Ken Murphy / 8:44 pm January 15th, 2007

As part of the pre-ISDC work behind the scenes, we at NSS and NSS-NT (not affiliated with Out of the Cradle) were contacted by Director Alan Chan, who is finishing work on an IMAX-style future documentary entitled “Postcards from the Future”. I was able to arrange a screening copy as we try to figure out how to incorporate it into the ISDC proceedings. The director prefers that it be referred to as ‘large-format feature (in Imax tradition)’, since there’s no actual affiliation with IMAX and we know how sensitive lawyers are about that sort of thing.

I just finished watching it, and it is phenomenal. The plot is conveyed through video postcards and newslinks prepared over a score of years by Sean Ever[y]man for his wife Karen back home on Earth. He’s just an electrical engineer who’s working to establish a power grid on the Moon for commercial use as the Moon becomes increasingly incorporated into our economic sphere. Over time, he has to keep staying on a bit longer on the Moon to do a bit more work, even though his wife has a medical flaw and his heart yearns to be there on Earth to hold her hand. But he sees his role in humanity’s story, and knows he must stay. As he puts it in one postcard, “I’m seeing the Grand Vision…and it Rocks”. The shot below is from Sean’s trip to the Lunar south pole to establish a baseline grid, and is the first time that the full scale and import of the work of his hands really hits him.

Sean’s daughter, Cayleigh Everman, is a member of the Mars crew, so he does see her on the Moon. The mission departs for Mars under the watchful gaze of a proud father, and of course there’s danger on final approach. It seems to be de rigeur for any portrayal of Mars in the movies, and is perhaps one of those collective subconscious visions of the future that will likely happen irrespective. Congressional hearings threaten to call back the badly crippled mission, but the remaining crew insists on staying. Sean follows later in the first interplanetary space elevator slingshot (Brad Edwards was a consultant) to establish the Martian power grid. It’s harder on Mars than on the Moon, and he notes in one postcard that the death rate on Mars is twice as high. But all goes fairly well, more progress is made than not, and he’s offered the chance of a lifetime…

Wouldn’t you like to know what that is? Well, you’re going to have to wait (but you can view the trailer here). The movie is going to be screened at an ESA conference in February, and we’re going to screen it in some way, shape, or form, as part of the proceedings at the 2007 ISDC over the Memorial Day weekend in May. It was shot in digital IMAX-style format (4K, whatever that is; see caveats above), and should be spectacular on a bigger screen than my laptop. The director bills it as an epic short, and he clearly learned a thing or three working on such movies as ‘Titanic’, ‘LOTR: T2T’, and ‘Polar Express’. It is epic in scale, but also deeply personal as Everman pines for his distant love.

During the Moon scenes I kept thinking of ‘Magnficent Desolation’, one of the few other space movies in recent times that’s made me shed so many tears at the sheer awesome beauty and splendor of it (and my innate, intense, burning but frustrated desire to go to the Moon). There are sly references to other sci fi works, and an awful lot of drama packed into its 38 minutes and 19 seconds with credits. There’s death, frustration, accomplishment, and humanity working to unlock the Solar system as our domain of exploration and work.

I’m really glad that I was able to see this movie. It’s one of those moments like the first time I saw the Explorations video of the child reaching out for Mars while standing on an overturned tub of LEGOs. (I’m trying to dig up a link, as it’s an artistically beautiful video) [Here we go, thanks to the NASA Academy alumni] The real story on that one is that it didn’t make the cut for some NASA competition, but someone at NASA was smart enough to put it on the ‘anon’ server. The Space Generation folks picked up on it (which is how I heard about it), and Keith Cowing over at NASAWatch and other bloggers passed it on to a much larger audience. It ended up becoming a cult hit because it conveys such a powerful message. While that video was a short short, ‘Postcards from the Future’ has much more time to deliver tugs to the heartstrings, and does so quite effectively.

It’s very similar to “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” (one of my favorites for its style) in that it uses a lot of green screen work and CGI. At some points it stands out a bit more than others, but this is a draft copy in the Lunar Library, and the guy’s not working on a Hollywood mega-budget. It’s a darn fine movie that paints compelling pictures of a dangerous and beautiful tomorrow that humanity can achieve with some work, investment, and sweat equity.

I’m more than happy to give ‘Postcards from the Future’ a Full Moon rating. I’d give it a PG age-rating for some intermittent profanity (usually used when discussing medical issues).

Full Disclosure: The reviewer is co-chair of the ISDC. He really wants you to come to Dallas for the Memorial Day weekend for the big space party and to come see the movie. The Director, Alan Chan, would also like for you to see the movie, and we’re doing what we can to make it work out in the best way possible. First screening will be during the conference proceedings, so you’d better get registered.