Meteor story
Scientists struggling with international, Cold War politics after an asteroid is detected to be on a collision course with Earth. The film, which was directed by Ronald Neame, was inspired by a 1967 MIT report Project Icarus.
10 total · 7 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| a danger shared can bring people together | major | The Americans and Soviets, two Cold Warring nations, cooperated together to stop the meteor from hitting Earth by knocking it off course with the combined power of their combined orbital nuclear weapons. |
| asteroid impact | major | After the asteroid Orpheus in the Asteroid Belt was hit by a meteor, dozens of asteroid fragments were sent on a collision course towards Earth, along with a five-mile fragment which stood cause an extinction-level event. |
| cooperation | major | The Americans and Soviets, two Cold Warring nations, cooperated together to stop the meteor from hitting Earth by knocking it off course with the combined power of their combined orbital nuclear weapons. The cooperation extended beyond the international level down to the interactions between American and Soviet scientists and other people. |
| nuclear weapons | major | The Americans and the Soviets both secretly kept nuclear weapons in orbit in direct violation of international treaties. |
| orbital weapons | major | The Americans and the Soviets both secretly kept nuclear weapons in orbit in direct violation of international treaties. |
| secret government project | major | The Americans and the Soviets both secretly kept nuclear weapons in orbit in direct violation of international treaties. |
| the Cold War | major | The Americans and Soviets cooperated together to stop the meteor from hitting Earth by knocking it off course with the combined power of their combined orbital nuclear weapons. |
| global cooling | minor | Paul issued a warning at a meeting of high level government officials that a direct hit by the meteor could cause an ice age. |
| husband and wife | minor | After learning of Earth's impending doom, Paul called his wife (from whom he was separated) and instructed her to tell his kids he loved them. |
| interplanetary space travel | minor | A manned NASA mission to Mars was diverted to the Asteroid Belt to observe the asteroid Orpheus get hit by a meteor. All crew members were lost in a massive explosion caused by the collision. |