It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse Vint.

As many specimens as possible have been preserved in a series of enormous greenhouse-like geodesic domes serving as closed ecological systems attached to large cargo spaceships, forming part of a fleet of eight "American Airlines Space Freighters", stationed outside the orbit of Saturn.

After four of the six Valley Forge domes are jettisoned and destroyed with nuclear charges, Lowell rebels and opts to save his ship's plants and animals.

The final scene is of the now well-lit forest greenhouse drifting into deep space, with Dewey tenderly caring for it, holding Lowell's battered old watering can.

Note: Although the end credits do not associate the main actors with their character names, each crew member may be correctly identified by a patch on their right breast.

The forest environments were originally intended to be filmed in the Mitchell Park Domes in Milwaukee, but the production budget forced the sequences to be shot in a newly completed aircraft hangar in Van Nuys, California.

[citation needed] The model of the Valley Forge was 25 feet (7.6 m) long, and took six months to build from a combination of custom castings and the contents of approximately 800 prefabricated model-aircraft or tank kits.

After filming was completed, American Airlines expressed an interest in sending the model on the tour circuit, but this was not feasible due to its fragility.

[citation needed] The three drones were played by four bilateral amputees,[2] an idea inspired by Johnny Eck, a sideshow performer of the early 20th century who was born without lower limbs.

[4] It contains two songs written by Schickele and Diane Lampert, which were performed by vocalist Joan Baez: "Silent Running" and "Rejoice in the Sun".

In 1998, a limited-release CD by the Valley Forge Record Groupe included an additional track with the spoken introduction "God Bless These Gardens."

The critical consensus states: "It doesn't fulfill the potential of its ambitious themes, but Silent Running stands as a decidedly unique type of sci-fi journey marked by intimate character work and a melancholic mood.

"[2] Carl Sagan criticized the "technically proficient" film for depicting a future in which people have forgotten the inverse-square law, and that plants need sunlight.

"[14] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called the film "the most original and interesting science-fiction melodrama since 'Planet of the Apes' and a new classic of the genre.

"[15] Penelope Gilliatt of The New Yorker wrote: "The robots have endearing qualities, paddling about as if in galoshes, and they play a wonderful game of poker, but this is sci-fi with the soul of an editorial.

As testament to the film's cult status, a screen-matched costume jumpsuit worn by Bruce Dern originating from Douglas Trumbull's personal collection sold for $40,625 USD in 2020.

It was written by longtime children's book author Harlan Thompson, based on the screen story and screenplay by Cimino, Washburn, and Bochco.