good science movies: list

[oldunion]

Id like to compile a list of good science/physics/mathematics/ or "movies that make you think" type films. Please add to my small list:

the arrival
independence day
k-pax
the bbc space series with sam neil
event horizon
a beautiful mind
supernova

[LURCH]

Cinema:
-OutBreak/The Adromeda Strain
-Pi
-When Worlds Collide
-Any Irwin Allen Natrural Disaster Film (and the "Airport" series; to a lesser degree)

T.V.:
-Connections w/ James Burke
-Blue Planet
-Angry Planet (Discovery Channel)
-Secret Weapons (don't bother with "Fututre Fighting Machines" on Tech TV; they show advanced weapons systems, but give little or no information on their inner workings)
-Nature
-Living Planet (BBC Miniseries; really top-shelf)
-This Saturday either the Discovery or Learning channel will do a bit of scifi they're calling "Alien Planet". Purely speculative exobiology, and I don't expect the ideas (or even the science) to be very good, but might be a good trigger for further thought.

[zoobyshoe]

October Sky

[hypnagogue]

Contact. Also The Matrix, even if it's heavy on the fiction side of things and could only make this list tangentially.

[DaveC426913]

Id like to compile a list of good science/physics/mathematics/ or "movies that make you think" type films. Please add to my small list:

the arrival
independence day
k-pax
the bbc space series with sam neil
event horizon
a beautiful mind
supernova
IMO, any movie that exhibits bad science, even if it has some good science, needs to be disqualified. If not, it will lead viewers to the fallacious conclusion that all the science they see in that movie is accurate.

This disqualifies 'Independence Day' and 'Event Horizon' at least which are horrible in their depiction of science.

However, I would definitely put '2001: A Space Odyssey' on that list, if not at the top. Some old-timers like to play a game called 'Find a physics error in the movie'. It is not easy to do. Almost every detail of the movie is accurate - from orbital motion to vacuum of space - and it was released in 1967! Before we landed on the Moon!

[fourier jr]

good will hunting
pi

[El Hombre Invisible]

Gattaca?

This is a sentence written to get my message above the minimum number of characters allowed. It serves no other purpose so don't bother reading it.

[zoobyshoe]

However, I would definitely put '2001: A Space Odyssey' on that list, if not at the top. Some old-timers like to play a game called 'Find a physics error in the movie'. It is not easy to do. Almost every detail of the movie is accurate - from orbital motion to vacuum of space - and it was released in 1967! Before we landed on the Moon!
2001 is a great film, but is still essentially science fiction, Hal being the most fictional element. The only films mentioned that don't play fast and loose with any science are October Sky and A Beautiful Mind.

[Artman]

My good list:

Apollo 13
The Right Stuff
October Sky
The Dish


My fun science (fiction) movie list:

First Men In The Moon
Galaxy Quest
Space Cowboys


Just a few for now.

[zoobyshoe]

The Dish (Never heard of this one, so I looked it up):

Australia's involvement with the 1969 Apollo moon mission arrived with an unexpected wallop when its radio telescope in rural Parkes was elevated fron the Southern Hemishpere's backup broadcaster to primary broadcaster of Neil Armstrong's "one giant leap for mankind'. It is a modern wonder that the ten-year-old multibillion-dollar program became solely reliant on an untested crew based in a sheep paddock to capture this priceless moment in history."

DVD & Video Guide, Martin & Porter, 2004

[RichRobX]

well whatever you do get rid of "the bbc space series with sam neil" its complete rubbish, it's one of these science programmes that spend a lot of time telling you a load of nothing. They simply dazzle you with pretty pictures to convince you that you're learning something.

[FredGarvin]

The Dish is a fantastic movie. Very good. So is October Sky.

I have to agree that most science movies are crap and are junk science at best. If we're including those movies then I'd add Real Genius.

[Chi Meson]

Feynman fans would like "Infinity." It's more about Feynman than about physics, but it does have some episodes from "Surely your Joking." It does hane more physics than "October sky."

Oh, the movie stars Matthew Broderick; it's also his directing debut.

