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A. Bowdoin Van R iper | Special In-Depth Se c

om Gagarin t o Armageddon:Soviet-American Relations in the Cold War Space Epic

A. Bowdoin Van RiperSocial and International Studies ProgramSouthern Polytechnic State University

Beating me bo\ iet> to tiie moon l^. tor the Amencans in CounidoH n 1absolute go od.

The phrase "Cold Warfiction llms" inevitably

f the worid. Films of this

late 1980s, and their sta-has been discussed atThere is, however, an-

ce procedural, is defined b \'nal activities. The difference between a space procedurallm that simply takes place in space is a matter of empha-In the former, space travel remains in the foreground and

s arou nd. Apollo 13 (1995j is a space procedural; Staris, not.

Space pr oce du ral are common in written science fiction,Destina-Moon, generally acknowledged as the first, appeared in 1950

heir dismal record as entertainment. High costs are a built-hazard of the sub-ge nre. Depicting space travel realistically,w hile a consultant on Destination Moon.time, money, and careful attention to detail. Low en ter-It is due less to the inherents of the form than to Hollyw ood's unfamiliarity with it and

p, and space pr oce du ral thus tend to be well-made. They

also tend, because they carefully crafted, to delitheir messages (implicit or plicit) w ith a clarity and prsion lacking in less expensiless prestigious science ficfilms. Early space procedutended to be apolitical, relyon Man vs. Nature confiictdri\ e their plots. Where Mvs. Man conflict existed at it took place betw een membof the crew or between crew and officials on Eanever between nations. Tclosest that Destination Mcomes to a political statemis a vague reference to the n

to reach the moon before other, unspecified foreign pow ers clit as their own. Neither the steady intensification of the CWar nor the "space race" inaugurated b\ the Soviet Uniolaunch of Sputnik I in 1957 brought significant changes in sppr oc ed ur al. The 1961 flight of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagaand President John F. Kennedy s subsequent call for an Amcan moon landing by the end of the decade had no visible effon the sub-genre. The major space travel films of the mid-19tend toward comic-book broadness, not detailed realism .' ginning in 1968. however, space procedural became increingly realistic and Cold War politics began to play an increasinexplicit role in them.

There is no obvious, satisfying explanation for this shor for why it happened when it did. It is temp ting, but prably misleading, to link it to the gradual slackening of suppower tensions that began w ith the Test Ban Treaty of 1963is equally tempting, and probably equally misleading, to seas an attempt to capitalize on the rapidly advancing Apoprogram. The real reason is likely more complicated and mprosaic, tied to shooting schedules, the availability of sparelated properties, and Hollywood's cyclical interest in scienfiction. Wh atever the reason, the space procedural becapolitically aware in 1968. This essay is concemed with w

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Van Riper | From Gagarin to Armageddon. Soviet-Am erican Relations in the Cold War Space Epichappened over the next three decad es. It explores the ways inwhich space procedural from three distinct phases of the laterCold War depicted, and commented on, Soviet-American re-lations in their eras.

The real-world space race was drawing to a close in late1968. Both the Soviet and American space programs w ere closeto putting manned spacecraft into lunar orbit. Both programshad landed robot probes on the moon, and both could, in prin-ciple, attempt a manned landing in the near future. "First OnThe Moon" was the last great prize in the first phase of spaceexploration. No other goal attainable with existing spacecraftcarried the same prestige. Certain that the United States wouldbeat them to a manned landing, Soviet officials hoped to win ashare of the glory by making the first manned orbital flight inlate 1968 or early 1969. Upon learning of this, American flightplanners rearranged existing flight schedules in order to launchtheir own lunar orbital mission in December 1968. The tlightof Apollo 8, which reached lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, markedthe effective end of the space race. When Apollo 11 left for themoon seven months later, the question was not "Can Americaget there first? " but "Can A merica do it the first time?""'

