# Gravity! \[open spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950 "2013-05-10T01:41:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/101 "2013-10-06T18:09:44Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Also, why the radio blackout? You don’t need comm satellites to talk to either the shuttle or ISS. I haven’t seen it yet (dammit, another month before it opens here) but could ground talk to an individual in a space suit? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/102 "2013-10-06T18:17:27Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I haven’t seen it yet (dammit, another month before it opens here) but could ground talk to an individual in a space suit? Most certainly. If it receives and transmits RF we have the gain to receive it here and plenty of power to transmit back. Remember, it’s only a few kilometers away. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/103 "2013-10-06T18:59:06Z")
Shut up, log out, and go see it _now_. That is all. Game-changer. Utter game-changer on a par with any ten films you choose as the signposts of cinematic evolution. Cuaron has joined the gods with this one. Best Picture, Director, Actress, Original Screenplay, maybe Cinematography, Editing and Score. Simply fucking magnificent in every respect. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/104 "2013-10-06T19:24:25Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Shut up, log out, and go see it _now_. That is all. > > Game-changer. Utter game-changer on a par with any ten films you choose as the signposts of cinematic evolution. Cuaron has joined the gods with this one. > > Best Picture, Director, Actress, Original Screenplay, maybe Cinematography, Editing and Score. > > Simply fucking magnificent in every respect. Don’t buy the hype. You’ll be disappointed. Go expecting A+ visuals and a paper thin story and you’ll have a good time. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/105 "2013-10-06T20:00:47Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Don’t buy the hype. You’ll be disappointed. > Go expecting A+ visuals and a paper thin story and you’ll have a good time. No, it’s not a Spielberg-Bay splosionfest with aliens. I’m sure that means it will bore the same crowd that found Blade Runner and 2001 too slow. Otoh, those of us who have found the last half dozen or so “space” movies to be shoddy horror/thriller retreads found it more than refreshing… ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/106 "2013-10-06T20:18:32Z")
I also don’t think a straightforward, non-complex story is necessarily “paper-thin” either. I’m glad there wasn’t any added complexity simply to do so. It a good, simple story told well. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/107 "2013-10-06T20:19:34Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Most certainly. If it receives and transmits RF we have the gain to receive it here and plenty of power to transmit back. Remember, it’s only a few kilometers away. Yes I know it’s not all that far away, but someone using only the resources that comes with a spacesuit, is communication possible? I guess it is a one-way kind of thing? (Just interested really, no big argument) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/108 "2013-10-06T20:47:19Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > No, it’s not a Spielberg-Bay splosionfest with aliens. I’m sure that means it will bore the same crowd that found Blade Runner and 2001 too slow. Huh. For those of us who think both of those movies were brilliant and original, this comparison might be considered a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/109 "2013-10-06T20:49:17Z")
Loved it. Saw it in IMAX 3D. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/110 "2013-10-06T21:12:36Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Most certainly. If it receives and transmits RF we have the gain to receive it here and plenty of power to transmit back. Remember, it’s only a few kilometers away. No, it’s a few hundred kilometers away, and that’s when it is directly overhead. Shuttle suits have low-power UHF radios of probably no more than a few hundred milliwatts and at the speed they’re going they only maintain line of sight with a specific ground station for 10 minutes or so, and during that 10 minutes much of it will be spent a lot more than 200km from your receiving station. It’s not clear to me at all that you could hear direct suit communications from the ground - at least, not without having a few hours at least to get something set up. I know EVA astronauts talk directly to mission control, but I don’t know if their suit comms are relayed through the shuttle/ISS. In any event, it’s not that far fetched to believe that in a disaster of this magnitude and speed of onset they might not have had time/resources to go looking for suit comms, especially since they had no idea there were even survivors, or that if there were they had any possibility of rescue. