Independence Day was weak in story

I've been hearing it more and more that the twist in Independence Day of a simple virus was all that it took to knock out a high tech alien military is just bad script writing and a lack of imagination.

"Is the screen writer telling us the aliens are Windows users?"

With the supposed greatest scientific minds working on reverse engineering alien technology for over 50 years, no one made heads or tails on how any of the technology works?

Seeing a fleet of Earth built reverse engineered spaceships ready for a counter assault would have been more acceptable.
 
I don't know why people are even arguing about this...

If aliens invaded Earth we would be obliterated in an nanosecond. If you're getting technical, you would just say the whole movie wouldn't have happened.
 
never thought of it till I read your post.. but the VIRUS thing is a nod to "War Of The Worlds" right.. which aliens were stopped by a virus, albeit a organic one.
 
never thought of it till I read your post.. but the VIRUS thing is a nod to "War Of The Worlds" right.. which aliens were stopped by a virus, albeit a organic one.

Yep, definitely my first thought.

Feel free to tell HG Wells that you think he's a bad storyteller because he relies on Deus Ex Machina (or Deus Ex Diseasa) ;)

You will actually encounter one or two difficulties in telling HG Wells that...
 
Haha, HG popped into my head too.

You'd think an advanced space-faring culture would have antibiotics too.

I was 11 or 12 when Independence Day came out and I loved it. It was one of the first VHS tapes I owned myself. I remember my favorite part that always had me on the edge of my seat was when Will and Jeff were sneaking through the mothership incognito, just k owing that at any second they'd be obliterated... but survived!

I haven't seen it in years, and I'm sure it would loom different now, but at 12 it ROCKED!

The other tapes that were part of my first collection were MIB, Jurassic Park and Star Wars IV-VI. I wore those tapes out.
 
I liked the whole virus upload thing. The flying of the ship and hidding in the ship thing was funny.

Sure it is not super realistic but most Sci Fi is not super realistic. I remember there being an episode of Battlestar Gallactica about a virus that was uploaded by the cylons to take over all the ships. But Gallatica was too old and it survived the attack. Many scifi shows had computer virus episodes. On Smallville there is an episode that is about a virus that is sent in emails that cause people to try to kill someone.
 
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The virus solution in ID4 was complete baby BS.
Audience gobbled it up. They didn't care, so I don't know why I should.

At some point you just gotta accept that most blue collar pedestrian movie watchin' 400 DVD collectin' fools just don't hold as high a standard to these things.

Does sh!t get blown up? Yes/No?
If yes then it's gold.

:rolleyes:
 
Sure it is not super realistic but most Sci Fi is not super realistic. I remember there being an episode of Battlestar Gallactica about a virus that was uploaded by the cylons to take over all the ships. But Gallatica was too old and it survived the attack. Many scifi shows had computer virus episodes. On Smallville there is an episode that is about a virus that is sent in emails that cause people to try to kill someone.

Completely different situations. The issue isn't the fact that it's a virus, it's the fact that it was written for a completely alien technology that Jeff Goldblum had no knowledge of. The idea that a Pismo PowerBook would even be able to interface is bad enough, but then Goldblum being able to instantly come up with a virus for the alien system is not even remotely realistic.
 
Completely different situations. The issue isn't the fact that it's a virus, it's the fact that it was written for a completely alien technology that Jeff Goldblum had no knowledge of. The idea that a Pismo PowerBook would even be able to interface is bad enough, but then Goldblum being able to instantly come up with a virus for the alien system is not even remotely realistic.

I agree that it was not remotely realistic. Still it was fun to watch in the movie. Of course not everything would work in real life. It is kinda like there is no sound in space. It sure would be boring watching space films if there was no sound in space. I figure it is ok to be unrealistic now and then as long as it does not get way too carried away like Terminator 3 which was cheese. The cars driving by the T3 controlling them was so fake and unrealistic that for me it ruined the film. But I could forgive the ID4 virus thing because I liked the film. It was entertaining and the acting and the rest of the movie made up for the minor flaws.

I wonder what they will come up for Independence Day sequals.
 
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.....The idea that a Pismo PowerBook would even be able to interface is bad enough, but then Goldblum being able to instantly come up with a virus for the alien system is not even remotely realistic.....

Hey! I like my Power....yeah, okay...(slinks back to corner):D


Actually, I think you might be overthinking it. So, it wasn't deep. So it was unrealistic. In the movie "Signs" the aliens couldn't get into houses because they physically couldn't turn a doorknob. (shrug).

But "Independence Day" had pretty people, space aliens, flyin' machines, and explosions. Sometimes people just want a diversion. Heck, I watch "Armageddon" when it comes on.

Eat your popcorn :lol:

-- spinner :cool:
 
You gotta remember that it came out in 1996. A handful of people had AOL dial-up on Windows 95 machines. This was right after Jurassic Park came out and a 13 year old girl hacked the "Linux" computer to save the park (that the other engineers apparently couldn't). My dad was big into computers. We had Internet in 96 but I think we were the only ones in the neighborhood.

Point is, most people were still computer illiterate compared to today's public where every grandma has a Facebook account. It's science fiction, the exciting unknown.
 
Heck, I watch "Armageddon" when it comes on.
Is Armageddon the one where the space shuttle delivered drill buggy came equipped with a .50 cal machine gun? :rolleyes:

Oh, wait... there were TWO drill buggies equiped with .50cal machine guns.
Yeah.
That's niiiiiice.
 
Sci-Fi doesn't make sense. None of it! Seriously, you give me ANY Sci-Fi movie, and I will tell you how little sense it makes.

And this is my favorite genre.

It's important to remember that in "Sci-Fi", "Fi" stands for FICTION. If the movie works, on a larger level (which I believe "ID4" does), there is no need to nit-pick the science-y details.
 
The sci in sci-fi almost never makes it to the screen.

If you READ Jurassic Park its WAY more sciency..
If you want to see how great sci-fi novel can be a well made but stupid movie, check out another Chriton master piece, Congo!
 
Sci-Fi doesn't make sense. None of it! Seriously, you give me ANY Sci-Fi movie, and I will tell you how little sense it makes.

How about Gattacca, or Close Encounters of the Third Kind? I like soft scifi like Independence Day and Star Wars, but the idea that all scifi doesn't make sense is ridiculous.

Ps. If I was feeling mean, I'd ask you about Primer...
 
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Hm. How about Moon?

:) No problem.

First of all, I think it's a terrific movie. I really like it, a lot.

It is not just possible, but probable, that we will eventually clone human beings. But the idea that we might implant artificial memories? Ridiculous. The human brain is not a computer, nothing even remotely resembling one. Each of our conscious existences is built entirely upon the framework of a unique and extremely complex network of ever-changing synapses, and the entire process is effected, very heavily, by unique biological, and life-circumstantial factors. The thought that we could re-create that, artificially, is fucking stupid.

Nevertheless, a very cool movie. :D
 
How about Gattacca, or Close Encounters of the Third Kind? I like soft scifi like Independence Day and Star Wars, but the idea that all scifi doesn't make sense is ridiculous.

Ps. If I was feeling mean, I'd ask you to you about Primer...

If you honestly want me to tear those movies apart, I'd be glad to. Or, we could save this debate for when we're sitting on the same couch, in Los Banos! :)

From a scientific perspective, none of them make any sense. Story-wise, they're F-ing awesome. Science-wise, they're pure fiction! And that's cool. I'm okay with that. I love Sci-Fi!
 
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