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Graphic courtesy of Vince Backeberg

In 1971 a movie was made about a future where the Earth had become so polluted, that the forests were dying off. In order to save these forests, small biomes were constructed and mounted onto space freighters and sent out into space, presumably to wait until mankind had worked out the pollution problem and Earth once again could be fertile enough for these ship to return and replant what had been killed.

Moreover this was the story of one man, Freeman Lowell, who sole purpose in life is the care and maintenance of several of these biomes on one of the space freighters. His life is turned upside down when a decision is made that it is no longer financially prudent to maintain these biomes and they are to be jettisoned into space and destroyed. Mentally, he snaps, and while the others are rigging up one of the biomes with explosives prior to sending it off into space, he turns the tables on them, and prematurely jettisons the biome with the other crew members still inside of it.

Playing a mute, but integral part of the story are three drones, which Freeman nicknames Huey, Dewey and Louie after the three nephews of Donald Duck. While these three drones may not have any speaking parts in the movie save a few clicks and whistles, they are able to express a range of emotions through their movements. When one of the drones is caught outside the ship as they pass through Saturn's rings, he is ripped off and flung into space. The other two manage to communicate their sorrow without saying a word.

Although this film is nearly 30 years old, it still strikes a chord in me every time I see it. And that is why I feel we need to include these little guys in our group.

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