Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Shelley Taylor Morgan | ... | Self (archive footage) |
Kathelin Gray | ... | Self - AKA 'Salty' | |
Marie Harding | ... | Self - AKA 'Flash' | |
William Dempster | ... | Self - AKA 'Freddy' | |
John Allen | ... | Self - AKA 'Johnny Dolphin' | |
William S. Burroughs | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
Mark Nelson | ... | Self - AKA 'Horse Shit' | |
Margret Augustine | ... | Self - AKA 'Firefly' (archive footage) | |
Thor Heyerdahl | ... | Self - Explorer (archive footage) | |
Tony Burgess | ... | Self - Desert Ecologist | |
Ed Bass | ... | Self - Chairman, Space Biosphere Ventures (archive footage) | |
Jane Poynter | ... | Self - Biospherian (archive footage) | |
Linda Leigh | ... | Self - Biospherian | |
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Brian Mortenson | ... | Self - Newscaster (archive footage) |
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Mindy Blake | ... | Self - Newscaster (archive footage) |
The true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth's ecosystem called Biosphere 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially re-imagine a new world.
I remember this in the news when I was a kid and thought it was intriguing, but I only vaguely remember the controversy. I didn't understand the problems with what they did (it was an experiment after all, not a dare or a bet) and still don't. At the end, they had a better idea of what was needed before they began. That's what you get from an experiment, generally.
It started slow but it picked up nicely. I wish there could have been interviews with all eight of the Biospherians and maybe a little more about what they learned, but this documentary is about the people behind the experiment, not the experiment itself. And that's OK. Not what I was hoping for but I was pleased with what I got. I'm glad they showed that these people weren't part of what most people would consider a commune. I would have enjoyed having been part of a group like that, especially once they left San Francisco. It would have been absolutely fascinating.
Totally worth a watch.