[Danger]

'The Arrow' for both a touch of aeronautical engineering and a lot of history.
My favourite 'Charly'.
I can't remember the name of it, but there's a really good one out there detailing the Los Alamos project. I think it might have been a 2-part miniseries.

[Artman]

The Dish (Never heard of this one, so I looked it up):

Australia's involvement with the 1969 Apollo moon mission arrived with an unexpected wallop when its radio telescope in rural Parkes was elevated fron the Southern Hemishpere's backup broadcaster to primary broadcaster of Neil Armstrong's "one giant leap for mankind'. It is a modern wonder that the ten-year-old multibillion-dollar program became solely reliant on an untested crew based in a sheep paddock to capture this priceless moment in history."

DVD & Video Guide, Martin & Porter, 2004This movie is a hoot. It actually makes my fun list too.

TV science shows:

House
Numbers

[FredGarvin]

'The Arrow' for both a touch of aeronautical engineering and a lot of history.
My favourite 'Charly'.
I can't remember the name of it, but there's a really good one out there detailing the Los Alamos project. I think it might have been a 2-part miniseries.

The Arrow....my Dad would be proud of you! That's coming from a huge Avro Arrow fan BTW.

The movie you may be thinking of is Fat Man and Little Boy.

[oldunion]

forgot to add hawkings series on the history of the universe.

whereas space with sam neil is not the most information based material, there is something to be learned from everything, even mistakes and non-information-abstractly.

[faust9]

Ahhh what could be more enjoyable than a move about moon travel:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092546/

Aside from that I put my money on Real Genius, Project X, The Manhatten Project, and Re-Animator.

Good stuff.

[gravenewworld]

The Cube
The Cube 2: HyperCube are both funny

[Danger]

The Arrow....my Dad would be proud of you! That's coming from a huge Avro Arrow fan BTW.
I thought you were a Yank? I've never met one who ever heard of the Arrow, and the ones that I told about it called me a liar. As a lot of my friends here say, "Don't even get me started on the Arrow." We're all madder than a raped nun about that, and it's a mad that will never go away. June Callwood swears that she heard the unmistakeable sound of J75 engines leaving the base when the fleet was grounded. We still hold out hope that it was ditched in Lake Ontario and is just waiting for us to find it and put it back in the air. If you can get your hands on the Arrow movie, do so. It's a CBC production available on tape.
By the way, where the hell were you when we were trying to find out the weight of a JT9D in GP?

The movie you may be thinking of is Fat Man and Little Boy.
That's the one! Good flick.

[Ivan Seeking]

The movie you may be thinking of is Fat Man and Little Boy.

Great movie! And I think Laura Dern is hot! Which is kind of weird since I really liked her dad, Bruce Dern, esp in Silent Running, which is worthy of mention.

Here is some older stuff with a few other notables:

Things to Come, based on the H.G Wells novel is a classic.

Metropolis, by Fritz Lang, is another classic

Mind Walk and the sequel My Dinner With Andre, send most scientists into seizures, followed immediately by coronary failure, and ending with their heads exploding, but it is a fun movie for philosophical types; especially with a few physicists in the room.

I thought Spielberg's Taken was great for a TV Sci-Fi mini-series [for entertainment only of course, with no real science]

Also from the ET genre, The day the earth stood still.

Also from TV, the new Outer Limits has some very creative writing.

I also liked
THX 1138.
Westworld

oh gosh, there are many others but more later perhaps.

The best introductory physics series made for entertainment that I've ever seen is The Mechanical Universe series, put out by Cal Tech.

[faust9]

Great movie! And I think Laura Dern is hot! Which is kind of weird since I really liked her dad, Bruce Dern, esp in Silent Running, which is worthy of mention.

Here is some older stuff with a few other notables:

Things to Come, based on the H.G Wells novel is a classic.

Metropolis, by Fritz Lang, is another classic

Mind Walk and the sequel My Dinner With Andre, send most scientists into seizures, followed immediately by coronary failure, and ending with their heads exploding, but it is a fun movie for philosophical types; especially with a few physicists in the room.

