Author Topic: New sci-fi film The Europa Report (Read 42601 times)

fregate · « **Reply #20 on:** 05/14/2013 06:01 am »

Do not have much faith for Hollywood movies after reading Russian signs on Alexey Leonov spaceship in Space Odyssey 2 - the dumbest was AK-47 Bullets (!) in Russian painted on one of the bulkheads.

RanulfC · « **Reply #21 on:** 05/14/2013 12:47 pm »

Quote from: fregate on 05/14/2013 06:01 am

Do not have much faith for Hollywood movies after reading Russian signs on Alexey Leonov spaceship in Space Odyssey 2 - the dumbest was AK-47 Bullets (!) in Russian painted on one of the bulkheads.

Actually that's standard stuff for movies, games, etc. "Inside" jokes and visuals

I love watching some of the older Hollywood and British "war" movies with my wife (German) and getting her to tell me what the signs and people are REALLY saying

Randy

Robert Thompson · « **Reply #22 on:** 05/15/2013 02:24 am »

Recommend grass roots short film "L5". Sound quality slips at the end. Overall a surprising effort to produce near-space near-future near-TRL hard science fiction. Most crucially, not a fan film, not exampled, unprecedented (afaik). Shelf-ready CGI in the hands of genuine space exploration enthusiasts, where sets, props and cast are the limiting factor.

KelvinZero · « **Reply #23 on:** 05/15/2013 08:42 am »

Quote from: Hernalt on 05/15/2013 02:24 am

Recommend grass roots short film "L5". Sound quality slips at the end. Overall a surprising effort to produce near-space near-future near-TRL hard science fiction. Most crucially, not a fan film, not exampled, unprecedented (afaik). Shelf-ready CGI in the hands of genuine space exploration enthusiasts, where sets, props and cast are the limiting factor.

Cool! I have always thought HardSF was ideal for low budget film makers. You can have cramped sets and the CG is much easier.

Just the pilot so far?

Robert Thompson · « **Reply #24 on:** 05/15/2013 01:59 pm »

Presumably it is dead, never to be heard from again, like Firefly, Defying Gravity, Stargate Universe, other recent quality space sci-fi cut down in their prime. It can serve as monument of indictment.

OV135 · « **Reply #25 on:** 05/16/2013 05:10 pm »

Not sure on this film. I'll wait for reviews myself.

Star One · « **Reply #26 on:** 05/17/2013 07:13 pm »

New trailer for it.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=104446

Apparently you can get a manned vehicle to Europa using an Atlas V, well according to this trailer you can. Looked like the launch of Curiosity they were using.

Not many sci fi films where you can see a quote from Popular Science on the trailer.

KelvinZero · « **Reply #27 on:** 05/17/2013 09:17 pm »

Their impression of commercial crew to a preassembled europa vehicle? Looks nice.. Hope it is more than just "We met a greeblie" but could still be enjoyable just for the detail of how they get there and the jupiter effects. Its a staggering world.

Elmar Moelzer · « **Reply #28 on:** 05/18/2013 07:02 pm »

I really hope that this is good, but I am just scared by the whole "found footage" premise. That means several things to me:
1. bad, lazy camerawork, lots of shaky cam, continuity and coherency problems (why do we not review what happened in the other camera that we just saw seconds ago, when something leaves the line of sight?)
2. You can already guess that everybody dies in the end. So why bother watching it?
3. Usually means a stupid plot. I fear another "Apollo 18".

KelvinZero · « **Reply #29 on:** 05/18/2013 11:20 pm »

You just have to lower your standards, like me..

I agree with all your points and I think I could still enjoy this.

Robert Thompson · « **Reply #30 on:** 05/19/2013 08:19 am »

Quote from: Elmar Moelzer on 05/18/2013 07:02 pm

Thank you. Sometimes if you stay quiet long enough you don't need to say anything.

