Moon

[Trekker4747]

I just watched this on Blue Ray and wanted to say I thought it was a fabulous, beautiful and well acted movie.

I saw many of twists coming, but the movie still kept me enthralled and engaged. Kudos to the creators of this.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Moon was the true best science-fiction film of last year. Screw Avatar.

 

[Broccoli]

Great flick.

 

[Starbreaker]

Good film

"Moon" - what was all the fuss about?
Moon Discussion Thread **SPOILERS**
Moon -- actually going to be good?
Review: `Moon' a haunting sci-fi tale (AP)
Moon gets an award

 

[gunnermac]

Agreed, one of the best I have seen lately

 

[Anwar]

If anything 2009 has proven, it's that the Independent sci-fi films that are the best. Moon and District 9.

 

[melancholymecha]

Sam deserved an acting nom...so did Sharlto for District 9.

 

[Trekker4747]

So, as I was watching the movie something in the back of my mind was bugging me. Sam and his robot pal GERTY in this lonely space station reminded me of something. The look of Sam, his voice the jumpsuit then it hit me!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I enjoyed it too, mainly for Sam Rockwell's eerie performance. He reminded me of Jeffrey Combs on DS9, being able to share the screen with himself, yet convince us that we are seeing two different people. As for the story, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop (if the first guy really was the original Sam Bell, it would be very creepy how quickly they convinced him he isn't.)

So where did the naked woman from early on in the movie come from? Was that a true hallucination so that they could use that scene in the trailer and not give away the plot twist immediately (making us think everything was a hallucination)?

And what kind of dumb corporation grows a clone to the age of 40 or so, with only three years left on the meter, when they could awaken the clone at the age of 18 and get a couple of decades worth of work out of him? If the problem is that he would get too lonely, why just have one? Why just have one model? Why not clone a small society of clueless slaves (what's the point of implanting memories and creating frustration?) who would never realize they came from a place called "Earth" or understand the signficance of that blue planet they occasionally see on the other side of their home? The corporation could tell them that place is a toxic hellhole hostile to life, and that their mining operation is an attempt to terraform the planet to eventually make it habitable, and they'd be none the wiser.

Feh, this is one of those cool sci fi scenarios that get less cool if you allow yourself to think about it.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

So, as I was watching the movie something in the back of my mind was bugging me. Sam and his robot pal GERTY in this lonely space station reminded me of something. The look of Sam, his voice the jumpsuit then it hit me!

"We'll show him cheesy TV reruns..."

 

[Kegg]

And what kind of dumb corporation grows a clone to the age of 40 or so, with only three years left on the meter, when they could awaken the clone at the age of 18 and get a couple of decades worth of work out of him?

It's three years by design. If he had the body of an eighteen year old and lived for three years, same difference. Presumably this was estimated to be optimal amount of time they could get per clone.

If the problem is that he would get too lonely, why just have one? Why just have one model?

Cost? I'm not saying it makes perfect sense, but I'm willing to roll with the idea that one clone which is replaced every three years is cheaper than a dozen clones. It may be they aren't able to make clones that actually live long anyway; if memory serves Dolly the sheep had an aging problem. So get your optimal years, stick the guy on the moon and let him do his thing.

The corporation could tell them that place is a toxic hellhole hostile to life, and that their mining operation is an attempt to terraform the planet to eventually make it habitable, and they'd be none the wiser.

Yes, but who would be? The audience. For the story to work we have to at the beginning not find the whole thing terribly amiss.

 

[Trekker4747]

So where did the naked woman from early on in the movie come from? Was that a true hallucination so that they could use that scene in the trailer and not give away the plot twist immediately (making us think everything was a hallucination)?

I think it was supposed to be an adult version of his daughter.

And what kind of dumb corporation grows a clone to the age of 40 or so, with only three years left on the meter,

I took it that the clones, no matter how "old" they were when cloned, could only last for three-years. Either from some limitation in the cloning process or, my theory, radiation exposure from working on the moon for three years. (vomiting, losing teeth and hair, feverish, sweating would all be fairly consistant with radiation poisioning.)

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It may be they aren't able to make clones that actually live long anyway;

Sam Rockwell is over 40, and certainly doesn't look much under 40, so they can make clones that can survive for 40 years. Why not have them be awake and useful for 40 years, or at least 20, if they have some issue with child labor?

I'm not buying the idea that they are growing insta-adult clones. That's one of my peeviest of pet peeves in sci fi!

Either from some limitation in the cloning process or, my theory, radiation exposure from working on the moon for three years. (vomiting, losing teeth and hair, feverish, sweating would all be fairly consistant with radiation poisioning.)

Then wake em up at 18, when they're at their physical peak and likely to survive the longest. If they die at 21, let them believe that that's just their natural lifespan. There's no need for 40 year old clones and no need to limit themselves to just one, or just one type.

I wonder if the real Sam Bell was aware of how they'd used his DNA?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Have you seen the work ethic of most 18-year-olds? Plus they'd be trying to fix that phone from day one.

 

[Anwar]

They were trying to maintain the illusion that he was up there for three years then could go home. They had to keep him at the age the real Sam Bell was, otherwise the implanted memories (and I'm pretty sure they couldn't alter his memories, merely give him the ones they got from Bell) wouldn't match up.

 

[Kegg]

It may be they aren't able to make clones that actually live long anyway;

Sam Rockwell is over 40, and certainly doesn't look much under 40, so they can make clones that can survive for 40 years.

No, they can just make clones that look about forty. That's not the same thing. He may just be that age because that's the age the original Sam Bell was when the first same was taken. Given that the real Sam Bell's daughter wasn't over forty; the real clones cannot be forty years of age in terms of actual time passed since their creation.

Also, simplicity might have been at work here. As Anwar implies, it's probably easier to give him real memories then invent fake ones; and the logic of the memories he has is consistent and clearly well maintained. I don't see how the alternatives you outline are really a necessary improvement memory-wise.

 

[bigdaddy]

I'm watching it now, the set is very nice.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It's the education and training in his memories which are important.

Only clones of a few people in he world would have the ability to do that job.

have you ever been tot he Voyager Forum?

the Doctor is possibly sentient but certainly immortal.

If he only had a three year life expectancy, the guy would barely have time to get unsatisfied and rebel.

Not that they didn't quickly wigout in Blade Runner that after a life time of slavery ( a year or two) replicants ran and tried to live out the few months of their lives free without being told to mine, fight or fuck under threat of beatings and/to death.

They might impose a three year limit because they forecasted how long on average it would take Sam Bell to realise that there was a man behind the curtain, and after this shitstorm of blame, if the Sam Bell program is allowed to continue, you can be certain that any new batches of clones are only going to be running on a two year cycle so that this bullshit don't go done again if they don't think about replacing gerty with something about as dangerous as the AI on the Nostromo.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, GERTY didn't work very well did he?

"Oh there's a leak!"
"Yeah, let me outside... so I can look at it."
"Sam, didn't I just see you walk in here with a tool shortly before the alarms went off?"
"Don't worry about it let me out!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that Sam."
"Please."
"... Okay."

 

[Anwar]

Well, GERTY wasn't a HAL knock-off. His primary purpose was to help Sam, and that's all he did. He wasn't programmed to keep him from learning he was a clone or anything.