Pandorum and MA

[kesher]

I just watched the movie Pandorum the other night, and it has some interesting connections to MA.

A gigantic generational lifeboat, the main characters wake up out of hypersleep only to, at first, have no memory of where they are or what they're supposed to be doing. Then they find out they've perhaps been asleep longer than they they thought, and life has taken its own course during their slumber...

Darker than your usual MA game, but still lots of usable stuff (and a decent movie, too!)

[Finarvyn]

Never heard of this movie. Hmmmm. Now I have another something to track down...

[giantbat]

Aug 23, 2010 20:57:20 GMT -6 kesher said:

I just watched the movie Pandorum the other night, and it has some interesting connections to MA.

I just watched it earlier this month too. The critics panned it, but I thought it was decent, certainly better than average.

Familiarity with Non-Stop, Metamorphosis Alpha, and The Descent does tend to suggest answers to the plot's central mysteries. Enjoyable nonetheless.

[Craig J. Brain]

I really have to see this movie

Craig J. Brain

[littlewars]

Watched it tonight and liked it. I thought it was pretty smart with some nice hard sci fi. Better than most "claustrophobic monster movies".

Yes, the concept is very much like the Alternate Beginning Sequence for Metamorphosis Alpha featured in the Dragon #6. The main group of characters reminded me of a "rag-tag" MA party.

[Zenopus]

I watched Pandorum last night & thought it was well done. Much better than the Metacritic rating of 28 would have one believe. It really got zero attention when it came out (despite having Dennis Quaid). I hadn't even heard of it until last month when vito mentioned it in another thread, which kesher pointed back to this one.

I agree it was totally a Met Alpha scenario (or, going back to the novels, Orphans of the Sky and Non-Stop/Starship). I would also group it with some other recent Sci-Fi films I've seen (and liked) - Sunshine (2007), Moon (2009), Virtuality (2009 -Ron Moore's failed pilot for a new TV series). Each of these has some themes shared with Pandorum.

[Mr. Darke]

I liked Pandorum up until it ended. I felt the ending didn't fit with the story and was hoping for a more 'Event Horizon' type ending to it. Speaking of Event Horizon, how would that fit into an MA type game?

[capheind]

Actually this doesn't seem all that far from 4th edition MA, in which the human/mutant PC's wake up to a ship where evolution has gone wild, and the ship has crashed into an alien-inhabited asteroid.

[Craig J. Brain]

I have yet to see Pandorum, the local video store doesn't have it I'll have to go further afield!
I loved Event Horizon, and if you look carefully at the timeline, you'll see scope for something along these line in 2120 and the theft of the CS Potemkin

Craig J. Brain

[Deleted]

There is a movie showing on CineMax right now. I saw it a long time ago and rewatching it reminded me of this thread. A Sound of Thunder (2005) would be a great campaign background for a Gamma World game or a level for Metamorphosis Alpha. The film is based on the Bradbury short of the same name.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0318081/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3

[greentongue]

Interesting!
I'll have to put that on my Watch List.
=

[Alex]

Never saw the movie, but read the short story back in junior high (or maybe late elementary). I loved it and see almost daily how it has shaped so many later stories on TV and movies. Everyone should read this tale. You can't be too busy to spare 15-30 minutes for this masterpiece!

[Torreny]

Also, don't forget the acquisition of the riot-control weapon-thing pretty early in.

This movie was pretty good. What first convinced me to watch it was the blurb on the back, and it just screamed MA, so I took the plunge.

I actually liked the ending. That's something I've wanted to do with the Warden, but with my later designs that focused on spinning the ship for gravity, it wouldn't make for a fun adventure if most of the thing was suddenly inaccessible. Though that wouldn't be true if it was an ancient wreck in a Traveller adventure, or suchmuch.