I thought Spielberg's Taken was great for a TV Sci-Fi mini-series [for entertainment only of course, with no real science]

Also from the ET genre, The day the earth stood still.

Also from TV, the new Outer Limits has some very creative writing.

I also liked
THX 1138.
Westworld

oh gosh, there are many others but more later perhaps.

The best introductory physics series made for entertainment that I've ever seen is The Mechanical Universe series, put out by Cal Tech.

LOL---The outer limits. Your mentioning of this brought my favorite line of all time to the fore: "Your ignorance makes me ill and angry!"

Not only did the ignorance of humans make David Ill but it also angered him. Image that.

That is a classic line. Use that in a bar or at work or with your significant other when you are feeling squirrely.

Thanks for the giggle.

[Ivan Seeking]

LOL---The outer limits.

Was that from the new series? The old one was really hokey, but I think some of the new ones are pretty good for a TV series.

[Physics is Phun]

The Cube
The Cube 2: HyperCube are both funny

and now "Cube 0" the prequil. Just came out a month ago or so.

I will also second
Contact
Good Will Hunting (although more of a drama than something that stretches your mind about math and science)
The Arrow (but it is 3 hours long)

[Evo]

Ivan, Silent Running is an old favorite. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a classic...klaatu barada nikto

[Grogs]

Ivan, Silent Running is an old favorite. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a classic...klaatu barada nikto

No, no, it's 'klatu barada n<cough>' I guess that answered the question of 'What would happen if the hero forgot the secret password. :biggrin:

[Ivan Seeking]

Ivan, Silent Running is an old favorite. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a classic...

Dern was so cool; a nerdy kind of cool. :cool:

klaatu barada nikto

Believe it or not, I saw this for the first time about a year ago.

Am I the only one who liked the new Outer Limits? :cry: :cry: :cry:
I'm betting that most people haven't seen it. Some of the stories are really creative. I don't watch many movies anymore since I usually get the idea within the first half hour. So many ideas have been used so many times that they get easy to see coming. But OL came up with some good stuff. Not all episodes were great, or even good, but some were quite excellent.

Did anyone here watch Taken?

[Danger]

Am I the only one who liked the new Outer Limits?
Are you kidding?! Alissa Milano naked! Of course I liked that show! I thought that this was supposed to be about scientifically accurate shows, so I haven't been counting pure fiction.

Did anyone here watch Taken?
Yup. It was really good.

[Ivan Seeking]

The good science part sort of evaporated before the end of the first post. :biggrin:

[Danger]

The good science part sort of evaporated before the end of the first post. :biggrin:
In that case, I must mention Barbarella. :biggrin:

[Ivan Seeking]

Are you kidding?! Alissa Milano naked!

:rofl: I had to think about this...hmmm...which episode was that? OH, HER! YES!!!

[stoned]

one of my favourites is "dark star". check it out guys.

[Danger]

:rofl: I had to think about this...hmmm...which episode was that?
I still get a little twitchy whenever I see a butterfly.

[zoobyshoe]

Am I the only one who liked the new Outer Limits?
I have seen most of the new ones. You're right, they are creative.
Did anyone here watch Taken?
Yeah, I saw the whole thing. Some parts were really good. but Spielberg being Spielberg couldn't get himself all the way over into how dark that series should have been, given the subject matter. I kept thinking Cronenberg would have been a better director.

[Ivan Seeking]

In that case, I must mention Barbarella. :biggrin:

Start talking like that and I'll throw in Earth Girls are Easy! :rofl:

Hey, for anyone interested, I noticed one day the writer for I think three of the Original Twilight Zone episodes was Earl Hamner - the real John Boy Walton.

[Danger]

one of my favourites is "dark star". check it out guys.
I've seen it. I wish I had a copy. Love that bomb.

Also, although I've only had the chance to see it 2 or 3 times, the Red Dwarf series was great.

[zoobyshoe]

Start talking like that and I'll throw in Earth Girls are Easy!
...Gina...droooooooooooolllllllll...Davis...droooo oooooollllll

[Danger]

Start talking like that and I'll throw in Earth Girls are Easy! :rofl:
I do own that one on tape. :redface: It was a gift.

