Interstellar (Post-release)

I watched the film without reading any synopsis, without checking any trailers or even stills. I basically just knew it would involve space, a black hole, Matthew McConaughey and being directed by Christopher Nolan.

It was one heck of a ride, that's for sure. At times both heart warming and heart wrenching. And in the end after watching the credits roll(and noticing the gate weaving, a nice little touch by the way) I have no opinion about the film really :wacko No idea if I liked it or disliked it. The only thing I know for certain is that the visuals are effin' incredible. :confused I'm so confused.
 
Absolutely stunning movie. Loved everything about it. Watching TARS come to life was awesome....I figured out the puppet angle but it didnt detract from the overall illusion.
 
It was one heck of a ride, that's for sure. At times both heart warming and heart wrenching. And in the end after watching the credits roll(and noticing the gate weaving, a nice little touch by the way) I have no opinion about the film really :wacko No idea if I liked it or disliked it. The only thing I know for certain is that the visuals are effin' incredible. :confused I'm so confused.

This is exactly how I felt. I actually HATED Matt Damon's character and yelled at the screen "you M-Fing wuss!!!!" Well, wuss isn't the word I used, but GAH! I really did not like his character.
 
This is exactly how I felt. I actually HATED Matt Damon's character and yelled at the screen "you M-Fing wuss!!!!" Well, wuss isn't the word I used, but GAH! I really did not like his character.

Same here! As soon as he came out of the pod I was like "there is something fishy about this guy, I don't trust him".
 
I have not read the whole thread,but I have seen some people who think that the whole ending is the aftermath of the protagonist's death (after he falls into the black hole). What do you guys think of this?
 
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I have not read the whole thread,but I have seen some people who think that the whole ending is the aftermath of the protagonist's death (after he falls into the black hole). What do you guys think of this?

Well... that would be the only realistic conclusion really. Black hole = certain death.
 
I have not read the whole thread,but I have seen some people who think that the whole ending is the aftermath of the protagonist's death (after he falls into the black hole). What do you guys think of this?

Never had that impression, nor did anyone I went with. I think it's out of left field, but the "ending was a dream" thing tends to pop up now and then for films that make people think. Besides if one accepts that the first part of the film occurs as depicted, the ending must have too since Murph was getting those messages and her father was most likely creating them. I guess maybe they get the idea from Mann's crazy speech while trying to kill Cooper about last thoughts while dying. Nolan was not out to tell that tale, the tagline of the film is very clear... we were born here, we are not meant to die here. And of course Cooper dying in the black hole would have meant we're dust.
I mean we can play that game with a TON of films that the ending was not as depicted and just "a dream".
I suppose if one chooses to do so that's fine.

I've written off ALIEN 3 and 4 entirely as hypersleep dreams! LOL
 
Well... that would be the only realistic conclusion really. Black hole = certain death.

Yeah scientifically, I don't think it's possible to survive a black hole, but it's science fiction here, so it could be in this fiction :p, but it makes me feel almost like if he was in his own brain, so it could be it. Would that mean everybody dies?

Also, just make sure I understood well, but did they plan to leave Earth because the oxygen was drastically reduced? Thinking it would be so reduced that humans wouldn't eventually be able to breath on Earth? They did a big thing on food shortages, and it's a bit confusing, but it seems that the problem is oxygen right?
 
Yeah scientifically, I don't think it's possible to survive a black hole, but it's science fiction here, so it could be in this fiction :p, but it makes me feel almost like if he was in his own brain, so it could be it. Would that mean everybody dies?

Also, just make sure I understood well, but did they plan to leave Earth because the oxygen was drastically reduced? Thinking it would be so reduced that humans couldn't eventually breath on Earth? They did a big thing on food shortages, and it's a bit confusing, but it seems that the problem is oxygen right?

I never got any indication that it had anything to do with lack of oxygen. Probably food shortage and climate change.

