muff528 3 #1 August 30, 2014 Meteors have struck the Van Allen belt causing the sky to catch fire. There is a chance that it will cause the protracted, agonizing death of earth and earthlings ....or, if we do nothing, it may just burn itself out at 173 degrees and cause minimal harm ...couple of weeks, tops. We have the capability to launch a well-placed nuclear strike against the belt which will cause it to evaporate harmlessly into outer space, thereby saving the planet. But the window for that opportunity is closing. And, if the strike is off, just by a little, it could cause a devastating explosion, destroying the entire earth in an instant. So, do nothing and hope for the best? ...or take the shot and never know if anything bad happens? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 135 #2 August 30, 2014 I think a 9yr old girl should launch the nuclear attack, just in casescissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PLFKING 3 #3 August 30, 2014 Sounds like a job for the HYPOTHETICAL SKYDIVER!!! Don"When in doubt I whip it out, I got me a rock-and-roll band. It's a free-for-all." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muff528 3 #4 August 30, 2014 PLFKINGSounds like a job for the HYPOTHETICAL SKYDIVER!!! Don ...or Julian Rauch Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tink1717 2 #5 August 30, 2014 Sounds like a job for Admiral Nelson and the Seaview. Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off. -The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!) AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #6 August 30, 2014 Tink1717 Sounds like a job for Admiral Nelson and the Seaview. You beat me to it. It IS the same scenario as the film. Also, COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE. That's what I get for taking an extended walk this morning. Pfft.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #7 August 30, 2014 muff528Meteors have struck the Van Allen belt causing the sky to catch fire. There is a chance that it will cause the protracted, agonizing death of earth and earthlings ....or, if we do nothing, it may just burn itself out at 173 degrees and cause minimal harm ...couple of weeks, tops. We have the capability to launch a well-placed nuclear strike against the belt which will cause it to evaporate harmlessly into outer space, thereby saving the planet. But the window for that opportunity is closing. And, if the strike is off, just by a little, it could cause a devastating explosion, destroying the entire earth in an instant. So, do nothing and hope for the best? ...or take the shot and never know if anything bad happens? The problem with this scenario and why I think the 1961 movie, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" fails miserably as science fiction is it has no science in the fiction. The Van Allen Belt can't catch fire and even if it did a nuclear missile wouldn't blow it out. Nor does the scenario work as an analogue for any societal issue that I can discern. It's simply posing a hypothetical for which there is not enough information for anyone to say which is the "right" course of action to take. It does so simply so Admiral Nelson can be in dramatic opposition to the rest of the Earth's scientists and come out as the hero of the film. To me, that's bad science fiction.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yoink 321 #8 August 30, 2014 Whatever action was taken, the opposition party would say it was the wrong one. Even if it worked. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #9 August 30, 2014 yoinkWhatever action was taken, the opposition party would say it was the wrong one. Even if it worked. "Kobayashi Maru" is a better science fiction analogue there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maruquade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,381 #10 August 30, 2014 quade The problem with this scenario and why I think the 1961 movie, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"... Well, I'll be damned; I barely remember the TV series from when I was a kid, but never knew it was a movie spinoff."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muff528 3 #11 August 30, 2014 Are you telling me that wasn't a documentary!? I just happened to catch the movie this morning on a vintage movie channel. Next up was "The White Dawn" (Peter Lorre's 1st film), but the ball games were starting. I think the VA belts were only discovered a couple of years before the "Voyage..." film. Combine newly-discovered "radiation belts" with the threat of a global nuclear holocaust and you get cheesy Sci-Fi. (...but I still love "Rodan" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #12 August 30, 2014 ryoder*** The problem with this scenario and why I think the 1961 movie, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"... Well, I'll be damned; I barely remember the TV series from when I was a kid, but never knew it was a movie spinoff. Other way 'round. The film came first.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #13 August 30, 2014 muff528 Are you telling me that wasn't a documentary!? Good science fiction doesn't have to be a documentary, but as far as I'm concerned it has to do one of two things, even better if both. 1) Take an emerging scientific theory and examine what the possible outcomes are if taken to logical conclusions. 2) Take a real societal issue and reframe it in a situation and way where it can be discussed sub-texually so as to break down the normal prejudicial thinking of the reader/viewer. The original "Star Trek" series excelled at both. H.G. Wells excelled at both. Irwin Allen . . . eh . . . not usually so much . . . with the possible exception of the later years of "Land of the Giants."quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muff528 3 #14 August 30, 2014 quade ***Are you telling me that wasn't a documentary!? Good science fiction doesn't have to be a documentary, but as far as I'm concerned it has to do one of two things, even better if both. 1) Take an emerging scientific theory and examine what the possible outcomes are if taken to logical conclusions. 