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Movie Review – Alien: Covenant
universetoday.com ^ | 11 May , 2017 | David Dickinson

Posted on 05/11/2017 5:07:21 PM PDT by BenLurkin

...pedantic nit picks...

Covenant gets hit with a “neutrino burst” dramatically disabling the deployed solar array and killing a portion of the hibernating crew. Through neutrinos are real, they, for the most part, pass right through solid matter, with nary a hit. Millions are passing through you and me, right now.

...

The crew also decides to detour while moving at presumably relativistic speeds to investigate the strange signal. This actually happens lots in sci-fi, as it seems as easy as running errands around town to simply hop from one world to the next. In reality, mass and change of momentum are costly affairs in terms of energy. In space, you want to get there quickly, but any interstellar mission would involve long stretches of slow acceleration followed by deceleration to enter orbit at your destination… changing this flight plan would be out of the question, even for the futuristic crew of the Covenant.

...Covenant’s computer pinpoints the source of the mysterious signal, and gives its coordinates in right ascension and declination. OK, this is good: RA and declination are part of a real coordinate system astronomers use to find things in the sky… here on Earth. It’s an equatorial system, though, hardly handy when you get out into space. Maybe a reference system using the plane of the Milky Way galaxy would be more useful.

(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...


TOPICS: Science; TV/Movies
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To: BenLurkin

The Guardians of the Galaxy last week it was absolutely hilarious!


21 posted on 05/11/2017 6:48:30 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: Ciaphas Cain

22 posted on 05/11/2017 6:49:48 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: BenLurkin

I realize Hollywood is creatively bankrupt and must turn every successful movie into a franchise to be milked until the udders fall off, but “Alien” was a great movie that really deserved to be left alone and appreciated for what it was - a great piece of science fiction, which along with “Blade Runner” are probably Ridley Scott’s best work. Cameron’s sequel was silly, and the succeeding movies have all been worse. Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” was not good. I won’t be watching this latest, either - over 35 years of little aliens bursting out of people in gouts of blood are enough.


23 posted on 05/11/2017 6:52:47 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Ciaphas Cain

I disagree.

While I initially hated Alien 3, particularly because of the bad CGI special effects, I have grown to appreciate that movie over time, and I especially love the performance of Charles S. Dutton.

4 was awful, but I also enjoyed Prometheus, though I wish much of what was edited out was left in.


24 posted on 05/11/2017 6:55:44 PM PDT by chris37 (Donald J. Trump, Tom Brady, The Patriots... American Destiny!)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
I blame "Spaceballs"


25 posted on 05/11/2017 6:56:55 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Mustangman

I like being entertained. People take theses movies all too seriously. If I’m entertained I’ll watch it.


26 posted on 05/11/2017 7:05:45 PM PDT by sheana
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To: Telepathic Intruder
there is no air pressure to vector against.

There doesn't have to be. Space vessels are not equipped with airfoils; they maneuver using attitude rockets. And a rocket engine operates on Newton's Third Law. It doesn't need anything to "push" against.

27 posted on 05/11/2017 7:17:46 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: IronJack

That’s my point. So turning without using a lot of fuel is impossible.


28 posted on 05/11/2017 7:34:30 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
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To: chris37
Alien 3 had over forty writers who left their mark on it one way or another.

OVER FORTY WRITERS.

The penal colony of fringe Christian convicts? That started out as a group of monks living on a planetoid. Which incidentally, was made of wood.

Dutton's performance was one of the few things good about that movie.

Fox should have used the script written by William Gibson (still hot off his success from his novel Neuromancer). It was a much better story.

29 posted on 05/11/2017 8:00:33 PM PDT by Ciaphas Cain (I don't give a damn about your feelings. Try to impress me with your convictions.)
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To: gaijin

I didn’t see the homo hints, but I’ll take your word for it. Doesn’t matter as I had no intention of watching it anyway.

If there are homos, it’s pretty idiotic. VO: “This is a crew of couples on a voyage of colonization.” Did they figure out how to fertilize feces in the future? What a waste of two mission spots.


