posted
Ye gods, that's a huge model! But it easily showed on screen, the level of detail that went into it.
Now, I also liked Event Horizon, if for nothing else but the nicely gritty look at what space travel might look like. At least with the Lewis & Clark, which is not too far down on my list of cool li'l spaceships. There's a near-continuous opening shot which shows practically the whole ship from stem to stern of her habitable volume. It's a neat little vessel, and a very cool set piece.
The plot? Sure, it's got holes large enough to fly the Event Horizon model through (starting with sending the L&C out to rescue a crew of 13 with no apparent means to bring any of them back alive). But I found the idea workable enough - scientists looking to achieve interdimensional FTL light instead accessing the dimension of EVIL!!! - and the visual look was great IMO. Plus, it had that Matrix guy and that dinosaur guy. And, the only easily accessible look at Sean Pertwee, son of Jon, and IMO the ONLY one who has a decent chance of eventually playing a past Doctor Who in the new series - he's really the spitting image of his dad's face and voice.
Lightweight SF horror, with a decent idea. By no means Shakespeare, but worthwhile enough for me to have watched it a couple more times after I bought the DVD in a bargain bin.
quote:The reasoning is mostly because it fooled us into thinking that it was a sci-fi movie. Instead, we got a horror movie, and neither of us are into horror at all.
Too bad you didn't see the trailer before watching it. Or read the back of the box, either would've helped.
Anyway, Mark:
quote:I found the idea workable enough
Also, the Lewis&Clark and the former crew were macguffins. *megashrug*
I loved Pertwee's last scene, he acted so great when looking at that counter, I've never seen that reaction in that scenario before. Well maybe Jeff Daniels in "Speed", but Pertwee's was better. I felt ripped off in the end of "Equilibrium" when I got no Pertwee (just some fat bureaucrat). I wanted to hear him banter with Bale, architect style. But otherwise it was ok.
Registered: Aug 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
I would've added one more twist at the end of Equilibrium, where Father was in fact alive and was letting the Bruce run things in his name to stay safe and whatnot. and when Our Hero is about to slay the Bruce, Father shows up and ur Hero has to save him from the Bruce, who's pissed at having been used.
After that, I'm still working on how I would have ultimately ended it. Very few movies do I see where I woudn't change a thing. So the fact that I was only bothered by that little bit is impressive to me. For instance, I completely deconstructed Nemesis and made it a better script in about three minutes.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
"Captain's Log: detected a positronic signal on a planet while on course to Betazed. It didn't seem to be going anywhere so we've decided to investigate at a later date. Continued on to our destination, which meant we missed out on a chance of a diplomatic mission to Romulus, no longer being the only/closest ship in range - for once! Will and Deanna got married and lived happily ever after. The End. PS: Data's being a real pain as Exec, maybe I should have picked Bondage Guy from Desperate Houseives after all."
quote:The Starlost Set in the year 2790 A.D., The Starlost was set in the interior of a giant space ark that had escaped a now-dead Earth. The vessel drifted through space, out of control. The crew that controlled the vessel had been killed in an accident five hundred years earlier. The disaster caused the airlocks connecting the ship's sections to secure, cutting off the residents in each of the domed areas. Cut off from the outside, many of these sub-communities forgot they were on a spacecraft and accepted that their world was a mere 50 miles wide with a sky made of metal. Being content with their new lives, few knew that their lives were in intense danger. The ark was on a collusion course with the sun.
posted
Now that sounds like a hell of a concept for a show. I can imagine exactly how it all went pear-shaped just from reading the link (and the Wikientry).
. . . Of course, the reality probably was that the show became/was intended to be yet another "travelling from place to place" show as they investigate a different dome each week. Like the Hulk TV show, Kung Fu, early SG-1, and many others. . .
posted
Besides, it's an ancient concept, of people discovering their world is a ship or dome or something outside of which (which is invariably "forbidden territory" for their culture) lies the truth. They've been doing it for decades - I can think of at least three instances where the same idea was used on 1940s pulp SF radio shows.
That, and I remember watching Starlost in the early 80s. It was marginally fun seeing our medeival hero learning how to use a spacesuit to repair something on the outside fo the ship, but after that...
quote:Originally posted by Shik: Shit! That reminds me of one that fits!
Ah ha! Of course! Well done. I wonder if that was the other one I couldn't remember.
Nim, I don't think the Starship troopers ships count in the same way that, for instance, the Sulaco from Alien doesn't count. It's long, but it's heavily built up, mostly in an effort to suggest a space going version of contemporary naval vessels, particularly with the redundant looking crane in the middle. The idea behind the engine layout is nice though. Thrust vectoring doesn't get much better than pointing the whole engine! Reminds me of azimuthing podded propulsors on ships.
One thing I've noticed is that "ships with a long bit in the middle" tend more towards the more believable, real physics end of the spectrum in many cases. Perhaps that's part of their appeal. They look achievable. I don't think anyone really imagines that we'll ever be flying around in a giant mutant tadpole one day (TNG Enterprise or Voyager, take your pick).
Peregrinus, I know what you mean. After I wasted an hour and half of my life on the remake of Planet of the Apes I spent the time as the credits rolled by rewriting the whole thing and it wasn't half bad, if I do say so myself! ;-)
btw does anyone know of a decent picture of Buck Rogers Searcher? Google isn't delivering the goods.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