Robert Altman's Countdown (1968) appeared in the yearthat ended with the flight oi Apollo 8, but adapted a Hank S earls1964 novel The P ilgrim Project. The film traces the last, des-perate weeks of a Soviet-Ame rican race to land the first man onthe moon. Nom inally set in 1968, its attitudes are more charac-teristic of 1964a time when the Soviet lead in space seemedunassailab le. The assumption that the United States must beatthe Soviet Union to the moon (the last, greatest prize) is centralto the logic of its story.The story begins when Colonel Charles "Chiz" Stewart,training his crew for an Apollo moon landing mission still ayear in the future, receives word that a Soviet landing is immi-nent. A one-man Sov iet ship is headed for the moon to surveylanding sites from orbit, and a three-man ship will attempt alanding in a month or less. Stewart explains to the other twomembers of his crew that NASA has anticipated, and preparedfor, this kind of Soviet surprise. A secret moon landing pro-gram code-named "Pilgrim" has been developed as an emer-gency backup for Apollo. The Pilgrim spacecraft, a heavilymodified version of a two-man Gemini ship, will carry fuel andsupplies sufficient to get a single astronaut to the moon, but notto bring him home again. Once the astronaut has landed, hewill move into a shelter delivered by an earlier, unmanned rocketand subsist on supplies sent from Earth until the first Apollolanding mission arrives to ferry him hom e. Pilgrim will, Stewartsays, be ready to launch in three weeksjust in time to beat theSoviets at the finish line.

Beating the Soviets is, for the principal characters inCountdown, an absolute and unquestioned good. They take theimportance of doing so for granted, and have little patience foranyone who fails (or refuses) to see it. When Stew art's Apollocrewmates express doubts about the Pilgrim concept, he bran-dishes the technical manual like holy writ and snaps that "It'sall in there!." When a flight surgeon expresses concerns about

the physical demands on Pilgrim's lone astronaut, NASRoss Llewellyn overrides his objections and threatens him court-martialed if he speaks out. Lee Stegler, the aschosen to fly the mission, brushes aside the doubts of hand young son w ith more gentleness but equal finality.Thirty years on, audiences would probably con cur wStegler and the flight surgeon: Pilgrim seems like a hare-idea. Technologically it is a dead end, depe ndent on a juryspacecraft that will do little to show off America's technosophistic ation. Operation ally it is vacuo us, its astronautioning less as an explorer than as a flag planted to claiterritory. Mo rally it is dubio us, maroon ing the astronayear in a hostile environm ent with no possibility of rescueing Pilgrim to the moon seems rational only if getting this matter of such transcend ent importan ce that it trumps aconc erns. Late in the film, when it becomes clear that man Soviet crew will reach the moon first. Project Pilgrimson for existing app ears to have evaporated . Stegler, hwants to fly the m ission anyway. He is so comm itted fact, that he lands even thoug h he cann ot locate the sheltehis only hope of survival.

The main ch aracte rs' steely-eyed intensity is not pomotivated. The race to the moon is, for them, analogous war but to a sporting event. Llewellyn is the victory-ocoach, Stewart the veteran player sidelined on the eve ofGame, and Stegler the untested rookie who must replacStegler's argument for launching Pilgrimbetter seconddays than second by a yearechoes the Olympic ideal thpeting well is as important as winning . His decision to the moon rather than retum home is, like a last-second Hapass or a last-inning swing for the bleachers, a high-stathat his strength and skill will allow him to beat the oddConsistent with the mythology of the Big Game, Srewarded for his confidence and tenacity. He reaches thesafely and, while traversing the lunar surface, discovers theage of the Soviet spacecraft and the lifeless bodies of icosm onauts. The United States has achieved at least first man to land on the moon and retum safely to the Eabe an American. Nobody quotes Yogi Berra, but Counimplicit message seems to be: "'It ain't over "til it's over.

The first footprints on the moon are at least a genold in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)tensions of the Cold War have not abated. Am ericans anets alike reside on the moon, but each superpower has base, its own personne l, and its own scientific agend a. Tmajor human character to appear on screen is Dr. Heywooa scientist called to the American base to examine a stiproject. His first substan tive con versation , with a groupSoviet scientists, shows that Soviet-American competitmuch a part of 200rs world as it was of Countdown's.

Floyd knows one of the Soviets, Elena, personaknows Dr. Smyslov, apparently the senior member of theonly by reputation. He exchanges a few vague pleasantrElena, but it is Smyslov who captures and holds his atThe encounter takes place by chance, aboard an Earth-

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A. Bowdoin Van Riper | Special In-Depth S ecti

At a politically neutral site. Soviet and Ame ncan scientists engage in a battle ofwits , not force, in 200/.- .4 Spuce Od\sse\ (1968).