[Ivan Seeking]

Yeah, I saw the whole thing. Some parts were really good. but Spielberg being Spielberg couldn't get himself all the way over into how dark that series should have been, given the subject matter. I kept thinking Cronenberg would have been a better director.

I can see that. It had a dark side but it could have been much darker. WEre there too many warm and fuzzies for your tastes? :biggrin: Still, the story definitely kept my attention. In fact Tsu doesn't even like this sort of stuff but she watched the whole thing twice I think.

[Ivan Seeking]

I still get a little twitchy whenever I see a butterfly.

You get butterflies when you see butterflies?

[Danger]

Of course, we can't omit 'Rocky Horror'. :biggrin:

I don't know if this counts, because they're not mainstream. I have 2 tapes from the 'Strike Force' series: 'Test Pilot' and 'Air Battle'. They're short documentaries.
You might like the cover quote from 'Test Pilot':

About 1,000 gallons of liquid oxygen, 1,200 gallons of anhydrous ammonia and 800 pounds of hydrogen peroxide got together and did their chemical thing. It was pretty violent activity for a moment or two. It was like being in the sun.
-Scott Crossfield

[zoobyshoe]

I can see that. It had a dark side but it could have been much darker.
It wasn't dark in a proper way. The dark characters just came off as sociopaths, which is disturbing. Cronenberg can do dark. Even better is M. Night Shyamalan. Take Signs. It had all the strong family elements Taken did, but without this surface, saccharine thing Spielberg does.

[Ivan Seeking]

It wasn't dark in a proper way. The dark characters just came off as sociopaths, which is disturbing. Cronenberg can do dark. Even better is M. Night Shyamalan. Take Signs. It had all the strong family elements Taken did, but without this surface, saccharine thing Spielberg does.

I like Speilberg, but how many times can we watch a crowd of awestruck bystanders with brightly lit faces stare in amazement at the phenomenal?

That reminds me a bit of Independence Day. It was a fun movie, but it could have been a good movie. Instead, every time the writers had a chance to make things interesting, instead we get ole what's his name acting cool and smoking cigars.

[FredGarvin]

I thought you were a Yank? I've never met one who ever heard of the Arrow, and the ones that I told about it called me a liar. As a lot of my friends here say, "Don't even get me started on the Arrow." We're all madder than a raped nun about that, and it's a mad that will never go away. June Callwood swears that she heard the unmistakeable sound of J75 engines leaving the base when the fleet was grounded. We still hold out hope that it was ditched in Lake Ontario and is just waiting for us to find it and put it back in the air. If you can get your hands on the Arrow movie, do so. It's a CBC production available on tape.
I have the Arrow movie on video tape. We taped it when it was shown on CBC. My whole family is Canadian. I was the first to be born in the states. My Dad is an avid aviation buff/historian. The Arrow story has been my "boogie man" story for as long as I can remember. What an absolute awsome piece of aviation engineering. I would give my left arm to see one fly again. The story around it's demise is so heart breaking. My Dad has a photo hanging on his wall of the Avro flightline on the day they started hacking up the airframes. I agree that it is a mad that will never go away. I am convinced the US had everything to do with it's end and Diefenbaker was a complete and utter idiot. Who knows where Canada's aerospace industry would be now if it had kept going.

By the way, where the hell were you when we were trying to find out the weight of a JT9D in GP?
I saw that thread. I actually could not find a weight in any of my references, so I didn't think I should chime in. I am still looking though.

[alexandra]

The Dish (Never heard of this one, so I looked it up):

Australia's involvement with the 1969 Apollo moon mission arrived with an unexpected wallop when its radio telescope in rural Parkes was elevated fron the Southern Hemishpere's backup broadcaster to primary broadcaster of Neil Armstrong's "one giant leap for mankind'. It is a modern wonder that the ten-year-old multibillion-dollar program became solely reliant on an untested crew based in a sheep paddock to capture this priceless moment in history."

DVD & Video Guide, Martin & Porter, 2004
Like many Australian movies, this is a pretty off-beat one. I really enjoyed it (PS: I currently live in Australia so may be biased).

