# Oblivion (movie) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192 "2013-04-20T05:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/21 "2013-04-23T23:10:19Z")
Alphabetical order ? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/22 "2013-04-24T00:36:18Z")
No, the Watergate was gone. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/23 "2013-04-24T00:56:10Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > I just assumed that this was caused not simply by breaking the moon but by breaking the moon and large pieces falling to Earth That’s not how breaking the Moon works, though. Here’s [a GQ thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=688721) on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/24 "2013-04-24T01:44:00Z")
I’d like more information on that. Asteroids from Mars make it to Earth with some regularity. And, while not a lot, we do have lunar meteorites in various collections around the world and those are just from relatively piddly meteorite impacts on the moon. So why is it unlikely that many very large pieces (though obviously none super large since the planet remains habitable) would make it to Earth from a a cataclysm sufficient to shatter the moon? ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/25 "2013-04-24T15:00:00Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > 1. What the hell was up with Victoria’s eyes? In every scene her pupils were hugely dilated. My wife and I both found it incredibly distracting. That was weirding me out the whole time too. I thought it was something to do with her being a clone but when they showed the flashback with the real Jack and Victoria her eyes were still freakily dilated. It was cool to see the CN Tower at the beginning - Canada doesn’t get too many shout-outs in movies. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/26 "2013-04-24T16:06:30Z")
Saw it last night. I really liked it. To me SyFy is more enjoyable if I can sorta buy into it. Because I saw it dubbed in Spanish, I really missed M. Freeman’s voice. It is amazing how they can dub the voices now days. The lips are synchronized with the voice. Couldn’t do that with tapes. If they could do it with the original actor’s voice, now that would be cool! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/27 "2013-04-24T20:13:58Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > What the hell was up with Victoria’s eyes? In every scene her pupils were hugely dilated. My wife and I both found it incredibly distracting. I think that was purposeful: I think it was a misdirection. They wanted those of us trying to guess the ending to suspect that she was an android or a robot or something. An attempt to lead us away from the true twist. It worked on me; I was convinced she was artificial. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/28 "2013-04-26T18:45:46Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > I think that was purposeful: > > I think it was a misdirection. They wanted those of us trying to guess the ending to suspect that she was an android or a robot or something. An attempt to lead us away from the true twist. It worked on me; I was convinced she was artificial. Also maybe to keep her from being too attractive; Jack would be happy enough with her when he has no-one else, but as soon as he finds the woman he really loves, Vicka is no longer appealing at all.Also The flashback reveals that she was always kind of chasing him in a romantic way. I saw this last night. The SF Chronicle reviewer called it a thoughtful sci-fi movie with good action scenes, so I gave it a shot. The only thoughtfulness I detected was the idea that clones can have inherited memories, and that makes one clone about as good as another, if you were in love with the original. Or, as the reviewer put it, interesting questions about personal identity - :dubious: Roddy ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/29 "2013-04-26T20:09:52Z")
On a sort of tangent, I read this article today: [http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/ross-andersen-human-extinction/](http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/ross-andersen-human-extinction/) Which made me wonder: If Tet is another alien civilization’s Oracle of Delphi (as per the article). That is, an AI that unintentionally ended up destroying everything, including its host civilization, in aims of protecting itself. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/30 "2013-04-26T22:10:14Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > …The only thoughtfulness I detected was the idea that > > clones can have inherited memories, and that makes one clone about as good as another, if you were in love with the original. Or, as the reviewer put it, interesting questions about personal identity - :dubious:… I don’t think that… …Jack & Victoria were clones in the conventional sense. I think the they’re manufactured copies. After abducting them the Tet somehow (nanotech?) was able to conduct extremely detail scans of them, especial of their brains. Instead of being grown from an embryo they’re “contructed” by advanced nanotechnology, so advanced that it recreateds memory & personality when building the brain. The Tet can play around a bit when it does this, but only withing limits. It can’t change personalities or completely eliminate memories & still have Jack be a useful technician (it’s easier with Victoria her purpose is to be Jack’s helpmate). That’s why it was so desperate to get Julia, a new personality & skill set to play with. Maybe Jack/Julia (or Julia/Victoria) would be a more effective team. Granted this doesn’t explain why in 60 yrs it never abducted any other humans or programed it’s drones to destroy humans in stasis. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/31 "2013-04-27T05:12:30Z")
