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Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
 Posted - 02/13/2008 : 1:39:24 PM
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I guess many villains fall victim to the Legion of Doom Syndrome. They get so excited about the particulars of their plans they lose site of their actual goals.
"I reserve the right to look as well as be boring." - Robert Fripp |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 4:12:20 PM
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SUPERMAN: the (GOOD) movie.
Lex Luthor apparently didn't do much in the way of calculations when he decided to set off a nuke that would start MASSIVE EARTHQUAKES that would send California into the Pacific Ocean. A quake that strong would have (at the VERY best) wiped out his "ocean-front" property, or (at the VERY worst) destroyed a huge chunk of the Earth. Even with the best case senario, huge tidal waves would have swept through the Pacific, Indian, Artic and Antartic oceans.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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Prankster
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
727 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 4:19:16 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by CDiehl
My pick would be Wild Wild West. Loveless' plan in that movie is unbelievable. It hinges on two insane ideas. First, there's the idea that a bunch of foreign diplomats will happily sign on to a plan devised by some embittered nut with no obvious support. Even if they did, would their governments accept suddenly receiving a lot of new territory that they now have to secure, and whose population will almost certainly revolt? Second, there's the idea that Loveless' inventions would intimidate U.S. Grant into signing a treaty that dissolves the United States. The President can't ratify a treaty by himself; the Senate has to agree to it too, and it's not likely they'd ratify a treaty dissolving their offices. I also doubt that blowing up a few buildings or threatening the lives of some government employees would intimidate a veteran of the Civil War.
Really? I mean, you're not wrong, but if we're going to point out unbelievable things about that movie my first thought would have been "Giant steam-powered mechanical tarantula."
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Check out my online comics at [URL]http://www.phantasmictales.com[/URL]! |
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Prankster
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
727 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 4:27:49 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Gristle McThornbody
Last year's Sunshine.
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The whole plot becomes ridiculous when you realize that there's no reason to send a manned expedition; in fact, sending a manned expedition makes the whole endeavor much more difficult, expensive, and dangerous.
My dad mentioned that when we were watching it together a while back, and after a moment's thought, I decided that I could believe they would send a manned expedition, simply because flying that close to the sun would tend to cause a lot of problems with navigation and communication. In the movie, they lose communication with Earth several weeks before reaching their goal; a simple blown cicuit panel or similar could have sent the whole thing flying off course, so having people there to steer it would, it seems to me, be a worthwhile expense.
Now, there's plenty of other implausible things about the movie, like the whole "sun going out for no reason" setup. I'm pretty sure Boyle was inspired by Ray Bradbury's story "The Golden Apples of the Sun", but that movie leaned more to the fantastical and surreal; trying to adapt it to a scientifically-plausible millieu causes problems.
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Check out my online comics at [URL]http://www.phantasmictales.com[/URL]! |
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Prankster
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
727 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 4:29:02 PM
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And 10,000 BC looks so awesomely stupid it's going to go all the way around back to "brilliant".
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Check out my online comics at [URL]http://www.phantasmictales.com[/URL]! |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 6:15:06 PM
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OMG- I forgot the worst plot premise of all time, and here I am trying to do a review of the movie: Silent Running The premise is that there are no plants on Earth. Not a dangerously low amount of plant life. Not a distressingly small amount. I mean literally, there is no vegetation on Earth. AT ALL. The only trees in existence are on the arks in space. How did this happen?? Where does oxygen come from in the future?? Where does the CO2 go?? What holds the soil down? Where does food grow?? What does this look like?? If you WANTED TO how could you cause something like that to happen??
It may come as a slight surprise these questions are not addressed in the film so that its heavy handed point can be setup and driven home.
The amazing thing is its a good film sunk by such a lazy laughable plot contrivance.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 8:26:03 PM
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Silent Running is just part of the whole 70's theme of the complete or near complete de-planting of the earth. Soylent Green implied the almost complete de-planting when a park consistent of a tent covering a single Charlie Brown tree in the middle of the city. Space 1999 had an episode where they had a chance to teleport back to an earth of the future where all plant life was gone. So, the movie was really part of a general trend. The bigger problem was that you send your plant ships out to Saturn. You aren't getting much sun out there.