It is a politically

ure lounge), and theBeneath his politeness,

AU comm unications

en days. A Soviet transport w ith engine trouble was deniedFloyd expresses astonishm ent; his face is the epitome ofn openness and innocence. Smyslov leans closer, hise taking on a conspiratorial tone. He has heard, from reli-

at the American base. Can Floyd confirm the fact? Then responds, a bit primly now, that he is not at libert\ tothe matter. Smyslov sm iles in triumph.Several scenes later, it is clear that Floyd, not Smyslov,he verbal chess match aboard the space station. The ru-f an epidemic are part of a disinformation campaign de-

base. Briefing an audience of American scientists,n maintaining the lie. He ac-l about w ithholdingand lying to colleagues, but does not share it. Heenjoyed misleading Smyslov.political an imal. At

sharing the frame w ith an Americaner of the room .2007 begins with a long prologue, set four million yearspast. A group of primitive hom inids leams to use tools,

The famous cut that

p carrying Floyd tow ardpace station underscores

those of 2001. Floyd 'sres a similar continu-behavior. Floyd guard s

idly, as the pro logue 's ri-a wildebeest carcass. The

Marooned (1969) is a hopefulfilm,released as the era of detente began.

voices) and r i tual ize(Smyslov alludes to a luntreaty), but it is no less real anno less intense than the homnids ' battles over food. words have replaced bones the weapons of choice for itertribal conflict, it is only bcause the same ingenuity thbrought humans into space hmade the real ones too poweful for every day use. Th

Cold War, Kubrick seems to suggest, began not in 1945 bumillions of years ago on the dusty plains of East Africa.Soviet-American relations in the two films of 1968 wedefined by competition: physical in Countdown, ment(substituting for physical) in 2001. The com petitors, in eaccase, respect each other and respect the rules under whicthey com pete. Neither Soviets nor Am ericans have reason fear death at the hands of the "enemy:" such violence woube an unthinkable b reach of the unspoken rules. Equally, however, neither Soviets nor Americans have reason to expethe other side to relax its guard. The worlds of Countdowand 2007 thus have much in common w ith the world of tmid- to late 1960s. Cold War competition is a fact of life, buthe competition is not bellicose and not a direct threat to ether superpower. Aggression has been muted, channeled, ancontained by joint agreem ent. It can, like a chronic illnesbe li\ed with but never eradicated,John Sturges's Marooned (1969) alters the formula esta

hshed by its predecessors. The film's release date linked it, inevtably, to the successful lunar landings of Apollo 11 and ApolloIts story of astronauts imperiled by a damaged spacecraft alsforeshadowed the Apollo 13 near-disaster of February 1970. It how e\ er, equally suggestive of events outside the space prograIt belongs, both in release date and in oudook. to the first mments of the era of detente: the \ ears that \\ ould see the rafication of SALT I and PresideRichard Nixon's improbablepoch-making visit to China.Marooned revolve

around the three-man crew oIronman One. an Apollo-typspacecraft stranded in Earth obit by the failure of its main egine. One ofthe astronauts diin a repair attempt, leaving thtwo survivors with barelenough oxygen to sur\ ive udl NASA can launch a rescumission. Delayed by a hurrcane, the rescue vehicle lifts ohours behind schedule. Thtwo sur\i\ in2 American astr

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Van R iper | From Gagarin to Armageddon. Soviet-Ame rican Relations in the Cold War Space Epicnauts, Lloyd and Stone, are half-dead from oxygen deprivationwhen salvation arrivesin the form of a Soviet spacecraft. TheSoviet is given neither a name, a face, nor a voice, but he isallowed to define himself by his actions. He and Stone firstattempt to transfer the unconscious Lloyd to the Soviet ship.When the transfer fails, leaving Lloyd adrift and out of reach,the Soviet crosses from his own ship to Ironman One. Oncethere, he saves the lives of both Americans: sharing his ownoxygen supply with Stone and spotlighting Lloyd so that thejust-arrived American rescue ship can retrieve him. Then, withall the surviving Am ericans safely united aboard the rescue ship,the Soviet silently departs.

