# Supernova (2005): If there were a God in Heaven, I wouldn't have missed the beginning **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785 "2006-04-29T23:19:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/21 "2006-04-30T18:20:19Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > the team of scientists, including their head of group, scratching their heads wondering what the heck just didn’t happen there. So, they recheck their computer code, and lo and behold, they find that some muppet had put a plus sign instead of a minus sign into the code that they’d used to calculate what the Sun was doing. :eek: Seriously? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That’s the worst plot twist I have ever heard anywhere. Oh, man. This sounds like it makes 10.5 look like Citizen Kane. Now I must see it. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/22 "2006-04-30T19:01:50Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > Did your family, um, _notice_ that you were, um, _not around the house_ quite a lot over the last few years? Were they informed that, during that time, you were, um, sitting around learning about things like, say, what kinds of stars could go supernova, and what kinds couldn’t? Or do they think you’ve been hanging out at the mall? 😉 Mwahaha! 😉 My brother, bless him, knew that there was a mass limit, poor thing just got confused about what the mass limit was. I had to go get his _own_ text book to provide him with a cite. 😃 > [@Podkayne](#): > > To be fair, Lance Henricksen did spend most of his onscreen time chasing aroudn 300-year-old Luke Perry trying to get him to check his boffin’s math. Fair enough. I didn’t see much of that, I was too busy laughing at the main premise. **Smeghead** , seriously, that’s the “twist”, its lame, its unconvincing, and crap. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/23 "2006-04-30T19:18:44Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > So, would this be a good movie for a group-heckle? Oh, yes, I think so! We’re leaving out all the subplots. Tia Carrara plays a government agent of some kind, who turns on eeeevil Lance Henricksen when a meteor (!?) strikes St. Louis, where her family lives. (We know this because, apropos of nothing, 300-year-old Luke Perry askes her, ‘So, how’s your family?’ after the meteor (!?) hits St. Louis.) There’s some kind of side plot about some criminals escaping from a prison transport or a chain gang or something. And there’s 300-year-old Luke Perry’s family, and their Uniformed Black Maid. His wife and daughter are afraid at his disappearance, but UBM kept reassuring them that she _knew_ everything would be alright. Oh, and it was inexplicably set in some kind of alternate-world Australia, where 50% of the denizens have American accents. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/24 "2006-04-30T20:11:35Z")
Goodness gracious, sounds like a true Masterpiece. ---
**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:** [April 30, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/25 "2006-04-30T23:40:24Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > _Narrows eyes at **Lumpy** _ Are you some kind of an atheist or something? No, just someone who is rather confused about just what you can realistically ask God for. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/26 "2006-05-01T02:36:51Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Well, it also has to be part of a binary star system. Maybe after Jupiter gets converted by the monoliths in 2010… There are two types of supernova – one of them is produced by gas transfer onto a white dwarf from a binary companion, the other by a massive star at the end of its main-sequence life. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/27 "2006-05-01T03:20:23Z")
When I saw the thread title I panicked thinking they had re-relesed the James Spader [film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134983/) :eek: Our sun exploding would be preferable. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/28 "2006-05-01T13:15:05Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > \*Ignore the fact that **if** the Sun could have gone supernova, the Earth would have been vaporised more or less instantly. Whddyamean “instantly?” We’d have, like, _at least_ 8 minutes from the moment the Sun blew until we were all rendered extremely volatile! (Figuring out how to recognize the supernova before the first shockwave hits us – 8 minutes or so later – is left as an exercise for the screenplay writer. Sounds like it would be right up his/her alley :rolleyes: ) ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/29 "2006-05-01T13:53:40Z")
