TODAY'S NUGGET: Silent Running (1972) - If You're Struggling with Writing Sci-fi, Focus on Allegory

[Quick Summary: In hope of re-establishing vegetation on Earth, a botanist disobeys orders to destroy the last forest in the universe, even killing co-workers.] 

CONS
- This was not an exciting script for me to read.  Good, but not exciting.
- Would I have green lit this based on the script alone? Probably not. 

PROS
- This is a well-regarded sci-fi film by a well regarded director.
- It is about humanity (a deliberate decision for the director who had just finished the special effects on Kubrick's 2001, which is NOT about humanity).

So what saves it?  It's got allegory, which are in short supply in sci-fi these days.

Allegory - (n.) a representation of an abstract or religious meaning through concrete or material forms; a symbolical narrative.

For example, in the scene below:
- Lowell has just murdered his co-workers. 
- He now suffers the wounds physically (leg) and psychologically (guilt).
- Is the crow real? Does it matter? Either way, it hits the same emotional spot.

INTERIOR, SHIP, MAIN CONTROL

We see LOWELL again, sitting motionless, still shaking his head, back and forth.

A droplet of blood begins to form on his wound.  The droplet grows large, huge, and falls, with a plip.

Another begins to form, falls, with a plip.

                                                             CUT TO:

INTERIOR, CORRIDOR OF MAIN CONTROL

Far away, down the empty, shimmering floor, the black crow appears, walking out from around a corner.

The crow pauses, peering left and right, then takes to the air, flapping up the corridor into CAMERA.

                                                             CUT TO:

INTERIOR, MAIN CONTROL

Slowly, as LOWELL's eyes swim back in focus, he sees it ---huge, sleek, glossy black, perched right opposite on the radar screen.

For a moment, blankly, LOWELL stares at the bird. Then, as he stares, sitting bolt upright in his chair, the crow flaps off across the room.

LOWELL blinks, straining to keep the bird in focus. Then, as he turns, confused, trying to determine where he is, he notices the blood.

Terrified, LOWELL stumbles to his feet, backing off, away from it. He looks down at his leg, unwillingly; then up again, at the gleaming puddle, and the black crow.

Panic comes, closing on him, breaking over him like a wave, submerging him. Breathless, gasping, LOWELL wheels, lurches across to the three monitors standing by the wall. Frantically, he tries to start them. One. Then the next and the next...

LOWELL: Come on...Come on!!!

For a moment nothing comes to him, and then, realizing what the problem is, he curses himself, and moves across to the LR 260 Program Control.

Screaming, waving the crow away, LOWELL sits, inserts three cards and begins punching out a code.

                                                           CUT TO:

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I can see the allegory on the page, but it wasn't nearly as magical as the moving images. (I think people call this 'execution dependent.')

Silent Running (1972)(dated 12/6/70)
Story and script by Deric Washburn and Michael Cimino