30 posted on 05/11/2017 8:08:33 PM PDT by Rastus
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To: Telepathic Intruder

Are you referring to the neutrino burst which is the mechanism depositing energy into the outer layers surrounding the iron core of a collapsing decrepit star? To be injured or killed by a neutrino burst implies being way too close to a Supernova—this would be just the opening salvo.

At two light years distance from an average massive star going supernova, the neutrino flux would be approximately 9.84x10e+21 of the solar flux at the Earth’s surface. The question is the absorption cross section in play, with the more energetic neutrinos increasingly likely to be captured, combining with the massive flux to ruin your day.

Best be somewhere else?


31 posted on 05/11/2017 8:34:06 PM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Dutton’s performance was so strong that I felt it carried the movie.

I have seen it many times now just really to enjoy his performance.

I also enjoyed seeing a young Charles Dance,although his part was fairly small.

I definitely liked the concept of the dog alien, and I thought the puppetry used in close up shots was good, although the CGI full body shots were obviously awful.

I thought the setting and cast was good.

I’m not really bothered by the Christian convicts aspect. A lot of men find God after they have done wrong in their lives.

I also like the final scene in which the dog alien was done in, and when Dutton fought it and to hand. That was great. Also liked the Weaver suicide with the baby queen.

It was no where near as good as 1 and 2, clearly, but it did have elements that I later came to enjoy.

The one that really has few enjoyable elements for me is 4.

That movie was just rather lame.


32 posted on 05/11/2017 8:35:14 PM PDT by chris37 (Donald J. Trump, Tom Brady, The Patriots... American Destiny!)
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To: Glad2bnuts

Have fun with this:

http://www.isaacarthur.net/video/


33 posted on 05/11/2017 8:40:53 PM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Both will kill you, but the neutrinos will kill you first.

Please provide a source showing that neutrinos could kill you even at a distance of 1 light-year.

Regards,

34 posted on 05/11/2017 9:25:57 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: alexander_busek
I have read it from several sources, including a Scientific American special issue featuring SN1987A, and several sci-fi novels (Asimov was one author). Right now you have about 1014 neutrinos going through your body every second from the sun. But a supernova releases 100 times more energy than our sun will in its 10 billion year lifespan all in a 10 second burst. Over 99% of that energy is in the form of neutrinos. Normally they go through you with no problem, but enough of them will fry you like any radiation.

I'll start you with a google search and you can pick which source you disbelieve the least. But I know what I'm talking about.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=supernova+neutrino+death&spf=1494567329857
35 posted on 05/11/2017 10:39:43 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Ozark Tom

That site is too cool, thank you. Quantum entanglements, that is a birthday present and Christmas wrapped in one.


36 posted on 05/11/2017 10:41:46 PM PDT by Glad2bnuts (If Republicans are not prepared to carry on the Revolution of 1776, prepare for a communist takeover)
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To: Ozark Tom

I’m not at all sure about the lethal distance, a few light years was a guess. But the neutrino front would be instantly deadly to anyone in the supernova’s solar system, with a slower death for some distance outside it. It’s the collapse of the degenerate iron core when it reaches the Chandrasekhar limit that heats it to about 100 billion that produces the neutrino flash. There are so many that they actually play a role in the rebounding of the core. I suppose the flux could be calculated but I’ve never seen any estimates.


37 posted on 05/11/2017 10:48:06 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
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To: KC_Lion

I would have kept my f’ing space helmet on.


38 posted on 05/12/2017 7:50:55 AM PDT by philled (If this creature is not stopped it could make its way to Novosibirsk!)
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To: Telepathic Intruder
https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/

A paper by radiation expert Andrew Karam provides an answer. It explains that during certain supernovae, the collapse of a stellar core into a neutron star, 10^57 neutrinos can be released (one for every proton in the star that collapses to become a neutron). Karam calculates that the neutrino radiation dose at a distance of one parsec [3.26 light-years] would be around half a nanosievert, or 1/500th the dose from eating a banana.

Regards,

39 posted on 05/12/2017 8:46:25 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Spirochete

The movie was actually pretty decent. The actress who plays the Ellen Ripley-type character is quite good.


40 posted on 05/19/2017 11:50:02 PM PDT by bjcoop
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