Earth II (1971)

Earth II (1971)

From Forgotten TV by Chris Cooling

September 22, 2025 · 1h 18m · Episode 88

About this episode

This episode explores the origins of humanity’s first space stations and the 1971 telefilm Earth II, along with the contributions of Lalo Schifrin.

In this episode, Forgotten TV explores the origins of humanity’s first space stations—both real and imagined. From the secret Soviet Almaz military program and America’s Skylab, we'll look back at how these milestones were foreshadowed by decades of speculative fiction as well as futurist visions such as Gerard O’Neill’s massive orbital colonies of the 1970s. But before we were able to gaze at these fantastical artistic depictions, a 1971 MGM-produced telefilm was broadcast on ABC which depicted life on board an international space station called...Earth II. Written by Allen Balter and William Read Woodfield. We also look at the life and work of prolific Argentinian pianist, composer, and conductor Lalo Schifrin - who has contributed over 100 film/TV themes to our popular culture. Forgotten TV is reader/listener supported. These podcast notes may contain affiliate links to Amazon or other retailers. As an affiliate, Forgotten TV earns royalties from these purchases, at no extra cost to you. Earth II Official Trailer Earth II now on Bluray Researching and producing podcasts and articles is extremely time consuming. Please consider financially supporting Forgotten TV in any of the…

Topics covered

  • space stations
  • speculative fiction
  • Lalo Schifrin
  • Earth II

Keywords

  • MGM
  • Skylab
  • Almaz
  • Gerard O’Neill
  • orbital colonies

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Almaz, Skylab, Earth II, Earth II Bluray

Books & works: Earth II, Forgotten TV

Places: America

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