Earth II (1971 TV Movie) User Reviews

It seemed good at the time.

[pro_crustes · 6/10 · 2 January 2004]

A couple of years before Gene Roddenberry was trying to start new series with his movies "Genesis II" and "Planet Earth" (or is that "movie"?), this superior film with the oddly similar name paved the way. Alas, the road came to a dead-end, as all movies of this kind in the early '70s failed to understand that good story is better than bad sfx. This one is about a space station that has a unique social structure intended to eliminate conflict. The concept was handled in a simplistic way, but it nevertheless had a kind of wistful hopefulness about it that seemed not entirely incredible in 1971.

Like Roddenberry's films, this one fits into a short-lived era of TV sf that seemed suspended between Chesley Bonestell's airbrushed vision of the near future of space colonization, and Ralph McQuarrie's grittier, plumber's-nightmare versions that would soon follow. A bit of "2001" can be seen here and there as well (for example, when the characters walk "up" a wall).

If you liked the kind of austere models and similarly inornate acting (scripts, too) of early '70s sf, you'll like this one. The dilemma faced by the characters is familiar, as is its solution (but please overlook the glaring error involving the sun, the Earth, and the station's rotation). Still, there's a lost sense of "coming real soon now" in modern sf that this film might bring back to your memory. In 1971, it seemed we were _all_ going to fly in space and get to walk up walls. You know what happened next, but you didn't see it coming when this movie was new, so you believed it more then than you would today. See it again, if you get the chance, and ask yourself how we lost interest in going into orbit ourselves.

Good set design, less good story

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 12 October 2021]

This was one of the most expensive TV movies of its day. It is heavily indebted to 2001: a Space Odyssey. The action takes place on Earth II which is a space station which orbits Earth and has been designated an independent nation. Its denizens are peace loving and anti-violence but this is thrown into disarray when the Chinese send out a vessel carrying nuclear warheads. For the most part this is a pretty interesting bit of sci-fi, with the Earth II itself making for an interesting setting - I guess the producers thought this too given it was intended for a TV series. The story does get a little too bogged down with the nefarious Chinese vessel though, with the attention of the narrative switching solely onto this for the second half. The set design and model work is the strength here, with the story and dramatics under-cooked. Still, despite its flaws, it still made for a pleasing bit of serious-minded TV sci-fi from the post-2001 days.

Good SF, bad drama

[Mark-129 · 7/10 · 23 January 2011]

I saw Earth II as a Friday Night movie of the week back in 1971 as an eleven year old. The special effects and production design gave this film a great look, but the story charting the establishment of an independent nation on-board an orbiting space station lost me.

Forty years later, I had the chance to see it again through adult eyes. Surprisingly, I remembered several scenes and plot points, but, the entire production was brought down by one simple fact: it's boring. The film has a lot of incident but little action. The cerebral dialog is interesting, but the performances are wooden in the extreme. Only Anthony Franciosa's opinionated character rose above the colorless performances of the rest of the cast.

While I understand this was an effort for an intelligent SF series, the lack of human drama kept that series from happening.

ISS Thirty Years Ago

[doctardis · 23 July 2001]

This was sort of a cross between 2001 and Marooned. It made a very early attempt to make a scientifically accurate sci-fi series. The station was populated by people from all nations. They set up thier own government, and they led very politically correct lives. Any adult could disagree with the station's government and put the disagreement to a vote via an interactive TV. The show had some very interesting ideas about the future development of technology. Early in the show, a national election takes place by people turning on their home lights, and an spaceship in orbit counts the votes. Worth seeing if you can.

The Sci-Fi Effects are the star

[sussmanbern · 4/10 · 31 May 2015]

Everyone is talking about how EARTH II was ahead of its time with special effects, scientific imaginings, and the like. I was, however, a little more down to earth. The people who worked up this film did not have their feet on the ground.

Here's the premise: An international project sends up a huge space station and populates it with about a hundred people from various nations. The USSR is represented but not China - because the Chinese had a bad attitude about it. Instantly the US President (Lew Ayres) tells the inmates of this space station that they are now a new and independent nation, he (evidently without the advice and consent of Congress) is recognizing it as a new nation and he's going to have the UN make it a member state. This is absurd on a number of levels include any business about the exchange of ambassadors.

Additionally, the technology pretty much does their thinking for them. In a ship-wide video discussion of a crucial problem of international relations, the ship's computers analyze each person's argument and put subtitles on the screen with disparaging labels about their contribution -- e.g. "Appeal to authority".

Apart from this, the interesting stuff (the special effects) is about a Chinese nuclear satellite that is being used to the homelands of the inmates of this space station.

So, comic book logic, impressive special effects.

It started off great...but I did not love where the film then went....

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 4 July 2017]

After watching "Earth II", my first thought was 'was this a pilot for a proposed television series?'. Well, IMDb doesn't say but it does indicate it was made for television by MGM-TV...so I can only assume this was the case.

