Movies and TV

[scarlettina]

Last night, I hied myself to jackwilliambell's place. The plan was to have dinner together, watch TiVoed episodes of Mythbusters and Doctor Who and then head out to see Avatar.

Comments

[butterflydrming]

Gamers will have to verify, but I was told that Unobtainium was a mineral treasure from an RPG. It was *possibly* a reference to that, but the name has been used alongside "handwaivium" and, according to Wikipedia {eyeroll} "wishalloy". But, it's not as silly of a name as it first sounds. Think of a bunch of geek scientists, getting to name a new find. Element 98 was almost named enactinium.

[scarlettina]

Well, at least "enactium" actually had a scientific basis and precedent. "Unobtainium" and "handwavium" have both been used derisively to describe things like Star Trek's dilithium or J.J. Abrams' red matter. Actually using the word "unobtainium" as the name of the mineral with as straight a face as the movie seems to do suggests to me a cluelessness that only Hollywood can muster.

[oldmangrumpus]

I've heard the term "unobtainium" used in snarky fanboy posts for years now. For any sort of mineral McGuffin ("Kirk and Spock are on some planet looking for unobtanium"). I think that Cameron is trying to wink at the fans, but it just came off as silly.

I meant to post that, but forgot.

I'm pretty sure the prop rock was galena.

[scarlettina]

Well, that's my point: It never occurred to Cameron that trying to demonstrate his hipness by unironically (is that a word?) using the word "unobtainium" might make him look a little stoopit in context of a film he otherwise seems to take quite seriously. Surely he could have taken ten minutes and come up with something like Abrams' red matter. "Unobtainium" completely trounced my willingness to suspend disbelief in a context where he'd created a beautiful occasion for same, which is deeply unfortunate.

[oldmangrumpus]

Yes, it IS idiotic fanboy goobishness. No argument there.

[holyoutlaw]

I've seen the material referred to as unobtainium, in the io9 review, but thought the writer was being sarcastic. They really say that in the movie? Gah!

I associate "unobtainium" as the plot-driver in sf, like the McGuffin of Hitchcock movies.

[suricattus]

Unobtanium, Handwavium... somwewhere, I'm sure someone has done a periodic chart of the SFnal plot-elements (and if they haven't, my birthday is August. You have until then to deliver it unto me)

And yeah, pretty much what you said about Avatar. It's gorgeous and brilliantly designed (Wayne Barlowe had a hand in the art, I am told, and you can see it) and the tech is breathtaking and the rest of it is really breathtakingly stupid

(I could not turn my editor brain off, no matter how much I tried, whereas with Sherlock Homes my editor brain just munched on popcorn and was perfectly happy to let things slide. I chalk the difference up to characters surpassing archetypes [SH], rather than sliding below into caricatures [A])

[mabfan]

Real geeks know that Arena was based on a Frederic Brown story.

So for those of us who missed it, what did they find out?

Unobtanium is also used, with a wink, in The Core.

[oldmangrumpus]

It no work.

"You're better off handing the cannon to the Gorn and letting him shoot at you."

[scarlettina]

As OldManG said, no, it didn't work. The homemade blackpowder didn't give off enough of a blast to propel the projectiles very far at all. It gave off a lot of smoke, though. When they tried the bamboo cannon with commercial-grade gunpowder, the thing cracked open explosively, "killing" their Captain Kirk stand-in (a crash test dummy in a red shirt).

Of course, my feeling is that Alien!Bamboo is probably far stronger and could have withstood the blast, saving Captain Kirk in his moment of desperation! :-)

On the subject of "unobtainium," as I said to oldmangrumpus elsewhere in the thread, that's my point: It never occurred to Cameron that trying to demonstrate his hipness by using the word "unobtainium"--clearly a facetious coinage--unironically (is that a word?) might make him look a little stoopit in context of a film he otherwise seems to take quite seriously. It crashed my willing suspension of disbelief and, frankly, pissed me off because it demonstrated the author's lack of respect for his own material.

[e_bourne]

I found the End of Time terribly, terribly annoying. So many good things that could have been done, wasted. I was particularly annoyed because, while I didn't care for the way the Waters of Mars ended, The End of Time makes the whole things a waste of time, as far as the story arc goes. It might as well never have happened, which irks me.

We'll watch the ending because, of course, it's the ending. But wow.

Haven't seen Avatar. I suppose I need to get over my not inspired by the plot, put on the big girl pants, and just go for the tech. Haven't been ready to do that yet.

[scarlettina]

I watched the "Waters of Mars" Doctor Who Insider (or whatever it's called) with jackwilliambell. In it, both RTD and Tennant talk about the Doctor being at a point in this incarnation where he just doesn't know what to do with himself; he's just completely lost his moorings, and that this is why he does what he does at the end of the episode. Yeah, it's a retcon but I'm willing to buy it, so I was mostly okay with the way the episode ended.

But one couldn't extrapolate much of anything out of "The End of Time" that wasn't RTD being lazy and deciding to just blow up everything he'd accomplished in two swift blows. That pissed me off.