2) Take a real societal issue and reframe it in a situation and way where it can be discussed sub-texually so as to break down the normal prejudicial thinking of the reader/viewer. The original "Star Trek" series excelled at both. H.G. Wells excelled at both. Irwin Allen . . . eh . . . not usually so much . . . with the possible exception of the later years of "Land of the Giants." Well, I've always been a fan of these types of cheesy flicks. The cheesier, the better in some cases. And not just SF ...other types of movies, too. I'm not really expecting scientific accuracy or some social comment ...just mindless entertainment value. I also do appreciate "serious" science fiction movies which do try to be believably "scientific" such as Star Trek or 2001 or Wonder Woman. I do understand why some folks would not care for the "cheese factor". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tink1717 2 #15 August 31, 2014 It was a critical 8 mins. Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off. -The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!) AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PLFKING 3 #16 August 31, 2014 QuoteOther way 'round. The film came first. Which is what he said. I always loved the TV show as a kid, but didn't know it was inspired by a movie either. Don"When in doubt I whip it out, I got me a rock-and-roll band. It's a free-for-all." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #17 August 31, 2014 PLFKINGQuoteOther way 'round. The film came first. Which is what he said. I'm going to say the sentence was somewhat ambiguous in the use of the word "it" and I misread it with the wrong intention. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calvin19 0 #18 August 31, 2014 muff528Meteors have struck the Van Allen belt causing the sky to catch fire. There is a chance that it will cause the protracted, agonizing death of earth and earthlings ....or, if we do nothing, it may just burn itself out at 173 degrees and cause minimal harm ...couple of weeks, tops. We have the capability to launch a well-placed nuclear strike against the belt which will cause it to evaporate harmlessly into outer space, thereby saving the planet. But the window for that opportunity is closing. And, if the strike is off, just by a little, it could cause a devastating explosion, destroying the entire earth in an instant. So, do nothing and hope for the best? ...or take the shot and never know if anything bad happens? You seem like a person who, like me, thinks that 'Armageddon' is the best film ever made. We might be friends. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stumpy 256 #19 August 31, 2014 I'm not ashamed to say I really like Armageddon. Ok, maybe a little bit.Never try to eat more than you can lift Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 212 #20 August 31, 2014 Stumpy I'm not ashamed to say I really like Armageddon. Ok, maybe a little bit. I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stumpy 256 #21 August 31, 2014 turtlespeed ***I'm not ashamed to say I really like Armageddon. Ok, maybe a little bit. I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.Huh? Sure you have the right movie? Never try to eat more than you can lift Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muff528 3 #22 August 31, 2014 Somehow I've never seen Armageddon. In the past couple of decades the only films I've actually gone to the theater to see are the ones I've taken my son and nieces an nephews to see. Harry Potter, LOTR, Madagascar, etc. With few exceptions, the only times I've seen anything else is when they happen across the TV screen. Looks like Armageddon is getting pretty good reviews from you guys. "Best" covers a lot of territory. If I had to pick one I'd probably go with "Dr. Strangelove" or maybe "The Day the Earth Stood Still". (OK, these two carry deep socio/political messages with them but I try not to pay any attention to that.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 14 #23 August 31, 2014 One of my favorite movies is "Patton." Epic WWII film studying a character larger than life. I pull the blueray out maybe once a year to watch it. I, too, also enjoy Dr. Strangelove from time to time. Who couldn't love Slim Picken's role? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muff528 3 #24 August 31, 2014 JohnMitchell One of my favorite movies is "Patton." Epic WWII film studying a character larger than life. I pull the blueray out maybe once a year to watch it. I, too, also enjoy Dr. Strangelove from time to time. Who couldn't love Slim Picken's role? Uncanny how much General Patton resembles General Turgidson, isn't it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
champu 1 #25 August 31, 2014 muff528Well, I've always been a fan of these types of cheesy flicks. The cheesier, the better in some cases. And not just SF ...other types of movies, too. I'm not really expecting scientific accuracy or some social comment ...just mindless entertainment value. I also do appreciate "serious" science fiction movies which do try to be believably "scientific" such as Star Trek or 2001 or Wonder Woman. I do understand why some folks would not care for the "cheese factor". Cheesy doesn't necessarily mean bad. When I lose interest, though, is when the author takes a scientific/technical/magic liberty too far. If the characters do something that makes no sense and receives no explanation and that resolves the tension in a situation, then nothing the author does to create tension in the plot later on is going to get me engaged. Oh impending doom huh? Well I'm sure the protagonist can just phase-hack the boson dipole and everything will be fine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
