Posted on 12/11/2008 6:23:15 AM PST by Cincinatus
NEW YORK -- If aliens ever visit Earth, they'll be coming to reprimand us for bad behavior.
That's the premise of the 1951 classic sci-fi film "The Day the Earth Stood Still," as well as the brand-new Fox remake of the same name, in theaters Friday. In the intervening 50 years, humanity hasn't gotten any better, the filmmakers seem to conclude -- we've just switched to new transgressions.
In the mid 20th century our most pressing concern about ourselves was the threat of humans annihilating each other with nuclear weapons. The original film follows Klaatu, a human-looking alien who comes to Earth with his bodyguard robot Gort, to warn people to cease and desist with the nukes before we contaminate the rest of the Galaxy with them.
The new version of the film focuses on a more contemporary preoccupation: the threat of climate change and environmental degradation. The new Klaatu, played by Keanu Reeves, couldn't care less if we blew ourselves to bits, but would we mind not taking out the rest of the species on Earth, as well as our rare habitable planet, with us?
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
As it snows in Louisiana...
I watched this movie not too long ago and if I remember right,his message was."(I'm paraphaising here)You guys can kill yourselves,but if you take this out to where we live we will destroy you."
IIRC the premise was that we would carry our nuclear rivalry off world into space as we developed the technology. The possibility of bomb throwing humans flying around the peaceful galaxy was the cause of Klaatu’s angst.
Thanks for the warning. I was thinking this might be a movie I’d actually go to the movies to see on the big screen but not now.
Unfortunately this is only the beginning. Now that the Liberals(i.e. “socialists”) have won we are going to see lots more movies like this one. That’s OK though I got my DVD collection ...
Hollywood is an intellectual vacuum. They HAVE to remake old films due to the lack of new ideas.
Jeez, people still watch that butcher shop?
I'm glad I read this preview article and didn't waste any money on the GREEN movie.
I am leaving soon and you'll forgive me if I speak bluntly. The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure. Now this does not mean giving up any freedom, except the freedom to act irresponsibly.
Your ancestors knew this when they made laws to govern themselves and hiredpolicemen to enforce them.
We, of the other planets, have long accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of aggression. The test of any such higher authority is, of course, the police force that supports it. For our policemen we created a race of robots. Their function is to patrol the planets in spaceships like this one and preserve the peace. In matters of aggression we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked.
At the first signs of violence they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty forprovoking their action is too terrible to risk.
The result is we live in peace without arms or armies, secure in theknowledge that we are free from aggression and war, free to pursue more profitable enterprises. Now, we do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works.
I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder.
Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.
LOL
Give it a couple of years and a version will come out where the alien tells the Earth that they will all die if they don't pass gay marriage.If fundamentalist Muslims made this movie, they would write it so the aliens demand submission to Shari'a law.
I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder.Basically, they were warning against Earth attacking other worlds.
I think he was a Hollywood producer’s boy toy,when he was young.
Which is a pretty parochial fear. Spacefaring civilizations would have access to much more dangerous weapons than crude 1950's nukes.
I doubt an advanced civilization would be any more worried about our nukes than we are when we see a chimp using a rock to kill some prey.
Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.
Sounds like an expanded and sexed-up version of Lord of the Flies.
. What? How does it resemble anything like Lord of the Flies? That was about ignorant children and power struggles and violent human instincts of the most basic nature.
Give me the conche!
Survival. But maybe that was just the book.
I learned not to argue literary meanings with folks. Too much disagreement and freaking out. Have a nice day.
bump
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