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/111 "2013-10-06T21:16:22Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Most certainly. If it receives and transmits RF we have the gain to receive it here and plenty of power to transmit back. Remember, it’s only a few kilometers away. All (now retired) Shuttle and ISS communications through ground now use the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS, pronounced ‘tee-driss’). This system allows for continuity and transfer of signals from spacecraft similar to the way a ground-based cellular network provides a handoff of cell signals while driving from one ‘cell’ area to another. As such, it is the preferred system for communications in flight or low Earth orbit, and in fact most of the ground based communication system previously used (Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network or STDN) has been mothballed or deactivated. The commercial ORBCOMM system is also sometimes used for the same purpose. Both systems were presumably have been taken out by the cascading collisional debris field caused by the intercept and destruction of the Russian spy satellite, in a hypothesized phenomenon known as Kessler syndrome. This is something of a stretch as the fictional _Explorer_, the Hubble Space Telescope (referred to in the film by its acronym, HST), and the International Space Station were all reported as orbiting at an altitude of ~600 km, whereas the TDRSS satellites are in geosynchronous orbits and at 35.8 km and ORBCOMM at at 720 km, so even if a cascade would eventually result in a debris field that could take them out it would take time, but it is an understandable dramatic license to isolate the astronauts. It is true that their transmissions could probably be picked up by a high gain antenna on Earth (even a well-equipped ham operator could likely pick up the transmissions) but the suit comms which are designed for short-range relay to the Orbiter or ISS would be unlikely to have enough gain to boost even a direct line-of-site signal at 600 km distance through atmosphere. Hence why both Stone and Kowalski continued to transmit “in the blind” despite not receiving a response (which is standard procedure). The space station and spacecraft communications systems may well have been damaged in the debris storm and not transmitting. There are a number of other technical inaccuracies in the film; in addition to the unlikelihood of the HST, ISS, and hypothetical Chinese multi-module station all being in orbits achievable by transfers using the limited delta-V of the MMU or the landing motors on the Soyuz, which have only a few tens of m/s of delta-V, there is also that the Soyuz module was discussed as being a Soyuz-TMA (most recent variant) even though it had the older style TM control panel instead of the upgraded ‘glass cockpit’, the fact that the STS program is shut down, the speed at which the debris cloud passed was implausibly slow (at any significant difference in orbital inclination the speeds would have been too fast to see) and would have had such a large proportion of tiny yet equally deadly fragments (to the unprotected Stone) debris that she would have been shredded while detaching the Soyuz from the parachutes, the fact that she was able to survive and remain functional well after her O[SUB]2[/SUB] ran out, the unlikelihood of being able to recover and effect controlled landing of the Chinese Shén Zhōu spacecraft or Kowalski’s assurances that the landing protocol would be identical to the Soyuz (although as it turned out it wasn’t), et cetera. That all being said, the film got far more right than it did wrong, and most of the decisions to deviate from reality were clearly made knowingly to improve dramatic opportunity. The reality of such an impact upon a Shuttle mission would have the Orbiter likely damaged beyond the ability to safely reenter or communicate and any surviving crew stranded in orbit, far away from any kind of rescue until their O[SUB]2[/SUB] would run out, which would make for a less interesting story and one without any opportunity for rescue. This film aptly captured the uncaring reality of space with respect to human exploration, and that anyone who ventures out there is reliant upon the fragile protection of technology that is barely at a level of providing the rudiments of a habitable environment given ideal conditions and support. In terms of its portrayal of the realistic crewed space exploration I think it is on par with _2001: A Space Odyssey_, even if the story is more prosaic. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/112 "2013-10-06T21:49:54Z")
