Talk:Red Planet (film)

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Contents 1 Plot Outline 2 plot 3 Scientific Mistakes, Goofs and Blunders 4 Removed some POV statements 5 At least it's better than 6 is it worth

[edit] Plot Outline

Okay, so I finally got off my butt and wrote this beast. It's long and ugly, much like the film, and could use some better formatting. Also, it's only a film article, but it may be a bit non-NPOV, because I happened to like this film--not so much for it's literary quality, but for what it was trying to say about science and philosophy and the future of humanity if we don't smarten up. Anyway, I'm sure it's not perfect, so, Wikipedia, do your thang... work your magic... wave the wand... stroke the lamp... oh, geez... nevermind. It's very late. I go bed now. Sincerely yours--Pariah 06:12, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] plot

This is so dumb. That's the most pointless movie I've ever seen! The astronauts didn't accomplish their mission! Why'd that idiot set the algae and the atmosphere on fire for? What a dummy! What's gonna happen to Earth now? It's going to get overpopulated and everyone's going to die! They shouldn't have made that movie if it wasn't going to have a happy ending! Scorpionman 01:36, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

Uh...thats kind of the point. Not everything happens according to plan and not every conclusion can be a happy one.--Kross July 7, 2005 07:11 (UTC)

Heheheh... --Pariah 03:09, May 27, 2005 (UTC)

Sez you! 4.158.60.25 21:22, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'm still just trying to figure out what the hell was the deal with the guy calling the bugs "Nematodes" 2 Oct 2005

That's what we thought, too. They put all that work into the scientific aspects, then trot out embarassing gaffes like that. -Timvasquez 20:50, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Wasn't the final point that they had these bugs that they could use to clean up earth's atmosphere? -- Imladros 18:22, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Scientific Mistakes, Goofs and Blunders

There are several flaws in the plot, including scientific goofs.

• First of all, can anyone tell what was exactly the original plan for the return flight to the ship? The landing capsule that got busted after falling off a cliff apparently had no rocket motor (or, at least, it was never spoken of).

• Another one: having all that highly advanced science, and having based the mission precisely on the unaccounted-for lower Oxygen levels in the Martian athmosphere, why didn't those crew members know that the Martian air was breathable? Did they have to discover it by sheer accident, when they were at he brink of dying by suffocation when their spacesuit air reserves were depleted?

• Another inexplicable scientific blunder is the weird chemistry of the martian insects, that ate algae ("and everything else") and "produced oxygen". How did they do it, decomposing CO²? That would consume a lot of energy, and where would that energy come from? Why did those beasts burn like firecrackers? It just doesn't make sense. Also, in the story those insects or arthropods are called "nematodes". Nematodes are unsegmented worms, so someone got a "D" in Biology here.

• When Gallagher makes his last stride toward the soviet lander, he discards his spacesuit helmet. One wonders, where did he find a replacement helmet?

• Bowman directs Gallagher to throw away "two liters" of an unnamed and highly flammable fuel, after some "computations" in order to reach a suitable orbit to allow for his recue. But, how did she manage to know the original fuel level in the tank, to begin with?

• When Gallagher finally blasts off Mars, he has no idea about how to control the Soviet lander KOSMOS navigation (all the "interface" is in Russian, remember - in reality it's a lot of nonsense made up of loose Russian words). Yet he somehow manages to come to a complete relative stop just some 100 yards away from the main ship. What a bullseye!!!

• And last but not least, why did the mission have to include that murderous, mechanical ninja beast, AMEE? Only to jeopardize the mission further, and have one extra villain, I guess. As if the harsh conditions upon an alien planet weren't tough enough.

I enjoyed the film hugely, despite these defects.

--AVM 21:08, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removed some POV statements

I removed a few POV statements in the last section. We can't say stuff like "the movie was long and dull" or "the movie has a solid cast and an interesting premise". If anyone want it in here, it should be a quoted reference to a review in a newspaper or similar. Bergsten 18:59, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

No objections here; although I guess I'm biased. I enjoyed the film--Pariah 04:15, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] At least it's better than

this piece of crap. Mission_to_Mars ;)

[edit] is it worth

mentioning the references to 2001 a space odyssey (the character being called bowman, AMEE going mental due to the threat to her 'life' and her HAL-esque eye, bowman flushing out the spacecraft with a vacuum for example) as it's notable and one of the things i enjoyed most about the film. also the whole nearly-asphyxiating-on-mars-but-then-there's-oxygen sequence was reminiscent of total recall and the main premise seemed similar to silent running (directed by douglas trumbull who also worked on 2001)

the 'space janitor' wearing a hawaiian shirt and a shot of mars-1 passing under the camera reminded me of red dwarf, but that's probably just me :) 87.112.209.194 19:06, 18 November 2006 (UTC)