Somethings I noticed about the original ID4

[Gingerbread Demon]

Well things that bugged me still even after first seeing the movie in 1996. . I love this movie to bits and it should have been in my list of fun movies but every time I watch it there are some things that I always notice.

1. How was it possible for the aliens to be at Earth in the 50s, if they needed the big ships to broadcast their kind of power for the ships to run? Was the big mothership in our solar system then, or one of the large saucers? Yet they lost track of one of their valuable ships?
   
2. Again were they on Earth well before the events of the movie? Russell Case said he'd been abducted 10 years prior to the events in the movie. Was he taking the piss with everyone and lying or was he really abducted? Why didn't they attack then?
3. That signal. Was that signal a product of the aliens researching Earth or was it put there intentionally? David said he found it embedded in the satellite system. That bit of dialogue always bugs me.

That's all I have for now having just watched it again, this time the director's cut which is longer than the theatrical cut.

 

[Tosk]

1. Dunno. A scout ship that got lost and crashed while a saucer was in our system?
2. Case is broken. I assume he's "one of those" when it comes to the abduction story, and doubt it was intended to be that he was actually abducted by the ID4 aliens.
3. The countdown buried in the signal was because the aliens were using our satellites to bounce their signal around to all the ships. The signal disrupted regular Earth transmissions, and Levinson found the buried signal underneath. Why the aliens couldn't just synchronize their watches ahead of time, I don't know.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

1. Dunno. A scout ship that got lost and crashed while a saucer was in our system?
2. Case is broken. I assume he's "one of those" when it comes to the abduction story, and doubt it was intended to be that he was actually abducted by the ID4 aliens.
3. The countdown buried in the signal was because the aliens were using our satellites to bounce their signal around to all the ships. The signal disrupted regular Earth transmissions, and Levinson found the buried signal underneath. Why the aliens couldn't just synchronize their watches ahead of time, I don't know.

Yeah that last point OK. I have always taken it that there was some design hole in the system that the aliens took advantage of. I also had some twisy turny head canon of my own that maybe they had spies on Earth watching our development, and created that hole to exploit in the system.

 

[bigdaddy]

I just rewatched the movie and the one thing that bugs me is the president goes "They are like locust. There whole civilization goes from planet to planet."

So the rest took 20 more years to get here AFTER a distress call was issued?

The other ships were probably studying us and where to hit and maybe had battery power, who knows. It's a stupid fun B-Movie that will never make full sense.

 

[The Wormhole]

So the rest took 20 more years to get here AFTER a distress call was issued?

Realistically speaking, 20 years is still pretty damn quick.

When I re-watched the movie about a month ago, what really got to me was the computer virus. Now I know, this has been a point of criticism even going back to when the movie was released back in 96. But, it really bothers me now that this advanced alien race capable of travelling interstellar distances with firepower capable of leveling cities is rendered completely helpless by a 1990s computer virus. Dwell on that for a moment, something we can easily take care of with modern-day off the shelf anti-virus software takes down space-age aliens. I know, there's the factor of different technologies, but truth is if there really was that much of a difference, the virus wouldn't have had any effect anyway.

Furthermore, just how do the cities get completely ruined just by firing on a certain building? Granted, the Empire State Building exploding probably would cause sufficient damage to the surrounding area, it wouldn't completely level New York, and the White House exploding definitely wouldn't cause noticeable damage to the rest of DC.

And finally, this is more related to Resurgence, but I'll mention it here anyway, are the cities completely rebuilt? The trailers does show the Washington Capitol Building, which we do see get destroyed. Also, the trailers show London getting totaled, despite the fact that was one of the first cities the aliens targeted (it can be seen on a news report showing alien ships hovering over various cities around the world) and should already have been destroyed. So not only are cities rebuilt, they're rebuilt the exact same as they were before the invasion?

 

[Tosk]

Dwell on that for a moment, something we can easily take care of with modern-day off the shelf anti-virus software takes down space-age aliens.

I always figured it was supposed to be analogous to War of the Worlds, that the aliens were completely unprepared for that particular...infection. Doesn't help it make more sense, but it makes no less sense than the rest of the movie.