The story is set in the near future. The United States has announced that it's building a permanent space station that will be its own self-governing and autonomous nation...open for the betterment of mankind. While the Americans, Russians and others enjoy this new station, the wicked Chinese decide to threaten the station with nuclear destruction.

The special effects are very good for the time. While not up to the standards of "2001", the space shots are pretty nice. Additionally, the film had a great premise. But the problem with the film began with the plot involving the Chinese...and the film stayed stuck on this theme throughout the rest of the movie. Additionally, Marriet Hartley's character was inexplicably stupid...too stupid to be realistic. A flawed movie, certainly, but well worth seeing if you love sci-fi, as there is enough of interest to keep us sci-fi fans happy.

I must have missed Earth I.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 23 February 2022]

Just kidding. Earth I is actually the planet they lived on and moved from to live on a space shuttle that all of a sudden is being stalked a nuclear warhead from the Chinese socialist republic. Ninety percent of the stem is all talk. Boring talk. Analogy after analogy, discussion of what they should do, arguments about peace and about war, and issues aboard the shuttle. While this is not enjoyable for the personal drama (none of these people are anybody I would be interested in being stranded on a space shuttle with), the special effects showing the shuttle in outer space, especially how it goes from teeny tiny to huge four years later, is good.

The film becomes a bit too Technical, and if you're not interested in that sort of thing, this film will be a bust. Add Lee Ayres to the list of veteran actors who got to play the president of the United States, and he's nice and commanding in his brief role on screen although his initial speech is a bit rambling. Of course, who better to play the president than the big screen Dr. Kildare? Gary Lockwood, Mariette Hartley, Anthony Franciosa, Scott Hylands, Inga Swenson and Gary Merrill struggle with a very wordy script that had me bored most of the time. As it got closer to the end, I long to be back on solid ground.

TV Movie with TV movie effects

[WallyB · 4/10 · 16 August 2022]

Can't believe this is getting kudos for SFX.

Granted they are decent for 1971 but compared to today they are dreadful. Opening shots of the space station show it lugging from frame to frame and looking like an HO gauge train set.

The anti-nuke storyline is dated and everything about it reeks of the 70s. Enjoy this as a campy throwback but it's more "1999" than "2001".

Sci-fi made (almost) boring

[skinnybert · 5/10 · 7 February 2021]

After setting up the cast and situation, the majority of this movie is almost entirely a bomb-defusing procedural, padded out with Mariette Hartley's dead-doll impression. (Seriously, I don't think she makes a single expression even once, despite committing a majorly emotional act mid-story. Gary Lockwood looks like he wishes he'd gone into selling life insurance instead of acting. Almost nobody seems to feel anything, and every room is devoid of personality or interest; I guess sterility seemed futuristic in 1971.

Despite this, the show clearly had some real intelligence going into it, and actually made televised political debates interesting by adding subtext commentary. Less bomb defusion and warmer characters could have made this a minor classic.

Respectable early 70s sci-fi movie

[TVholic · 8/10 · 1 June 1999]

Earth II was a very earnest attempt at serious science fiction, a decided rarity in the early 1970s. It dealt with the establishment of the first orbital space colony in an unspecified year. Today, 28 years later, it's interesting to see many of the ideas represented here creeping toward reality. Only now is the International Space Station being constructed, and it bears a passing resemblance to the fictional Earth II. Both are designed to be independent of any one nation. There's a mention of a Mars mission under construction at E-II, much as today's planners say the ISS is essential to a manned mission to Mars. The early lifting-body shuttle of E-II is finally being realized in the X-33 and the VentureStar spacecraft.

Scientific jargon abounds in this picture, and it's to the movie's credit that it's more often than not used properly rather than as technobabble. The writers, with help from technical advisors and NASA, were respectful of the science -- an extraordinary step for SF movies, especially on television. This is a thinking person's science fiction, with complex situations and human interactions rather than space battles, bumpy-headed aliens, ray guns, post- apocalyptic mutants and the like.

The inspiration and influences of "2001: A Space Odyssey," two years previous, are obvious. First and foremost was the presence of Gary Lockwood, who played Frank Poole in 2001. There's also the reverence of the spaceflight sequences that bear a striking resemblance to their predecessors. Contemporary orchestral music takes the place of classical music from the masters, still trying hard to show the majesty and reality of space. The first third of the movie is spent introducing the wonders of living in this new environment with its unfamiliar physical conditions and a unique social structure very much a product of idealistic 1960s egalitarianism. Adult residents of Earth II were mandated to "attend" all important community functions via TV, and any inaccuracies and unsupported opinions on both sides of the debate were instantly pointed out by on-screen captions. If only today's voters could be as well-informed and responsible.

