This dream is a warning.
20 Minutes into the Future, ecological disasters have caused a complete collapse of the industrial nations and the world economy as we know it. There is no one dominant language and no nations anymore as we would think of them. Out of the new Dark Age, a bureaucratic technocracy composed of new city-states arises. "The System" is controlled by a network of super-intelligent A.I.s or "biological computers", each linked telepathically to a human counterpart, that account for "The Equation" — ecological balance within the operation of the economy. The moon-base Atlantis guides and directs the computers and monitors the Equation.
As our narrator proclaims, "Above all, the people of the System are determined that no such ruin would ever beset Earth again."
They weren't counting on aliens.
One of these computers, a massive AI nicknamed "The Beast," is set to control Project Ceres, in which the asteroid by that name is one of three pulled out of their natural orbits, fitted with solar condensers and connected to microwave transmission facilities to transmit solar energy to Earth. Everything seems to be going smoothly, until the Beast seems to become troubled and its counterpart, Melody, begins to sense something or someone, trying to communicate with her.
Written and produced by G. Philip Jackson and Gabrielle De Montmollin, and starring Anne Dansereau, Peter Brikmanis, Jacques Couture and Ken Lemaire, with music by Claude Boux, this low-budget but compelling Canadian Film Board presentation explores emotions vs. logic, and the elusive search for truth. This used to be a fan favorite on USA's Night Flight and Up All Night. It is currently available on Tubi.
Has no relation to the Doctor Who special of the same name.
Tropes:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Look behind you. It's not spoken in the film, but the publicity literature specifies it's 2017.
- The Beforetimes: Paul, Melody's friend (and possible lover, we're never sure) doesn't really call it that, but he is a scholar and devoted student of the pre-collapse past, not just the technology but the attitudes and ideas.
- The Cameo: G. Philip Jackson's voice is heard as the lunar administrator.
- Common Tongue: Specifically averted, there is no one common language anymore. Melody and Paul both speak (subtitled) French, changing back and forth repeatedly (as many real-life Canadians do) and their English is heavily accented but understandable. The Bureaucrat has an I Am Very British accent and Andrew sounds slightly Southern U.S. Neither have any lines in French aside from Andrew teasingly greeting Melody with "Comment va-tu aujourd'hui?" in a southern drawl. He identifies Melody as "from the East" (Quebec?) by her speech, and says "I'm from the South, myself".
- Deadpan Snarker: Paul, especially in the scene where he referees Melody and Andrew's increasingly vehement argument about the source of the energy fluxes that are stalling the project.Paul. Okay, okay! This is where everyone takes a Valium.Melody. What's Valium?Paul. A toy, belonging to the industrial order. Not needed now that we have attained Equilibrium.
- How Unscientific!: Andrew's response to Melody's assertions that the Beast is responding to an actual alien intelligence out there, and that Project Ceres should be dropped sooner rather than later. She's reasoning logically from her perspective, but Andrew sees her as falling for intuitive and even romanticized ideas and feelings, likely coming from Paul.
- Humans Are Psychic in the Future: It's taken for granted that some people have the ability to establish mental links with each other, and most usefully with the machines. Paul shows Melody a brief film of a pre-collapse interview with one of the developers of the AI mental linkage technology (Dr. Ruby Moriarte, played by Sandra Kaizer).
- Last Words: "The stars... the fucking stars!" Andrew appears to be attacked by something (he looks horrified) and vanishes as he overrides the Beast's protective screens and sees what Melody's been talking about. It turns out he is not actually dead, but we don't find this out until later. Melody quotes these words when she's trying to get the Bureaucrat to help her figure out what happened.
- Stay with the Aliens: Melody is invited to join them, and does. It's pretty clear Andrew is with them also.
- Vast Bureaucracy: The System depends on this.
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: One of the aliens shows himself as a centaur in Melody's dream, because she wouldn't be able to see him as he is. He says "there are no words for the thing that I am."