 

[bigdaddy]

But I think the distress call was made years and years after, maybe even recently in the sequel.

But it's a stupid movie and a stupid idea for a movie sequel. But when they were going to make two sequels at once the plan was not all the aliens had attired at Earth and the other group that be i the sequels left shortly after the first group but it just takes a long time to get to Earth and have no idea we beat their friends.

Either way I'll enjoy it.

And in 1998 there was world peace and everyone worked to make the world look just exactly the same as it does today, right down to the sky scrapers.

 

[The Wormhole]

And in 1998 there was world peace and everyone worked to make the world look just exactly the same as it does today, right down to the sky scrapers.

The reason it gets to me though, is that in the real world the World Trade Centre is not being rebuilt exactly as it was before, so it seems odd that every other monument and landscape in the ID4 world is.

 

[Commander Richard]

I was looking forward to seeing what the new cities looked like. Then I found out that they rebuilt a lot of the old buildings. Maybe they don't want to confuse the audience? I don't know. Still, it looks like we'll be seeing a new world of sorts.

 

[bigdaddy]

The reason it gets to me though, is that in the real world the World Trade Centre is not being rebuilt exactly as it was before, so it seems odd that every other monument and landscape in the ID4 world is.

What annoys me is that they have all this alien tech, they know there is a chance at any time for the aliens to come back, and they still build cities and massive skyscrapers. They didn't really seem to use the alien tech to make anything other than floating TV on Earth. It's very odd. I would have rebuilt everything underground and never want to live in a city again.

 

[publiusr]

You cause enough quakes and tunnels will collapse.

 

[bigdaddy]

You cause enough quakes and tunnels will collapse.

Or great a big enough space ship that Dubai crashes on London?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If some of the alien technology was used to rebuild the cities (in only 20 years? It'd pretty much have to be), I could believe that.

As for Russell Casse: I thought it was obvious that he was just crazy and never was actually abducted by the aliens. Why would they bother doing that, anyway? Their objective was to destroy humanity, not study it. There wouldn't be anything to gain by abducting a human.

 

[TwoJakes]

The president ordered the evcuation of cities, people were living out in fields, most people live in cities now. Building cities would be a priority, re-establish inferstructure, get the economy back on it's feet.

As far was underground cities, why wouldn't the aliens be able to destroy a underground city?

 

[The Wormhole]

As far was underground cities, why wouldn't the aliens be able to destroy a underground city?

The first movie does indicate the alien's city destroying weapon can't penetrate underground. When the ship is approaching Area 51 someone asks what will happen when the aliens attack the base and Adam Baldwin says everything below ground will be safe.

 

[Tosk]

When the ship is approaching Area 51 someone asks what will happen when the aliens attack the base and Adam Baldwin says everything below ground will be safe.

Yeah, but Adam Baldwin is an idiot. We just didn't know it yet.

 

[The Wormhole]

You can't talk about Mike Slattery like that!

 

[bigdaddy]

The first movie does indicate the alien's city destroying weapon can't penetrate underground. When the ship is approaching Area 51 someone asks what will happen when the aliens attack the base and Adam Baldwin says everything below ground will be safe.

Bingo. Also Will Smith's girlfriend, dog and child all survived the fireballs by being underground and in a closet.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

If some of the alien technology was used to rebuild the cities (in only 20 years? It'd pretty much have to be), I could believe that.

As for Russell Casse: I thought it was obvious that he was just crazy and never was actually abducted by the aliens. Why would they bother doing that, anyway? Their objective was to destroy humanity, not study it. There wouldn't be anything to gain by abducting a human.

What?

Studying the natives is a great way to learn their biology and how to kill them.

Also the computer virus does make sense, well kind of. The extended version of the movie hints at this. Plus according to the movie I think it's safe to assume a lot of our technology was pilfered and based on the technology of the crashed alien ship they had. So they'd have some idea of how their computers code information.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The aliens figured it out a long time ago: They can kill Earthlings by blowing them up. Don't need to do any studying to make that happen. Just shoot and BOOM!