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In the not too distant future, Earth's environment has become tightly controlled. The entire planet hovers at a temperature of seventy-five degrees. But in the process of creating a world economy driven by technology, the planet no longer can support its natural ecosystems, its forests. In an attempt to preserve Earth's flora and fauna - possibly for future reforestation - three great arks in the form of American Airlines Space Freighters, each about a half mile long, are equipped with vast geodesic domes and sent into deep space parking orbits, as far from the sun as Saturn. There are six domes attached to the functional frames of each freighter, and each contains a specific ecosystem.

We meet the crew of one of the freighters, the Valley Forge. John Keenan (Cliff Potts), Marty Barker (Ron Rifkin), and Andy Wolf (Jesse Vint) are bored; they've been in the outer reaches of the solar system for months and have come to resent the preservation of the plants and animals in their domes. There is little to do but monitor systems, race ATV-like carts through the vast interior of the ship, and play pool and poker. Most of the drudgework is performed by little robots, drones brought to life by legless actors Mark Persons, Cheryl Sparks, and Larry Whisenhunt. Enclosed in robot costumes and walking on their hands, these very special actors anthropomorphize the tiny mechanicals; their oddly organic rocking strides impart an unexpected charm.

The last member of the Valley Forge crew is Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern). His feelings for the ship's biospheres are quite the opposite of the rest of the human crew. He's passionate, almost compulsive, about caring for his forests. He's been sending an endless stream of messages to his management on Earth, campaigning for the return of the biospheres so that the planet's ecology can be restored. When, without explanation, word arrives that the domes are to be jettisoned and vaporized with nuclear detonations to eliminate them as hazards to navigation, he's devastated. He retreats into his favorite habitat as some of the domes are thrusted away from the three ships and consumed in vast flashes of nuclear fire. With each detonation, his desperation builds. How far will he go to prevent a disaster from which the Earth can never recover?

Despite the presence of Douglas Trumbull and John Dykstra, viewers should not expect a Star Wars. Silent Running is a thoughtful, introspective film that, admittedly, can be a tad preachy as Dern's Lowell lectures his cynical crew members about their precious cargo. But the drama of his passion and plight is compelling, and the message clear. And long before Tom Hanks' cast away found his Wilson to keep him company, Bruce Dern's Lowell, resigned to a solitary existence millions of miles from any chance of rescue, was saved from insanity by two little robots renamed Dewey and Huey.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in anamorphic video. The film had been available previously on a Universal DVD released in March of '98; that bare-bones DVD offered a disappointing laserdisc transfer in non-anamorphic widescreen for $10 more than this feature-rich, anamorphic release. My, how far we've come.

The compression for this reissue was done by Ritek Digital Studios and the results are very fine indeed. Ever so slightly soft, there are no edge halos to distract and spoil the illusion of film. Colors are richly painted to the screen with no chroma noise; notice the vivid blue and red jumpsuits on two the crew. Skin tones are very natural, indicating color accuracy. Contrast and brightness are also very good, with admirable shadow detail in the darker scenes. Note that Trumbull likes to play with the aspect ratios (most dramatically in his Brainstorm) and cropping. During the opening and closing credits, he reduces the size of the image; there is nothing wrong with the transfer. Also note that the opening shot is in extreme close-up and required a special lens. He used a half-inch diameter bore-scope lens that seems to have quite a few chromatic aberrations for out-of-focus objects and at the sides of the frame, so once again there is nothing wrong with the DVD or, for that matter, your display's convergence. I noticed no compression artifacts.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

The original theatrical audio is monaural, and that's the way the film is presented here. (I'm not exactly sure what Universal means by the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono specified on the keepcase. Shouldn't that be Dolby Digital 1.0?) The film was made for a modest million dollars, and the audio may have suffered as a result. The dynamic range is limited, so sound effects are compressed. The bandwidth is limited so there are neither shimmering highs nor gut thumping lows. The film features a rare score by Peter Schickele, the droll composer/performer best known for his repeated unearthing of compositions by P.D.Q. Bach and his compulsion to perform them. Schickele conducts a small symphonic band dominated by brass and percussion, so the multichannel audio recording is quite dry. Joan Baez contributes to the late '60s flavor by singing a few songs. The fidelity is much higher on the score CD, which is in stereo; the DVD sounds nasal and slightly distorted in comparison. The dialog remains crystal clear throughout.

French and Spanish language tracks are also available, but the only optional subtitles provided are in English.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Universal has been very generous with this reissue, particularly considering its $20 list price. The Making of Silent Running (1972, 49:12) is new to me, but must be familiar to those who owned the laserdisc. This is a very fine documentary that finally answers a question that had been bothering me for years. How did the filmmakers manage to put so much up on the screen with a working budget of only one million dollars? The answer is that most of the interiors were shot within a dressed, decommissioned aircraft carrier that shared its name with the film's space freighter, the Valley Forge. Doug Trumbull is seen directing and he shares some of the special effects secrets that he helped pioneer as special photographic effects supervisor on Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, several years earlier. Bruce Dern and Peter Schickele comment, and we're treated to a brief glimpse of Joan Baez recording two of her vocals.

Silent Running by Douglas Trumbull (30:06) is a new Laurent Bouzereau documentary produced for this DVD. It covers much of the same material as the '72 documentary, but rather than a third-person approach, this is a very personal first-person view by the filmmaker as he looks back on his experiences on the shoot. He speaks to an unheard interviewer seated alongside the camera, and delves more deeply into details glossed over in the '72 short. Here we learn of the origin of the film, the origin of the budget pressures, and the challenges faced by a first-time director as he struggles to learn his craft while maintaining strict fiscal control.

A Conversation With Bruce Dern (10:55) is a second new featurette. Similar to Trumbull's, Dern offers his personal recollections of the shoot. He could not have been more complimentary to his director, classifying him as a creative genius; only Alfred Hitchcock shares that status in Dern's experience. Since he mentions several spoilers as he discusses his character, please watch the film before viewing this particular short (actually, it's always been my advice to save all the supplements, even the trailer, for after the feature).

The third new short, Douglas Trumbull: Then and Now (4:51), retains the format of the other two new featurettes. This material departs from a discussion of Silent Running and touches upon two of Trumbull's more recent projects. He describes Showscan, a unique 60 frame per second film format and his participation in the production of the Omnimax film for the Back to the Future ride found at Universal Studios.

Universal has included a full frame theatrical trailer. Several pages of Production Notes fail to embellish the material found elsewhere on the DVD. Brief biographies and filmographies are provided for four of the players and for the director in the Cast & Crew section. Recommendations suggests six DVDs for those who enjoyed this film; no trailers are provided. DVD Newsletter is Universal's invitation to log onto its web site to subscribe. There are twenty chapter stops.

Finally, there is a feature-length audio commentary by Douglas Trumbull and Bruce Dern. Much of what is found elsewhere is covered here, but Trumbull and Dern make this a very personal telling of their experiences with the film. What becomes clear from all the background materials is that this was a very collaborative and friendly shoot. Dern mentions several times that his participation on this film was the best experience of his professional acting life. These two men seem to have a genuine rapport and enjoy reminiscing together. They tend to digress, becoming somewhat philosophical and talking about the larger issues and concepts that Silent Running inspires. Not at all pretentious, they have a relaxing chat. We don't learn very much more about how the film was made, and we aren't subjected to plot narration or prolonged analysis of character motivation, but I enjoyed gaining an insight into the natures of these two artists.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts