FILM · 1972 · USA
Silent Running
39 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (39)
- #001
Douglas Trumbull says he learned to be a director while working on this film, since he had no training or experience in that role.
- #002
The decommissioned Essex-class aircraft carrier "Valley Forge," a Korean and Vietnam War veteran, served as the interior of the space freighter "Valley Forge." The carrier's flight control area and hangar deck were modified and painted to represent the film's space freighter. After filming was completed, the carrier was scrapped.
- #003
Several shots of the Valley Forge and its sister ships were later reused in the television series "Battlestar Galactica" as agricultural ships in the refugee fleet.
- #004
The "Saturn sequence" was originally planned to appear in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), but the technology the visual effects team needed to create such a scene was not yet available.
- #005
After the success of Easy Rider (1969), Universal Studios came up with the idea of letting young filmmakers make low-budget "semi-independent" films in the hope of earning similar profits. The idea was to make five films on low budgets (one million dollars or less), not interfere in the filmmaking process and give directors final cut. The films were: this film, The Hired Hand (1971), The Last Movie (1971), Taking Off (1971) and American Graffiti (1973).
- #006
The model of the "Valley Forge" space freighter was 26 feet long and was built from steel, wood, plastic and more than 650 model kits of army tanks. After filming was completed, the model was placed in storage. However, as the cost of storing the model continued to rise, it was later dismantled and destroyed in the mid-1970s. Much of the model was sent to a landfill at Sepulveda Pass beside Interstate 405 in Los Angeles, but several large pieces survived; at least two of them are domes, one of which is in the collection of the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, Washington, USA.
- #007
According to the DVD commentary, Douglas Trumbull said that when George Lucas (who had applied to Trumbull to work on Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)) mentioned his desire to create a robot similar to the drones for his film, R2-D2 was born. When 20th Century Fox sued Universal in 1978, claiming that Battlestar Galactica (1978) was a copy of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Universal retaliated against Fox by claiming that Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) was a copy of Silent Running (1972).
- #008
Although only three "space freighters" are seen ("Valley Forge", "Berkshire" and "Sequoia"), many other freighters are mentioned in radio communications. These are "Yellowstone", "Acadia", "Blue Ridge", "Glacier" and "Mojave" (each freighter is asked to report the final jettisoning of its domes). Each freighter's name refers to an American National Park or Preserve.
- #009
Bruce Dern said in interviews that he was cast after 17 other actors turned down the role.
- #010
Three "Drones" are shown in the film. The original script describes "hundreds" of Drones aboard the ship. After Lowell hijacks the Space Freighter, he reprograms hundreds of drones to the "black out" on the outside of the ship, burning the paint with torches and sending the ship out in a dark "camouflage" that makes it harder for the other ships to follow in the darkness of space.
- #011
In an interview with Starlog magazine in the late 1970s, Douglas Trumbull revealed that the plot of the original version of the film's script was quite different from what was actually filmed. In that version, the Space Freighters were on permanent duty carrying biological domes. When they are finally told to blow up the domes and return to Earth, it is because the freighters are to be scrapped.
- #012
The "Odyssey" cars used by the crew members in the film were custom-built on a chassis designed by the director's father.
- #013
It was released as a double feature with The Andromeda Strain (1971).
- #014
The dome launch sequences were based on Trumbull watching actual footage of Apollo Saturn V rocket stage separations. The miniatures of the dome connections were 10 inches in diameter and were filled with mica and compressed air to achieve the separation effect Trumbull wanted.
- #015
The film's memorable music was written primarily by Peter Schickele, known for his classical music parodies under the name P. D. Q. Bach.
- #016
The watering can Lowell uses belonged to Bruce Dern's late daughter Diane.
- #017
It was shot on a 32-day schedule in February and March 1971.
- #018
The water Bruce Dern swam in during the skinny-dipping scene was actually ice cold. The production saved money by not providing a water heater.
