Fans of the movie Passengers...

[Ronz Rocketz]

I've seen this movie about 30 times. I thought some of you might appreciate a movie about living on a colony ship. It's sorta like Titanic in Space with an homage to The Shining. The main problem with the movie is the depiction of gravity. How exactly does the promenade maintain gravity in the center? I think the movie takes a few creative licenses for the sake of cinematography. Another issue is that you'd think they develop an entangled communication system with Earth that didn't take 55 years.

J is the only one who was awoken after the incident. Is it possible the broken computer decided that waking J would be the only possible hope of fixing itself? The irony of the plot is that if J didn't wake A, then he wouldn't have been able to fix the ship, maybe. Eventually, the computer woke G to give J access but problems occurred.

What issues did you find with the movie. Let's discuss. Some believe the movie shoulda been told in reverse. That woulda made it into more of a horror movie like they originally intended, sorta like The Shining in Space.

 

[dr wogz]

I too loved the movie, and have seen it many times.

I always thought the promenade was one of the out-riggers that is spinning, therefore gravity. The central "spine" (core? axis?) of teh ship was just that, an axis. but eh bridge doesn't rotate, so that's missing gravity.. One was storage, one was the promenade / public spaces, and the last being the quarters & rooms..

I always figure the asteroid & pieces thereof managed to hit the main relay for J's pod, therefore it went into 'failsafe' mode and awoke him. G awoke due to medical issues that the ship / his pod was monitoring.

The biggest thing for me, was that everything was ready to go. Nothing was in stand-by mode. Or maybe (if it were me) everything would be in a sort of hibernation mode, only to be active once teh main crew were to awake / or on a timer.. the bar & bartender. I figure the booze would be stored, not all ready & on the shelf.. I figured the food stores would all be frozen to be preserved. I figured the games & restaurants & such also also all be in a 'powered down' mode, to preserve energy of the voyage.. All requiring some master key-code to unlock / activate..

J could only eat the 'K rations' yet seemed to have full access to the restaurants & bar..

I do wonder the day he got his rely message, what the reaction was! And what instructions he was given!

I was also somewhat surprised there were no "kids" to greet the awaking crew (when they got to their destination..)

 

[Scott_650]

SPOILER ALERT!!!!








The technical aspects of the movie were interesting - I found the plot borderline nasty - Pratt’s character more or less kidnaps Jennifer Lawrence’s character. Yeah, I know he comes up with a solution for her survival but if he hadn’t committed a rather selfish and lousy act in the first place he wouldn’t need to “fix” things in the end. That Lawrence’s character makes the choice that she does really doesn’t let him off the hook.

But the spaceship, space travel and technical stuff was good enough to not get too worked up over the plot - most movie plots aren’t very good anyway.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

What I could never come to grips with is, if the ship's crew and passengers go into hibernation for the voyage, why have anything but a big cylinder with hibernation tubes in it?

Why have any amenities at all?
Food?
Shops?
Entertainment?

Having the passengers awake for any length of time defeats the whole purpose of a "Sleeper Ship".
In "Reality" the passengers would most likely be loaded aboard the ship already in hibernation.

 

[Exactimator]

I found the movie interesting enough to watch a few times. I like the design of the ship and thought the space scenery (spacewalks, the pass by a star, etc) were stunning.

They certainly leave some items vague and open to interpretation, mostly because they don't move the story along. Here's how I filled in some of the blanks (doesn't mean I'm right):

I thought the promenade was in the center of the ship too and figured that portion had some artificial gravity they didn't explain because it wasn't essential to the story. The elevators they take from the outer rotating portions experience short periods of no gravity while moving from the rotating wing to the center where the artificial gravity kicks in(?) Did I miss something and they proceed through the center to the rotating portion on the other side?

I'm pretty sure the bridge is on one of the rotating portions. They show it rotating past the camera in an external shot.

The communication system is a laser, so it's moving the speed of light. Distances in space are just so huge. Plus if he was able to contact the company and they simply told him he could put himself back to sleep in the medical pod the movie would have lasted 20 minutes and ended with a spectacular explosion. So I'll give them that one.

The idea the computer woke J intentionally is pretty interesting, but I don't think that was the case. When the ship gets hit, it shudders and the power blinks. I think J's pod failure is random, unfortunately for him. But it ends up being fortunate for the ship and the rest of the 5,000 passengers. I think it also made the crewman's pod glitch but it didn't fail safe and wake him up for another year.

