Talk:Pitch Black (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Film Portal
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Films. This project is a central gathering of editors working to build comprehensive and detailed articles for film topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start
This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
???
This article has not yet received a rating on the priority scale.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Science Fiction, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles on science fiction on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article. Feel free to add your name to the participants list and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
??? This article has not yet been assigned a rating on the importance scale.

this whole article (and the one at The Chronicles of Riddick) seems too long winded and detailed. do we really need to know every single thing down to crew man number two's shoe size? plus, some of the data seems opinionated. the ecclipse (not sunfall) for instance, is of an unspecified length, not "months long" as described in the article. or this line: "in a final show of Riddick's true nature" - what exactly is this suppposed to mean? the article needs shortening. keep it short and sweet, with nothing beyond the relevant data, please. 213.172.234.234 03:29, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

You are welcome to clean it up. Some of it surely could be cleaned up but it seems of appropriate length. If you want the ultra-condensed version then I suppose read the back cover of the DVD <?> Cburnett 03:59, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
Just what exactly is the 'relevant data'? Wikipedia isn't paper, so we don't need to keep it short. One could argue that a transcript of the entire film might be 'relevant data' (except for copyright issues, and perhaps Wikiquote might be better suited for that). Ppe42 13:27, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but users may not have enough time to read such a long-winded summary and plus The Chronicles of Riddick summary has been shortened, so that a shortening would be in line with other Riddick-related articles. I have recently shortened it and consider it to be of appropriate length now.(67.189.233.146 20:00, 12 May 2007 (UTC))

Contents

[edit] Who stabbed Fry?

I was under the impression that the creature stabbed Fry with it's wrist thing, not Riddick. Cburnett 03:51, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Fry says, "I said I'd die for them, not you." She gets impaled by the creature, dramatic pause, Fry is carried away, Riddick falls, Riddick says, "Not for me...", meaning Fry should not have sacrificed herself for him. Riddick somehow feels he is not worthy of such a gift. It's the first time he shows weakness, too. Previously, he had shown a fascination toward Fry's newfound heroism. From this experience, Riddick has changed. He states at the end, "[Riddick] died somewhere on that planet." NorrYtt 22:02, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
yeah but I never quite understood why she died. She was holding the light. She was lit up just as much as Riddick.

[edit] Portrayal of Muslims

deleted text from main article: "Also novel was the film's portrayal of Muslim characters, which contrasts heavily with the typical negative representations of Muslims in American productions."

Could someone substantiate this claim, that fair treatment of Muslims constitutes a heavy contrast with contemporary American film making? Seems to me that Hollywood goes out of its way to patronize Muslims, with movies like "Sum of All Fears" replacing Islamic Terrorists with Nazis. Please don't say "Team America." That's a satire of Hollywood, among other topics. Hence the appearance of Sarandon, Penn, Baldwin, Film Actor's Guild, etc.
What an arse. What about "True Lies". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.89.188.44 (talk) 15:35, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

If I recall the film's website correctly, the imam and three boys are "Chrislam" pilgrims. 69.136.238.165 12:15, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

I think what's so original is that they're not portrayed heavily one way or the other. It avoids the huge surge of Anti-Islam sentiment which can be found it plenty of movies, but it also avoids the huge surge of Super-Islam sentiment which is found in plenty of other movies (Yes, I just used the term "Super-Islam"). The Muslims aren't evil fanatics bent on killing or dying for their demonic religion, but neither are they completely perfect adherents to a faith which is the greatest gift to humanity ever. They're not inherently good or inherently bad, just simple normal people, which is a bizarre portrayal of Muslims in todays day and age. JBK405 01:53, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

As a random aside, the imam describes himself and the boys as being on the hajj and are dressed for the occasion (specifically naming mecca as the intended destination) IIRC, in that sense it's probably fair to assume that they are either Islamic, or that the film presents a hybridized melding of Islam and Christianity. (StarkeRealm 05:09, 18 October 2007 (UTC))
Anyway, I doubt that this is an important enough fact to be mentioned right away in the SECOND sentence of the article. This isn't a movie about Muslims or Islam, but a sci-fi/horror flick where Vin Diesel is kicking the butts of alien "vampires". Only some of the secondary characters happen to be Muslims. So maybe this could be moved in a "Trivia" section somewhere down below. At least it should come after the general plot description. Oh, and it would be nice to add some source or link... maybe some movie critic praising this movie for its portrayal of Islam or something like this. Otherwise it looks a bit too non-NPOV. Der_Hans 12:57, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
I think it misses the point to say that Muslims are negatively portrayed. In fact, it seems rare for Hollywood to acknowledge any religion in any serious way. Even in vampire movies it seems all but unheard of for anyone to actually pray. 70.15.116.59 (talk) 00:52, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ReOrder

There is Text on this article that indicates that Pitch Black is followed by Dark Fury, and originally the article indicated that Pitch Black is preceded by Butcher Bay. I agree with this in that these should be ordered by their place in the Riddick Trilogy. Year 2144 01:55, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Name

Hasn't the name now been changed to "The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black" ? 71.250.17.62 12:19, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

That's what Universal calls it now, so it is really the official name I guess. Suggest move to The Chronicals of Riddick: Pitch Black with redirects. Tom walker 08:34, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Move Back?

can this be moved back to Pitch Black which is now just a redirect to the disambig page? Insist it persists 00:59, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Not when ambiguity exists with the band and the soft drink. The film does not have any primary claim to the name. --Piet Delport 15:17, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
Although... about 100x more people are going to look for Pitch Black the movie than Pitch Black the band and soft drink (neither of which I had heard of previously,) and there are many things which are in similar situations, and have the disambiguation page as a link at the top--SalamandraNinja 10:25, 21 June 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Grue label?

