Captain America: The Winter Soldier pre-release thread

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by JD, Jul 15, 2012.

  1. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The point, I think, is that SHIELD carriers fall into a different category, assuming each carrier isn't listed in publicly available records the way US carriers are.
     
  2. Kemaiku

    Kemaiku Admiral Admiral

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    The USA doesn't have 78 carriers in service though, no matter how big the military budget. :lol:
     
  3. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    ^No, but they have had...the numbering goes back to the 1920s (see link).

    I'm sure, but Alidar's "in the real world" implied he was talking about the actual military rather than SHIELD. The SHIELD numbering scheme could be deliberately random or coded...that's what they do.
     
  4. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    I would think SHIELD has greater incentive to keep their numbers secret. Assuming one can keep a fleet of Helicarriers secret.
     
  5. DEWLine

    DEWLine Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    If they've got at least three of the things homeported under the Potomac, how likely is it that they were ever able to keep that out of the news?

    Also, remembering one of Clark Gregg's comments on Twitter(?): SHIELD's existence isn't a secret; (some of) what they do is.
     
  6. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    Yeah, but is the extent of their carrier fleet common knowledge? I figure it's closer to the CIA's drone fleet than the Navy's carrier fleet. SHIELD isn't a secret. Maybe their carriers aren't. But their numbers might be.

    Anyway, who knows. Not a big deal either way. If their numbering system doesn't make much sense, though, using it to hide their total number could be an explanation.
     
  7. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If the 'Carriers started out as a secret, I would think it would be hard to keep them that way by the time they have enough for it to be considered a fleet. If there's a whole ton of them flying around all the time, sooner or later someone is going to spot one and get proof out there before it can be covered up.
     
  8. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If they want to get really hardcore, they can change the numbers on the carriers. And then show the numbers being changed, just to rub it in, like a modernized version of James Bond's rotating license plate.
     
  9. DEWLine

    DEWLine Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Hmmm. Seems a little Soviet Navy-style, doesn't it?
     
  10. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    That reminds me of a gag in a MAD magazine parody of the Batman TV show (quoted from memory):

    "Golly, Bruce, Aunt Harriet sure is gullible!"
    "Come now, Dick...just because her two closest relatives are leading double lives and have built an unlicensed nuclear reactor under her feet doesn't mean she's gullible."

    And that reminds me of a gag from the movie Help!, when the inspector from Scotland Yard is reviewing the Bahaman police force...which consists of five uniformed officers lined up, with the one who was just introduced always running to the back of the line to be reintroduced with a different number.
     
  11. Hugo Rune

    Hugo Rune Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I was never as enamoured with the original as many of my friends to be frank (it's a 6 at the best when taken as a simple guilty pleasure), so I went to see this with the GF who was more interested.

    It's certainly a lot weaker than the original, lacking the real sense of preposterousness that made 300 funny at times.

    Eva Green is a pretty worthy substitute to Gerard Bulter, and some of the imagery is striking, but, like the original, it's filled with terse Miller speechifying and barely drawn characters.

    It's a 5 I guess, but unlike 300 I can't see any repeat viewings in my future, or even "chant-along-evenings" with drunk mates seeing who can bellow out the best "THIS. IS. SPARTA"

    Frankly the 5 minute action segment of CA:TWS that was shown before the film was better than the entirety of Rise. Well, apart from Eva Green's breasts, which have always been, and currently remain to be, magnificent.


    Hugo - At least you fight better than you fuck
     
  12. Kemaiku

    Kemaiku Admiral Admiral

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    Hollowing out the river, building a high tech security complex right beside it, and landing two dozen quinjets on the surface would be difficult enough to hide.

    Having three massive doorways hiding something obviously meant to emerge from them, even more so.

    The three carriers were either built in the heart of Washington (and if you look at the photo of them deploying, they're in sight of the entire city) and were put through all their flight tests by flying over the capitol. Or they were built and tested elsewhere and flown into the city at night, with four massive repulsor engines glaring over everyone.

    Since they don't think the reflection panels would hide the new engines, or that noise, they likely didn't bother hiding them at all, rather letting as many people see them as possible in the wake of the New York attack to give people a sense of security, knowing these things were up there to protect them.

    The numbers could simply be sequential, but spread over all SHIELD craft, from important helo's and ground vehicles, to other smaller aircraft like the C-17, motorboats, hell even Lola.
     
  13. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    They could have been moved into place during a terrorist attack drill, during which the city was cordoned off and people kept back out of the area. Or, they could have been assembled underground and not actually tested in the field until first flight.
     
  14. Mister Fandango

    Mister Fandango Fleet Captain

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    Or the guy responsible for assigning hull numbers was a sports fan who gave them numbers based on their favorite athletes.

    Or they could be representative of celebrated years in SHIELD's history.

    Or they could be chosen because those particular combination of numbers are easier to see and identify from range, as opposed to numbers such as 3, 6, 8, and 9. For example, 38, 88, 83. Which is probably pretty important for something you need to see from quite a distance while in the air.

    Or they could be chosen because they look cool by the graphic artists who created them.
     
  15. Kemaiku

    Kemaiku Admiral Admiral

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    That seems...kind of stupid. Since they probably cost a staggering number of billions of dollars each. It would be a serious pity to spend about 50 billion on the worlds biggest bath toy.
     
  16. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Why? This is futuristic tech. Their quality control is evidently epic. For all we know, it works within accepted tolerances right out of the gate.
     
  17. Kemaiku

    Kemaiku Admiral Admiral

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    For the sake of plot and in a sci-fi setting, it seems they do, helped largely by the prototype getting such a trail by fire in the Avengers.

    But the facility being built and them being launched in full view I think is still part of Fury's little "promise" to make a show of force.
     
  18. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, I'm just floating alternatives.

    I'm really looking forward to this film.
     
  19. Kemaiku

    Kemaiku Admiral Admiral

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    I am too, possibly more so than for IM3 and T:TDW, might well be my favourite of the phase 2 leadup movies.
     
  20. DEWLine

    DEWLine Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    This business with the Helicarrier pennant-numbering is one of those instances where you wish viral marketing using "in-universe" documents to explain the backstory were more of a habit with Marvel.

    (Really hoping those ships get names on-camera.)