The Leviathan (Short)

Okay, first off is there anyway to make the video any bigger? I know I'm geting old but I couldn't read a single word at the beginning without the aid of a microscope. Secondly, is this an adaptation of a Roger Zelany short story of the same name? It was set on the oceans of Venus I think and it was just the single boat with three people but it seems rather close to the concept or is "Space Whalers" to trashy a title? Third thing is why didn't they use their radar or even have the scoutships fire tracking darts into the skywhale, so you know, you can TELL where it is?
The VFX as always these days looks superb, but the idea seems a rather tired and an uninteresting retelling of dozens of similar stories I've read or seen before. Didn't Torchwood have an alien whale story at one point? And as I hate whaling I'm unlikely to want to see a film that repeats the message that although mankind seems to have reached the stars, we also remain complete dicks.
 
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For best quality it should be watched expanded on the Vimeo site.
The first minute or so is awesome stuff. The shot following the dropship down- out of the mothership and the sound... Amazing!
 
Sky-whale omelettes better be damn tasty to go to that much trouble...

You wouldn't want to eat them mate, all that dark matter in them is going to be a millions times worse for your health than cholesterol!!!!

Found it on you tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-45NTlgp-o

Oh come on !!!! Skywhales lay darkmatter eggs??? Is that why they float? Or is it just the skywhales have farts with alot more methane than you'd ever believe trapped in them!!! Better not use explosive tipped harpoons then!!!! Having now able to been read the preamble I hate the concept even more. Anyway I cannot help but see the damn things as pre Avenger monsters in their wildstate before they were armour plated!!!

Fantastic effects work that reminds me strongly of Chris Foss's art. It looks great but the concept is sucking at me like a whirlpool.
 
Okay, first off is there anyway to make the video any bigger? I know I'm geting old but I couldn't read a single word at the beginning without the aid of a microscope.
Somehow going with the video embed option in the forum software prevents Vimeo videos to be viewed full screen through the expand button, unless one clicks the Vimeo button to view on their site.

I found the workaround solution to that is posting a direct link and the forum embeds it automatically while allowing full screen from the forum. Should work now, only difference is the embedded video is smaller in size.

Secondly, is this an adaptation of a Roger Zelany short story of the same name? It was set on the oceans of Venus I think and it was just the single boat with three people but it seems rather close to the concept or is "Space Whalers" to trashy a title? Third thing is why didn't they use their radar or even have the scoutships fire tracking darts into the skywhale, so you know, you can TELL where it is?
Not aware of the short story, but I was thinking the same thing as to why they didn't use their radar to detect it was coming.

The VFX as always these days looks superb, but the idea seems a rather tired and an uninteresting retelling of dozens of similar stories I've read or seen before. Didn't Torchwood have an alien whale story at one point? And as I hate whaling I'm unlikely to want to see a film that repeats the message that although mankind seems to have reached the stars, we also remain complete dicks.
I understand where you are coming from and it might be a repeated theme, but personally I'm totally fine with the notion that despite having achieved interstellar travel, humans are still massive dicks.

The movie also could address the message of anti-whaling through the means of science fiction and get more people to talk about it. I know some people will balk at the idea of a "message" as being preachy, but lot of good science fiction and artists always tend to infuse similar themes, some more underlying than others. Of course when certain ideologies depicted in fiction doesn't gel with their own thinking some people tend to start repelling that work no matter how good it is, as they aren't able to enjoy and appreciate the work independently.

Star Trek and others works of fiction have shown the potential of human greatness and how utopian societies can function. And as much as I enjoy and cherish that, I also like the science fiction where despite our technologies marvels, humans beings are still very flawed as a species. The world of Alien/Aliens showed us a good example of how corporate greed for power can result in humans being expendable.

It took us few millenniums to reach a point where we started acknowledging that every human has individual rights and that they should be able to choose to live without oppression. Of course it's still work in progress in some nations.

Most of us are so embroiled in our own lives, we could care less about other humans suffering in other parts of the globe. With the exception of a small percent of Earth's population, most humans are even further least bothered about the welfare of whales and the long terms effects of hunting them. And there are many other species of creatures that are killed regularly for other resources. And that will continue to happen for couple more centuries until we collectively realize the fallacies.

So unless someone is pursuing a dedicated line of activity that involves opposing and protesting whale hunting, there is only so much a person can do. And that is bringing awareness. Sometimes addressing a problem through the lens of art can breathe new life to spread the message, be it through sci-fi cinema or even a documentary. And some of the best science fiction depicting the future is pretty much a commentary on our current human condition and experiences.

Oh come on !!!! Skywhales lay darkmatter eggs??? Is that why they float? Or is it just the skywhales have farts with alot more methane than you'd ever believe trapped in them!!! Better not use explosive tipped harpoons then!!!!
:lol
 
One of the most well thought ,witty and wise replies I've read in a while. This is one of the main reasons why I enjoy coming to and posting in this forum.

The novella was actually called "The Doors of his Face, the Lamps of his Mouth." I had to dig the old paperback out to check it out but the creatures were called "Leviathans." A good forty years since I've read it, enjoyed it again, though the version of Venus here is wayyyyyyy off. At least Roger Zelazny won the Hugo for it
 
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Bros, tracking devices would be useless against a creature with super heated skin, or something scientific. And radar is scrambled by those storm clouds because something.
 
Bros, tracking devices would be useless against a creature with super heated skin, or something scientific. And radar is scrambled by those storm clouds because something.

No, I think you're wrong, its all the fault of the exotic dark matter in the whale eggs that causes the atomic disresonance necessary to allow a rupture in space /time through into hyperspace . So its a pity that when the eggs ACTUALLY grow into adult leviathans that the dark matter apparently "disappears" rather than being absorbed into their bodies as part of the creatures biology . So why bother? Perhaps they just fart it back into the atmosphere, I mean human beings cannot currently detect dark matter with anything, but space whales just love that making that s***. Which is pretty much what I think of this whole concept and the fact MrB is now involved in producing it. Honestly I'd have been better with them being hunted to extinction because in the future Interstellar Mc Donalds has some REALLY tasty new burgers, which are 100% NOT beef and pretty low in cholesterol too and now with added dark matter for healthier teeth , bones and structural formation of galaxies and solar systems.

PS Oh I know. The space whales are actually gathering dark matter in the eggs to feed to a giant queen space whale ,who is actually the ""Leviathan" of the title, who then uses them to jump via hyperspace to another planet ,where they hatch and eat and destroy the existing dominate life form. If this is a box office success I'm kind of betting the title of the next film is "LEVIATHANS" !!!
 
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so does eating the dark matter eggs make yours eyes glow blue like eating worm poo/spice from dune? or does it make your egg farts create mini black holes??
 
The last one I hope !!!! The VFX for that would certainly make me LOL!!!! And yes, the Dune ripoff is pretty obvious, we'll get sky plankton which gather the tiny particles of dark matter, then the skyfish that eat them, then the skysharks that are eatten by the leviathans as we have seen. Pity the skywhales, sorry, Leviathans ,don't strain the dak matter out like baleen whales but then we wouldn't have them with bloody great threatening teeth then would we? All we need is a House Aktreelies and a Corporate Hardon and the circle will be complete!!!
 
If only they were on the moon instead of Jupiter/Saturn.

 
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This is a fantastic short!
But I don't need a full-length movie of this.
I do, however, need the "Night's Dawn" trilogy as full-length features.
We have the technology... somebody give me a "Reality Dysfunction" already!
 
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