Earth II: CCP Nuclear Blackmail in Space

This 1971 TV movie feels more realistic today than it did the year it released. When it was produced, Mainland China was still not a UN member, but by the time it aired, the Communist regime had taken Taiwan’s place. In retrospect, that was a huge mistake. In the film (conceived as a TV pilot), the CCP engages in nuclear blackmail, in defiance of the UN. Today, they would do so with UN support. However, the titular international space station is at the greatest risk in Tom Gries’s Earth II, which releases today on BluRay.

Most UN member nations, including the United States, agreed to help finance Earth II and recognize it as a sovereign nation, in the Roddenberry-esque hope that it will develop scientific innovations to solve all our terrestrial problems. The one-world idealists insist Earth II must remain neutral, but hawks like Frank Karger are skeptical. However, the former NASA launch director has the kind of skills Earth II needs, so he immigrates with his family, intending to shape more realistic military and defense policies for the space station.

In contrast, his friend and colleague David Seville strictly advocates for Earth II’s utopian ideals. Unfortunately, reality intrudes when China launches a satellite armed with nuclear warheads, ironically pointed at Moscow (even though the USSR originally supplied the nukes to their socialist brothers). Clearly, screenwriters Allan Balter and William Read Woodfield subscribed to the Sino-Soviet split scenario that was then in vogue.

Rather awkwardly, every rotation Earth II makes round Earth I, they come perilously close to colliding with the CCP satellite. They issue strongly worded diplomatic protests, but the “Red Chinese” (as the film refers to the regime) tells Earth II to go pound sand. Seville is inclined to live with Damocles Sword, but Karger convinces the station through their town meeting-style direct democracy to take active measures to remove the nukes.

Obviously, Gries, Balter, and Woodfield have a greater affinity for Team Seville. Yet, some of the rash, ill-thought-out actions of his fellow peaceniks risk ultimate Armageddon for Earth I. Indeed, the writing is sufficiently smart, to the extent that it greatly muddles the intended message, which actually makes the TV film quite interesting. Earth II also has the distinction of advisory help from both NASA and, believe it or not, Buckminster Fuller, who created the geometric maps displayed in the control room.

Tony Franciosa is surprisingly good as Karger (even though his presence screams “TV movie,” especially since Mariette Hartley portrays his wife, Lisa). However, Gary Lockwood is disappointingly dour and rather unengaged as Seville (especially considering his classic appearance in 2001 and his great guest-shot on Star Trek). On the other hand, Gary Merrill is reliably craggy as veteran operations director Walter Dietrich. It is also worth noting the great James Hong and Soon-tek Oh appear uncredited as the Red Chinese “diplomats.”

By early 1970s TV standards, the visual effects are pretty good. In fact, the space craft designs hold up quite well, considering Earth II bears a vague resemblance to the ISS (and looks pretty cool), while the shuttles are eerily similar to NASA’s Space Shuttles that first launched ten years later in 1981.

Regardless, the notion of CCP military adventurism in space hardly seems like speculative fiction today. However, there is no longer any split between Beijing and Moscow. Still, Earth II suddenly feels much more realistic and credible, over fifty years after in premiered. Recommended for its intelligent debate of ideals and the once-dated, now-prescient geopolitics, Earth II re-releases today (3/25) on BluRay.