# Please ID a Sci-fi flick from the 80's

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-id-a-sci-fi-flick-from-the-80s/841095>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 1, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-id-a-sci-fi-flick-from-the-80s/841095 "2019-10-01T12:59:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-id-a-sci-fi-flick-from-the-80s/841095/21 "2019-10-02T12:45:42Z")

</div>

I saw **The Quiet Earth** in the theater when it came out, and I’ve always been disappointed in it. The biggest reason is that it had that spectacular poster:

> **[The Quiet Earth (1985) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/)**
>
> The Quiet Earth: Directed by Geoff Murphy. With Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith, Anzac Wallace. A man named Zac Hobson awakens to find himself alone in the world. In a desperate attempt to search for others, he finds only two who have...

> **[The Quiet Earth](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheQuietEarth)**
>
> The Quiet Earth is a 1985 New Zealand film directed by Geoff Murphy, starring Bruno Lawrence as a scientist who awakens in a hotel room to find himself the last man on Earth. The film was originally based on a novel by Craig Harrison, but bears …

This also turns out to be the _very last scene in the movie_. So, after showing you this poster that promises that this is what the film will be about, you finally learn that it’s not about this at all. (It’s a bit like the 2001 posters that show the StarChild, except that not ALL the 2001 posters showed that. and 2001 did deliver on the promised effects.)  
The movie also., as TV Tropes points out, was supposed to be about The Last Man on Earth, at least at the beginning\*, but the trailers spoiled that.

\*movies purport to like Last Man on Earth (or wherever) movies, but almost invariably bring in other characters. They can’t help themselves. Even _Robinson Crusoe on Mars_ had a Friday.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-id-a-sci-fi-flick-from-the-80s/841095/22 "2019-10-02T14:38:01Z")

</div>

> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> I am outraged!!! This is like confusing northern Washington for Vancouver.

I live in northern Washington, and Vancouver is only 35 miles away. (The nearest actual city to me in Washington is 25 miles away.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-id-a-sci-fi-flick-from-the-80s/841095/23 "2019-10-02T15:31:10Z")

</div>

> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#):
>
> “He tells lies!”

I love that line! I use it occasionally but no one ever gets the reference.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![shstrang98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@shstrang98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shstrang98)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-id-a-sci-fi-flick-from-the-80s/841095/24 "2019-10-06T20:34:11Z")

</div>

The Quiet Earth.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-id-a-sci-fi-flick-from-the-80s/841095.md?page=1)