I have seen the movie Sphere before but didn't really remember any of it so I rented it again to watch while I am reading the book.

A small thing that kept bothering me is the apparent design and role of the spacecraft in the movie/book.

First, the "aerodynamic fin", which is supposedly longer than a football field, is kind of rediculous. If you would have something that large, on a spacecraft, I think that it would be more efficient to have two rudders that were half of the height of the single large one. And why did they never mention the wings? If it was a spacecraft that was supposed to re-enter the atmosphere, I hope that they did not imagine the wings looking like a 747's. It would probably be something more triangular in shape.

Adding to this, if the spacecraft was intended for solar and extra-solar travel (as evidenced by it being intended to go through a blackhole), why would it have aerodynamic surfaces in the first place? If you were building something so massive, intended mostly for spacetravel, it would be a creature of space, unable to land on a terrestrial surface.

I will watch it again and pick up some other things to add here. I like the movie by the way, just not that aspect. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] -Colt

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Be not afraid of any man no matter what his size; when danger threatens, call on me, and I will equalize.

The book is ten times better than the movie. I especially love the ending!!! (And there is a small, but somewhat noticable difference than the movie in its ending [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img])

If i remember correctly they actually never see the whole ship. They only see a radar outline and what is above the ground. Ao there could be wings on it. But then again if they have artificial gravity they can probobly have some type of hover engine. Or they could be following the tried and true "where there is air, there is gravity".

It was Chrichton's best book (with jurassic park a VERY, close second!!!). Very dramatic and it really made you think. What would you do with limitless power?

The fin might of been less for aerodynamic pupose and more for safety purpose. If i was building a ship i would want the power core as far away as possible. So the Fin could be holding the core of the ship. I remeber (its been severlal years since i read it) that they entered near the fin when they first entered the ship. One of them commented on how much radiation shielding there was on that part of the ship. While it does come up that it was probobly for the black hole, they would also have to be protected from the core would they not?

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GIYUL :-)
"It takes Thousands to fight a battle for a mile, Millions to hold an election for a nation, but it only takes One to change the world." - Dan Sandler 2002

Well, I have never read the book, and I've only seen ten minutes of the movie (somewhere in the middle). However, what if the thing that's on Earth is just a landing craft, specifically designed for re-entry? Maybe I'm ruining the whole point though...

I read the book twice. I was three-quarters of the way through it the second time before I realized I'd read it before. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Nope, that was the whole craft. Maybe some part of it broke off during its trip throught the black hole, but otherwise that is it. Basically it is a ship from the future that crashes after accidentally traveling back in time. I wont reveal the rest beacuse the you definitely shoudl read the book.

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"Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia": The fear of long words
"It takes Thousands to fight a battle for a mile, Millions to hold an election for a nation, but it only takes One to change the world." by Dan Sandler(G99)2002

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: g99 on 2002-11-09 23:11 ]</font>

Or maybe you didn't read it before, you only imagined you read it before and your subconscious was making up the book as it went....

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GIYUL :-)
"It takes Thousands to fight a battle for a mile, Millions to hold an election for a nation, but it only takes One to change the world." - Dan Sandler 2002

^ Heh, good thinking. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] Now that I have thought of it more (and I am still only about 2/3rds of the way through the book) the sphere is nothing more than a device to test the species that it encounters, it is benign. It reminds me of the Monolith from the Odyssey series.. Something in 3001 I think, but can't remember what.

Spoilers..

And the ship did not crash, it arrived. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] There are a few things in the movie that I am noticing that they changed that they really did not have to change, like finding the crew (and not just one person). I think it was specifically stated in the book that the shielding was for the black hole, or at least they thought it was for that.

I like the theory that the rest of the crew went into the sphere (following the books story) and something happened to them while the single person in the hibernation tube realized what was happening, set the autopilot to return to earth, went into hibernation, hibernation fails, and then the ship arrives.

End spoilers. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Either way, good movie and good book. I hope to finish the book within the next week. -Colt

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Be not afraid of any man no matter what his size; when danger threatens, call on me, and I will equalize.

You're kidding me. Sphere is the only Chrichton book I've actually read, and I thought it was so-so at best. There were some good ideas behind it, but I thought the overall idea of the spaceship and it's purpose was kind of silly. It's been a long time since I read it though, and I don't remember it very well. The details didn't stick in my mind for long.

If that's his best book, then I probably shouldn't bother with any of his others. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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...And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped. --Sir Bedevere

I'm talking about the "i can't put the book down, i must read it to the end" factor. While scientifically it was bad, dramatically it was a very good book.

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GIYUL :-)
"It takes Thousands to fight a battle for a mile, Millions to hold an election for a nation, but it only takes One to change the world." - Dan Sandler 2002

After reading this thread yesterday, I bought the book. It will serve me well during a 12 hour layover in Vancouver. Grr.

I still like "Andromeda Strain" most, including Robert Wise's movie. But maybe there is plenty of Bad Biology in it I don't recognize...

Harald

> It was Chrichton's best book (with jurassic park a VERY, close second!!!). Very dramatic and it really made you think. What would you do with limitless power? <

Takes all sorts. Haven't read Sphere. Jurassic Park i thought was dreadful (mainly because of the mathematician. Bleh). A number of stupid mistakes, probably more annoying because the mathematician already had me irritated.

To be fair, i think this is the first novel of his where he had security doors actually function correctly. That's something, i guess.

I think the purpose of the spaceship was to explore outside of our solar system, perhaps the Oort cloud? And it came upon the sphere and picked it up. Maybe someone on the ship that had "The Power" thought up the blackhole (a real-life spacemonster:P) and it was pulled in. Maybe a theoretical physicist was onboard trying to prove that you could go through one, what would he create? A blackhole you could pass through. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] -Colt

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Be not afraid of any man no matter what his size; when danger threatens, call on me, and I will equalize.

Well I just read Sphere yesterday, and I must say that it was very cool. The theme of scientists not being in touch with their emotions was, I thought, a bit overdone. While I am not a scientist myself, I know a bunch of them, and it seems to me that only the mediocre ones tend to think that their own humanity is of no significance. Other than that I enjoyed the book quite a bit.

daver wrote:

I haven't read the novel, but that was one of the reasons why I didn't like the film. 'Jurassic Park' was one of the most overrated films of recent years.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: informant on 2002-11-15 15:41 ]</font>

The book has the same basic plot of the film, but the movie deviates alot form the book. If you have a good two weeks free read it for yourself and see where they could of made the movie much better. The science in it is a little flawed, but there is some truth behind it. That makes if that much more intriguing. Also the action sequences are really cool. If you don't have time get the unabridged version on tape and listen to it in the car. It makes a ride fly by.

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GIYUL :-)
"It takes Thousands to fight a battle for a mile, Millions to hold an election for a nation, but it only takes One to change the world." - Dan Sandler 2002

I finished the book last week, just forgot to post about it. I think that the ending to the book was better than the movie ending. There is some good science in the book along with some bad science, but otherwise, a good book. -Colt

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Be not afraid of any man no matter what his size; when danger threatens, call on me, and I will equalize.