The Star Dreamer

I have been a long time admirer of this man, even before I saw his work.

I was in a lab, and knew someone who had an appreciation for the power of imagination. One of his examples was this fellow, Klushantsev. He was great in two dimensions. One was in the stagecraft, the visual trickery that made pretend things seem real on screen. But far deeper than that, it was his vision of the future that the effects were turned to illustrating. I don't know of any other instance where this was attempted, even unsuccessfully.

His visions were so striking, so attractive that essentially every space movie builds on his notions. Though his personal history is sad — he suffered under the stupid government — the history of his work is much better. That's because he happened to fall in the moment between two massive civilizations, each yearning for space. Their yearning adopted his vision.

A non-scientist, he may have been the most influential in science for decades. Why, I wonder?

Was it because the effects were convincing? Were they convincing because he simply saw how the visual logic of technology worked? Can one "see" how things must be? Can one man pull an entire universe, trillions of dollars? Can he create an ambition so grand that two superpowers cannot touch it? I recently heard someone make a big deal out of Tesla. I credit this man with more. Tesla merely invented real things, while this man saw inventions, and left the mere inventions to others. And yes, through this thing we call movies, which some believe to be mere entertainment.

I wish I had known him.

This documentary does some justice. But you cannot do enough justice until you see his actual work, and for that you need the actual films.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.