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #31 on:** 05/24/2013 07:45 am »

The Europa Report is one of three upcoming space movies discussed by Dwayne Day: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2297/1

obi-wan · « **Reply #32 on:** 05/25/2013 11:38 pm »

Quote from: Eric Hedman on 12/10/2012 12:15 am

The trailer looks good. I just hope it's good science and good engineering mixed in with a good story. I just can't stand it when you have the first two and it then devolves into a horror story set in space.

Well, if it's really good science and engineering, they would die of radiation within a few days of arriving at Europa, or within minutes of stepping outside EVA...

grondilu · « **Reply #33 on:** 05/25/2013 11:53 pm »

Question: do you guys think 2001 was a good "science and engineering" film?

As far as I'm concerned, I loved 2001 but not because it was in any way realistic from a scientific point of view. It was to some extend, but my point is that it takes more than scientific realism to make a good SF movie.

Let me remind you that in the expression "science-fiction", there is the word "fiction".

Mader Levap · « **Reply #34 on:** 05/27/2013 10:32 am »

Quote from: Elmar Moelzer on 05/18/2013 07:02 pm

2. You can already guess that everybody dies in the end. So why bother watching it?

Why you bother watching 95% of anything? You can guess how anything will end just by popularity of ending tropes.

Proponent · « **Reply #35 on:** 05/27/2013 11:29 am »

Quote from: grondilu on 05/25/2013 11:53 pm

Question: do you guys think 2001 was a good "science and engineering" film?

I saw it as a kid, and it was long my gold standard for science in science fiction, at least as far as movies went. In terms of accuracy, it was obviously light years better than, say, Star Trek.

Then, several years ago, I happened to see the last half of 2001 again and I was distracted by the numerous technical errors, such as

* The motion of stars seen through the Discovery's windows;
* The lack of the Coriolis effects that would arise from the small size of Discovery's centrifuge; and
* The lack of acceleration of the pod due to escaping air when David Bowman blows the hatch.

I once read The Making of 2001, which described a technical error in the film. Specifically, Heywood Floyd is shown aboard the Earth-to-LEO shuttle sucking mashed peas from a small seal container through a transparent tube. As he finishes, the residual peas in the tube are seen to be drawn back into the container. According to the book, this would not actually happen microgravity. To me, on the contrary, it seems that simple suction could easily cause the draw back shown in the movie.

Still, I can't think of a more accurate space-themed sci-fi movie.

KelvinZero · « **Reply #36 on:** 06/01/2013 11:34 am »

One big technical omission from 2001 were the radiators for the Discovery's nuclear engine. According to "2001:filming the future" these were omitted because they couldnt find a configuration that didnt look like wings. Personally I think that decision was a pity artistically as well as technically. The sail-like look implies long slow voyages to me, which is exactly right.

(edit: before anyone nitpicks on the word 'slow', I think that is an appropriate description for a journey that is uneventful and where the view outside changes extremely gradually)

ugordan · « **Reply #37 on:** 06/01/2013 05:38 pm »

If we are going to get really nit-picky about 2001, the exterior views of Discovery should have had the ship areas that are not in sunlight be completely dark, not have secondary illumination coming from "somewhere". They are in interplanetary cruise, no light source nearby could have produced such illumination.

Yes, it takes away from the "artistic" effect - but then again, doesn't silence in space also?

MattJL · « **Reply #38 on:** 06/01/2013 05:46 pm »

Quote from: KelvinZero on 06/01/2013 11:34 am

One big technical omission from 2001 were the radiators for the Discovery's nuclear engine. According to "2001:filming the future" these were omitted because they couldnt find a configuration that didnt look like wings. Personally I think that decision was a pity artistically as well as technically. The sail-like look implies long slow voyages to me, which is exactly right.

(edit: before anyone nitpicks on the word 'slow', I think that is an appropriate description for a journey that is uneventful and where the view outside changes extremely gradually)

Agreed. I seem to recall that the book described Discovery as almost resembling a dragonfly (with its radiators).

Come to think of it, it looked a lot like this early concept art:

A_M_Swallow · « **Reply #39 on:** 06/01/2013 11:53 pm »

If you are going to put radiators on a ship they can change colour as they heat up.