Sunshine also falls into a common 70's sci-fi trope. The earth was always experiencing some sort of cooling for various reasons. I do remember one story where the sun had gone cold and a mission was sent to re-ignite the sun. It was told from the view of someone still on earth. The mission succeeded but the spaceship suffered a mechanical failure and plunged into the sun. The problem with Sunshine was that it didn't know what kind of movie it wanted to be.
- Si desea pulse 2 para español, encontrar un país diferente. - |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 8:35:51 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Terrahawk
The bigger problem was that you send your plant ships out to Saturn. You aren't getting much sun out there.
Right, that's one of the major plot points as well. The so called last great expert on botany in the Solar System spends many agonizing days figuring out that the reason the plants in the ship suddenly (??) start to die is lack of sunlight. Yep, trees need light all right- whod'a thunk it??
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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Mark Hawley
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
Canada
48 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 8:38:08 PM
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When I read the title SIlent Running, I for a second mistook it for Silent Rage.
Now there's a film with a silly premise. |
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niccolom
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Canada
118 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 09:18:35 AM
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You Only Live Twice. What kind of evil genius would build their headquarters in an volcano? Extinct or not? And, how would you build this sucker without anybody noticing all the construction going on? I'm sure the Japanese government might have some interest in what's happening? Also, how would you be able to launch and recover your spaceship without anyone noticing? Ever watch a Saturn V take off? Nothing subtle about that baby!!
Heck, even in the late 60's the Russians and Americans had some pretty sophisticated radars/telescopes that would be able to track a wayward spaceship. I remember as an Army cadets in the early 70's visiting Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in northern Alberta and being a shown a big honking telescope that could spot basketball sized object in space 50,000 miles away.*
And what about all those UFO nuts? I'm sure they would all over the place in no time!
* There was one other telescope located in Canada, not sure about the rest of the world. They were part of the NORAD system for tracking objects in space.
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo" |
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Culfy
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
United Kingdom
113 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 10:59:25 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by niccolom
You Only Live Twice. What kind of evil genius would build their headquarters in an volcano? Extinct or not? And, how would you build this sucker without anybody noticing all the construction going on? I'm sure the Japanese government might have some interest in what's happening? Also, how would you be able to launch and recover your spaceship without anyone noticing? Ever watch a Saturn V take off? Nothing subtle about that baby!!
Heck, even in the late 60's the Russians and Americans had some pretty sophisticated radars/telescopes that would be able to track a wayward spaceship. I remember as an Army cadets in the early 70's visiting Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in northern Alberta and being a shown a big honking telescope that could spot basketball sized object in space 50,000 miles away.*
And what about all those UFO nuts? I'm sure they would all over the place in no time!
* There was one other telescope located in Canada, not sure about the rest of the world. They were part of the NORAD system for tracking objects in space.
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo"
I think it was either Karl Marx or Abraham Lincoln who said of the Bond films 'the plot only exists to put the action sequences into some sort of order". Most of the plots fall apart at a moment's glance (the criticisms you make of You Only Twice can apply equally to Moonraker). I'd say that of the films, only From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill and Casino Royale really have plots that bear any scrutiny.
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Notes from a small cavy
www.culfy.blogspot.com |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 11:23:27 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by niccolom
You Only Live Twice. What kind of evil genius would build their headquarters in an volcano? Extinct or not?
Because it's freaking cool! That alone negates the disadvantages.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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Citizen Carrier
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
322 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 2:12:40 PM
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| The original plan was to have the headquarters perched upon the ledge of an ice shelf in Glacier National Park near the ocean's edge, but the studio execs killed it as "too much of a stretch". |
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CDiehl
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
361 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 8:29:33 PM
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quote:
Really? I mean, you're not wrong, but if we're going to point out unbelievable things about that movie my first thought would have been "Giant steam-powered mechanical tarantula."
Well, everyone brings that up. Hell, I've even given some thought to why the giant spider is a poor weapon (and I'm no expert on military tactics, so it's that bad). It's just that criticizing Loveless' plan is more entertaining to me.
I could have accepted the giant spider; I can accept a lot of crazy ideas. However, when the villain's plans involving the giant spider are this insane, I can't resist jumping on their heads.
You know Grand Funk, don't you? The wild, shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner? The bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher? The ... adequate drumwork of Don Brewer? |
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Prankster
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
727 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2008 : 10:58:01 PM
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If the Spartans had had a giant mechanical tarantula at Thermopylae, they would have won. Any expert on military tactics will tell you this.
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Check out my online comics at [URL]http://www.phantasmictales.com[/URL]! |
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