Most likely every one did not die. To quote Ian Malcolm, Life finds a way ;)
I read somewhere that moving 10 000 people, (which is roughly what it would take to make a real sustainable colony) would realistically take 250+ years. Been looking for it, in order to cite a source but can't seem to find it so.... whatever :p
Perhaps a large portion of humanity would die and then the rest eventually colonize Luna/Mars. Or we all go extinct. Who knows? :lol
 
Yes going into black hole would likely not be anything good and I surely would not want to be the first to try.
But one admission I've taken to heart from this after reading some of Kip Thorne on the matter... they really don't know exactly what would happen. So science also says... ???
That does free up writers to take liberties for drama's sake. And I think that's good sometimes, because now your not as constrained and possibilities of the fantastic can be dreamed,
Sci Fi is all about that really. Interstellar made a fantastic effort to incorporate science more than any blockbuster film I can recall, and Thorne told them no on many things, but Nolan clearly took advantage of the ??? to tell his story. And I think it was a great story.
 
I never got any indication that it had anything to do with lack of oxygen. Probably food shortage and climate change.

Well it says that the virus that killed all of the plants reduced the oxygen in the air as the nitrogen they were breathing increased.
Now I don't know if I got this explanation right xD
 
Ps: I rewatched the scene, and the doctor Brand explains this at around 29min of the movie. and yes, he says that the air on Earth "gets less and less oxygen" due to the Blight virus.
 
Finally saw this last night.
Good movie. Great effects.
But I have a few questions.

1: Where is all this "science" I've been hearing is supposed to be in this film?
a: Wormholes are theoretical. They may as well be fiction.
b: A massive planet orbiting a black hole doesn't get sucked into the black hole, but a tiny spaceship orbiting the planet will?
c: Cooper crosses the event horizon of a black hole and isn't atomized?
d: ...and then is spit back out into his own solar system?? (I realize this was necessary to tell a nifty story, but it's pretty far-fetched)

2: Why is it so darned important to save the human race? Sure, I would go to great lengths to protect the people I love, but the human race as a whole?
Why? What good are we? All we seem to be interested in is making our fellows suffer. When we're not dreaming up excuses to slaughter each other wholesale, we're inventing governments and economics and ridiculous ideologies and religions to oppress ourselves and others.
What do we contribute to the universe? All we do is consume resources and create garbage. So we find a new world to exploit and cripple... Will we live together in peace? Can we ever possibly live together in peace? History says "NO". What possible motivations could a sane individual have for wanting to perpetuate human suffering?
 
Finally saw this last night.
Good movie. Great effects.
But I have a few questions.

1: Where is all this "science" I've been hearing is supposed to be in this film?
a: Wormholes are theoretical. They may as well be fiction.
b: A massive planet orbiting a black hole doesn't get sucked into the black hole, but a tiny spaceship orbiting the planet will?
c: Cooper crosses the event horizon of a black hole and isn't atomized?
d: ...and then is spit back out into his own solar system?? (I realize this was necessary to tell a nifty story, but it's pretty far-fetched)

2: Why is it so darned important to save the human race? Sure, I would go to great lengths to protect the people I love, but the human race as a whole?
Why? What good are we? All we seem to be interested in is making our fellows suffer. When we're not dreaming up excuses to slaughter each other wholesale, we're inventing governments and economics and ridiculous ideologies and religions to oppress ourselves and others.
What do we contribute to the universe? All we do is consume resources and create garbage. So we find a new world to exploit and cripple... Will we live together in peace? Can we ever possibly live together in peace? History says "NO". What possible motivations could a sane individual have for wanting to perpetuate human suffering?






Coopers surival was because of intervention by the "bulk beings" that is the future evolved to a fifth dimensional existance humans that clearly were capable of creating a wormhole, they were also capable of creating the tesserarct for him to "land" safely in after ejecting.

There is a TON of science in this film. In fact an entire book has been written about it.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Science-Interstellar-Kip-Thorne/dp/1494559390
Things can orbit a black hole, that isn't an issue.
Of course dramatic license was taken, and where science said ??? or maybe, Nolan chose to take dramatic license.


As for survival of humanity. Your judging based upon the study of exactly one intelligenct known species, us.
We've no one else to compare to. Our behavior could be quite normal for our point in development.
I know it's not popular to realize this but.... the massive vast majority of humanity never kills another human being and loves their family
and would do most anything for those they love. That doesn't mean wars don't happen from time to time and could be again.. a normal
developmental stage, even a necessary step to advance.

