"Escape From Planet Earth" Finally Released as Asteroids & Meteors Buzz The Planet

Zeitgeist Anxiety: "Must Get Offworld!"

In development since 2007, the animated movie "Escape From Planet Earth" is finally set to be released in American theatres today -- on the same day a meteor crashes down in Russia, and the so-called "largest close-call" asteroid buzzes by the planet. Escape from planet Earth, indeed.

The movie involves the all the usual tropes regarding extraterrestrial visitors -- lovable wise-cracking aliens (from a NASA parody called BASA) that seem Disney-ready for stuffed animals and video games, Area 51 shenanigans, The Evil CIA/NASA/Mr. Smith dude with the suit, and the idea that all of our current technology (including iPhones) have been re-engineered from off-world creations.

I just love the synchronicity of imagery here...by an incredible coincidence, this movie, held in legal limbo for over a decade, finally makes it to the big screen the same day all this cosmic flotsam and jetsam impacts our planet.

From "Escape From Planet Earth":


Dialogue: "I thought this movie was supposed to be in 3-D" (then the flying object crashes through the screen)

From today's Drudge Report:

Drudge Report headline for 2/15

Also, there is simply the stark relevance of the title: "Escape From Planet Earth" -- during a news cycle filled to the brim of stories wondering what we will do in the event of a real asteroid emergency or other somesuch galactic emergency. As I've written in a previous post, this push for "offworld" exploration and colonization will dominate the pop-culture and overall media landscape for many years to come.

Read also: "Starseeds, Star Wars, and Krypton Found: The New Space Narrative"