As far as things being ready to go, I figure the ship has unlimited power with the fusion engine. Maybe parts of the ship were powered down but simply power back on with a motion sensor or signs of life moving around the ship.

I wondered about the food too. Not sure if the food was frozen or dehydrated or if they have a replicator like on Star Trek. I was curious if they had enough stores/materials to support two people for, what... 50 years? vs 5,000 people for a few months.

Dr wogz, now that you point it out, I think the rations in the cafeteria vs the restaurants might be a plot hole. When she gives him her bacon and eggs breakfast, he takes a bite and looks like it's the best thing he's tasted in a year. Huh.

My big question if I watch the movie is would I do what J did? If I was condemned to live the rest of my years on a ship with only a half an android bartender to talk to, would I wake someone else up and condemn them with me for company? It's hard to say because I've never been in that situation. Part of me thinks I would.

 

[Exactimator]

What I could never come to grips with is, if the ship's crew and passengers go into hibernation for the voyage, why have anything but a big cylinder with hibernation tubes in it?

Why have any amenities at all?
Food?
Shops?
Entertainment?

Having the passengers awake for any length of time defeats the whole purpose of a "Sleeper Ship".
In "Reality" the passengers would most likely be loaded aboard the ship already in hibernation.

They're awake for a few months while on the way to take classes and get training before they're arrival. Recall his first day awake he goes to class and the instructor tells him to hold all questions to the end. He waits until the end, asks why he's the only one there and gets the "we're all in this together" response? Ha!

 

[boomtube-mk2]

They're awake for a few months while on the way to take classes and get training before they're arrival. Recall his first day awake he goes to class and the instructor tells him to hold all questions to the end. He waits until the end, asks why he's the only one there and gets the "we're all in this together" response? Ha!

That's the excuse they use in the movie but why not have the classes on Earth long before they go into space?
Astronauts don't go aboard the ISS and then learn everything they need to know.
It is just to wasteful in time, energy, fuel life-support etc.
Either interstellar travel is difficult, time consuming and expensive or it isn't and everybody can afford it.

Science fiction dealt with slower that light travel between the stars with generation ships or hibernation ships.
What was depicted in the movie "Passengers" looked to be a cross between the two with the worst aspects of both.

 

[Exactimator]

Okay. You don't like it, I don't mind it. The movie's clearly not for you.

 

[dr wogz]

I wondered about the food too. Not sure if the food was frozen or dehydrated or if they have a replicator like on Star Trek. I was curious if they had enough stores/materials to support two people for, what... 50 years? vs 5,000 people for a few months.

I'd like to think at the end of the movie, that they did learn to farm & start to grow their own food & such.. whether out of courtesy to the rest of the 5000, out of a desire to 'do something' or to get a different taste / food options..

i must admit, also, that for a 'class C' passenger, J had a lot of access to eh ship.. I figured since he was a 'builder', that allowed him access to the holds / stores & such.. But still.. you'd figure this would be under some sort of guard / watch..

And as for eh bacon & eggs bit: I figured teh whole process of 'hibernation' kinda dulls your taste buds. Then once awake, all he got to eat was 'nourishment'.. So, the bacon & eggs were just .. orgasmic.. after all that..


And I think I would have [drunkidly] started to draw / graffiti the other pods.. drawing mustaches & glasses on them.. maybe also: "Pod #4562 thinks you're cute! "

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Okay. You don't like it, I don't mind it. The movie's clearly not for you.

Actually I do like the movie; I just think the "Science" should have been better executed.

 

[Exactimator]

Actually I do like the movie; I just think the "Science" should have been better executed.

Sorry Boomtube, I misinterpreted your tone.

Okay, so yes it would be more efficient to teach the passengers before leaving or at their destination. But again, I think it's artistic license to help the plot. I remember thinking, "damn, the rest of his life. Well, at least there's food and entertainment and stuff to do." Although that got old after a year.

 

[dr wogz]

Oh, and at eth climax, when they are trying to get the reactor fire under control. 'A' takes a good chunk of shrapnel in her upper arm. Yet later she's using that arm pretty well.. To me, that is some severe muscled damage she sustained! (I would think that arm would be somewhat useless)

 

[boomtube-mk2]

"Passengers" was first and foremost a love story, secondly a study in the effects of isolation and loneliness and thirdly a story of survival in a hostile environment.
That it was set aboard an Interstellar Sleeper-Ship was pure eye-candy.

