David Chidlow’s Disney+ show ‘The Last Days of the Space Age’ takes viewers back to 1979, when big news hit the coast of Western Australia. For Perth residents, summer promised to be defined by the Miss Universe pageant coming to town. However, a strike at the local power plant constantly plunges the locality into darkness, creating complications. Yet an even bigger event occurs in the small suburban town when Skylab, America’s space station, crashes into the Indian Ocean just outside of town. As a result, several suburban Australian families find themselves witnessing the transformation of their city into a hub of international attention.

The Bisset family, in particular, remains linked to the center of rapid change in the city as Judy and her husband, Tony, stand on opposite sides of the power plant picket line. At the same time, their daughter, Tilly, dreams of becoming an astronaut while her uncle, Mick, gets closer to the Soviet candidate, Svetlana Kulkova. Therefore, the series effectively uses an important cultural event as a backdrop to a gripping small-town drama, rich with socially relevant themes like racism, homophobia, workers’ rights, and the feminist movement. Naturally, the real origin of the story is sure to capture the audience’s attention.

The last days of the space age center around a historic event

The connections between “The Last Days of the Space Age” and reality remain complex and fascinating as the series chooses a well-known historical event as the core of its basic premise. Through the lens of three different families with different life experiences, the series presents a drama that reflects the reality of suburban Western Australia in the late 1970s. The setting of the story significantly influences the characters and their narratives , as it ends up doing the heavy lifting when it comes to world-building. As a result, several real-life cultural titles from 1979 become the basis for many storylines throughout the series.

Yet the crash of the Skylab space station remains the most notable event that shapes the series’ narrative in a significant way. Therefore, the reality of the space station crash to Earth paves the way for the real connection behind the “last days of the space age”. In fact, in the late 1970s, NASA realized that due to increased energetic radiation from the Sun, its space station, Skylab, was about to make an unplanned re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. The NASA crew expected the station to crash in Cape Town, South Africa, where debris from the spacecraft would cause limited damage. However, unexpectedly, on July 11, 1979, Skylab crashed in Western Australia.

Consequently, the less globally relevant regions of Western Australia have gained massive global cultural significance. In fact, in 2011, space archaeologist Alice Gorman noted the event’s relevance to Australian socio-culture and wrote: “Skylab’s social significance eventually outweighed its historical significance, and it passed into popular consciousness as a rare Australian space icon. .” As such, in equipping its narrative focus to highlight the changing cultural dynamics in Western Australia, “The Last Days of the Space Age” obviously draws on reality.

The final days of the space age reflect the era’s rapidly changing culture

Although ‘The Last Days of the Space Age’ is based on a major cultural event in Western Australian history, much of the series is actually a work of fiction. As such, although the setting and events that unfold around the central characters are inspired by real life, the characters themselves are not. Therefore, in most cases, as in the case of the Bisset family, there are no real-life counterparts behind the on-screen characters. Despite everything, the series anchors these characters in reality despite their fictional origins. To do this, the story draws heavily on the cultural identity of 1979 and highlights socially relevant storylines.

For example, Judy and her daughters, Tilly and Mia, maintain a connection to the reality of the late 1970s by engaging in feminist storylines that recall the growing women’s rights movement of that period. Likewise, Judy and Tony’s connections to the labor movement reflect the reality of labor protests taking place in West Africa at that time. Likewise, characters like Eileen and Lam highlight the racially relevant experiences of Indigenous people and immigrants. Therefore, by bringing these storylines to the forefront, the series delves into the sociopolitical reality of the late 1970s by exploring the international implications of the Skylab crash.

As such, even though these characters are not based on real individuals, their experiences remain reflections of social issues and instances relevant to the times. On the other hand, the series further authenticates its setting in the historically relevant year of 1979 by carefully constructing the world around these characters. From wardrobe and technology to cultural references, including the central Miss Universe pageant held in Perth, the show constantly imitates the late 1970s. Thus, the partially fictionalized account of the “Last Days of the Space Age » cements its links with reality.

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