[Chi Meson]

Someone already mentioned "Silent Running." Did "Outland" already get mentioned? BOth are good in that they portray silent explosions in space.

[Danger]

Who knows where Canada's aerospace industry would be now if it had kept going.
And think where NASA wouldn't be. The whole bloody space programme was put together by Avro engineers who had to move to get work. (And the Germans, of course.) I saw some guy claiming to have designed the Apollo LEM specifically for NASA. How'd he get away with that, when it was already on the drawing board to be launched from Arrow?

I saw that thread. I actually could not find a weight in any of my references, so I didn't think I should chime in. I am still looking though.
You'd still have a head start over the rest of us. I was just taking what I thought was an educated guess based upon size and materials. Somehow 4 tons just feels wrong to me.

[Danger]

Someone already mentioned "Silent Running." Did "Outland" already get mentioned? BOth are good in that they portray silent explosions in space.
Of course, 'Outland' also shows a guy carrying a shotgun inside a pressure dome... :rolleyes:

[Chi Meson]

Of course, 'Outland' also shows a guy carrying a shotgun inside a pressure dome... :rolleyes:

Why? Is it a bad idea to shoot firearms at windows when inside a space colony? :confused:

[Danger]

Why? Is it a bad idea to shoot firearms at windows when inside a space colony? :confused:
'Bad' is such a moralistic term. Perhaps 'ill-advised' is more appropriate. Sort of like poking a tiger with a stick, or teasing Moonbear on a bad day. :biggrin:

[Chi Meson]

You could get a swollen head that way. I suppose it would be OK if you have an inflated ego.

(I only had a minute to come up with this, so give me a break.)

[zoobyshoe]

I like Speilberg, but how many times can we watch a crowd of awestruck bystanders with brightly lit faces stare in amazement at the phenomenal?
If someone else imitated him the way he imitates himself, they'd be dismissed for it.
That reminds me a bit of Independence Day. It was a fun movie, but it could have been a good movie. Instead, every time the writers had a chance to make things interesting, instead we get ole what's his name acting cool and smoking cigars.
I love Will Smith. Yawned at that one, though. I'd rather watch the under-rated Wild, Wild West again. The repartee in his first scene with Loveless is hysterical. Great effects and the lovely Salma Hyak. That is a fun movie.

[zoobyshoe]

Like many Australian movies, this is a pretty off-beat one. I really enjoyed it (PS: I currently live in Australia so may be biased).
I love off-beat, and Australia seems to specialize in off-beat movies. Or maybe those are the only ones they export. They always seem to be energised by originality.

[Danger]

(I only had a minute to come up with this, so give me a break.)
Not bad for short notice. Sometimes a groaner is the appropriate type of joke.

I'd rather watch the under-rated Wild, Wild West again.
Haven't seen it, but maybe I should. It's the same as things like 'The Mod Squad' and 'Beverly Hillbillies'; I don't like the idea of characters changing that much from what I remember. I was wrong about 'The Addams Family' though, so maybe about this too. Although James West was pretty much interchangeable witht the likes of Kirk or James Bond, I can't imagine anyone but Ross Martin being Artemus Gordon.

[ricin]

"Through the Auditory Canal With A Gun And Camera"...a precusor to "Fantastic Voyage"

[zoobyshoe]

Someone already mentioned "Silent Running." Did "Outland" already get mentioned? BOth are good in that they portray silent explosions in space.
Do't get so exited. They only do that because accuracy in this case is cheaper.

[zoobyshoe]

I don't like the idea of characters changing that much from what I remember.
This film seems to go out of its way to be radically different from the TV show. I know what you mean; sometimes you just feel "They got it all wrong and this just sucks." Wild Wild West doesn't bother to pretend to be getting it right. They just took a few key elements and went crazy with them.

[FredGarvin]

And think where NASA wouldn't be. The whole bloody space programme was put together by Avro engineers who had to move to get work. (And the Germans, of course.)

I read a book not too long ago about the "brain drain" that Avro's closing caused. It really was a shame for Canada because the people this book talked about were incredibly bright people. NASA would have not been able to do what it did without them.