Nothing in the first two hours of the film suggests thatSoviet assistance for Ironman One is even a possibility. Whenthe President asks NASA manned space director George Keithabout it, Keith replies that all the Soviet ships currently aloft arein orbits far from the American ship. When a Soviet ship doesarrive in the nick of time, Keith is astonished. He had, clearly,made no further overtures to his opposite number in Moscow;the Soviets acted entirely on their own. Astronaut Stone is equallystunned by the arrival of the Soviet ship. Delirious from lack ofoxygen, he first mistakes its dark, unfamiliar shape for that ofthe Angel of Death. Only when its hatch opens, revealing afellow space traveler, does he see that it represents Life.Marooned presents its climactic rescue in space in waysthat recall a rescue on the high seas. Keith, briefing repo rters,refers to space as a hostile environment that will cost lives toexplore. The American astronauts and their ship are shown, forthe first time, in long shots that emphasize their isolation anddependence on outside help. Lloyd's slow passage from ship toship suggests a maritime rescue by breeches buoy. Stone is savedfrom "drowning" in the vacuum of space by a rescuer's gift ofhis own (bottled) "breath." Both the Soviet and American res-cuers must leave the safety of their ships and, like Coast Guardrescue swimmers, plunge into the abyss themselves in order tosave others. The sea-space parallel is common in science fic-tion, and by no means unique to Marooned.'^ By using it in astory about a crippled ship, however. Marooned invokes theunwritten "Law of the Sea" that bids mariners to render all pos-sible assistance to others in peril. Absent evidence to the con-trary, the audience is encouraged to conclude that the Sovietsacted for humanitarian reasons.

Marooned is a hopeful film, and far more optimistic thanits counterparts from 1968. It is also more optimistic than the1964 Martin Caidin novel on which it was based. In the novel,the pilot of the Soviet rescue ship is dispatched by his govem-ment in the hope of scoring a propagand a coup . The groun d-based Soviet officials in the novel play the Cold War game asrelentlessly as their counterparts in the films of 1968. Caidinallows only the Soviet pilot to display concern for the man he issent to rescue. Sturges not only allows the Soviet pilot to play agreater role in the rescue, but eliminates the scheming politicalofficials on the ground. It suggests, but does not insist, that whatLincoln called "the better angels of our nature" have exertedtheir infiuence in the Soviet version of Mission Control. The

film ends abruptly once the rescue is concluded, pointenying its characters the opportunity to comment on promptu Soviet-American cooperation that made it pWhether such cooperation is a harbinger of things to comextraordinary event bom of extraordinary circumstancrooned does not speculate.Fifteen years later, 2070,- Th e Year We Make Coplayed no such reservations. Released in December 198appeared at a time when superpower tensions were at theest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet invaAfghanistan, U. S. support for anti-Communist forces tral America, unprecedented peacetime arms buildups, for-tat boycotts of the 1980 (Moscow) and 1984 (Los AOlympic games provided am ple grounds for mutual distrrise of hard-line leaders on both sides (Ronald Reagan iYuri Andropov in 1981) further reduced the possibility ociliation. 2010's message is, like the politics of its era,polarized and drawn in bold colors with sharp-edged stris, at once, a far more hopeful film than its 1968-69 prsors and a far more despairing one.2010 is, as its title sug gests, a sequel to 2007 . HFloyd is once again a major a cha racter and, once again,significant act is a conversation with a Soviet counterpaconversation in 2070 is, initially, the same sort of verbamatch as the one in 2007 . Quickly, however, it moves idifferent direction. Mo isevich, the Soviet, is not the huSmyslov of 2007 . He soon cuts through the Cold Warmanship by proposing that he and Floyd "play a game"The Truth." For two minutes, M oisevich proposes, he awill each tell nothing but the tmth . At first, Floyd appthe truth-telling proce ss warily. He haggles o ver the ti(they settle on one m inute, forty-five secon ds), and, as tpointedly reminds M oisevich how much of it is left. Sooever, Floyd has let his defenses down and speaks to Mohonestly and at length.

A Soviet deep space research vessel, theAlexei Leosoon depart for Jupiter, the destination of the ill-fated Amission chronicled in 2007. The crew of theLeonov is tgate both the American ship. Discovery, and a mysterioartifact that it discovered. The Am ericans are planning mission, but the Leotwv will beat them to Jupiter by amore. Both sides, Moisevich argues, want access to the sDiscovery and the alien artifact. Neither side, however,of achieving such access on their own. The Americanbeat the Soviets to Jupiter: the Soviets cannot easily reDiscoveiy's systems or restart its onboard computer w ithocan help. Moisevich proposes a cooperative venture. Thwill carry a team of American scientists and engineers tothe Americans will reactivate Discovery, and bo th sidesaccess to the know ledge tha t they want. The scene soona park bench outside the W hite House. There, Floyd msame pitch to Victor Milsona mediator, as Floyd wasbetween the worlds of science and politics.Superpo wer relations in the fictional w orld of 2

like those in the real world of 1984, tense and highly p

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A. Bowdoin Van Riper | Special In-Depth Sectio

driven the United States and the Soviet Union to the brinkFloyd, Mois evich, and Milson are all

ew them with a sense of ironic detachm ent, Mo ise\ ichby presentin g it as a propag anda coup : ""Helping out the