One note; throughout the movie the ships engines are firing. There is a theory that when something large is accelerated to within a hairsbreadth of lightspeed, thus taking maximum advantage of relativity, the interstellar medium, thin as it might be, will become a serious drag on the ship and in-order to maintain that 99.99%-C velocity a ship would need to boost continuously otherwise it would lose speed quickly and thus its relativistic advantages.

 

[prfesser]

Let's face it, almost all science fiction movies require some degree, more or less, of suspension of logical thought. In retrospect it's often easy to pick out the plot holes. Me, I try to unhook the logical part of my brain when I go to such a movie, and try to simply immerse myself in it for the two hours or whatever.

Most movies aren't re-watchable to me. A few are, usually because the characters, dialogue, and/or action are so compelling. For example, I could watch The Final Countdown with Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen over and over. And my guilty pleasure is the Harry Potter series. On long trips I'll pop the DVDs into the player. I don't watch them, I just listen to the dialogue and visualize the images.

Best -- Terry

 

[dr wogz]

Most movies aren't re-watchable to me. A few are, usually because the characters, dialogue, and/or action are so compelling. For example, I could watch The Final Countdown with Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen over and over. And my guilty pleasure is the Harry Potter series. On long trips I'll pop the DVDs into the player. I don't watch them, I just listen to the dialogue and visualize the images.

My dad took me to see that movie (the Final Countdown. Was one of my first 'sci fi' movies, and I believe my fist that dealt with time travel. (Did 2001 have time travel?) I remember asking how the guy at the end new teh other on teh boat & how he was soooo rich..

And I do too, but usually when I'm in my hobby room, building. I'll put a DVD in, and it's just back ground 'noise' I'll look up at times for the the good parts.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080736/

 

[aerostadt]

Entanglement can only communicate random information on an instantaneous basis and really is not practical. Communications are stuck with the speed of light. It's the Law.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Awesome responses everyone. My family gives me haughty derision every time I watch it. My reply is that at least it's not Saw or The Human Centipede.

I too loved the movie, and have seen it many times.

I always thought the promenade was one of the out-riggers that is spinning, therefore gravity. The central "spine" (core? axis?) of teh ship was just that, an axis. but eh bridge doesn't rotate, so that's missing gravity.. One was storage, one was the promenade / public spaces, and the last being the quarters & rooms..

I figured it was in the center because of the size and view out the top, but makes sense it's in one of the outriggers because of the transport passing through the center. The arms don't line up so the transport would have to go around the center. There could be a transfer station in the middle but it would be zero G.

I always figure the asteroid & pieces thereof managed to hit the main relay for J's pod, therefore it went into 'failsafe' mode and awoke him. G awoke due to medical issues that the ship / his pod was monitoring.

Imagine if it was the midwife that was awaken instead. I suspect the midwife was included in the scene to point this out. It also makes me wonder if there was a reason for awaking J. The original trailer had Pratt doing a voiceover saying "There was a reason why they woke us up." implying there was an evil presence onboard. Personally, I'm glad they didn't go this route because that plot has been beaten to death, the best being Event Horizon.

J could only eat the 'K rations' yet seemed to have full access to the restaurants & bar..
I do wonder the day he got his rely message, what the reaction was! And what instructions he was given!
I was also somewhat surprised there were no "kids" to greet the awaking crew (when they got to their destination..)

I've wondered about that too. Did the restaurants have limited supplies (4 months times 1000 to 5000 passengers)? When did they have to resort to gardens and animals to replenish the stocks? I don't imagine the passengers were too pissed about it after learning they saved the ship from destruction.
I'm not sure what the reaction would be. The trip takes 120 years and 250 years round trip with relativistic effects. They've been doing this for what, 700 years. With advancing technology, could a faster ship catch up to them?
The children were hiding behind the tree, obviously.

No one's mentioned the improbability of reaching Arcturus after 31 years at half the speed of light?

SPOILER ALERT!!!!
The technical aspects of the movie were interesting - I found the plot borderline nasty - Pratt’s character more or less kidnaps Jennifer Lawrence’s character. Yeah, I know he comes up with a solution for her survival but if he hadn’t committed a rather selfish and lousy act in the first place he wouldn’t need to “fix” things in the end. That Lawrence’s character makes the choice that she does really doesn’t let him off the hook.
But the spaceship, space travel and technical stuff was good enough to not get too worked up over the plot - most movie plots aren’t very good anyway.