Screw "Who killed Kennedy?".....I wanna know what the hell happened to the Arrow.

[Nylex]

Numbers

I love Numb3rs :biggrin:. It's not on TV here, so I've been downloading it.

[oldunion]

I just saw the day the earth stood still yesterday, good movie.

[Danger]

I just saw the day the earth stood still yesterday, good movie.
Then you obviously have an appreciation for the classics. Check out 'Forbidden Planet'. Many consider it to be the best SF movie ever made.
I just remembered the one that I've been trying to think of for a coupple of days. 'Marooned', from the book by Martin Caidin, was directly responsible for the Apollo-Soyuz mission. The Russians were incredibly impressed that they were made the heroes of a US production.

[TheStatutoryApe]

How about... Capricorn One ;-p

[stoned]

"Escape from Los Angeles" with Curt Russell was preety good, especcially scenes when president of USA was reciting bible verses and later when on treshold of nuklur war he hid under the table. :rofl: just like our Bush.

[Kenneth Mann]

I'm surprised at the lack of mention for "War Of The Worlds". It was actually a good plot, and considering when the story was written, a quite believable possibility (though Today we know that there's no one on Mars). Other possibilities, "On The Beach" and "Logan's Run".

Actually, Hollywood is usually quite bad at Science and Sci-Fi movies. In this line, maybe we could also list the Sci-Fi that we'd like to see made into movies, and maybe, those we feel couldn't be made into movies but would be great if they could.

One series that I'd love to see made, are the "Ringworld" series. Also others of the "Known Space" series and the "Man-Kzin Wars". A series that I don't think the movies could possibly handle without completely changing (and ruining) it is the "Foundation Series".

KM

[Kenneth Mann]

The "War of The Worlds" that I was talking about is the old version, not the upcoming remake. I know nothing about it at this time.

KM




(PS: It appears that the counter for insertions for this forum is hanging up on and repeating some count numbers.)

[Danger]

How about... Capricorn One ;-p
:tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :grumpy: :tongue:

One series that I'd love to see made, are the "Ringworld" series. Also others of the "Known Space" series and the "Man-Kzin Wars". A series that I don't think the movies could possibly handle without completely changing (and ruining) it is the "Foundation Series".
I doubt that they could be done justice, but the 'Ringworld' Series is one of my favourites.
Martin Caidin (already mentioned) was my favourite author for years. I would like to see movies of 'Starbright' and 'Beamriders', as well as a proper adaptation of 'Cyborg' (as opposed to 'The Six Million Dollar Man').

[Ivan Seeking]

I doubt that they could be done justice, but the 'Ringworld' Series is one of my favourites.

One of my favorite ideas found in Sci-Fi, in Ringworld, is that humans could be hydridized for luck. And I really like the puppeteers!

[Danger]

One of my favorite ideas found in Sci-Fi, in Ringworld, is that humans could be hydridized for luck. And I really like the puppeteers!
If I can afford it (not likely), and have the time to build it (even less likely), my Hallowe'en costume for next year is a Puppeteer. By the year after, for sure. :biggrin:

[Francis M]

As long as we're going for movies that had an interesting plot but not the best sci in sci-fi I noticed none of our outside the U.S. folks mentioned a little NZ or Ausie movie I think it was called "The Quiet Earth"?

Was Silent Running the one about the last forests/plants of Earth on some domed agro-ships? That was a good movie as far as interesting plot. I just couldn't stand the Joan Biaz songs :rofl:

[LURCH]

As long as we're going for movies that had an interesting plot but not the best sci in sci-fi I noticed none of our outside the U.S. folks mentioned a little NZ or Ausie movie I think it was called "The Quiet Earth"?


It was "This silent Earth", but it didn't really have any science in it, as I recall. This is a "doomsday" type of movie where some great calamity has wiped out most of the human population of the world. The disaster itself is later revealed to be the result of a scientific experiment, and one of the few survivers is one of the scientists responsible,but the nature of that experiment and the science behind it are never mentioned.