I was under the impression that calling the critters Grue was just speculation based on their affinity for darkness. Someone have a reference for the claim the co-writer made? -MalkavianX 01:55, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm a little surprised no one's mentioned the Grues of Zork.--Vercalos 04:55, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

I watched this movie on TV tonight, and the closed-captioning called the creatures "raptors". --The Invisible Hand 07:25, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Okay... why are people calling them "Bioraptors" in the article now? --Koji 03:34, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

I personally have no idea where Bioraptors came from, (although I rather like the name, as that does sound like what they would be called), but Big Boys is what David Twohy has named them (as heard in his commentary on the DVD), so parhaps instead of 'Nicknamed Big boys By riddick', we should put 'Named Big boys By Director David Twohy'.Year 2144 16:52, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

i thought it was confirmed that grue was their name and was a zork reference? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.226.132.77 (talk) 21:27, August 23, 2007 (UTC)

It may be in the script, but, I recall them being referred to as Grue as well, I just can't remember where. At the very least a google image search for Grue will pick up a fair number of the Pitch Black critters. It might be appropriate to list it as a common fannon name somewhere. (StarkeRealm 05:11, 18 October 2007 (UTC))

[edit] hey guys how about using higher resolution pictures?

Here are snapshots i took of the 720p hd dvd movie.. i think they are much better suited

http://img259.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vlcsnap258550xc4.jpg http://img371.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vlcsnap265616fq8.jpg http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vlcsnap267897ne0.jpg —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.138.209.159 (talk) 02:07, 13 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] additional article changes

Greetings all. I agree that this article needs an overhaul. I've only seen the movie a few times so I probably shouldn't lead, but sentences like "Is the escaped Riddick to blame?" don't seem like they have any basis being in an encyclopedia article. Jodamn 23:41, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Series Article

I created The Chronicles of Riddick (series) a while ago to help keep down clutter on the film pages. Alot of the specific film's pages were getting cluttered with excess information on the locations and characters of the franchise. Now there is a page for the information that would be out of place elsewhere. However it still needs to be expanded quiet a bit. I put all I could remember from the franchise as a start, but I would really like anyone who edits these Riddick articles to add more. Things I think need more information are the planets in the series, the characters of the series, and the different races of the series. Any help would be apperciated. (Animedude 03:09, 29 August 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Trivia?

The Miscellaneous facts section strikes me as being basically a trivia section. Additionaly, the gears of war reference seems out of place in particular, and the attempt to determine the year doesn't seem valid. We have no way of knowing that the Pitch Black universe uses the same calender that's used today. (Unless I forgot something in chronicles.) I'm going to remove it, but save the text here in case anyone has any thoughts on integrating it into the text. (StarkeRealm 05:22, 18 October 2007 (UTC))

=Miscellaneous Facts=

  • Several of the set pieces, the Hunter Gratzner pods, the skiff and several of the "Mud Towers" the creatures emerge from are owned by a local miner in Coober Pedy where the film was shot. Towards the end of filming he bought the soon to be broken down sets from the art department in a deal brokered at the front bar of the Opal Inn Hotel. They currently reside above his dugout near the lookout and were featured in the background of the episode of the Great Race filmed around 2000.
  • Universal Studios at first only owned the international rights to this film (and US DVD rights), but when Vivendi Universal (Universal's parent at the time) acquired USA Films (the original U.S. distributor), Universal would get the U.S. theatrical rights as well.
  • The concept of flying alien creatures arriving in pure darkness and vulnerable to light inspires the idea for a mutant race called the "Kryll," who operate in a similar manner in the Xbox 360 title Gears of War.
  • In the scene where Riddick dislocates his arms to escape where he was handcuffed to the pillar in the Hunter Gratzner, there was a $60,000 special effect that was set up to give the effect that he does so. However, Vin Diesel (Riddick) actually did all of this on his own, which was stated by him and director David Twohy in the commentary on the Pitch Black DVD. On the Special Edition of the DVD release however, the director states that although Vin Diesel was able to perform the escape before shooting, once on set they found that when he was in handcuffs he was unable to escape as required by the script, so the SFX sequence was in fact used in the end.
  • Fry discovers a rock sample in the settlement that is dated 12/90/642. She states that this is "22 years ago", so, if taken at face-value, this would mean that Pitch Black is set in the year 2664.
  • Pitch Black originally started as an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Nightfall but was changed dramatically over the course of development.