Earth Day

In 1928, a solitary mountaineer exploring the Karakoram mountains in India encounters a glowing sphere. He loses consciousness and when he wakes, the sphere is gone and there is a scar on his hand. In the present day, a rapidly moving object detected beyond Jupiter's orbit is predicted to collide with Earth, destroying all life. The U.S. government assembles a group of scientists including Helen Benson and her friend Michael Granier to develop a survival plan. The object slows down and descends in Manhattan, revealing itself to be a large spherical spaceship. Helen and the scientists respond to the scene with military forces. An alien emerges and Helen moves forward to greet it, but amidst the confusion, the alien is shot. A gigantic humanoid robot appears and emits a high-pitched disabling signal. The wounded alien voices the command "Klaatu barada nikto" to shut down the robot's defensive response. The scientists take the alien to a laboratory and discover its skin is a bioengineered space suit composed of placenta-like material covering a human-like being. After the bullet is extracted, the being ages into Klaatu, resembling the mountaineer from 1928. Klaatu informs Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson that a group of planetary civilizations sent him to Earth to discuss saving the planet from ecocide. When Jackson sends him for interrogation, Klaatu escapes and reconnects with Helen and her stepson, Jacob, telling them he must finish his mission to "save the Earth". The emergence of smaller spheres around the world causes widespread public panic. Military drone attacks on the main sphere are thwarted by the robot and the military adopts a weapons-free approach, cautiously enclosing the robot now nicknamed "GORT" (Genetically Organized Robotic Technology). The robot is transported to the Mount Weather underground facility in Virginia. Klaatu meets with another alien, Mr. Wu, who has lived on Earth for years and describes humans as destructive, stubborn, and unwilling to change, matching Klaatu's perceptions. Mr. Wu adds that he intends to remain on Earth, as he has grown to love the people. Klaatu orders the smaller spheres to collect animal specimens for preservation and later reintroduction to the Earth and tells Helen he intends to save the planet from destruction by humans. Hoping to change Klaatu's perceptions of humanity, Helen takes him to Nobel Prize recipient Professor Barnhardt. They discuss how Klaatu's race went through drastic, collaborative evolution to prevent the demise of their planet. Barnhardt pleads that Earth is at the same precipice, and humanity should be given a chance to understand that it, too, must change. While the adults are talking, Jacob calls the authorities to come and arrest Klaatu. While the military is examining GORT, the robot transforms into a swarm of winged insect-like nano-machines that self-replicate as they consume every man-made object in their path. The swarm devours the entire facility and emerges above ground to continue feeding. The military captures Helen while Klaatu and Jacob escape on foot. As they travel, Klaatu learns more about humanity through Jacob. When Jacob contacts Helen and arranges to meet at his father's grave, the Secretary sends her to try to change Klaatu's mind. At the grave, Jacob is heartbroken that Klaatu cannot resurrect his long-dead father. As Helen and Jacob reunite, Klaatu's cumulative observations of humans convince him to stop the swarm. Granier drives them to the Central Park sphere, but the swarm has reached massive proportions. Klaatu trudges through the swarm to the sphere, touching it moments before his own body is consumed. 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