I’m skipping through the nitpicking. I don’t care. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > No, it’s not a Spielberg-Bay splosionfest with aliens. I’m sure that means it will bore the same crowd that found Blade Runner and 2001 too slow. > > Otoh, those of us who have found the last half dozen or so “space” movies to be shoddy horror/thriller retreads found it more than refreshing… I’m right there with you on Gravity, but do seek out Europa Report when it comes out on DVD. You’ll probably like it, and lament that you didn’t get to see it in the theater. Btw, Gravity was spectacular in 2D too. I’m seriously thinking about seeing it again at the IMAX. I don’t go very often (Pacific Rim was my last one) but when I do I check my glasses before going to my seat by holding them up to the light. If they’re scratched I ask for another pair and check them too. I’d ask for 20 of them rather than settle for a scratched pair. For that price, I damned well better get clear lenses. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/113 "2013-10-06T22:03:33Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Don’t buy the hype. You’ll be disappointed. > Go expecting A+ visuals and a paper thin story and you’ll have a good time. Agreed. “Magnificent” is stretching it. Gravity is merely “great”. > [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Also, why the radio blackout? You don’t need comm satellites to talk to either the shuttle or ISS. I can do it from my backyard with 5w and a handheld antenna. NASA and the AF have comm stations circling the globe with high gain dishes and enough power to talk to Mars, much less stations in LEO. You do when the shuttle is on the other side of the planet. Even if the comm station in Africa can receive and transmit to the shuttle when it’s overhead, it can’t relay the signal back to Houston. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/114 "2013-10-06T22:31:37Z")
Absolutely loved it. Saw it in IMAX 3D and was blown away! ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/115 "2013-10-07T01:58:03Z")
I read this thread and, based on comments here, took my wife out to see it earlier this evening. Verdict: I liked it. Visuals were amazing. Story was okay, as others said, a little thin, but not bad at all. Thanks, guys! PS: Where have Sandra Bullocks’ legs been all my life? My wife even commented on how great they looked. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/116 "2013-10-07T02:10:43Z")
About the scene at the endWhen she is struggling to the surface and you catch a glimpse of the frog swimming in the water, I almost laughed out loud, thinking of the frog photobombing the NASA launch. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/117 "2013-10-07T02:12:04Z")
A lot of people liked this movie. [Box Office: ‘Gravity’ breaks October records with phenomenal $55.5 million](http://www.hitfix.com/news/box-office-gravity-breaks-october-records-with-phenomenal-555-milion#~ojxVI11Xehgsk8) It’s still at [98% at Rotten Tomatoes](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gravity_2013/) (96 on Metacritic). In comparison to other highly-regarded films out now, **Prisoners** is 80% (74 on Metacritic), **Don Jon** is 83% (66 on Metacritic), **This is The End** is 84% (67 on Metacritic), **The Way, Way Back** is 85% (67 on Metacritic), **Rush** is 88% (75 on Metacritic), **The World’s End** is 89% (81 on Metacritic), **Blue Jasmine** , **The Spectacular Now** and **In A World** are all 91% (78, 79, and 79 on Metacritic) and **Enough Said** is 95% (79 on Metacritic). **Wadjda** matches it with 98% (81 on Metacritic), and **Short Term 12** beats it at 99% (85 on Metacritic). ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/118 "2013-10-07T02:28:21Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Story was okay, as others said, a little thin, but not bad at all. I don’t think that “the story is thin” is a legitimate criticism. This isn’t trying to be _War and Peace_; it is fundamentally a story about responding to an immediate hazard and the panic and isolation resulting from that. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/119 "2013-10-07T02:58:54Z")
Richard Brody on [“the deadly boring _Gravity_”](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2013/10/alfonso-cuarons-generic-gravity.html) in the _New Yorker_: > [@](#): > > It’s hard to recall a movie that’s as viscerally thrilling and as deadly boring as “Gravity,” a colossal and impressive exertion of brain power aimed at overriding—at obviating—the use of brain power. […] > > The director, Alfonso Cuarón, imagines the minutiae of these dangers—a metal bolt that doesn’t drop but floats, a spark that sends bobbing balls of fire aloft, even the physical terror of momentum in an empty medium that, unlike the sea, can’t be paddled against—if this constitutes imagination. Rather, he has done his job studiously, and his very studiousness is a part of the movie’s generally favorable critical reception. […] > > “Gravity” is a thriller that passes muster of seriousness, but its amazing technological extremes are yoked to the service of a musty, mild worldview. Neither vulgarity nor fantasy, neither visionary scientific ambitions nor strange personal impulses intrude on its earnest methodical complacency. Haven’t seen it myself, but the reviews have been intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950/120 "2013-10-07T03:09:29Z")
I’m not sure I’d use boring to describe the movie. I thought it dealt with suspense quite well. Have we become that jaded and need action every second? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-open-spoilers/657950.md?page=7)