History Film / SilentRunning

** This is incorrect - after the drones perform the procedure to repair his leg, Lowell is seen walking completely normally for the rest of the film.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Near Saturn you would only get less than one percent of the sunlight you get on Earth, simply because of how much further away it is. That is not enough to sustain the plant life shown.

In the future, the environment of UsefulNotes/{{Earth}} has been destroyed, with the only plant and animal life left being preserved in domed forests aboard American Airlines space freighters in orbit around Saturn. Freeman Lowell, a botanist onboard the freighter ''Valley Forge'' and apparently humanity's last environmentalist, tends to the forests religiously and hopes that they can one day be returned to Earth and used to restore it to its natural state. When the decision to reassign the freighters and destroy the domes is made, Freeman becomes obsessed with protecting them. He kills his crewmates and escapes with the last dome, assisted by three robot drones he names [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Huey, Dewey, and Louie]]. He must then escape discovery and survive a collision with Saturn's rings.

* LonersAreFreaks: Averted - Lowell is a loner who is more at home with plants and animals than with people, but he's also the good guy in comparison to his uncaring, mercenary crewmates. And he's got the drones, so it's not really that he doesn't want company, he just wants better company.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Near Saturn you would only get less than one percent of the sunlight you get on Earth, simply because of how much further away it is. That is not enough to sustain the plant life shown.

* CrapSaccharineWorld: What little is told of Earth paints it this way: sure, there is no longer such a thing as work shortages... but there is the fact that ''humanity has killed all of the plant ecology on the planet''...

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Throughout the second half, Lowell is consumed by feelings of regret over his impulsive actions and the killing of his shipmates.

* GreenAesop: Somewhat {{Anvilicious}}; but (especially at the time the film was made) SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

** Although this could be seen as sign of his [[SanitySlippage mental deterioration]] due to isolation and guilt.

* LatexSpaceSuit
* MeaningfulName: ''Freeman'' Lowell.

* SanitySlippage: Lowell gets more crazy as the film goes on.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Put simply, humanity cannot survive without the environment. The scenario of the film is blatantly impossible; if we wiped out the entire environment, we'd go with it. On the other hand, some of Lowell's statements do seem to subtly suggest that humanity really is on its way out with the loss of the ecosystem (see the YMMV page).

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silent-running1_41.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Running Silent in my sleep]]

In the future, the environment of Earth has been destroyed, with the only plant and animal life left being preserved in domed forests aboard American Airlines space freighters in orbit around Saturn. Freeman Lowell, a botanist onboard the freighter ''Valley Forge'' and apparently humanity's last environmentalist, tends to the forests religiously and hopes that they can one day be returned to Earth and used to restore it to its natural state. When the decision to reassign the freighters and destroy the domes is made, Freeman becomes obsessed with protecting them. He kills his crewmates and escapes with the last dome, assisted by three robot drones he names [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Huey, Dewey, and Louie]]. He must then escape discovery and survive a collision with Saturn's rings.

A well-known favourite of BBC film critic Creator/MarkKermode, who [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUsV5LP30rU thinks it's a better movie]] than ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.

!!This film provides examples of:

Not to be confused with the ''Mike And The Mechanics'' song of the same name, nor the trope SilentRunningMode.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Put simply, humanity cannot survive without the environment. The scenario of the film is blatantly impossible; if we wiped out the entire environment, we'd go with it.
** On the other hand, some of Lowell's statements do seem to subtly suggest that humanity really is on its way out with the loss of the ecosystem (see the YMMV page).

* CuteMachines: Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
** Which ironically were played by double amputees.

** Although, in a bit of FridgeLogic, this could be seen as sign of his [[SanitySlippage mental deterioration]] due to isolation and guilt.

* RiddleForTheAges: Why were the forests ordered to be destroyed? The President himself was not given the reason, or so he says on his transmission sending the orders.
** Most likely, it had simply become too expensive to maintain them any longer.

In the future, the environment of Earth has been destroyed, with the only plant and animal life left being preserved in domed forests aboard American Airlines space freighters in orbit around Saturn. Freeman Lowell, a botanist onboard the freighter ''Valley Forge'' and apparently Humanity's last environmentalist, tends to the forests religiously and hopes that they can one day be returned to Earth and used to restore it to its natural state. When the decision to reassign the freighters and destroy the domes is made, Freeman becomes obsessed with protecting them. He kills his crewmates and escapes with the last dome, assisted by three robot drones he names [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Huey, Dewey, and Louie]]. He must then escape discovery and survive a collision with Saturn's rings.

* AwardBaitSong: "Silent Running" and "Rejoice in the Sun", both performed by Creator/JoanBaez.

* TitleThemeTune: Performed by Creator/JoanBaez.

* * MinimalistCast: Not counting the drones, there are exactly four on-screen characters in this film: Lowell, Barker, Wolf and Keenan, plus the [[TheVoice heard-but-never-seen]] captain of the ''Berkshire''.

** On the other hand, some of Lowell's statements do seem to suggest that humanity really is on its way out with the loss of the ecosystem (see the YMMV page).

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: A rescue mission is launched from Earth, on the grounds that they couldn't leave Freeman stranded out there. Ironically Lowell doesn't want to be rescued.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Freeman dies, and the last dome is lost in space. Though the last drone is tending to it, and the forest within is alive.]]

* DramaPreservingHandicap: The leg injury that Freeman gets during his rebellion eventually worsens and leaves him delirious (and having to seek SelfSurgery) and even after getting it fixed he is forced to hobble around and hold onto any supporting structures within grasp for the rest of the film.

* FutureFoodIsArtificial: And unfortunately, Freeman seems to be the only one who is being bothered by that (the other members of the crew of the ''Valley Forge'' either openly dislike the hand-grown food or just see it as a toy to play with in food fights).

** Although, in a bit of FridgeLogic, this could be seen as sign of his mental deterioration due to isolation and guilt.

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: A rescue mission is launched from Earth, on the grounds that they couldn't leave Freeman stranded out there. Ironically Freeman doesn't want to be rescued.

* SanitySlippage: Freeman gets more crazy as the film goes on. Although Bruce Dern's acting makes you wonder if Freeman was even entirely sane in the first place.

In the future, the environment of Earth has been destroyed, with the only plant and animal life left being preserved in domed forests aboard American Airlines space freighters in orbit around Saturn. Freeman Lowell, a botanist and apparently Humanity's last environmentalist, tends to the forests religiously and hopes that they can one day be returned to Earth and used to restore it to its natural state. When the decision to reassign the freighters and destroy the domes is made, Freeman becomes obsessed with protecting them. He kills his crewmates and escapes with the last dome, assisted by three robot drones he names [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Huey, Dewey, and Louie]]. He must then escape discovery and survive a collision with Saturn's rings.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Freeman dies, and the last dome is lost in space. Though the last drone is tending to it, and the forest within is alive.]]

In the future, the environment of Earth has been destroyed, with the only plant and animal life left being preserved in domed forests aboard American Airlines space freighters in orbit around Saturn. Freeman Lowell, a botanist and apparently the only remaining environmentalist in the world, tends to the forests religiously and hopes that they can one day be returned to Earth and used to restore it to its natural state. When the decision to reassign the freighters and destroy the domes is made, Freeman becomes obsessed with protecting them. He kills his crewmates and escapes with the last dome, assisted by three robot drones he names [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Huey, Dewey, and Louie]]. He must then escape discovery and survive a collision with Saturn's rings.