Space Station 76-A Polyester Time Capsule

It is interesting to think that when we get to the future, it will look, sound and feel like the past.  Or more to the point, looking at older science fiction in literature and other mediums, and seeing that though they are visions of the future, they are very much products of their times.  Space Station 76 takes that idea and pumps it up to the nth degree, with a bleak yet tongue in cheek look at times to come through a decade long passed.

Space Station 76 takes place on Omega 76, an interstellar depot, intended to be a way station for travelers as well as a refueling and maintenance depot.  The human crew here is relatively small and lots of the station's functions are automated.  So you have this crew on this huge station that seems relatively isolated and alone when not doing their jobs.  Right off the bat, there seems to be some baggage. Captain Glenn (Patrick Wilson) seems especially isolated from his crew, even for someone in command, and is clearly struggling with some kind of demons which include the reassignment of the station's previous executive officer.  The new XO, Jessica (Liv Tyler) steps in, her skills and experience where they need to be, ready to do the gig.  Unlike the Captain, she tries to connect with the crew, but has trouble both with her position being a barrier and her sex, as the human crew is still functioning under the cultural mores of the 70s when it comes to relations between the sexes, which was an era far more in flux than it is now.

Later, you see scenes with various crew members interacting with each other, using technology that is clearly outdated by our current level of knowledge, and existing in a world that seems at times cold and awkward. Even the Christmas party which sets the stage for the denoument is purely surface and function, even more perfunctory than your worst office Christmas party you can imagine.

Right when the movie kicks off, the opening music is some rock psychedelia, setting the cosmic, existentialist tone of the film, firmly placing you in that retro future that the film is shooting for.   Many of the effects and the sets have a physical look to them.  They are functional and beautiful, with a tactile sense to them that the more CGI driven films of now lack at times.  The costumes, pure retro, harkening to Space 1999.   Later, as the film develops, you see more cultural drops place in that feel organic, yet clearly fill out that retro timelessness the film is going for, including easily recognizable pop tunes from the 70s.

Look, feel, technology and cultural mores put down those layers which make the sci fi salad of Space Station 76 work.  But the true nailing down of this is that the creators clearly know their 70s science fiction.  The 70s were an era that relatively few science fiction films were made, but many of them that were had a distinctly...if not fatalistic outlook, at least one of pessimism and existentialist angst, even crisis.  They had the idea that we can get out on the edge of space and time, looking for the answers.  But the real deep ones will continue to elude us and when we turn to each other, we will find the same confusion and difficulty of connecting we always have.  If we are lucky, occasionally, we will breach those barriers and make a connection that has a chance to transcend.

On the surface, Space Station 76 is a comedy about 70s science fiction tropes.  But much deeper, it is a wandering through all the things of the 70s, not just science fiction, that made it such a unique cultural period, and yet, especially through the lense of science fiction, manages to be timeless.

It is a thought movie.  Not a yuck yuck comedy and NOT one driven by 'splosions.  It is almost all dialogue.  But if the above thought exercise appeals to you and the decade exploration is something you can relate to...especially if you remember the 70s and love the science fiction of that decade, this film is for you.