Ame ricans." When Milson asks Floyd how he can sell theDiscover)'. Neither bureaucrat

M ilson desc ribes the Pres iden t as ""reactionary"' andhis choice of lunch menu s. Mo isevich , when Floyd

Titov toshrug s and says ""people fall out of favor."* Co ld War

cs is not. for these m en. the deadly serious m atter it w as init is a childish game played for mortal stakes.In the world of 2001. scientists are compelled by political

dec ei\ e and man ipul ate the ""enemy," In the w orld ofit is pohtical leaders w ho are the enemy, nurturing discordthey should seek com mo n ground. Scientists must de-

them in order to cooperate with fellow. Floy d, a reso lute d ece iver of the Sov iet ""enemy"" in

remains s tandof f ish in the f i r s t moments o f 2070.soon w ins him over, however, pointin g out that: ""We

our gove mm ents hate each other, not us." Later,Leonov. Floyd uses a similar argument on the ini-

Throughout 2070, Soviet and American characters arerhetoric of their leaders. Milson and Moisevich join

Floyd and Soviet scientist Irina Yak unina. bothLeonov's pilots use an untested m aneuver called

comfor t . Sovie t c rew ma n Ma xim Bra i lovsky and

t h e o n c e - s e p a r a t e

c r ew. T h e y r ea l i z e

T he Leonov's p h y s ica l

litical realities of the 2010 (1984offers a deepl> anibi\ alent V iew

Cold War. Messa ges from hom e, w ith their inevitable reminers of the deepening Central American crisis, are infrequenTraditional political authorities are inaccessible, and thus unable to disturb the idyll of coo perat ion and friendsh ip unfoldinaboard the Leonov. Ultimately. howe\er, the Cold War provcapa ble of reach ing even to the orbit of Jupiter, M essa ges froEarth report that the United S tates and the Soviet Union are poiseon the brink of nuclear w ar over events in Central Am erica. TJupiter mission is to be terminated, and the tw o crew s must s eprate. The So\ iets w ill retum home aboard the Leonov. the Am ecans aboa rd the now -re\ ived Discovery. Significantly, earlicomplications have made it impossible for either ship to breafree of Jup iter's gravity by itself The only way home is to linthe two ships physically for the initial acceleration tow ard EartThe departure from Jupiter thus underlines what 2070 sees athe tragic absu rdit\ of the Cold \\'ar, Tlie Soviet and Am ericacrew s must join in order to fulfill their le ade rs' orders to separate. Their last, most challenging cooperative endeavor w ill plathem on separate, parallel courses toward a world that compettion may w ell render desolate b\ the time the\ arri\ e.

2070 ends, like 2007. with the intervention of a mysterous, powe rful alien sp ecies in the affairs of the hum an race . I2070. the aliens" actions so stun the leaders of Earth that thedefuse the Central Am erican crisis, end the Cold War. and inaugura te a new era in hum an history. The film thus has a happending, but one whose fairy tale quality feels incongruous in film w hose visual hallmark is its scrupulously detailed realism20 70 thus offers a deeply am bi\ alent view of the future. It suggests that Soviet-American hostility can be dissolved (as on thLeonov) by trust and friendship, but also that quasi-divine inte\ent ion may be required to break the Cold War's spell. Thmixed messagehope warring with despairseems, in retrspect, a ver> apt one for closing months of 1984.

The fifteen \ ears betw een Marooned and 2070 saw bothwaning (in the 1970s) and a renewal (in the early 1980s) of thCold War. The fourteen \ea rs between 207 0 and the summbl oc kb us ter .4n

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Van Riper | From Gagarin to Armageddort. Soviet-American Relations in the Cold War Space Epicwould, for him, have always involved Russians and Americanscooperating to build an Intemational Space Station.

