COSMOS is available on Archive if you guys are curious. It's unlike any science documentary you've ever seen before, and is a very personal journey that takes things slow and has a score by Vangelis (Blade Runner) mixed with Classical music. Many people will tell you it changed their life, myself included.
It was very easy to misinterpret the spot where got out of the chair while travelling through the wormhole, I've seen lots of people get confused by that before. She was being very roughly shaken up in the chair, which was not part of the plans sent by the aliens but was added by the humans to the design, and then she saw the toy compass floating serenely, not buffeted at all. She realized she wouldn't get shaken around like that if she just allowed herself to free-float like the compass by detaching herself from the chair that wasn't supposed to be there. But unfortunately, that doesn't come across.
Its hard to read but also its shown she would of been hurt. The next scene is the chair snapping from the mounts and then slamming into the side of the sphere. If she was still connected she would of been at the least BADLY injured.
@memnarch129 Almost like the compass given by Matthew's character guided her to safety: coincidence of circumstance, or divine protection embraced? Either way, I love that humanity was arrogant enough to insist on including a chair for "minimum safety" as though they knew better than the aliens who sent the machine plans.
@@memnarch129 Oh totally I agree. And the comment "it might just save your live someday" as was pointed out by @arong4906 is also a good observation and all of that is fine. The problem is mostly on a first or even a second viewing, her motivations are unclear until after the chair gets wrecked. You can tell she is surprised by the compass, but her trying to get it just seems like she wants the compass for some reason. That's why a common reaction (and what we saw here) is along the lines of "why are you unhooking to get the compass right now? forget the stupid compass!" and even after seeing the chair get destroyed, it is often just viewed as dumb luck that her strange desire to grab the compass made her leave the chair, rather than the higher reasoning she was actually doing and the realization she had regarding the chair in the design. It made it seem like she was grabbing the compass for emotional reasons instead of higher reasoning. In my case I think it was the second or third time I saw it (many many years ago) that I finally clued in on what the filmmakers were trying to convey, because I found it really strange that she would be afraid of losing the compass and unhook herself for that when she was in a sealed pod. At the same time, I'm also not completely certain how they could have solved that problem completely. A flashback to the scene where she objected to the chair being added would have done it but might have been too on-the-nose - those types of flashbacks are common in TV as a viewer-reminder but in a movie feels sort of like not trusting the viewers. Maybe different camera angles and having her being shaken up even worse might have done it, crosscutting between her being shaken up super violently and the compass floating serenely. But I'm not sure. They probably thought it was a lot more clear when they were making the film than it was to the viewers.
I got it right away on first time watching. But then I didn't work out how the Emperor was in The Phantom Menace even at the end. Until she gets out of the chair the pod keeps going around in the block till it's safe to get onto the highway.
Great commentary for a great movie guys! I read the book, and I saw the movie when they were first released. The movie had some differences from the book, but none that detracted from it or changed the story. The movie had so much. It was a drama, a love story, sci-fi. It had shock and awe, and really made you think about how things that at first glance seemed far apart, could be closer than initially thought. I loved the ending, and would have even if they hadn't discovered those hours of blank tape.
Her wiggling hand on the steering wheel was normal, and correct. Older cars like that didn't have power steering. You had to make fairly large hand movements to make small corrections to the wheels.
"...wanna take a ride?" Goosebumps. Every time. Wow, what a wonderful selection! Just loved yer enthusiasm during this watchalong, so thank you for that!
1:13:30 The movie suggests a "higher being" a few times, but you missed it. In the book, they find a pattern in the irrational number Pi. In the movie, it's the quadruple star pattern, also repeated in the popcorn on the floor when her father dies, the star map in her office at Arecibo, the sparkles on the sand and dirt.
50:31 Julian - I remember sitting in the theater opening weekend in 1997 with a friend and during this EXACT speech, I had the EXACT same thought. Not only that she would be nominated for an Oscar but that she WOULD win it - her THIRD as Best Actress. In my mind, I could imagine when they announced her name THIS VERY SPEECH being used as the clip for her nomination. Jodie ABSOLUTELY BLEW ME AWAY in this role. The emotions she goes through and her character arc are absolutely phenomenal. You can only imagine my shock, dismay and disgust that she wasn't even nominated in 1998.
To this day, the scene with her father dying, that one-shot from the living room to the bathroom mirror -- the bathroom mirror! (How?) -- gets me in the gut, really makes me feel it. Beautiful art there, a really beautiful moment that informs the whole movie. Good reaction guys. Everybody on the same page.
