omnimax double feature
D and I caught a double feature at the Ontario Science Centre Omnimax theatre today - first was Legends of Flight, followed by IMAX: Hubble 3D.
Legends of Flight was a little disappointing I'll admit. I had heard that the filmmakers captured great footage of the Boeing 787 first test flights, and had spent a bunch of time interviewing Mike Carriker, the 787's chief test pilot. While there was indeed some cool footage of the first 787 flight, most of the film seemed to exist to impress rather than educate, with freehand wire-frame drawings of aircraft zooming around and lots of rapid fly-thrus of engineering models without much explanation. D and I agreed on this point, and noted that for example the wire-frame animations of piston engines and jet engines were cool to look at, but we already know how they work - there was little to no explanation for the average audience member who isn't an engineer or aviation enthusiast. My main complaint aside from the low technical content was the general over-use of CG (of aircraft and birds, mostly) when actual footage would have been so much more cool. Maybe it was a budget thing.
IMAX: Hubble 3D is not actually showing in 3D at the Science Centre, but was still amazing. D, who has seen the previous Hubble IMAX film many times, noted that there was some footage reuse from the previous Hubble IMAX films. That shouldn't be taken as a negative point here though - there was gorgeous footage of Hubble's original deployment, repair, and final servicing mission, as well as the launch of STS-125 (lots of work for the subwoofers there). And, of course, imagery from Hubble, which I imagine is even more spectacular in the 3D version. As is usually the case when I look at Hubble imagery and contemplate the vastness of the universe, I was left depressed by the finiteness of human lifespans and the knowledge that there is so much we don't know, so much space unexplored. All we can do is pass on our knowledge to the next generation, and hope that someday our descendants will travel beyond our solar system.
Legends of Flight was a little disappointing I'll admit. I had heard that the filmmakers captured great footage of the Boeing 787 first test flights, and had spent a bunch of time interviewing Mike Carriker, the 787's chief test pilot. While there was indeed some cool footage of the first 787 flight, most of the film seemed to exist to impress rather than educate, with freehand wire-frame drawings of aircraft zooming around and lots of rapid fly-thrus of engineering models without much explanation. D and I agreed on this point, and noted that for example the wire-frame animations of piston engines and jet engines were cool to look at, but we already know how they work - there was little to no explanation for the average audience member who isn't an engineer or aviation enthusiast. My main complaint aside from the low technical content was the general over-use of CG (of aircraft and birds, mostly) when actual footage would have been so much more cool. Maybe it was a budget thing.
IMAX: Hubble 3D is not actually showing in 3D at the Science Centre, but was still amazing. D, who has seen the previous Hubble IMAX film many times, noted that there was some footage reuse from the previous Hubble IMAX films. That shouldn't be taken as a negative point here though - there was gorgeous footage of Hubble's original deployment, repair, and final servicing mission, as well as the launch of STS-125 (lots of work for the subwoofers there). And, of course, imagery from Hubble, which I imagine is even more spectacular in the 3D version. As is usually the case when I look at Hubble imagery and contemplate the vastness of the universe, I was left depressed by the finiteness of human lifespans and the knowledge that there is so much we don't know, so much space unexplored. All we can do is pass on our knowledge to the next generation, and hope that someday our descendants will travel beyond our solar system.