Siwilliams
Fleet Captain
Yeah they do, with the way humans are trashing the earth
The Day the Earth Stood Still - Grading & Discussion
- Thread starter Agent Richard07
- Start date
Yeah they do, with the way humans are trashing the earth
Their final solution was hardly appropriate.
With that kind of technology, it apparently never occurred to them to actually help humanity clean up the planet...
Everyone please take a moment to catch your breath. Whatever one thinks about the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still", it has generated some good discussion that has actually been kept the SFF aspect in touch. 
However, several of your are letting your emotions bleed your posting into more personal replies that aren't necessary or beneficial. Relax a bit and come back.
However, several of your are letting your emotions bleed your posting into more personal replies that aren't necessary or beneficial. Relax a bit and come back.
3D Master
Rear Admiral
That's pretty much what I said.
The ones who make US policy would be one of the minor evil few; even then, they're not simply nuking Iraq off of the face of the map, now are they?
I don't give a fuck what they're arguing for. What I care about is the aliens being hypocrites who can't keep to their own rules and values. Whatever value they're supposed to represent or arguing for, however extreme or not, is rather defiled by them happily breaking their own rules and values.
"Thou shalt not kill!"ulls gun, kills a hundred people:
Oh, yeah, that's such a magnificent teacher and example!
No, it doesn't, it just makes it a DIFFERENT ecology. Even if you would qualify it as "impaired" please show that this impaired ecology came about through a catastrophic mega-extinction event; and not simply evolutionary changes through the years.
We have been.
No, it's a sphere, with many height differences on its surface.
Not an ostrich, just someone who understands science, keeps up with it, and understands how to read a graphic.
The aliens may indeed be hypocritical, but then again, so are human beings as a species what with capital punishment and all. In the aliens minds, humanity may be guilty of the highest crime in their culture.
That the original aliens also announced their ban on war applied to the entire universe---except Earth---is not "nothing of the sort." The movie also imagined that people would be out there pretty promptly, which was why it was so urgent for Klaatu to show up, which again means it was [/i]not[/i] "nothing of the sort." All that comes across here is rudeness---if you're wanting to defend the original, meaningless distinctions won't do the trick. And the original has some real problems, which militant nostalgia seems to have covered up.
As to the notion that the quantity of energy captured, or alternatively, amount of biomass, cannot serve as an objective indicator of the success of a biosphere---what would? Life on Earth has survived about five mass extinctions. That is still too few to assume that Life Will Prevail.
As to the notion the problem is that global warming just isn't sexy enough for a hit movie---that is really rather savagely critical of the audience, not the movie, isn't it?
It seems from some of the "professional" reviews on tv and web, keanu gives a fairly dismal emotionless performance.. but then, isnt he an ALIEN in this after all?! Lol. Mixed reviews, so it sounds like its still worth the watch to judge.. similar to the mixed reviews given to that kevin spacey movie where he also plays an alien, 'K-Pax' or something similar. Nothing wrong with a remake, as long as its got its own feel and perhaps a few suprises, even if youve seen the original.. and getting the youth of today after watching the remake to search out the original can only be a good thing. Providing the original was any good in the first place, mind u. Lol! Has anyone seen the original - how would you rate it?
Since the crust cooled? Wow! I missed THAT in science class ...
--Ted
I saw it with pretty low expectations and wound up enjoying it well enough. It's nowhere near as entertaining as the original, but I wasn't surprised there. But aside from Keanu Reeves there wasn't much about it that stuck out as plain bad, and the reviews it's getting seem a tad too harsh overall. Still, there wasn't much about it that stuck out as all that great either. I already feel like I've forgotten large chunks of it. As a whole it came off mostly as bland.
And for the record, yes, I have seen and prefer the original. I've seen it many times. I own it on DVD and have even made my college-aged friends watch it. Their reception to it was surprisingly positive, and I think it does deserve its classic status.
And for the record, yes, I have seen and prefer the original. I've seen it many times. I own it on DVD and have even made my college-aged friends watch it. Their reception to it was surprisingly positive, and I think it does deserve its classic status.
Which is really none of the aliens business.... The arrogance of the aliens in the film was unbelievable, because they think we arent acting right they come in to get rid of us.
I saw this the other day, and thought it was a pretty decent movie overall, though havent seen the orginal so cant compare it.
Well, two weekends down and TDTESS is shaping up as a box office disappointment. It's pulled in about $48 million domestically, and $86 million internationally, barely making back its production costs. It's no flop like Star Trek: Nemesis, but more in the ballpark of the second Fantastic Four movie.
Tough to go by ANY box office this last week. Weather has physically kept patrons away from all movies in many major markets.
Not defending TDTESS, but the box office total in general.
--Ted
Not defending TDTESS, but the box office total in general.
--Ted
Not even John Cleese could save this movie.
S
Stone_Cold_Sisko
Guest
I thought it was pretty good, but the 1st half was considerably better than the 2nd half. Keanu's epiphany needed more substance to it. Overall it was pretty good as a sci-fi action movie. I haven't seen the original but will give it a watch soon.
Hmm, I was going to skip this flick but I might see it just to see what all the squawking is about.
But the problem with the aliens butting into Earth's affairs is that extreme threats to life on Earth are normal. There have been at least two massive extinction events in Earth's history (the dinosaurs being the lesser event) Twice, the Earth was entirely covered in ice (not the ice ages, these events were far more extreme, covering the entire planet). Yet life rebounded from that, both times.