> [@Noone Special](#): > > > [@Angua](#): > > > > \*Ignore the fact that if the Sun could have gone supernova, the Earth would have been vaporised more or less instantly. > > Whddyamean “instantly?” We’d have, like, _at least_ 8 minutes from the moment the Sun blew until we were all rendered extremely volatile! 8 minutes _is_ “more or less” instantly, its not even a kilosecond! 😛 I’m an extra-galactic astronomer, I count anything less than half a Hubble time as “short”, so what do you expect? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/30 "2006-05-01T15:30:13Z")
So, the Hallmark Channel is trying to make us aware that the Sci-Fi channel’s made-for-TV movies are really quality SF? ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/31 "2006-05-01T15:54:35Z")
Here is the [IMDb](http://imdb.com/title/tt0419373/) page, which contains the verbage: > [@](#): > > The spirit of Ed Wood is amongst us! > The Sydney Australia authenticity stunned me! > So realistic I’m dedicating my life to destroying the sun The [goofs](http://imdb.com/title/tt0419373/goofs) page only contains this: > [@](#): > > **Errors in geography:** When Prof Austin escapes to the beach hut in the Maldives, we see in the background a very large mountain. The Maldives are flat, with the highest point above sea level about 2.4 metres (8ft) So there’s room for more. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/32 "2006-05-01T16:03:39Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > 8 minutes _is_ “more or less” instantly, its not even a kilosecond! 😛 But, at aphelion, the distance is ~507 light seconds; so, depending whether by kilosecond you mean 1000 or 1024, it may or may not be more than half a kilosecond. Or something. > [@](#): > > I’m an extra-galactic astronomer… **Where** are you from, again!? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/33 "2006-05-01T16:15:30Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > :eek: Seriously? > > HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! > > That’s the worst plot twist I have ever heard anywhere. Oh, man. This sounds like it makes 10.5 look like Citizen Kane. Now I must see it. :eek: So, the brilliant scientists are about as smart as Earl and his friends in the Y2K show. It’s comforting to know that the stupidity of Hollywood scriptwriters exceeds the bounds of my imagination. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/34 "2006-05-01T18:46:47Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > 8 minutes _is_ “more or less” instantly, its not even a kilosecond! Just a warning for anyone who hasn’t as yet had the specatacular pleasure of meeting Ms **Angua** … she really knows all this stuff, inside out and backwards. She’ll even turn up in the pub with her bag stuffed with Ph.D research papers and graphs showing weird scientific gobbledeygook, and I’ll bet she could have a chat with Stevie Hawking that would leave _him_ impressed. So, if you haven’t met her and I tell you she’s like this, you’d picture some kind of spekky super-nerd geek with ‘Miss Boring’ written on her forehead who only talks in equations, right? Wrong! Wronger than King Wrong of Wrong Land on ‘Let’s be more wrong than ever before’ day. She is always the loudest person in the pub (heck, the _world_), usually the daftest (and the shortest, but we don’t mention that), sinks pints with admirable gusto, always gets her round in, talks faster than a racing commentator, makes excellent baked goods as well and can win _any_ fact-based argument, even when not 100% sober (which is, _ahem_, fairly often). So if it’s about stars and suns and crap like that, whatever she says, it’s right. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/35 "2006-05-01T20:01:13Z")
> [@Noone Special](#): > > But, at aphelion, the distance is ~507 light seconds; so, depending whether by kilosecond you mean 1000 or 1024, it may or may not be more than half a kilosecond. Or something. Pshaw. Factors of two are nothing! And either way, it _is_ less than a kilosecond. 😉 > [@](#): > > **Where** are you from, again!? :eek: A rocky planet, in a nonedescript planetary system in one of the outer spiral arms of an average barred spiral galaxy in a rather dull, quiet cluster, with surprisingly quiet inhabitants. 😉 _blushes_ at **Ianzin** ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785/36 "2006-05-01T20:35:41Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > Pshaw. Factors of two are nothing! astronomer _n_. 1. Someone who is happy if the order of magnitude of the exponent is right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernova-2005-if-there-were-a-god-in-heaven-i-wouldnt-have-missed-the-beginning/354785.md?page=1)