Which movies and TV shows have the best representation of science and math?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers around compiling a list of thought-provoking films and TV shows related to science, physics, and mathematics. Participants share various titles, including "The Arrival," "A Beautiful Mind," and "2001: A Space Odyssey," while critiquing the scientific accuracy of others like "Independence Day" and "Event Horizon." The importance of accurate science in films is emphasized, with some suggesting that movies exhibiting poor science should be excluded from consideration. Notable mentions include "Apollo 13," "October Sky," and "Gattaca," alongside TV series like "Connections" and "Blue Planet." The conversation also touches on the challenges of adapting beloved science fiction literature into films, expressing concerns about fidelity to the source material and the potential for Hollywood to misrepresent key themes. Overall, the thread reflects a passion for science and cinema, highlighting both entertainment and educational value.
  • #51
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.)
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #52
Ivan Seeking said:
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.
 
  • #53
alexandra said:
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.
 
  • #54
Chi Meson said:
(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.

zoobyshoe said:
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.
 
  • #55
"Through the Auditory Canal With A Gun And Camera"...a precusor to "Fantastic Voyage"
 
  • #56
Chi Meson said:
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.
 
  • #57
Danger said:
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.
 
  • #58
Danger said:
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 want to know what the hell happened to the Arrow.
 
Last edited:
  • #59
Artman said:
Numbers

I love Numb3rs :biggrin:. It's not on TV here, so I've been downloading it.
 
  • #60
I just saw the day the Earth stood still yesterday, good movie.
 
  • #61
oldunion said:
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.
 
Last edited:
  • #62
How about... Capricorn One ;-p
 
  • #63
"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. :smile: just like our Bush.
 
  • #64
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
 
  • #65
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.)
 
  • #66
TheStatutoryApe said:
How about... Capricorn One ;-p
:-p :-p :-p :-p

Kenneth Mann said:
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').
 
  • #67
Danger said:
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!
 
  • #68
Ivan Seeking said:
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:
 
  • #69
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 :smile:
 
Last edited:
  • #70
Francis M said:
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.
 
  • #71
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.
 
  • #72
Cube is one of my favourite movies of any genre.
 
  • #73
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 a lot 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?).
 
  • #74
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).
 
Last edited:
  • #75
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.
 
  • #76
Nylex said:
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.
 
Back
Top