From left, Jane Poynter, Linda Leigh, Mark Van Thillo, Taber MacCallum, Roy Walford (in front), Abigail Alling, Sally Silverstone and Bernd Zabel in "Spaceship Earth." MUST CREDIT: Neon
When the eight "Biospherians" entered Biosphere 2 in 1991, they believed they were setting off on an adventurous two-year experiment to determine what life would be like inside a biosphere—a self-sustained, man-made replication of some of Earth's biomes—should we ever choose to build one on another planetary body as part of our collective expanse into space.
And based on the saccharine recollections provided in Spaceship Earth, a new documentary released today on Hulu, it's clear that the Biospherians remaining today feel they got the "adventurous" part out of it that they were hoping for.
Whether or not there was also a legitimate "experiment," by the scientific method, is pretty well up for debate in the documentary, as it was also in the news media and science communities at the time of the endeavor. But they got their adventure—an incredibly costly, showy adventure... in the name of scientific discovery... which may or may not have really been made.
The story, short: throughout the 1960s and '70s, a charismatic metallurgist, ecologist, and aspiring adventurer named John Allen put together a traveling theatre company (slash-international business network, slash-construction workers for-hire, slash-commune, slash-band of disciples) for the purpose of trotting the globe, studying the planet and its tenants, and discovering what lies over the horizon. In the '80s, inspired by sci-fi movies like Silent Running, Allen decided the commit the group to inventing and constructing humanity's first fully functional biosphere—not in space, but here on Earth.
This biosphere, named Biosphere 2 (because Earth is Biosphere 1; clever) would, as Allen proposed, serve as an experiment to demonstrate how things might go if we decide to build another one when we settle elsewhere in the galaxy. The Biosphere 2 project would go on to become the object of media and tourist fascination, and soon after scientific skepticism across the nation. Experts among the ecology and space-travel communities felt that, though interesting, Biosphere 2 was failing all the basic marks of being a true experiment—billionaire-funded production costs and inconsistent adherence to control protocols would make replicating it or comparing its data to anything extremely difficult and unlikely.
A fascinating story, to be sure, just like Biosphere 2 was a fascinating endeavor. Especially exciting is the tantalizing tease of hippie-ish cult activity within John's company, as touted (perhaps hyperbolically) by Spaceship Earth's trailer. But the documentary itself falls into a similar spot as the original project. Intriguing, absolutely; but productive? Insightful? A vital, conclusive investigation into its subject matter? Not particularly.
It's a common problem in documentaries, to over-rely on the broad subject matter and its relative anonymity to mainstream audiences as not only the selling point for a feature or series-length production, but the almost the entire substance of the production as well. The recently masses-engrossing docuseries Tiger King on Netflix is a similar case, though still considerably more investigative than Spaceship Earth.
This documentary doesn't really answer any questions—neither the ones it poses nor the ones that average Google-searchers might want to ask about the Biosphere 2 saga. On a journalistic level, Spaceship Earth is too caught up in the benign entertainment of the intrigue of people encasing themselves in a glass rainforest to really accomplish anything. No particularly conclusive discoveries are made (nor stances taken) about the endeavor, its participants, or its benefactors, beyond simple rumor or implication, that couldn't be found through some cursory web searches.
Rather, Spaceship Earth is content to ride the same surface-level entertainment value that Biosphere 2 initially offered the world, followed by the fond, rose-tinted sentiment of its participants, who clearly still think they made a difference for ecological science—or if they didn't who cares? They had an adventure. Cue sappy music.
The story of Biosphere 2—how it happened, who made it happen, and how it turned out—is admittedly interesting enough to keep eyes on the screen (the visually stunning structure of Biosphere 2 helps). But there's no deeper revelation to be made here, which leaves behind the hollow question, "So did this need to be a movie?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JOwk2iD80M&w=585