If the Stars Should Appear

While the story is reminiscent of the classic For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (1968), the concept of a biosphere, a damaged generational spacecraft about to be destroyed by a star, and a semi-agrarian society that religiously suppresses knowledge of the truth, was the premise of the Canadian-produced television series The Starlost (1973). Similarly, the Robert A. Heinlein stories "Universe" and "Common Sense" (published in 1941 in Astounding Science Fiction, and later combined in the novel "Orphans of the Sky") feature a ship whose residents are unaware they are on a ship, controlled by a religious totalitarian government who worshiped the builders of the ship as the creators of the "universe".

When the generation ship first appears on scanners, Alara says it can't be a space station because "there are no space stations this far out." As they are exploring deep into space, her statement ignores the very real possibility that it could be a station from an as-yet unidentified civilization encroaching on Union space.

Features The Sound of Music (1965)