# How else would you like to see the world end (or nearly end) on screen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781 "2006-07-24T05:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/21 "2006-07-24T19:45:10Z")
Reshoot _Independence Day_ – and [let the Pinks **lose!**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Day_%28Church_of_the_SubGenius%29)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/22 "2006-07-24T19:52:52Z")
How about the Sun going nova? Whether by natural causes (i.e. it was going to go nova this whole time and we misunderstood the physics) or by evil alien device, or by malfunctioning human device, there’s nothing like a star exploding to clear your stellar system of those pesky inner planets. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/23 "2006-07-24T19:59:47Z")
Nobody’s mentioned a **1920s Style Death Ray** yet? ---
**Author:** ![Yeeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/96bed5/32.png) [@Yeeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeeter)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/24 "2006-07-24T21:38:58Z")
How about something like a “De-evolution?” Stick with me here. For example everybody on the planet starts having some defect like short-sightedness, but more fatal (for my example I’ll use short-sightedness). But since we are all very clever and are able to overcome this deficiency with glasses we prosper as a species. Then one day we run out of glass for our glasses (or plastic for our plastic glasses), or all the optometrists become too blind to work anymore. At that point our civilization starts breaking down and the majority of people can’t cope and die off. Ironically (or expectedly – if you are the type to guess this stuff), people who were blind before this mess are able to cope and start re-populating the planet with purely blind people. Too Twilight Zone? ---
**Author:** ![Star\_Female](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Star\_Female](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_Female)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/25 "2006-07-25T14:50:27Z")
[QUOTE=wm–] I don’t know if “enjoyable” is the right word… it’s certainly effective. QUOTE] Okay, you’re right. Effetive is a better word. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/26 "2006-07-25T20:02:48Z")
I’ve never liked the Gray Goo scenarios, because they’ve already happened. Earth already _is_ dominated by gazillions of tiny, self-replicating nanomachines that eat everything, and it has been for the past four billion years. What’s the difference if they happen to be made by humans? > [@](#): > > I’ve been imagining something similar, except that one out of ten (or maybe one out of a hundred) people would still be fertile, so the overpopulation problems would be solved not by killing off most of the population, but by attrition. And perhaps the infertility might be caused by a virus introduced by environmental activists, but not discovered until the process is well underway. Sounds like something James Tiptree Jr. would write. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/27 "2006-07-25T20:13:38Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] I’ve never liked the Gray Goo scenarios, because they’ve already happened. Earth already _is_ dominated by gazillions of tiny, self-replicating nanomachines that eat everything, and it has been for the past four billion years. What’s the difference if they happen to be made by humans? [/QUOTE] I thought you WERE talking about humans. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/28 "2006-07-25T20:41:44Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] I’ve never liked the Gray Goo scenarios, because they’ve already happened. Earth already _is_ dominated by gazillions of tiny, self-replicating nanomachines that eat everything, and it has been for the past four billion years. What’s the difference if they happen to be made by humans? [/QUOTE] **Ah** , but those nanomachines (Earth life as we already know it) are too fussy about their food. They don’t turn _everything_ into copies of themselves. Also, every one of them dies eventually, returning its atoms to the free pool for future generations to use. The Gray Goo Catastrophe, on the other hand, imagines a nanobot that can break apart most or all molecules and use the atoms to build copies of itself. Almost everything in the world would be “food” — except other nanobots, presumably — and would quickly be turned into more nanobots, until the food supply was exhausted. A vast gray goo would then cover the planet, forever after. _Fini_. A bit far-fetched, you say? Sure. Maybe even impossible, say the chemists and material physicists in the back? Well, I’m not in a position to argue. A potential blockbuster starring Bruce Willis and/or Jodie Foster and/or Samuel Jackson? _You betcha._ ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/29 "2006-07-25T20:46:58Z")
[QUOTE=Yeeter] How about something like a “De-evolution?” Stick with me here. For example everybody on the planet starts having some defect like short-sightedness, but more fatal (for my example I’ll use short-sightedness). But since we are all very clever and are able to overcome this deficiency with glasses we prosper as a species. Then one day we run out of glass for our glasses (or plastic for our plastic glasses), or all the optometrists become too blind to work anymore. At that point our civilization starts breaking down and the majority of people can’t cope and die off. Ironically (or expectedly – if you are the type to guess this stuff), people who were blind before this mess are able to cope and start re-populating the planet with purely blind people. [/QUOTE] The aptly named book [Blindness](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0156007754/sr=8-1/qid=1153860107/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0450518-6303134?ie=UTF8) deals with the social collapse that takes place after a mysterious and unexplainable epidemic of sudden and complete blindness starts to affect the populace. Plot spoilers: For a while, the blind are quarantined, but since no one sighted is willing to enter the quarantined zone, they quickly revert to a barbaric existence. Later, when they finally leave, we see that the entire city (possibly world) is in a state of squalor and destruction. One character keeps her sight through the whole ordeal. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/30 "2006-07-25T21:07:41Z")
A mutated encephalitis-type disease destroys peoples’ sexual inhibitations, leaving them williing to do anyone anytime anywhere. Society collapses as people spend almost every waking hour copulating. (boom-chucka-bow-wow). ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/31 "2006-07-25T21:10:27Z")