Interactions between Russian and American space travel-ers are integral to, but not the point of, Armageddon. The filmconcems Harry Stamper's oil-drilling crew, a colorful band ofrogues called on by NASA to land on, bore into, and destroy aTexas-sized asteroid headed for the Earth. The ships carryingStamper and his men stop at ""the Russian space station" to re-fuel, but in the process an accident destroys the station, forcingits lone inhabitant tojoin the mission. Loud, fast, and awash intestosterone, Armageddon is by far the least subtle of the fivefilm s discussed here. It is also, with 2001. the most fine ly crafted.The film 's plot, characters, and tone all appear to have been care-fully, consciously designed to appeal to its target audience.'' Itsportrayal of Russian cosmonaut Lev Andropov is, presumably,designed with equal care.When the audience first encounters Andropov, aboard theRussian space station, he has been there alone for eighteenmon ths. He looks like a street person and speaks in long, fast,

rambling sentences that teeter on the edge of dementia but neverquite fall in. The station itself is in even worse sh ape. As soonas the refueling process begins, a crucial valve fails, causingvolatile fuel to spray from leaking pipe joints . The emergencyshutoff lever and the intercom both fail and, in moments, a fuelexplosion begins to tear the station apart. Andropov barely es-capes w ith his life, pulling away on one of the American shuttlesas the station literally disintegrates beneath him.Freed from the station and safe aboard the shuttle,Andropov undergoes a striking transformation. He becomesmore lucid, more aware of his surroundings, and more coopera-tive. He remains pessim istic to the point of absurdity but this, inthe context of Armageddon, is evidence not of psychosis but ofcharacterization. Each of the characters in the film is defined bya single character trait, andAndropov's is pessimism. He quicklybecomes part of the team, and twice saves his new comrades'lives by repairing damaged m achines at crucial mom ents. Tocomp lete the first repair he must cling to the outside of a vehiclehurtling across the asteroid's surface; to complete the second,he pushes aside a by-the-checklist American pilot and revivesthe balky machine by banging on it with a wrench. He thusexhibits, in tum , physical bravery, a gift for im provisation, and ahealthy disregard for established procedure: precisely those char-acter traits that Armageddon's heroes exhibit, and that the filmcelebrates as definitively ""American."Lev (as the American characters all come to call him) re-tum s to Earth with the other survivors of the mission. He setsfoot on American soil for what is presumably the first time in hislife and is greeted as ecstatically as his American comrades.These scenes comp lete Lev 's personal transformation. Freedfrom the "Russian" world of the space station (dark, aimless,decaying) and placed in the ""American" world of the shuttles,he has been saved not just phy sically but spiritually. He hasbecome not just a collaborator (as in Marooned) or a member ofthe team (as in 2070) but ""one of the guys" an A merican in allbut birth and accent.

Earlier films suggest (Marooned obliquely and 2rectly) that Americans and Russians can find commonbeneath their superficial differences. Armageddon seemsgest that Russians are Americans, or would transform theinto Americans if given (as Lev was) the opportunity andto do so. It is a message fully consisten t with the belAmerica "'won" the Cold War, and that the w ages of victorbe the worldw ide spread of demo cracy and capitalismalso a message fully consistent with Armageddon's specdisplays of American iconography and unapologetic celeof what it sees as ""American" values.The thirty years between 1968 and 1998 brought theStates from deep intem al division to deep self-satisfactionbrought the Soviet Union from superpower status to oand, consequently, the Cold W ar from a defining feature oaffairs to a fading mem ory. They brought the Am ericSoviet (now Russian) space programs from direct compto fruitful, if some times exasp erating, coop eration. Theepics of the era, taken as a group, reflect something of ethose joumey s. Countdown and Armageddon are both about the triumph of Amedcan bravery and ingenuity afailure of the Soviet system . They are not, however, thstory. The jubilant flag-waving of Armageddon is as fathe tense, hushed secrecy of Countdown as the reunificaGermany is from the Prague Spring.

Notes1. The history of the science fiction film has been ably surv

Baxter (through the late 1960s) and Sobchack (through t1970s. with a brief survey of later films added for the revistion). The films of the 1950s are discussed e.xhaustively by and those of the 1970s by Anderso n. No sim ilar works yet cpost-19 80 era, Biskind (c h. 3) explores the impact of the Con a variety of science fiction films, as does Newman: neitheexcept in passing, with space procedurals.

