks for the synopsis. Even more appropriate today, isn't it? I believe also that the whole planet and all it's ecosystems are interconnected, we are killing ourselves as well as the planet.
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Not being a science fiction buff, I haven't come across the Silent Running film but it's based on a very interesting premise. It got me thinking what I'd select to take into space. I thought of plant seeds and then I thought of myself, but i eventually decided to send Donald Trump on this mission on the basis it will be a doomed one-way mission!  
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I think you'll like it. It isn't real well known like the more famous old science fiction movies. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Bonjour Kzoopair Je ne connais pas ce film . Mais je suis un fan de S.F. , et j'ai toujours pensée que la Terre est notre vaisseau spaciale et que tout le monde s'en fout comme si demain nous pouvions aller détruire d'autres planètes et tout recommencer indéfiniment . Voir ma signature ♥ Bisou ♥ Poton ♥ Annie Hello Kzoopair I do not know this movie. But I am a fan of S. F., and I always thought that the Earth is our spatial ship and everyone cares as if tomorrow we could go destroy other planets and start all over again indefinitely. See my signature ♥ Kiss ♥ Annie ♥ IMDB indique qu'il y avait une version française en 1975. Peut-être vous pouvez trouver une copie quelque part. Juste comme vous dites, nous trashing la planète plus vite que nous pouvons probablement découvrir un neuf. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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