Star City envisions a realm where KGB suspicion governs space exploration.
What unfolds when a space program is steered not by science but by state paranoia?
Star City (Apple TV) invites viewers to see how that scenario could play out. Set in the same universe as the series For All Mankind, it imagines a timeline in which the Soviets reach the Moon first. The Soviet space program’s chief designer simply wants to push Russian explorers farther into the cosmos, but the KGB favors constructing a space station to spy on Americans. And though the KGB—hardly famed for distinguishing liquid nitrogen from vodka—emerges victorious.
“Who knows where that might have led us?” a scientist asks about the exploration plan. “Now all we’re doing is looking down.”
KGB directives frequently put cosmonauts at risk. The power struggle between the KGB and mission-focused scientists may be heightened for television, but the horrors of the Soviet surveillance state were very real.
When someone on the show is suspected of spying for the Americans, a new KGB recruit uncovers proof of the person’s innocence. Yet the suspect is executed anyway. “We do not arrest the innocent, comrade,” the rookie is told. “Our power depends on it.”
