The Chinese have decided to make a big budget SF film. The premise of the movie is that scientists figure out that the sun is dying, so they decide to move the Earth to Proxima Centauri. It looks interesting.
Could be cool but why move the Earth to Proxima if you could move it to Alpha Centauri A or B? Proxima Goldilocks= a tidally locked, radically tight orbit around a red dwarf star. The adverse effect on the Earth, its climate, and society would be incalculable. Rigil K or Alpha-Cent b are yellow stars similar to Sol with habitable zones within the range of stable orbits, even for an orbiting binary pair with their stats. It would be more like the aftermath of Clarke's 2010 when Jupiter turned into a star. Even if there were planets in the habitable zones, you could plop the Earth opposite the primary in the Lagrange 3 point, and everything would be copasetic. Hopefully the movie comes with an English dub.
Watching the trailer... Are you SURE this isn't Japanese? Also- saw a lot about Jupiter but NOTHING about Proxima.
It's definitely Chinese. Yeah, kinda looks like a new version of When Worlds Collide except Earth is the escape ship. And if the Earth could do without the Sun long enough to move 4 light years, the Sun would be unnecessary. (Unless teleportation or somesuch is involved.) Also, anything strong enough to change Jupiter's orbit so profoundly would tear Jupiter apart, and probably fling all the other planets out of the Solar System. But you go with it and hopefully the movie's good.
It's apparently based on a story by the guy who wrote The Three-Body Problem, which a lot of people have loved. This article has some more details on the film.
I thought of the issue if the Earth being without the sun for the trip as well. The Earth would die faster on the trip than if they Earth was moved closer to the sun. And if the Earth got that close to Jupiter, the gravity from Jupiter would tear Earth apart and turn it into a ring. I'm guessing the movie may address some of that, or the book may have addressed it.
The Chinese have been paying for big budget SF films for over a decade now. ...or have you not noticed a lot of the new company logos before your usual Paramount/Fox/Warner Bros. intros?
But in those instances, they've just been investing in the film production like you would in a business. This is a Chinese production, with a Chinese cast. That's a bit different than what they've been doing up until now.
Netflix has picked up the streaming rights. https://www.npr.org/2019/02/22/6970...hinese-sci-fi-blockbuster-the-wandering-earth
Exchanging out sun for a newer one would be easier. Though I read it would take an estimated one million years give or take.
Just watched it. Non-spoilery review is take the script for The Martian and Armageddon, throw them in a blender and hand the script to either zombie Kubrick or Ridley Scott. (Also, shoot Michael Bay if he gets anywhere close to this.) This is addressed early on in the movie, 3.5 billion humans get to live in massive underground cities. It's never said how many people are left outside to die. According to the film what happens is that it turns out Jupiter's gravity field is "lumpy" and the Earth gets caught in a slightly stronger part of the field, so it ends up going towards Jupiter. If I were Hollywood, I'd bar Michael Bay from ever working on a film again and just turn over the kinds of projects Bay likes to do to the director of this film, Frant Gwo. He's got the ability to do all the insane, nailbiting scenes like Bay, but unlike Bay, he knows where you should point the fucking camera. (And that you shouldn't let it jump around like methed up toddlers in a bounce house.) The good: Set design and effects are all excellent, the underground cities all remind me of the shots of LA in Blade Runner. The actors are solid performers (though one of them does have a rocky ride due to the script, which I'll get to later). There's no weird plot elements that hang around making you go, "WTF? They didn't explain that!" There are times where you're like, "Wait, this doesn't make any sense. Why are doing that?" and then it gets explained to you in a manner which makes sense (no characters suddenly doing weird exposition). The nerdy guy's prayer (which mentions "holy Hawking") as they're about to undertake the "Hail Mary' part of the mission is hysterical. The bad: For much of the film, the character of Duoduo (the younger sister of the lead) is written poorly. She's a teenager but has very childish temper tantrums. By the end of the film, however, that falls away and she's written like one would expect a person her character's age to act. One thing that's never really explained in the film is why the giant earthmoving vehicles have a giant ball for a steering wheel. It doesn't really make any sense. There's also no real explanation as to why they could only build enough cities for 3.5 billion people or their fates. Still, if you like Michael Bay movies, or if you've ever watched a Michael Bay movie and thought, "You know, there might be a good idea for a movie in here, somewhere, but I can't see it" you will love this movie. Spoilery review to follow in next post.