Would it have been better if J died and ironically A had to live on the ship alone? Would she have awoken another passenger (if possible) or would she have flushed herself out to space?
BTW, I suspect that nothing woulda happened if J had pressed the airlock button because the ship woulda known he didn't have a suit on. If he had pressed the button and it didn't work, would that have changed his decision to awaken A?

My big question if I watch the movie is would I do what J did? If I was condemned to live the rest of my years on a ship with only a half an android bartender to talk to, would I wake someone else up and condemn them with me for company? It's hard to say because I've never been in that situation. Part of me thinks I would.

The irony of story is that if he had flushed himself or not awoken A, the ship would've been destroyed, but he didn't know that at the time of waking up A. There's a retelling of the story where the ship starts to fall apart and flashbacks are used to explain how they got there. How would this have changed the tone of the movie?

 

[dr wogz]

Imagine if it was the midwife that was awaken instead. I suspect the midwife was included in the scene to point this out. It also makes me wonder if there was a reason for awaking J. The original trailer had Pratt doing a voiceover saying "There was a reason why they woke us up." implying there was an evil presence onboard. Personally, I'm glad they didn't go this route because that plot has been beaten to death, the best being Event Horizon.

With advancing technology, could a faster ship catch up to them?

The children were hiding behind the tree, obviously.

No one's mentioned the improbability of reaching Arcturus after 31 years at half the speed of light?

Not sure what you mean by 'waking the midwife'. I felt it was just another occupation' eon that shows they have accounted for a growing the population, and/or that the old methods are still the best methods..

I would think that they are at the pinnacle / efficiency of space travel. any advancements would be minor. Like today's hi-performance cars.. (The engine is pretty muc tapped out!)

the 'kids" would be in their 70's or 80's!! They had, what 90 years to go. and having a kid within the first decade of them being together...

They took the left at Albuquerque.. that shaved a few hundred parsecs off their route..


Now, after a decade or so, do you think they would have contemplated waking another? For alternate companionship? Be it they truly did start to hate each other, or they decided to make another kid, so those kids could spawn more, and... and maybe they wanted at least another couple for a bridge game or a set of "doubles"..

Did the original tenants of the luxury suite he took over complain about the well-used state of the suite when they did wake & finally get to use it?

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Not sure what you mean by 'waking the midwife'. I felt it was just another occupation' eon that shows they have accounted for a growing the population, and/or that the old methods are still the best methods..
Now, after a decade or so, do you think they would have contemplated waking another? For alternate companionship? Be it they truly did start to hate each other, or they decided to make another kid, so those kids could spawn more, and... and maybe they wanted at least another couple for a bridge game or a set of "doubles"..
Did the original tenants of the luxury suite he took over complain about the well-used state of the suite when they did wake & finally get to use it?

Sorry, I meant accidently awoken after the incident, and the midwife was by herself. It's probably safe to say that everyone woulda been screwed.
The question is if they had kids, would the ship be able to provide resources for 90 years? Might be an interesting TV or Netflix series, or could be a disaster like Logan's Run.

 

[dr wogz]

Ahh, yes, "had anyone else other than a handy man engineer type" been awoken instead..

Blue Lagoon "in space" maybe?!



hey, I loved Logan's run! wait, teh movie or teh series. (Don't remember ever watching the series..)

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

They're awake for a few months while on the way to take classes and get training before they're arrival. Recall his first day awake he goes to class and the instructor tells him to hold all questions to the end. He waits until the end, asks why he's the only one there and gets the "we're all in this together" response? Ha!

It could be that they went through the training on Earth then go through refresher after 120 years in stasis. The ship would have to go through 60 years of acceleration and 60 years of deceleration. Would there be a reason for waking the passengers 4 months before arriving because the ship needs the resources otherwise?
Is sling shot deceleration a thing?

Ahh, yes, "had anyone else other than a handy man engineer type" been awoken instead..
Blue Lagoon "in space" maybe?!
hey, I loved Logan's run! wait, teh movie or teh series. (Don't remember ever watching the series..)

I think they were implying that J and A were on their own Blue Lagoon island afterward (minus the cannibals, maybe). Maybe aliens might arrive pissed off that they trespassed through their asteroid mining operation...

The LR series lasted half a season before canceled. It featured the second oldest von Trapp daughter from Sound of Music. LR came out a year before Star Wars. I remember the negative reaction to the cheesy FX in LR. When SW came out a year later, I thought it was gonna be similar crap. Now that I'm (much) older, I appreciate the LR story better.

