Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site cmu-cs-k.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!edsel!bentley!hoxna!houxm!mhuxr!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!rochester!cmu-cs-pt!cmu-cs-k!wrs From: wrs@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Walter Smith) Newsgroups: net.movies Subject: 2010 evaluation (SPOILER) Message-ID: <224@cmu-cs-k.ARPA> Date: Tue, 25-Dec-84 03:39:28 EST Article-I.D.: cmu-cs-k.224 Posted: Tue Dec 25 03:39:28 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 27-Dec-84 03:25:41 EST Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 52 There are clearly two ways to approach this film: either you see it as yet another "space adventure" story (you'll definitely need the first three minutes for that one), or you see it expecting a sequel to 2001. If you go the first route, no problem. It's not that bad a film, taken in the Star Wars/Battlestar Galactica/etc. tradition. I thought the ending was thrilling, the tough-guy Dr. Floyd (yay, Roy! Blast them Russkies) was fun, the villians were villainous, the good guys were virtuous. On the other hand, if you go expecting a sequel, you're in trouble. Especially if you expect the kind of quality that came from the Kubrick/Clarke collaboration. If you go to see a space thriller, you can easily ignore such minor details as total ignorance of physical laws. Anything that advertises itself as a sequel to 2001 had damn well better not have low rumbling noises in deep space and people simultaneously leaning on a table and leaving a pen spinning in mid-air! I won't even attempt to list the other blatantly ridiculous things that occurred. It seems that among all those technical consultants someone would have thought "gee, should we tell him that even huge balloons inflating don't make loud crinkling noises in space?". Here's something even worse than Hyams' lack of high-school physics: the man had the incredible gall to re-write the whole premise of the story! 2010 is not about crises in Central America and aliens trying to fix US/USSR relations, dammit! The characterizations of the Russians were TOTALLY WRONG (not to mention Floyd and Chandra). What is this b.s. about being ordered to leave USSR territory? Where did this man get the poetic license to turn Clarke's novel into a statement on US foreign policy? Sure, you can say "well, no movie is exactly like the book," but this is ridiculous. By the way, I assume Syd Mead, the "Visual Futurist," is responsible for the random six-inch numerals all over the Leonov and the change in style from 2001 to 2010 (clothes, etc.), if you want someone to flame about. Conclusions: 1) See the movie, but turn off your physics first. 2) Write a nasty, nasty letter to Peter Hyams. 3) Read the book. What do you suppose are the chances of a remake by someone who knows basic physics and has seen 2001 and liked it? [I should apologize for the near-flame four paragraphs above. I hardly ever use exclamation points in real life.] -- Walter Smith, CS undergraduate, Carnegie-Mellon University uucp: ...!seismo!cmu-cs-k!wrs arpa: wrs@cmu-cs-k.ARPA usps: Box 874; 5115 Margaret Morrison St.; Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Any opinions contained in the above could very well be so different from those of CMU itself that it would be ludicrous to compare the two.