Rented Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow over the weekend. Watched it on Sunday night with the wife, both kids and both cats. I enjoyed it thoroughly, more because we actually had everyone together for two full hours than because of any inherent qualities of the movie. I finally had to declare a “no-snark zone” to keep the wife and son from talking over all the dialogue with their observations of scientific/historical/physical improbabilities.
That said, I did come away from it with a few questions. I don’t know if this character is derived from comics, or came full-cloth out of a scriptwriter’s head; maybe all this stuff is explained in the “Sky Captain Extended Universe”. Anyway, just off the top of my head:
Why is there only one Sky Captain? Shouldn’t he have a squadron or something? Does all that infrastructure (hangars, landing strips, electronics) belong just to him? Who *is * this guy?
What year is it supposed to be in the movie? I know it’s at least 1938 from a reference to 1918 being “at least twenty years ago” (I can do that much math), but how much later than that?
There were references to “The Great War” and to “World War I”, but none to a WWII, either explicitly or by reference – was there supposed to have been a WWII in the movie’s world? Is there a backstory for this?
Well in large part, he is inspired by movie serial heroes like Sky King, and the Golden Age comic book hero Blackhawk, a daredevil pilot who commanded a squadron of international pilots from his island hangar headquarters.
The book of the film mentioned a squadron of pilots that Sky Captain was the commander. Each guy flew a different fighter.
I think this world is supposed to be between WWI and WWII but completly different.
The World of Tomorrow was the theme of the World’s fair in NYC in the 30’s and many of the ideas, like the flying aircraft carrier were from that world’s fair.
Since WWII started in 1939 and the movie is set in 1938, why would you expect a reference to it?
Basically, the movie is a homage to and a recreation of the late 1930s. Conran has said that he wanted to do a 30s serial with 2000 technology. Nothing more than that. The story is pulled out of the writer/director’s ass and contains anything he feels like including. There is no backstory. Hell, there’s not much continuity within the movie.
I know the movie is set in an alternate past, and I’m fine with that. The only thing that really bugged me was the fact that it’s referred to as “World War One” when it was the only world war so far. I absolutely loved the movie, and I’ve got a healthy suspension of disbelief muscle, so I can swallow just about anything–but that pisses me off every time.
Because there was a reference to World War I in the movie. My understanding has always been that, until there *was * a second world war, the first one was referred to as “The Great War.”
The following are my inferences gleaned from paying close attention to the details in the movie:
It’s 1937, as seen on newspaper clippings.
There was a WWII at some point in the early to mid-'30s, which ended in a stalemate that left the Third Reich and imperial Japan politically intact, if not militarily.
Sky Captain is a veteran of the US Army Air Corps, and fought for China in their American Volunteer Air Force during the aforementioned WWII. His current operation is made up of pilots, engineers, and scientists recruited from the militaries of nations worldwide, and seems to be a mercenary organization - presumably his operations are paid for by contracts from various national governments.