From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Fri, 19 May 2023 06:48:20 -0700 (PDT), Jack Bohn   
    wrote:   
      
   >Among the things Paul S Person wrote:   
   >> Some ruminations on two films I saw recently but have no intention of    
   >> buying on disc.    
   >>    
   >> /The Wandering Earth II/    
   >> When I saw this, I was surprised to see that it was a prequel and not    
   >> a sequel. I was also disappointed at it.    
   >>    
   >> This basically documents how the Wandering Earth Project (and MOSS)    
   >> came to be and traces it through several crises. Including some very    
   >> well organized physical attacks. But it simply doesn't match the level    
   >> of energy I remember from the first film, although reviewing the    
   >> Wikipedia plot summary of the original suggests that seeing this first    
   >> make make it more understandable.    
   >>    
   >> OTOH, if you are wondering about the science behind this endeavor, the    
   >> film does go into more detail of how they planned to do it. I'm not    
   >> sure how well it would actually work, but it isn't as simple as    
   >> stopping the Earth and heading off directly away from the Sun. It's    
   >> more like expanding the orbit, getting velocity boosts from gravity,    
   >> and accelerating/coasting/decelerating to reach their destination.    
   >> Whether the time said to be needed is realistic I have no idea.    
   >   
   >I always wonder about movies like this: at what point can I blow up like   
   McCoy at getting conned, "There won't be any damn permits!  How can you get a   
   damn permit to do a damned illegal thing?!"   
   >   
   >Can we compare it to a caper film?  Few people nowadays would expect one to   
   be a blueprint they can copy for a robbery.  The audience would grant the plan   
   as given, and watch the personality interactions as the mechanism goes forward.   
      
   The personality interactions approach worked for me with the original,   
   at least insofar as the kids were concerned (that part of the story is   
   basically teenagers stealing a vehicle and turning out to be one of   
   Humanity's Last Hopes). It didn't work so well with this one. It had,   
   for me, a different feel. It did, however, produce an interesting   
   solution toward the end to the "reboot the flooded server before the   
   Moon reaches the Roche limit" problem.   
      
   There are those on a related newsgroup that have been discussing the   
   scientific validity of the first film and/or the concept of turning   
   the Earth into what amounts to a Generation Ship. My note above might   
   encourage them to watch it and see if the additional information makes   
   the science more plausible.   
   --    
   "In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant    
   development was the disintegration, under Christian   
   influence, of classical conceptions of the family and   
   of family right."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)