episode #13, segment 3: The Star

#13c: THE STAR written by Alan Brennert
based on a story by Arthur C. Clarke (1955); Directed by Gerd Oswald

This story, adapted by Alan Brennert, is based on a short story by Arthur C Clarke, so you have to expect that it's at least pretty good. It's also one of the shorter segments, at about 11 minutes. The sci-fi tale takes place in the far future, when mankind is advanced enough to explore other solar systems - or the remnants of such. In this case, an Earth survey ship, The Magellan, has arrived at a system where the sun went super-nova.
The two main characters are a priest (Fritz Weaver) and an astrophysicist (Donald Moffat) who have had a long-running friendly debate about God's plan vs. random chance governing the universe. The crew finds out that the outer planet of the system survived the sun's explosion and that an automated signal, a beacon, has been detected emanating from there. They then find an immense pylon and, buried far beneath, the records & artifacts of a civilization which had thrived on one of the inner planets before the super-nova. This civilization had been at peace for a thousand years before they were wiped out by this cosmic blast; the priest is visibly shaken by the thought of such a people being destroyed - following his beliefs, this was God's plan. In this age, priests can also be highly technical scientists and he is given the task of determining exactly when the demise of the system had occurred, based on gathered evidence.
What he finds shakes him to the core and almost shatters his faith. According to the data (and there can be no error),

Spoiler:

I really liked the entire ambiance of this segment; the filmmakers were able to convey, with their limited means, that this really was a space expedition in mankind's future. It even reminded me, a bit, of Forbidden Planet (1956), especially that long shot of the alien planet. The actors, being long-time veterans, were also well-employed here. This doesn't quite end on the so somber note as indicated; it falls to the secular friend of the religious character to point out the more positive side to this long ago catastrophe. BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10

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