[R_H] wrote:Why didn't the MNU scientists try disassembling the Prawn weapons? I can't remember if it was implied they had tryed to do so, or had done so.
I wondered if they ever tried to use severed prawn limbs, or tissues to activate the weapon. If they could use prawn cells by themselves, it would obviate the need for much of the destructive and inefficient testing MNU was doing. Assuming they don't require a live prawn to use the weapons, what would stop MNU from developing a bypass, even if it were something dumb like prawn cell impregnated gloves or inserts?
[R_H] wrote:Why didn't the MNU scientists try disassembling the Prawn weapons? I can't remember if it was implied they had tryed to do so, or had done so.
It seems to me that their entire tech base is centered on some sort of DNA recongnition. Perhaps some time in the prawn's past, they encountered another race and they made it so their own technology can't be used against them. Some sort of built in fail-safe. And that it seems to be built in with the rest of their tech too and MNU wasn't able to do anything. I would assume that they attempted to take their tech apart and rebuild or attempt to rebuild the tech everywhich way they can to no success.
I believe that whatever disaster happened to the so called (Leader Class) might have damaged the device that allowed the prawn to interact with the mothership. The ship wasn't able to activate till it had the correct prawn DNA code till it was fixed. It kind of makes sense since the black liquid that splattered Wikus somehow turn him into a prawn.
Guardsman Bass wrote:Didn't Christopher say that it took him twenty years to collect all the fluid? I thought he referred to himself, but maybe it was just a "it took twenty years to collect the fluid" bit.
*Sigh* It would have just been so much easier if Blomkampf had just said that the human hypothesis - that the entire leadership caste was dead for reasons unknown, and only drones incapable of even feeding themselves without orders left behind - wasn't entirely correct, since one member of the leadership-engineering-whatever caste survived and hid himself (Christopher). As is, now we've got the weird "telekinetic hive re-orienting itself" bit.
Yeah, I thought that was a bit unnecessary. You could easily have some pheromone produced by anxious worker-class prawns that encourages the birth of higher caste individuals. Somewhat like how bees operate.
Does anyone remember the timeline on the smaller craft coming out of the ship and their initial arrival? That might indicate if some leadership class survived or if it took several years for some to emerge and call the small ship the down to help with their escape.
It could/should have been a fluid that would transform Christopher into a pilot/leader class prawn that would have allowed him to access the higher level functions of the ship, thereby allowing him to operate it.
Makes it much easier to buy that the fluid transforms Wikus into a prawn.
First off, this is the best movie I've seen all year, and maybe even in the last few years. I will say the scene with Christopher trying to console his son about not going home and that maybe one of the tents on the cover of the pamphlet for the new concentration camp of District 10 was particular touching (at least for me) and maybe on of the better emotional scenes I've seen in years (I don't watch many movies though).
If I recall correctly, the little ship that Christopher's house was built over was described early in the film as some kind of command module thate fell off the ship shortly after it arrived, or at least thats what MNU was speculating. MNU looked extensively for it, but never found it. I take it from the description, that this was not or at least didn't look like, a controlled descent. I believe this may have had something to do with why nothing much was ever done the mothership by the humans, ie they couldn't access any controls. This would seem to imply that the mother ship has heavy automation and is apparently controlled by a single individual or small crew. This does raise some questions with regards to just where Christopher falls on the implied hiarchy in prawn society. He and his son seem to be different from the other prawns in some way. It is also curious that someone apparently hid the smaller vessel so quickly.
The black liquid that was so important was rather odd. Christopher's dialog early in the movie when he, his son, and the yellowish prawn are searching in a landfill like area seems to suggest that whatever the black stuff is it is contained in their technology or at least some of it. The stuff is apparently pretty rare, since it took 20 years to collect enough of the stuff and appears to need to be purified or something. It is obviously not some kind of fuel, at least not in the conventional sense. I wander if its not somehow related to some kind of molecular/DNA based computing. Unfortunately, that is completely out of my field of knowledge. Maybe one of the other more experienced computer guys, such as Starglider, might be able to shed further light on the subject.
As you may know, District 9 was inspired by Neill Blomkamp's short film Alive In Joburg. But what many people don't realize is that he created Alive In Joburg's footage of people being interviewed about aliens, by using real interviews.
I was asking black South Africans about black Nigerians and Zimbabweans. That's actually where the idea came from was there are aliens living in South Africa, I asked "What do you feel about Zimbabwean Africans living here?" And those answers — they weren't actors, those are real answers...
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
neoolong wrote:It could/should have been a fluid that would transform Christopher into a pilot/leader class prawn that would have allowed him to access the higher level functions of the ship, thereby allowing him to operate it.
Makes it much easier to buy that the fluid transforms Wikus into a prawn.