 

[vcp]

Dr wogz, now that you point it out, I think the rations in the cafeteria vs the restaurants might be a plot hole. When she gives him her bacon and eggs breakfast, he takes a bite and looks like it's the best thing he's tasted in a year. Huh.

Obviously, the restaurants don't serve breakfast.

But yeah, I've watched it many times. Mainly because it's just so much better than all the 'space alien kills everyone' movies. If you want one with holes, discuss 'Gravity'.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Obviously, the restaurants don't serve breakfast.

But yeah, I've watched it many times. Mainly because it's just so much better than all the 'space alien kills everyone' movies. If you want one with holes, discuss 'Gravity'.

It does seem like they’re always eating breakfast in the cafeteria.

Still the other passengers might be upset to learn they’ve eaten all of the jumbo shrimp.

 

[MikeT]

One thing to remember.....................It's just a movie.
I thought it was pretty good.

Mike

 

[Exactimator]

Still the other passengers might be upset to learn they’ve eaten all of the jumbo shrimp.

And all the chocolate chip cookies, leaving only the oatmeal raisin. Jerks.

 

[dr wogz]

discuss 'Gravity'.

The best I heard about "Gravity" was that she was running out of oxygen.. and all the "stuff" she does is a hallucination. Her reaching 'land' was her death & reaching 'the afterlife'..

 

[RocketRev]

I love the movie Passengers and watch it again and again. It is a huge paradox that if J doesn't awaken A, then everybody dies. It really is that simple that sometimes you can't save the day on your own. Yes, there are a few plot errors, but hey like the Prfesser said, sometimes you have to suspend the logic circuits and just try and enjoy the movie. I love lots of movies that happen to have holes in the plot. I love them because they make me root for the little guys, the improbable underdogs, and the folks on the very short end of the odds. So I love lots of movies including Passengers along with the Martian, Space Cowboys, the Right Stuff, Super 8, the whole Harry Potter movie series as well as the books on CD driving in the car, the Wire, Sopranos, Star Trek - most movies and all TV series (especially the Originals and Enterprise. Then there's Firefly, Castle, Indiana Jones, Interstellar, Star Wars (4, 5, and 6), October Sky, all the Akira Kurosawa samurai movies, Ronin, Leon, and the original sci-fi movie the incredibly implausible "A Trip to the Moon." Then there's the original "the Day the Earth Stood Still", King Kong, Plan 9 from Outer Space (that last one was a joke in case you missed it), and Metropolis, this Island Earth and of course Forbidden Planet. And lastly, the Mathew Broderick, Maria Pitillo, Jean Reno, and Hank Azaria in Godzilla which is the only one that has an actually plausible plot. Yes, I know it got panned by all the "Godzilla" fans and the critics, but I really don't care, though I will admit to enjoying the old black and white original Godzilla re-edited for the USA market with the Raymond Burr as a news reporter additions. And there are so many more that I could add from the B/W To Kill a Mockingbird to Full Metal Jacket, and the very old B/W Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies. Way too many more to list.......

Anyway, I love Passengers, maybe because I'm tried of all the movies where the good guys end up being the bad guys and the USA turns out to be evil, and its some Deus Ex Machina that saves the day.

I'd ship out with the Passenger crew anytime.

Brad, the "Romantic at heart" "Rocket Rev.," Wilson

 

[jd2cylman]

Here's the one problem I had with Passengers. When A (is that the woman? Doesn't she have a full name? Why aren't we using full names?), is swimming in the pool and the ship looses gravity with Aurora in the "bubble of water", why can't she swim to a side of the bubble? Her hands moving through the water would still create resistance, right? But since I haven't been swimming in any zero gravity water lately, I'm not really sure now...

 

[vcp]

Here's the one problem I had with Passengers. When A (is that the woman? Doesn't she have a full name? Why aren't we using full names?), is swimming in the pool and the ship looses gravity with Aurora in the "bubble of water", why can't she swim to a side of the bubble? Her hands moving through the water would still create resistance, right? But since I haven't been swimming in any zero gravity water lately, I'm not really sure now...

Long time since I've been swimming anywhere, but I tend to think that rather than the inability to swim, she was disoriented about where to swim due to loss of buoyancy and lack of bubbles to follow to the 'surface'. Regardless, that was a really cool scene.

 

[Five]

I think all of you are forgetting one important factor…
Hibernation pods don’t fail.