I hate holding discussions in spoiler boxes. [spoiler]The aliens obviusly didn’t wait 50 years (or 40 years if you want to go with how he looks) after getting him before they started unleashing Jack clones on Earth so they definitely aren’t just normal clones. Plus, even if they were normal clones they’d have to have some ability to implant memories or else they’d have adult imbeciles and the memories they have are Jack’s. So they had to implant his memories and then wipe the stuff they didn’t want.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/32 "2013-04-27T05:42:01Z")
I thought Victoria was capital-H Hawt, and (excepting the previous relationship of course) would choose her over the other woman any day of the week and twice on Sunday, freaky eyes or not. Her eyes were part of the attractiveness of her… ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/33 "2013-04-27T15:39:17Z")
The thing I’ve brought away from this discussion is that “Uppity Apes” might be the best band name ever conceived. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/34 "2013-04-27T17:16:18Z")
I enjoyed it. Spent most of the movie unintentionally playing “spot the reference/homage” (shattered moon=Thundarr the Barbarian for example). Not sure how you could end up with New York buried perfectly intact up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, but it sure was pretty. Also, if the only reason there were drones was to protect the water collectors from “Scav” attacks (which apparently was the case for the most part, as they had to pull them from sentry duty any time they needed something else done), why not put the clearly anti-gravity suspended collectors in the middle of the ocean instead of on the shoreline? (I know, wouldn’t be a movie then, but still…) I also commented on the dialated eyes of Victoria, it was really startling obvious and I wondered if it siginfied anything too. And yes, she was super-duper attractive. Love me some Brit accents as well. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/35 "2013-04-28T02:48:40Z")
Someone please explain to me again why Tet needs humans to fix the drones? What was the reason there was a shortage of drones and/or drone parts? Also, when Odyessy is being dragged into Tet and Jack released the sleeper section, why wasn’t the sleeper section dragged in too? ---
**Author:** ![Willcross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Willcross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Willcross)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/36 "2013-04-28T11:50:46Z")
As for why the aliens just didn’t get the water from Titan, maybe they needed all the water in the solar system? It’s obvious humans are monitoring Titan, they are planning a trip there. If the aliens start mining Titan, it gives humans a chance to study them and prepare a defense. It would be smarter to invade earth, get the water there first, then mine Titan without interference. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/37 "2013-04-30T21:34:30Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Over all the things in the movie I found most absurd to be… For me, it was someone who works at home with no one around but her co-worker/lover, and she bothers to wear a professional dress and high heels. WTF? Pajamas and slippers, people! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/38 "2013-08-10T16:00:12Z")
Finally got around to watching this thing on demand. Hey, I was bored. If George Lucas wasn’t involved in the air chase scenes, then he should file a lawsuit against the producers for ripping off Star Wars, right down to the sound effects of the weapons. If he _was_ involved, then he ought to be flogged for having no imagination left. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/39 "2013-08-10T18:14:23Z")
I saw it on Blu Ray a couple days ago. It was enjoyable. Not incredibly deep, but fun to watch. ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/40 "2013-08-10T22:04:49Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Someone please explain to me again why Tet needs humans to fix the drones? What was the reason there was a shortage of drones and/or drone parts? No idea why the Tet would need human repairmen, but as for the ‘shortage’ of drone parts- IMO this was a lie that the Tet tells to all the Jack/Victoria teams. The Tet keeps a drone at each station, apparently awaiting spare parts but really fully active, ready to deal with any team members that realise the true nature of themselves or their mission. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192.md?page=3)