Did the aliens intervene in those events? They are simply part of natural history. And humans are also part of the natural history of this planet, just as much as any dinosaur-squashing asteroid. To separate humans out from every other entity that has ever populated or interacted with Earth is just silly. It's something humans would do, since our ego creates the illusion of our apart-ness, but non-human aliens would not think this way.
And global warming isn't a threat to all life on Earth. It's a threat to certain species that cannot adapt quickly enough, but not to others, who will adapt and take over the niches vacated by the extinct species. It's certainly a threat to our very cushy and comfortable lifestyles as humans. But "life" itself is very durable, far more so than any one species, humans included. Life on Earth will definitely outlast the human species, we don't have to worry about that. Life has already bounced back from far worse than we are capable of doing.
In the original TDTESS, Klaatu's people were worried humans would pose a threat to them. So their motive to interfere was legitimate. But global warming is not a threat to them, so why are they butting in? Sounds like ole Klaatu isn't thinking like an alien, but like a human, and a specific sub-species of human known as "the Hollywood liberal." The one unforgivable sin in a sci-fi story is a lack of imagination. You wanna write a story about an alien, you're going to have to try harder than that.
Good point. Yet the aliens didn't put a stop to that process. Why? Didn't they care about poor Venus, which could have evolved lifeforms of its own by now? Why care about Earth and not Venus? They're just a couple of neighboring chunks of rock, both theoretically capable of supporting life, no really essential distinction there. A human would make that distinction, but why would an alien?
And if your goal is to promote the existence of life in the cosmos, why not start terraforming worlds? Both Venus and Mars could support life if properly terraformed. Get your ass moving on that project, Keanu!
These aliens sound like jerks. They just want to be holier than thou and boss people around.
They should put their efforts to more productive uses.Thanks for providing the relevant quotes. And there's the essential difference. Klaatu was unquestionably justified in the original. All species have a right to defend themselves, even murderously, so Klaatu was simply providing a polite warning to Earthlings not to fuck with them. Sounds like that logic has been entirely lost in the remake and replaced with nothing that should be a plausible motive for an alien species.
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What a terrible, crappy movie, complete waste of two hours.
So many braindead plot elements and goofs to go into. And basically, it was just boring, terribly acted and silly.
I'm not surprised it only got 22% on rotten tomatoes. That's pretty embarrassing for such a large-scale film.
No, it will be remembered as one of the great turds of 2008. A classic??
So many braindead plot elements and goofs to go into. And basically, it was just boring, terribly acted and silly.
I'm not surprised it only got 22% on rotten tomatoes. That's pretty embarrassing for such a large-scale film.
No, it will be remembered as one of the great turds of 2008. A classic??
The movie follows the same "rare Earth" scenario popularized of late in BattleStar Galactica, except that BSG seems to think that Earths are rare because water is rare, which is just dumb.
It's puzzling that people can't grasp the difference between an orchard and a rain forest, between a petting zoo and a prairie, between a garden and a nature preserve. I guess it's not too surprising that they don't believe that alien life forms, if any exist and we ever find out about them, will be fundamentally different, down to the chemicals they are composed of. This difference is a product of a different history. Terraforming doesn't create new histories. Useful as it might be for preserving, it doesn't address the issue of diversity. Terraforming would eventually produce new life forms in unknown millions of years. Excedpt aliens whose perspectives included such vast eons probably would conclude that all life is too ephemeral to worry about!
If people really thought that the aliens had "saved" all life forms they probably had their minds clouded with childhood stories of Noah's ark. The microspecies adapted to a single tree or the microbial life of a black smoker or the microbes deep in rock were omitted, just to mention some that are common knowledge.
"Global warming" is sometimes used as shorthand for all the various assaults on the biosphere humanity is committing. If only the threats were limited to global warming! There is in the North Pacific Gyre a mass of floating plastic refuse about the size of Texas. What will happen with microbial life as tiny bits of plastic were chipped out is anybody's guess. About the only thing that is certain is that the world will change. The bland assumption that Life will prevail simply is not merited. People don't quite get that we are part of nature, not above it.
The new movie's aliens who view humanity as just another species that is running rampant and needs to be culled presents in dramatic form just that uncongenial thought.
It's puzzling that people can't grasp the difference between an orchard and a rain forest, between a petting zoo and a prairie, between a garden and a nature preserve. I guess it's not too surprising that they don't believe that alien life forms, if any exist and we ever find out about them, will be fundamentally different, down to the chemicals they are composed of. This difference is a product of a different history. Terraforming doesn't create new histories. Useful as it might be for preserving, it doesn't address the issue of diversity. Terraforming would eventually produce new life forms in unknown millions of years. Excedpt aliens whose perspectives included such vast eons probably would conclude that all life is too ephemeral to worry about!
If people really thought that the aliens had "saved" all life forms they probably had their minds clouded with childhood stories of Noah's ark. The microspecies adapted to a single tree or the microbial life of a black smoker or the microbes deep in rock were omitted, just to mention some that are common knowledge.
"Global warming" is sometimes used as shorthand for all the various assaults on the biosphere humanity is committing. If only the threats were limited to global warming! There is in the North Pacific Gyre a mass of floating plastic refuse about the size of Texas. What will happen with microbial life as tiny bits of plastic were chipped out is anybody's guess. About the only thing that is certain is that the world will change. The bland assumption that Life will prevail simply is not merited. People don't quite get that we are part of nature, not above it.
The new movie's aliens who view humanity as just another species that is running rampant and needs to be culled presents in dramatic form just that uncongenial thought.