[QUOTE=Bytegeist] A potential blockbuster starring Bruce Willis and/or Jodie Foster and/or Samuel Jackson? _You betcha._ [/QUOTE] “Get these _motherfucking nanomachines_ off of my _motherfucking planet_!” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/32 "2006-07-25T21:17:14Z")
A death plunge into the gas giant Jupiter–for revenge, baby! ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/33 "2006-07-26T01:06:31Z")
Not with a bang but a whimper. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/34 "2006-07-26T02:05:52Z")
I’m all about the zombies. I read that there was/is talk of a sequel to the remake of _Dawn of the Dead_ and I hope it pans out. A good movie where an asteroid/comet actually hits the planet would be more interesting than being saved at the last moment. _Lucifer’s Hammer_ with good effects and better dialog would be more entertaining than the Earth getting saved at the last moment. Yes, part of the comet in _Deep Impact_ hit the Earth but it wasn’t total destruction and the movie didn’t focus on the aftermath. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/35 "2006-07-26T12:11:56Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m all about the zombies. I read that there was/is talk of a sequel to the remake of Dawn of the Dead and I hope it pans out. Well, if I’ve got it straight, somebody’s making a remake of Romero’s _Day of the Dead_, which was a sequel to Romero’s _Dawn of the Dead_. Not a sequel to the remake of _Dawn_, but rather a completely separate remake of _Day_. Don’t ask me why. There was a Harlan Ellison story in which the world is invaded by Disgusting Things from another reality, which immediately start having incredible sex with everybody (literally, everybody). The sex is so good that people keep going at it until they starve to death. I don’t know if that would make a good movie; maybe an After School Special. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/36 "2006-07-26T13:11:17Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] Well, if I’ve got it straight, somebody’s making a remake of Romero’s _Day of the Dead_, which was a sequel to Romero’s _Dawn of the Dead_. Not a sequel to the remake of _Dawn_, but rather a completely separate remake of _Day_. [/QUOTE] _Long, Drawn-Out Sunday Afternoon of the Dead._ Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/37 "2006-07-26T13:23:35Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] A mutated encephalitis-type disease destroys peoples’ sexual inhibitations, leaving them williing to do anyone anytime anywhere. Society collapses as people spend almost every waking hour copulating. (boom-chucka-bow-wow). [/QUOTE] A few years ago, a friend bought a British novel from AMOK Books titled THE GAS in which some sort of chemical weapon was released which did exactly that. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/38 "2006-07-26T13:26:17Z")
[QUOTE=wm–] I don’t know if “enjoyable” is the right word… it’s certainly effective. I don’t consider it a hallowed movie though. The dialogue and acting are pretty workmanlike and stray into cheesy soap operatics more than once. What the movie does right is show the effects of the war uncompromisingly [/QUOTE] I must be remembering this movie differently. I wanted to like it, I got the message, but seriously, at the end, Jason Robards emerges from his shelter (he doesn’t need to wait for fallout to settle or rad levels to go down) and looks at a bunch of broken boards and collapsed houses in the bright sunshine. No fear of radiation, no huge firestorm, no nuclear winter, no chemical contamination worries (as in the ash from the World Trade Center, for example). It looked like the day after a hurricane, not a nuclear war. Instead of the blasted moonscape we see in Hiroshima photos, this looked like the local dump after the neighborhood replaced its aluminum siding. Big letdown. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/39 "2006-07-26T14:39:31Z")
[QUOTE=Sailboat] I must be remembering this movie differently. . . . but seriously, at the end, Jason Robards emerges from his shelter (he doesn’t need to wait for fallout to settle or rad levels to go down) and looks at a bunch of broken boards and collapsed houses in the bright sunshine. No fear of radiation, no huge firestorm, no nuclear winter, no chemical contamination worries (as in the ash from the World Trade Center, for example). [/quote] Not quite. Near the end of the film, Jason Robards’s character returns to Kansas City, where he lives (or lived), from Lawrence, where he had been teaching a class on the fateful day. He already knows he’s dying from radiation; he was within plain sight of the blasts, on the highway, when the bombs went off. But he’s returning to Kansas City anyway because he wants to see his house one last time before he goes. He has no fear of radiation because radiation has already claimed him. Not sure what your point is about the firestorm. This has already happened a couple days earlier by the time he comes back. (The filmmakers used stock footage of nuclear fireballs consuming buildings and trees.) We do not see events from the point of view of anyone actually in the city at the time of the explosions, or the immediate fiery aftermath. Presumably there will be a nuclear winter later on — or then again maybe not. The film doesn’t show one because it only covers the few days before and after the holocaust. I think you’re right that they don’t talk about chemical contamination, but they do address radiation contamination many times. For example they show army trucks coming by to hand out food relief. And they show fallout ash raining down. Personally I thought they did a pretty good job, given the more limited special effects available in the early 1980s. There was nothing blatantly unrealistic in the film. And in the ending titles, they note that the real effects of an all-out nuclear war would be even worse than what’s depicted. ---
**Author:** ![Star\_Female](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Star\_Female](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_Female)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781/40 "2006-07-26T15:05:37Z")
[QUOTE=Bytegeist] We do not see events from the point of view of anyone actually in the city at the time of the explosions, or the immediate fiery aftermath. [/QUOTE] We don’t? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-else-would-you-like-to-see-the-world-end-or-nearly-end-on-screen/365781.md?page=3)