This is a bad movie.

On points 2 and 3... The Robots seem to have feelings as brought out in that repair scene. Of note though, the director and writers have indicated (it can be found on the net) that these are programmable drones that are under the command of humans. Their purpose was for labor tasks on board the ship. FREEMAN reprogrammed them to play cards, be his companion etc. ONE OF THE KEY POINTS in the themes of this film is that the robots are UNDER the control of the humans. This theme is in response to 2001 where HAL starts thinking for himself etc, it was supposed to show us a world where the robots are NOT out of our control. I wonder if Freeman had pushed would Dewey respond in the repair scene, instead Freeman says "I understand"…. the emotions control. I just find it interesting and moving rather than insisting "but wait WE control the drones" etc and as far as them having feelings here it's just SO MOVING.

There's a huge difference between the original story and how it ended up for filming, and knowing it can help. But I was still very moved by this powerful film. I do get your points and often wish there was a remake. Research the original synopsis and you'll find it was originally a race against time as an abducted drone attempts to make contact for Freeman with aliens whilst Earth authorities simultaneously pursue the Valley Forge. (Hence "Silent Running" mode where Freeman makes the ship go dark and quiet to avoid being detected). The original story actually avoids a lot of the "wait a minute" moments like your (5). Although perhaps Freeman never experienced a planet where the Sun was ever an issue as climate was artificially controlled all the time! It was all about trying to make that contact whilst also being pursued (which would destroy both Freeman and our first contact with aliens).

I can guess some might respond "we're talking about the FILM not what the film was GOING TO BE", but I mention the above because once you understand the original intent of the creators, you can see that yes there are poor elements to it as they morphed A LOT of the story into something else. The ecology theme is huge, yet the original story combined that with the alien contact, which was the main point of the originally written ending IE: Man's recklessness not only destroys all nature on his home planet, but destroys his connection to the Universe.

This is a subpar comment.

Every time a few decades go by there is always someone that sees an older movie and has to tell everyone how dumb it is because all they have in their own heads is all the movies they have seen growing up way after that movie was made and they start making unintelligent comparisons.

For it's time Silent Running is a great film. The special effects are fantastic and the notion in the plot that humans have become beyond dependent on technology is a great premise. The movie makes a point and is in no way stupid as the OP has put it, his failure on picking up the actual theme of the movie is however.

You have to remember there was not alot on sci fi back in '72 and everyone in every movie tried something different with robots. Even star wars used the same method with some of their droids later on in the late 70s so don't give me its not how robots are supposed to move lol. If they are made that way robots can do anything. That one statement you made really shows you have watched to many newer films and think there is a manual on how robots are to be.

You should watch this movie again and put in mind not to take it so seriously. Try and pickup on the plots and stop comparing it to other movies.

I miss the days when there was intelligent people on IMDB rather than many people now just saying thats stupid , this is stupid, I'm still 8 years old in my 30s acting like an idiot, etc.

Its a great movie for its time

To "Zee944":

1. You're a "bad" human being -- a miserable *beep* *beep* and a moronic, unimaginative, talent-free *beep* English idiot who will never, EVER make a movie or do ANYTHING even remotely artistic or creative or worthwhile as long as you *beep* live. Do us all a favor and rid the planet of your worthless carcass immediately.

2. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

3. *beep* you, once again.

Yeah. I saw this move when I was a kid back in 1972 at the theater. We all thought it was crap. And we liked good movies like Sleuth, Jeremiah Johnson, The Getaway, The Conversation, The Odessa File, etc. And there was some better scifi with a message that we liked - Soylent Green, Logan's Run, Westworld, The Omega Man, etc. But for us, Silent Running was just comical and bad.

Obviously feelings and emotions aren't a weakness that humans have that we can conveniently avoid in machines, they must have some benefit to mankind's survival - I don't know, maybe that's how sophisticated AI had become

Ok - so NASA hired 3 hippie slackers and one unstable retard that forgot u need sunlight to grow *beep*
Yet, I saw this the first time as a kid and that haunting ending still gets me.

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