The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: Nomadic[...] they are amazed at how artistic and peaceful we are [...]

I lol'ed at this. :D

b ut I don't want to meet the Zentradi...

It largely bored me, but I don't know that I'd say it was absolutely terrible. Just that it could have been much, much better.

For that matter, Solaris kind of bored me, too. But perhaps it deserves another look. Did you mean the original, SA, or modern remake? The original author didn't like the remake, but that doesn't mean it's a terrible movie.

Wall-E was quite good, I thought.

Quote from: NomadicWe are discovered by a collective of alien beings and they are amazed at how artistic and peaceful we are. Some want to conquer us, a few want to emulate us, and in the end we just become another normal part of the collective (as opposed to some conquering empire or a rash member that causes trouble).

Vaguely similar to Star Trek, and the later seasons of Babylon 5.

J.J. Abrams said that now is the time to bring back Star Trek (albeit hopefully better and more mainstream than in past) precisely because people are ready for a turn back towards optimism. And the Trek future, if sometimes war-torn, is still largely optimistic.

What I hate is the fact that the humanity protrayed in the movie will not change. Klatu never told anyone save a disgraced Secretary of Defense, a traitorous woman and her son about what his race's intentions were. Who's going to believe any of them? The aliens came here to kill us, that'll be how the world governments spin this. We'll spend trillions modernizing our military all in the hopes we can stave off the evil alien invaders.

I mean, all he needed to do was tap into our Radio/TV network and tell the humanity - you're killing the world, stop it or we'll kill ya. Humanity would change at that point but with out that we'd just persist in our sinning ways.

The movie had potential but a lack of good script writing made it a pile of kodo poo.

 

QuoteDid you mean the original, SA, or modern remake? The original author didn't like the remake, but that doesn't mean it's a terrible movie.

We are discovered by a collective of alien beings and they are amazed at how artistic and peaceful we are.[/quote]perhaps even by force[/i].  Now that makes for tasty plot-meat.

QuoteI mean, all he needed to do was tap into our Radio/TV network and tell the humanity - you're killing the world, stop it or we'll kill ya. Humanity would change at that point but with out that we'd just persist in our sinning ways.

And we're supposed to believe that the entirety of Klatu's reconniassance was through an alien who'd been living on earth for the better part of a century, but seemed to offer no useful information about human attitudes, intelligence or non-destructive exploits.  Klatu then proceeds to discount the testimony of said veteran on the basis of one whiny kid and his stepmother.  Like I said, these have got to be the dumbest aliens.

Quote from: PhoenixVaguely similar to Star Trek, and the later seasons of Babylon 5.

To be fair, the aliens in B5 liked Humanity not because of how artistic or peaceful we were but because humanity, more than any other race, builds interstellar communities that stretch far beyond nationality, ethnology and even xenology. We become the sturdy beam on which other species can build a brighter, more cosmopolitan future.

Quote from: Ra-Tiel

Quote from: Nomadic[...] they are amazed at how artistic and peaceful we are [...]

I lol'ed at this. :D

Hey I am tired of all the "humanity is violent blah blah". I want a species that is amazed by the fact that humans say hello by shaking hands instead of kicking each others asses like civilized beings.

Only that seems more outlandish than the opposite.  A sophisticated spacefaring species that is surprised by an organism that understands the value of diplomacy?

Quote from: Elemental_Elf

Quote from: PhoenixVaguely similar to Star Trek, and the later seasons of Babylon 5.

To be fair, the aliens in B5 liked Humanity not because of how artistic or peaceful we were but because humanity, more than any other race, builds interstellar communities that stretch far beyond nationality, ethnology and even xenology. We become the sturdy beam on which other species can build a brighter, more cosmopolitan future.

Yeah. My all time favorite TV series.

Quote from: Salacious AngelOnly that seems more outlandish than the opposite.  A sophisticated spacefaring species that is surprised by an organism that understands the value of diplomacy?

Well sure, if you want to take the boring route...

Quote from: PhoenixYeah. My all time favorite TV series.

Its my favorite Sci-Fi TV show as well :)

The ONE thing I liked about The Day the Earth Stood Still is that they found a way that Keanu Reeves wouldn't screw it up.  Considering the movie was still terrible, the fact that his halting droning monotone kinda makes sense for an alien that's just inhabiting a human body and isn't really necessarily used to speaking English makes sense is a shallow victory in a lost war.  

Actually, I also like the IDEA that John Cleese's character presents, but this too was hollow, as Cleese's POINT was that humanity could unite and evolve on the brink of extinction.  Well, this was setting up a story where the aliens' genocide of humanity unites humankind and allows them to evolve and change their ways.  Seeing this change in the human race, the aliens would then see that their reasons for killing all the humans were no longer applicable, congratulate the humans on their evolution, and leave them in peace.  But this is not utilized at all.  Klatu somehow seeing the good in humans and then calling off the attack then and there denied humanity the chance to ACTUALLY evolve.  So the best idea in the film was brought up and then ignored, left completely unutilized.  It was ridiculous.

Yeah, I saw it. The popcorn and large Coke was the best part. Although I wish AMC had Dr. Pepper. I love Dr. Pepper. I'm drinking some right now. Anyway, to the point, it was pretty bad. Why the HELL did the robot look like a human if their a different alien species that would only "frighten us" to see them. And where is all the surprise, screaming, running and dommsayers? Alien spheres have just landed on our planet to annilihate us, you think there would be more "What the ****! There's ****ing aliens attacking us! Run for your lives!" Cue the mobs running around in the streets and hippies crying doom.

      I think the best movie I saw so far that CORRECTLY illustrated us and the enviroment was The Day After Tommorow. Although Global Warmings effects may not be as sudden, they will be that destructive. And although it showed that we have hurt the earth and done all this crap to waste our rescources, and we get repayed with this, there is still a chance that the strongest individuals and the most rescourceful and still make it, and that there if much hope for those who deserve it. I'm not sure if I put that into words right, I hope you get the point.

    Something that has always bothered me non-stop about alien movies was their similiarity to us. They look exactly like us but shorter and with little eyes. What?! I thought they came from deep space? I thought that the movie that explained this best was Mission to Mars, how they noted that humans and chimpanzees have only a two percent difference, and how the same might apply to other species in outer space with us. What I did not like however is that the aliens planted the seed of life or something. Then where the heck did they come from? There are always so many problems with alien movies. I did LOVE Independence Day, however, as it had a strong plot, great actors and us actually fighting fairly through wits and intelligence against the aliens. And giving them a cold.

Quote from: Salacious AngelOnly that seems more outlandish than the opposite.  A sophisticated spacefaring species that is surprised by an organism that understands the value of diplomacy?

Eh... aliens whose purpose is to colonize might note our pacifism. Like Columbus when he wrote of the Indian tribes. You think they didn't wage war? Of course, that ended with exploitation rather than awe and emulation, with a few scattered exceptions. If aliens were struck by our pacifism and culture, I'd see a similar situation: colonization. They wouldn't so much kill us as take our stuff, marginalize us, and maybe even enslave or relocate us. Again there would be a few sympathizers maybe, but not enough to gather steam until Earth's legacy was long lost.

If they see us as exceptionally peaceful, it must be because they are comparatively violent.

Although if they also admired our culture they may prefer to enslave skilled laborers and... I'm not sure what they'd do with the rest of us... like the Romans with the Greeks.

Sorry... tangent. I've seen the original and not the remake. It was okay I guess.

It's probably just angst.  I think the only "Alien" species that ever did it is the singular alien presented in the book "Solaris".

M.