ZPG (1972) & Children of Men (2006)

While we often talk about a few movies on every episode -- one main film and some supporting works, sequels, and so on -- we're spotlighting two movies on this episode: Michael Campus's Z.P.G. (1972) and Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men (2006).

Z.P.G. (Zero Population Growth) (opens in a new tab) stars Oliver Reed as Russ McNeil and Geraldine Chaplin as his wife Carol. The film is set the near future where global resources have been strained and the environment has paid the price for the blight of human beings which have polluted the air so much that they live under a shroud of smog. "They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum where they charge people a dollar and a half just to see 'em." The film was inspired by Paul Ehrlich's 1968 clarion call, The Population Bomb (opens in a new tab) which warned of overpopulation.

Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men (opens in a new tab) is a very loose adaptation of P.D. James's 1992 novel (opens in a new tab). The film stars Clive Owen as Theo Faron who's biding his time on planet earth as the population is dying -- or killing itself off. No babies have been born in over 18 years which has exacerbated social strife, leading to terrorism, mass suicide, and refugee crises.

Furthering the discussion about population control, author Mei Fong (opens in a new tab) discusses her book One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment (opens in a new tab) while Keith Gordon (opens in a new tab) and Christine Makepeace (opens in a new tab) join Mike to talk about the two different approaches to similar sci-fi material.