The movie starts after the disaster has already taken place, and mainly just explores the emotional struggles of the characters as they each try to cope with the loneliness, surviver's guilt, etc.

[Danger]

James P. Hogan being my new favourite author (along with old standby Niven), I'd love to see some of his novels filmed. 'Code of the Lifemaker' is a brilliant and humourous study of robotic evolution, the 'Giants' series is very good, and 'The Proteus Operation' is a brilliant mix of history and science.

[ek]

Cube is one of my favourite movies of any genre.

[Francis M]

THanks LURCH that's the one I was thinking about.

Danger and others that mentioned this idea: I'm on the fence about them making a Niven or Purnelle book (just to mention a couple) into a movie or miniseries. THough I'd love to see something like "Ringworld" or "Footfall" or "The Mote in Gods Eye" adapted to screen I'm hesitent because I'm worried that it wouldn't be done well. Examples that immediatly spring to mind are Frank Herbert's "Dune", Stephen King's "THe Running Man". Both great stories, but movie wise they stank. The movie Dune left alot of important elements out even though it was long, while the miniseries had all the important parts in (and was more understandable) didn't come across as well visually. "The Running Man" movie was just horribly 'Hollywooded up" and had no connection to the original story except the title.

THat's what I'm worried might happen with these other great books/stories that have been mentioned. They'll get to caught up in the f/x that seem to rule movies these days (Starship Troopers anybody?).

[BobG]

The Dish (Never heard of this one, so I looked it up):

Australia's involvement with the 1969 Apollo moon mission arrived with an unexpected wallop when its radio telescope in rural Parkes was elevated fron the Southern Hemishpere's backup broadcaster to primary broadcaster of Neil Armstrong's "one giant leap for mankind'. It is a modern wonder that the ten-year-old multibillion-dollar program became solely reliant on an untested crew based in a sheep paddock to capture this priceless moment in history."

DVD & Video Guide, Martin & Porter, 2004

Here's an interesting challenge for you folks that liked the movie, "The Dish".

The element sets for Apollo 11 are written on the left side of the blackboard, except for Mean Anomaly. You have to wait for a shot of the upper right hand side of the blackboard to get that (and it is the Mean Anomaly for the epoch time listed on the left - don't get confused by the drawing).

Calculate the look angles for 19 Jul 1967 at 02:37:00 UST, then check your calculations against acquisition later in the movie. For bonus points, calculate your look angles using a slide rule, like Glenn did.

They don't show the acquisition elevation in the movie, but the antenna is so big (210 feet across) that it can't reach an elevation of less than about 29.6 degrees, in spite of the antenna tower reaching 90 feet above the ground. With an off-axis receiver mounted on the antenna and the antenna rotated just so, you can pick up an object about 1.4 degrees from the main beam. (In other words, don't think your calculations are wrong just because you get such a high elevation).

If you treat it strictly as a two-body problem, your calculations should match the movie exactly. And Glenn's a whiner - it only takes a couple hours by hand, and only that long if you're prudent enough to do some double checks along the way. The azimuth of the Moon is even correct (although it was a quarter moon on that date, not a full moon).

If you want to get picky, the azimuth in the movie can't be exactly correct since there's been no accounting for precession/nutation, nor orbital perturbations .... and the orbital perturbations by then should be severe. Apollo 11 is just hours away from crossing over to the region where the Moon's gravitational attraction is stronger than Earth's. Still, Apollo 11 is so far away that the two-body look angles would still be within a couple degrees at worst - definitely close enough to find Apollo 11.

Even without accounting for precession, perturbations, etc, that seemed like a lot of detail work for a completely fictitious anomaly (although I don't know what they were doing with that "parrallax" stuff - they didn't even spell it right).

[glondor]

One of the funnest sci type movies imho is the fifth element. The flying cars are cool the plot is ok and leeloo is hot.

The worst sci type has to be The core. From a science point of view,, everything is wrong about this one.

[Math Jeans]

I love Numb3rs :biggrin:. It's not on TV here, so I've been downloading it.

Thats a good show. I watch every new episode. I also enjoy writing down the methods that Charlie uses, and googling them later.