From a technical standpoint, that's probably correct, but given the story that Blomkamp was attempting to tell, having Wikus transform into a Prawn was a superior choice. This movie was about apartheid as a main element, so having Wikus become a hybrid (something in the bad old days the South Africans would have called a Coloured), and suddenly finding himself without any sort rights and freely at the mercy of the MNU was a good choice, even if it is rubbish from a scientific perspective.
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"Really, I'm jealous of how much smarter than me he is. I'm not an expert on anything and he's an expert on things he knows nothing about." - Me, concerning a bullshitter
I went along with the missus and some friends last night to see this, and we mostly enjoyed it.
I liked Wikus' journey from being a Michael Scott style part of the system to suddenly being on the other side of it. It was a fun watch, though as soon as I saw him get a Prawn hand I saw the escape and massive gun use coming.
I hope they do a sequel or a book to flesh the universe out more.
"Oh no, oh yeah, tell me how can it be so fair
That we dying younger hiding from the police man over there
Just for breathing in the air they wanna leave me in the chair
Electric shocking body rocking beat streeting me to death"
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Gil Hamilton wrote:From a technical standpoint, that's probably correct, but given the story that Blomkamp was attempting to tell, having Wikus transform into a Prawn was a superior choice. This movie was about apartheid as a main element, so having Wikus become a hybrid (something in the bad old days the South Africans would have called a Coloured), and suddenly finding himself without any sort rights and freely at the mercy of the MNU was a good choice, even if it is rubbish from a scientific perspective.
No, I mean that it's much easier to buy a fluid that is supposed to change someone into another type of prawn would change a human into a prawn than the fluid simply being some type of fuel source. You'd have the same end result, just without that extra jump.
"Poleepkwa" is a Chichewa word? And the first interviewee in "Alive in Joburg" referencing aliens with "biosuits" and cables running into the electrical supplies was talking about Zimbabweans? I think that's not entirely true.
"Poleepkwa" is a Chichewa word? And the first interviewee in "Alive in Joburg" referencing aliens with "biosuits" and cables running into the electrical supplies was talking about Zimbabweans? I think that's not entirely true.
Some are actors, but some of the interviewees are people who holds a xenophobic fear of the Zimbabweans and the Nigerians.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
Neill Blomkamp, the South African writer-director of the upcoming sci-fi drama District 9, has yet to find out whether his movie will catch on with wider audiences the same way it did with folks who saw footage from it at last week's San Diego Comic-Con.
But the filmmaker said that he would be happy to return to the film's universe if it became a box-office smash. "If this film is successful, if audiences want another, whatever, District 10, I would love to do it," Blomkamp said in an exclusive interview this week in Los Angeles. "It's a very personal film, and it's a universe and a place that I find incredibly creative. I'd love to go back to that universe."
The movie deals with the arrival of a million insectoid aliens, derisively called "Prawns," in a massive ship over Johannesburg, South Africa, and the uneasy coexistence 28 years later between humans and aliens who live in the grinding poverty and violence of a township-like camp. The action is set in motion by a low-level bureaucrat, played by newcomer Sharlto Copley, who heads an armed force that enters the slum, District 9, to make way for a forced relocation of the aliens. When things take an unexpected turn, Copley's Wikus van der Merwe finds his life turned upside down, and he is forced to question his assumptions and forge an uneasy alliance with an alien and his young son.
Blomkamp said that if audiences wanted something different from him, he was working on something else that would no doubt appeal to the same audience, even if the project went in a slightly different direction.
"I have another science fiction film now that I want to write for the rest of the year," Blomkamp said. "That, I think, may be the next one, and I'm incredibly into [it]. It's quite different, and it's a unique idea, but I'm very into it."
Describing the tone, he said it would feature a similar combination of grand ideas and great action set pieces: "It's similar," he said coyly. "I mean, it's a very different film, but it's a very similar genre, I suppose."
As for a follow up to District 9, there's an obvious sequel idea. (Major spoilers ahead!)
The obvious thing would be for Christopher to return to Earth in three years to help Wikus, as promised. Is that a possible story?
"I do have ideas rattling around in my head, and weirdly enough they're not to do with what you just said," Blomkamp said. "They're different. But, who knows? First, the population has to like [District 9]; otherwise, the whole thing is just moot, I suppose. But I would love to go back there."
[R_H] wrote:Why didn't the MNU scientists try disassembling the Prawn weapons? I can't remember if it was implied they had tryed to do so, or had done so.
I wondered if they ever tried to use severed prawn limbs, or tissues to activate the weapon. If they could use prawn cells by themselves, it would obviate the need for much of the destructive and inefficient testing MNU was doing. Assuming they don't require a live prawn to use the weapons, what would stop MNU from developing a bypass, even if it were something dumb like prawn cell impregnated gloves or inserts?