- #019
In the original screenplay, the American Airlines Space Freighter "Valley Forge" was named "Apopka" (after the town in Central Florida). The ship's name was changed to honor the shooting location, the aircraft carrier "USS Valley Forge."
- #020
Joel Hodgson, creator of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (1988), considers Silent Running a major inspiration for his show.
- #021
Some of the real corporate logos seen throughout the film include Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, AMF, American Airlines, Kawasaki, Rockwell International and Ditch Witch (but are not limited to these). Most of the logos can be seen on the storage modules on the main cargo deck. Ditch Witch can be seen digging a ditch.
- #022
According to the DVD commentary, Laura Dern (Bruce Dern's daughter) was five years old when her father showed her the film. She was very upset when her father bumped into one of the drones and asked him why he was so careless. During the subsequent repair scene she cried so much that she had to leave the theater.
- #023
According to SciFiMovieZone, the scenes in the forest environments were to be shot at the Mitchell Park Domes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The film's production budget forced these scenes to be shot in an airplane hangar in Van Nuys, California.
- #024
Footage of the three ships drifting in space and the launching of the domes appears in the "Different Ones" story of Rod Serling's Night Gallery TV series. As usual, the TV episode aired on 29 December 1971, months before the film's release on 10 March 1972.
- #025
This film follows the same basic outline as another environmental film, Ark (1970). The Earth's environment has been devastated. A lone scientist tries to preserve specimens of plant and wildlife under a dome. He is attacked and the dome is destroyed.
- #026
Each of the four characters has a unique "signal flag" patch on their jumpsuit. The signal flags not only represent the first letter of the respective surnames, but all also have other meanings in naval code that are significant for the characters. For example, Lowell's flag "L" means "You should stop your vessel instantly." "B" means "I am carrying dangerous goods or explosives."
- #027
Red Dwarf (1988) creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor cited Silent Running as one of the inspirations behind the BBC science-fiction sitcom. In DNA (1991), Lister tells Rimmer and Cat a story about visiting a botanical garden on Red Dwarf after being left by his girlfriend Kochanski.
- #028
The opening of The Starlost (1973) series used the exterior scenes of the ships as well as the first instrumental music.
- #029
Valley Forge was the name of the first starship on which the main character of Robert Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers was commissioned shortly before its destruction.
- #030
One of the ships is named Berkshire, where director Douglas Trumbull lived.
- #031
A model of the Valley Forge space freighter appears on Hache's desk in the film Ready Player One. Main character Parzival is excited to see it along with other important spaceships from other science-fiction films.
- #032
Each of the Space Freighters in the film carries six domes, while the original screenplay specified 22 domes per ship.
- #033
Following director Douglas Trumbull's death in 2022, his collection of behind-the-scenes and pre-production photographs was put up for auction in 2024. Among them is a photograph from an audition for the character Freeman Lowell (played by Bruce Dern in the film), directed by Trumbull, showing actor DeForest Kelley. Kelley wears a white uniform similar to the one Ron Rifkin wears in this film and sits in front of the grid map background later used in the production (the photo is on IMDb). In earlier drafts of the screenplay, the character Freeman Lowell was described as an older, grumpier character in his 50s, which clarifies why Kelley was considered.
- #034
According to the DVD commentary, Larry Hagman was considered for the role of Freeman Lowell.
- #035
The picture won the 1972 Golden Astroid award for best film at the International Science Fiction Film Festival held in Trieste, Italy.
- #036
The film is spoken of fondly and is summarized by a character played by Rainn Wilson in the third season, sixth episode of the television series Six Feet Under. The film is later rented from Blockbusters and watched by the characters as shown.
- #037
The American Airlines logo patch worn on the jumpsuits in the film was the real American Airlines emblem worn on some uniforms in 1972, the year the film was shot.
- #038
The crew members wear patches of NATO alphabet flags corresponding to the first letters of their surnames.
- #039
The Valley Forge model built for this film was later reused in an episode of Battlestar Galactica (1978).
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