Where this movie founders somewhat is in its pacing. Sometimes it can be tough slogging, seeming quite a bit longer than its 1:45 running time. It's talky at times, even preachy in spots. A saving grace is that, despite the inescapable aging of much of the technology, the production design holds up remarkably well. There are a few set pieces that are blatantly '70s, but more that would still look good today.

One big, unnecessary dramatic device: If they needed to keep the launch bay out of the sun, why send a tug out to stop the rotation of Earth II? It would have been easier to park the tug in front of the missing hatch, providing shade for the bay, just as the real-life Skylab astronauts rigged a "parasol" to keep their workshop cool after it lost its meteoroid shield on launch.

That this movie was as well-crafted as it was despite notable flaws is a reflection on the crew. Many were involved with "Mission: Impossible," including the producers/writers, cinematographer, and composer Lalo Shifrin. The M:I connection also explains the backdrop of political tension as they tried to deal with an orbital nuclear weapon launched by a rogue nation. This is the movie's one glaring anachronism: Communist China was the nation, unaffiliated with the United Nations, that launched the weapon. It was terrible timing that after the movie was finished but only a month before it was aired, the UN adopted Resolution 2758, which stripped Taiwan of its membership and gave its seat to China. By 1979, the US had followed suit, recognizing China and leaving Taiwan in the diplomatic limbo in which it has existed ever since. There was no way to fix this problem before the movie aired. They needed a nuclear nation unconstrained by international agreements, and China was the last such candidate for the role at the time.

From the credits listing "guest stars" and "special guest star," it's clear that this was intended to be the pilot for an ongoing series. Too bad it was never to be. Now we can only guess at what heights this intriguing concept might have reached.

Superior effects

[chrisart47 · 10/10 · 31 August 2006]

The effects were handled by the same folks who gave us "Marooned" but with a superior edge in design and technical know how. 2001,s Gary Lockwood (Frank Poole of 2001} is cast as a space rescue pilot.

The space shuttles in this feature bare a striking resemblance to our current shuttle design and the space suits are straight out of the NASA play book as the producers used technical help from major sources to ad realism.

One exciting scene of a race against time shows astronauts chasing down a Chinese nuclear satellite as it re-enters earths atmosphere, this scene incorperated early video image technology to generate a shower of sparks creating a burning effect that looked 3-dimensional and will remind you of the slit scan effects used by Douglas Trumball in 2001.

Intended as a TV pilot for a possible ABC series it is not to be confused with The short lived series Earth II 1993-94 featuring Clancy Brown and Tim Curry.

I was enthralled at a network movie of the week of this quality and have seen it repeated on CBS,s Late show in the early 80,s Catch it if you can on sci-fi channel but good luck finding it on DVD or VHS. This picture is still contemporary in style and is worth a look.

Now on DVD

[am2star · 8/10 · 17 January 2010]

I saw this TV-movie when it aired in 1971. I liked it then and saw it a few times in syndication. Now I own it on DVD.

The premise is that an orbiting space station is created by the United States and then is set up as an independent nation named Earth II. This nation is completely democratic, with a council that executes policies for the station. If someone disagree, they can challenge that decision and all the citizens can vote.

A situation occurs where the "no weapons" policy is challenged. A nuclear bomb is orbit around Earth, and passes close to the station on every orbit. The citizens have to make a choice whether to interfere with the bomb, in order to protect themselves and Earth.

The movie stars Gary Lockwood of "2001: A Space Odyssey" fame, Hari Rhodes and Scott Hylands. In a supporting role is Gary Merrill. Since this was probably a pilot, the guest cast included Tony Franciosa and Mariette Hartley.

While the film is dated and some of the science not so accurate, it is still very well done and for science fiction fans, should be seen.

One complaint is that there are two excellent actors playing Chinese representatives. These are Soon-Tek Oh and James Hong. They are uncredited, which is unfortunate.

Pretty Decent Made For TV Sci-Fi Film

[Sargebri · 2 October 2003]

This is a very rare made for TV movie with a great story and excellent special effects. The only thing that might be considered wrong about this film is that even though it is supposedly set in the future, this film is now very much dated. This film was made during the height of the Cold War and at a time relations between The U.S., the then Soviet Union and China were not very good. In fact, the U.S. is almost looked at as a pawn in the struggle between the other two super powers. However, this film does provide a good glimpse at the future and how space travel could eventually be routine and the possibilities of global cooperation in outer space.

A Lot Of Talent Wasted On This

[StuOz · 16 January 2022]

TV film about a space station.

This should have been so much better than it is. It had the effects budget, it had the great cast, it had the quality writers (who also worked on TV's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) and even some of the music cues were good - so what happened??

About half way into it all anyone can talk about is a bomb in space.

Such a waste of great talent and effects. Towards the end I was so bored I was looking at my phone half the time. Don't bother with Earth II.