Mike Raiford <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote:
> Warp wrote:

> >    Some people say that they find the intro incomprehensible, or at least
> > very hard to understand. I don't know why. I find it quite easy to
> > understand.
> > 
> >   Two tribes of some pre-human species are having a squirmish about a pond
> > of water. Then the loser tribe is hanging around when the weird monolith
> > appears, and after touching it they start realizing that they could use
> > bones as weapons, and they take the pond back. Cue a transition from a
> > bone thrown into the air to a spaceship. Both tools of some kind. The
> > inference is rather clear.

> Dunno, it seemed rather disconnected from the rest of the film, imo.

  Even after the explanation?

  I think it fits perfectly within the story. It explains (to a degree)
what the monolith is (ie. some kind of alien device which triggered the
human species to become intelligent). Without that intro the monolith would
be completely unexplained and not related to anything.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:50:03 -0400, Warp wrote:

>   The emergency gesture underwater must be one of the most confusing
>   ever:
> It's the "thumbs up" gesture.

I understand what it is that makes it confusing, but it also kinda makes 
sense - a "thumbs up" gesture is a way of pointing up, as if to say "I'm 
going up" or "I need to surface".

Jim

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:52:56 -0400, Warp wrote:

>   I think it fits perfectly within the story. It explains (to a degree)
> what the monolith is (ie. some kind of alien device which triggered the
> human species to become intelligent). Without that intro the monolith
> would be completely unexplained and not related to anything.

Agreed, it's kinda saying "the monolith helped humans evolve before, and 
now it's initiating another evolution".

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:26:21 -0700, Darren New wrote:
>
> > Warp wrote:
> >> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> >>> It did end poorly. Indeed, it probably would have been more satisfying
> >>> to just end it with "My god, it's full of stars", and cut out the bits
> >>> after the pyrotechnics reflected in the helmet entirely.
> >>
> >>   That line was actually not in the first movie at all. It was in the
> >>   book,
> >> and it was put in the sequel movie.
> >
> > I did not know that. :-)
>
> My recollection had been different as well, but Wikipedia confirms this
> (useful list of differences between the film and the book).

I rather like the sequel. Different film entirely, of course, but it retains the
sense of mystery and grandeur. And I just love the final shot - the process
depicted at the start of 2001 is waiting to happen all over again on Europa.

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:05:00 -0400, Bill Pragnell wrote:

> I rather like the sequel. Different film entirely, of course, but it
> retains the sense of mystery and grandeur. And I just love the final
> shot - the process depicted at the start of 2001 is waiting to happen
> all over again on Europa.

Yeah, I liked that as well.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> >   The emergency gesture underwater must be one of the most confusing
> >   ever:
> > It's the "thumbs up" gesture.

> I understand what it is that makes it confusing, but it also kinda makes 
> sense - a "thumbs up" gesture is a way of pointing up, as if to say "I'm 
> going up" or "I need to surface".

  Yes, but couldn't they have chosen a gesture which is *not* commonly used
for "everything's fine" in other situations?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:21:23 -0400, Warp wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> >   The emergency gesture underwater must be one of the most confusing
>> >   ever:
>> > It's the "thumbs up" gesture.
> 
>> I understand what it is that makes it confusing, but it also kinda
>> makes sense - a "thumbs up" gesture is a way of pointing up, as if to
>> say "I'm going up" or "I need to surface".
> 
>   Yes, but couldn't they have chosen a gesture which is *not* commonly
>   used
> for "everything's fine" in other situations?

Sure, they could have.  But they didn't....I could always ask a couple 
friends of mine who are divers what the rationale is (if they know).

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Warp wrote:
>   The emergency gesture underwater must be one of the most confusing ever:
> It's the "thumbs up" gesture.

That's not exactly "emergency", but rather just "go more shallow". Doesn't 
even mean "go to the surface." (Depending on the emergency (out of air, too 
cold, lost weights, etc) you have different signs.)

Thumbs up with your other palm flat on top means "Stop going up here" for 
example. As in, "we need to stop here to decompress" rather than just "level 
off for a while, there's something I want to see."

But I'll agree that even after dozens of dives I still sometimes used 
thumbs-up to mean OK.  And I can perfectly understand safety people taking a 
thumbs-up to mean "I need help getting to the surface."

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   I ordered stamps from Zazzle that read "Place Stamp Here".

Post a reply to this message

Warp wrote:
>   Yes, but couldn't they have chosen a gesture which is *not* commonly used
> for "everything's fine" in other situations?

Well, in addition, thumbs down means go deeper. So it's nicely symetrical. 
Maybe two-fingers-up vs two-fingers-down would have made more sense, tho.

I'm more amused by some of the standard signs for underwater wildlife, myself.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   I ordered stamps from Zazzle that read "Place Stamp Here".

Post a reply to this message

Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> > >   The emergency gesture underwater must be one of the most confusing
> > >   ever:
> > > It's the "thumbs up" gesture.
>
> > I understand what it is that makes it confusing, but it also kinda makes
> > sense - a "thumbs up" gesture is a way of pointing up, as if to say "I'm
> > going up" or "I need to surface".
>
>   Yes, but couldn't they have chosen a gesture which is *not* commonly used
> for "everything's fine" in other situations?

BTW, I guess I finally understand the ending scene of Terminator 2.  Arnold was
actually calling for help! :))

Post a reply to this message