'Ai! ai!' wailed Legolas. 'A Balrog! A Balrog is come!'
Gimli stared with wide eyes. 'Durin's Bane!' he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.
'A Balrog,' muttered Gandalf. 'Now I understand.' He faltered and leaned heavily on his staff. 'What an evil fortune! And I am already weary.'
- J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
[R_H] wrote:Why didn't the MNU scientists try disassembling the Prawn weapons? I can't remember if it was implied they had tryed to do so, or had done so.
It seems to me that their entire tech base is centered on some sort of DNA recongnition. Perhaps some time in the prawn's past, they encountered another race and they made it so their own technology can't be used against them. Some sort of built in fail-safe. And that it seems to be built in with the rest of their tech too and MNU wasn't able to do anything. I would assume that they attempted to take their tech apart and rebuild or attempt to rebuild the tech everywhich way they can to no success.
However, just because the Prawn are the only ones that are able to use the weapons doesn't necessarily mean that they can't be taken apart. Or perhaps MNU already did that, and they weren't able to accertain much/anything. Were there any instruments on screen during the live fire test they forced Wikus to do?
They said explicitly during the opening of the film that they had been completely unable to reverse engineer Prawn technologby because "they've somehow made it dependant on their biology".
GuppyShark wrote:They said explicitly during the opening of the film that they had been completely unable to reverse engineer Prawn technologby because "they've somehow made it dependant on their biology".
Not to mentioned not everything can be reserve engineered.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
SylasGaunt wrote:ANd I imagine reverse engineering something is a bit harder when you can't turn it on or make it do anything but sit there like a lump.
Well, I suppose if they had to, MNU could just grab a living prawn, strap him down with his hand around the trigger, and cattle prod him to make him fire, like they did to Wikus.
They probably did try that and didn't learn anything anyway. Given how advanced prawn tech is compared to our own in certain ways (FTL travel, not to mention the spray can of absolutely mind-boggling genetic and molecular reconstruction magic), for modern humans to attempt to reverse engineer prawn tech would be akin to having a bunch of Enlightenment scientists from the 17th century attempt to reverse engineer a MacBook Pro.
GuppyShark wrote:They said explicitly during the opening of the film that they had been completely unable to reverse engineer Prawn technologby because "they've somehow made it dependant on their biology".
To the point that they can't take the guns apart, or X-ray them or MRI them...stuff like that?
Saw it yesterday and all I can say is Fucking Awesome!
I was actually going to see G.I. Joe before this, but the board's review threads on both changed my mind.
It had some of the best action and drama that you'll find in the biggest Hollywood blockbusters, yet none of the cliched Hollywood crap. The acting and dialog was fantastic, like actual normal human behavior, conversations and interactions instead of feeling like actors just reciting lines and movement on a set. Also, as others have mentioned, excellent embedding of a message in a movie without being preachy or beating the audience over the head with it.
It was great the way it showed humans as the complete bastards they are - from the superstitious Nigerians to the MNU - taking advantage of and fucking over the Prawn as well as each other in the name of greed. And despite the early savage appearance and behavior of most Prawn, you can quickly come to understand and sympathize with them to some degree. Their facial expressions (eyes particularly) helped a lot to convey for lack of a better term, their humanity (or maybe Prawnanity), despite their alien appearance. Maybe it's just me, but I noticed a kinda similarity between the Prawn face/eyes and that of Bumblebee's from the Transformers movies.
While a lot of people probably want a sequel, and Blomkamp is certainly entertaining the possibility, I hope Blomkamp doesn't get pressured into producing one just because he can, and actually proceeds only if and when he has a worthwhile idea. I had this horrible image walking out of the theater of a $200 million+ Michael Bay directed Hollywood sequel being pushed through based on the films success.
I fear that the sequel would be based around the premise that Christopher Johnson was unable to convince prawn leadership to simply let him go back and rescue the remaining refugees, and an invasion of earth is staged. Inevitably, Freeman Wikus is the key to solving everything.
GuppyShark wrote:They said explicitly during the opening of the film that they had been completely unable to reverse engineer Prawn technologby because "they've somehow made it dependant on their biology".
To the point that they can't take the guns apart, or X-ray them or MRI them...stuff like that?
Apparently. I'm sure they did, but it didn't help them.
GuppyShark wrote:They said explicitly during the opening of the film that they had been completely unable to reverse engineer Prawn technologby because "they've somehow made it dependant on their biology".
To the point that they can't take the guns apart, or X-ray them or MRI them...stuff like that?
Apparently. I'm sure they did, but it didn't help them.
Hmm. Then the live-fire must have been a great help. Why didn't they just coerce a Prawn to do that in the beginning, instead of Wikus?
They weren't using Wikus to help them make more weapons. They wanted to cut him up so they could figure out how to turn more people into prawn-human hybrids.
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