2. Prominent writers of space procedurals include Robert A. HArthur C, Clarke . Allen Steele. Ben Bova, and Stephen Baxteprocedural films include: Destination Moon (1950). Th e ConSpace (1955). Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). The Right SSpace Camp (1986), Apollo 13 (1995), and the five discusseessay. Discussions of the sub-genre or the films that make virtually non-existent, Sobchac k, for exam ple, deals with Min a few pa ragraphs and Countdown in a few s entences. Theexception is 2001: A Space Odyssey, whose procedural aspegenerally speaking, treated as symbolic rather than realistic.

3. Promine nt exam ples of the com ic-boo k style (all from 1967the Jerry Lewis vehicle Way. Way Out. the James Bond adYou Only Live Twice, and the James Bond spoof In Like Fl

4. The history of Project Apollo receives comprehensive treauChaikin, w hile Zimmerma n focuses on the Apollo 8 missioimpac t. Oberg tells the Soviet side of the story. Hepp enheiCrouch's histories of the space age treat the U. S. and Sovieprograms in parallel.

5. A. Bertram C handler, Poul Anderson, and Andre Norton arethe many authors who used the sea-space parallel in writtenfiction d uring the 1950s and 1960s. It is also the basis of thing Star Trek saga, whose ""Starfleet"" makes extensive use protocol, organization, and language,

6. The name change is, for those familiar with Soviet space prosubtle in-joke, Alexei Leonov w as the comm ande r of th

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A. Bowdoin Van Riper | Special In-Depth Se ctspacecraft that docked with an American ship during the ApoUo-Soyuz rendezvous mission of 1975. Hiswas theSoviet hand in thatmission's widely publicized "handshake in space."'2010. made only a few years after Voyager I and Voyager 2 rtinmeAthe first close-up photograp hs of Jupiter and its moons, made excel-lent use of then-current scientific data. One example: the fine sulfurdust, ejected from recently discovered \ olcanoes on the Jo\ ian moonIo , covering the surface of the derelict Discovery.The typical ticket-buyer is, moreover, overwhelmingly likely to bemale. Subsequent use of the male pronoun is. for this reason, com-pletely intentional.This judgement is, to some extent, a matter ofconjecture, but direc-tor Michael Bay"s inclusion of virtually every stock character andplot device found in action-adventure movies strongly supports it.The challenge of coherently working exotic dancers, automatic weap-ons, and a car chase into a story about blowing up an asteroid shouldnot be taken lightly. Armageddon's conscious play for a young, maleaudience becomes even clearer when it is viewed alongside DeepImpact, a more conventional extraterrestrial-impact film released afew months earher.

A. Bowdoin Van Riper receivhis PhD in the history of scienfrom the Universi tyWisconsinMadison in 199He currently teaches in the Socand Intern ationa l Stud iProgram at Soudiem PolytechnState University, a branch oftUniversity System of GeorgHis research focuses on tpublic understanding of scienand, increasingly, on represetations of science and technoloin popular culture. Hpublications include Men Amo

the Mammoths (University of Chicago Press. 1993) and tforthcoming Science in Popular Culture (Greenwood Pre2002),Works CitedW. Science Fiction Films ofthe Seventies. Jefferson,McFarland, 1985.

Science Fiction in the Cinema. L ondon :Zwemmer/Bames, 1970.Seeing is Believing: How HoUytvood Taught Us

To Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties. New York: Pan-theon, 1983.Marooned. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1964.Andrew. A Man on the Moon: Tlie Voyages of the Apollo

Astronauts. New York: Penguin, 1994.Tom D. Reaching for the Stars: The Dreamers and

Doers ofthe Space Age. Washington, DC: SmithsonianInstitution, 1999.A. "Making Destination Moon."" 1950. InFocus on the Science Fiction Film. ed. William Joh nson.Englewood CUffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1972.

T A. Countdown: A History of Space Travel.New York: John W iley, 1997.Apocalypse Movies: End ofthe World Cinema.New York: St.Martin"s, 1999.

Red Star In Orbit. NewYork: Random House.1981.

Tlie Pilgrim Project. New York: Houghton Mifflin,1964.Screening Space: The American Science Fic-

tion Film. 2"' ed . NewBrunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univer-sity Press, 1987.Keep W atching the Skies.': American Science Fic-tion Movies of the Fifties. 2 vol. Jefferson, NC:McFarland. 1982.

Genesis: The Story ofApollo 8. New York:Four Walls, Eight Windows, 1998.

NC:

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