Earth has seen massive great turmoil in it's billions of years. Huge extinction events, massive global climate changes that froze over the entire planet for eons.
Humanity will never come close to causing anything close to that. We are not as impactful as you think, we are not trashing this world.

Part of Nolan's idea for this film was... we can't live in the nest forever. Nests get nasty if you stay too long and you would not surive anyways.
Cooper even says "this planet is a treasure, but it's been telling us to leave for a while now."

It was time for us to go.

Why Space, Why Explore?

Astronaut Story Musgrave, a remarkable man........

"We have no choice, Sir. It is the Nature of Humanity, it is the Nature of Life

The Globe was created and Life Evolved, and you look at every single cubic millimeter on this Earth, You can go 30,000 feet down below the Earth surface, You can go 40,000 feet up in the air and Life is There. When you look at the globe down there, you see Teeming Life Everywhere

It is the Power of Life, And maybe I am not just a Human up here, you know. Now Life is Leaping off the Planet. It is heading to other parts of the Solar System, other parts of the Universe

There are those kinds of Pressures. It isn't simply politics, it is not simply technology, it is really not just the essence of humanity, but it is sort of also, you could look at it as maybe the Essence of Life. I think Teilhard de Chardin, in Phenomenon of Man, I believe he put that incredibly well. So those kind of Forces are at Work. It is the nature of humans to be exploratory and to Push On

Yes, it costs resources and it does cost a lot, and there is a risk, there is a penalty, there is a down side, but Exploration and Pioneering, I think those are the critical things, it is the Essence of what Human Beings are, and that is to try to understand their Universe and to try to participate in the entire Universe and not just their little Neighborhood" -Story Musgrave.


We sentient beings, evolved from the materials created in dying stars,
evolved to the point that we are now looking back into the universe, taken a few steps beyond our world,
and trying to understand the nature of the cosmos.

That is very stunning realization.... that we are the cosmo's self created conciousness to ponder itself.
And to participate, one need only look up into the night sky and recognize the minute by minute
miracles of life on this world.

Life is this powerful natural force, it has transformed this very world dramatically, we're part of that.

That's how I think of it all. Musgrave is right to point out there are natural forces at work often beyond
our immediate thinking.
 
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Things can orbit a black hole, that isn't an issue.

I'm aware of that, I just have an issue with the tiny spacecraft, in orbit around the massive planet, getting caught in the black hole. The distance of the craft in orbit around the planet and the distance the planet must be from the black hole have to be significant. For example, we have craft in orbit around our Earth, but they're not being pulled into the Sun.
 
That is very stunning realization.... that we are the cosmo's self created conciousness to ponder itself.
And to participate, one need only look up into the night sky and recognize the minute by minute
miracles of life on this world.

I've heard this theory before, when I was young in fact, and subscribed to it when I was still trying to find some kind of spirituality to cling to.
But "miracle of life"? It's difficult for me to believe in the "miracle" and sanctity and sacredness of human life when it's treated so cheaply and exploited and abused daily around the world. Of course I have no desire to hurt anyone, and would like nothing more than for humanity to treat one another with respect and dignity, but sadly that's not the way of the world. The world that we created, by the way. It doesn't have to be like this - but we've chosen to make it this way.
I just no longer have any faith in the human race as a whole. Like Mark Twain said - we hold ourselves up as the darlings of creation, but our actions prove us to be the lowest of the animals.
 
We are not as impactful as you think, we are not trashing this world.

I think you misunderstand me.
I'm not on a climate change tirade, I'm just stating that we contribute nothing.
Not to this planet, not to this solar system, not to this galaxy, not to the universe.
We consume. That's all we do.
Not to mention the very real damage that we actually ARE doing to life on this planet with our wasteful ways.
 
I'm reading a book on Altitude sickness and the respiratory system - Actually take the time to understand the immense complexity and absolutely miraculous chain of Rube Goldberg coincidences that combine simply to allow our body's to take in oxygen, exchange CO2 & transport nutrition...

Change one little building block & it all falls apart - Awe inspiring & convinces me more than ever that intelligent life is more than random chance.
 
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