Love the emotion in that scene. It's also one of the best "how did they do that?!" scenes ever directed. I can't post the link because of the youtube algorithm so search "Cinematographer deconstructs THAT shot in 'Contact' Don Burgess". That video has a great breakdown of how it was accomplished.
If you did not realize Contact was written by Carl Sagan one of the best known Astronomers and planetary scientist of the 60s threw the 80s He was the Narrator of so many PBS and BBC things in the 80s. The book like his other works left for you to think about and make your own conclusions.
@@shomeghuy7226 I call it Narrator because it was talking in science documentary. I also add Astronomer and Planetary Scientist before it. The man is a legend and woke my fascination with astronomy and dreaming as a kid to be an astronaut.
I love this movie! I'm going to edit in other comments as I watch more, but that 1st reaction to Drumlin at the press conference was classic! 3:45 Already heading for IMDB, aren't we?! Evan Rachel Wood! That's her name! I could've saved you 10 seconds if I'd been there. 5:05 I thought her being in this movie is why you brought ul Reagan earlier. Let's not forget she is who that one guy was trying to impress when he shot Reagan in 1981. 21:11 My James Woods recommendation is Indictment: The McMartin Trial. It'll make you furious with the legal system, the media, and the public in general while making you love him and the lawyer he plays. It's a true story where he plays the closest thing to a hero in the story. 37:40 I'm the same way, Michael! I go quiet when I'm into a movie. 42:05 Isn't that the ride that killed a guy?! Don't go to Oldtown, guys, please! I, too, live literally minutes away, and it's not safe!
It is always a good day when I get to see the WHOLE R Knights crew get together to react to an amazing movie...but this one is especially amazing...so it truly is a good day. Oh...and Julien..."Sparks" or "Sparky" is just a very common old fashioned nickname for any person who uses a radio, or works with electronic and/or electrical equipment. I believe the original name "Sparkes" goes back to Old English and means something like "energetic" or "fiery". Also, at 28:53...it seems like Mike and Julien are doing "Dr. Evil pinky",which is a hilarious thing to say about Haddon. 😂 But if you look at the Austin Powers films, you will see that Dr Evil does that gesture with his palm facing out and away from his body, not facing in towards him like you guys did. Please do not worry, most people do the gesture the way you guys do, so it is not at all surprising that you do it that way too. Trust me...when you guys look at the movie and then flip your hands around to face outward, you will not believe how AMAZING it feels to do the Dr Evil pinky just like Dr Evil...it is like some weird neurological thing that happens, it literally triggers your nerves like a little pressure point. LOL 😁
The first radio transmitters predated electronic amplification by several years. They used resonators that were excited by an electrical spark discharge. I believe the custom of referring to a radio operator as "Sparks" or "Sparky" came from that.
#23:59 you asked "Wasn't there like an actual deep space thing that happened". I don't recollect when it actually happened but I think your asking about something we called 'The WOW signal'.
OG classic, right there! I am happy that you all saw this. It is such an underappreciated movie. Full of incredible lines: "You're an interesting species. An interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other." "They still want an American to go, Doctor. _Wanna take a ride_ ?"
The whole crew together? Fantastic! Contact is a great movie. I was roughly 13 seeing this in theatres and it definitely left its mark on me. It has a fairly realistic take on the subject of alien contact and how various people would handle it. Realistic, but still a bit hopeful.
First viewing of this channel so I don't know if this already exists but let's get Arrival going! It's practically almost maybe a spiritual successor to this
A priest came up with the idea of the big bang, and a monk was the pioneer of genetics (Mendel, who famously experimented on pea plants in the monastery to formulate _mendelian_ inheritance that perfectly explained basic genetic inheritance)
12:25 Hey guys... Just for the respect... I usually keep myself from crying about her loss.... because i lost my dad and only real parent at a comparable age..... and i'm still not really gotten over it in some sense....... But heck yeah.... This is one movie and scenery .. which triggers me hard... (No, he was in a hospital far away, i would not have been able to do anything, at all, ever) ...... FU i love this movie.... And Jodie Foster. ;) 15:39 Basically yes ..... i think, her core motivation is to still being able to listen, _just_ in case, her dad or her mom or _ANYONE ELSE_ might be out there. And i love that ;) Luckily, i don't need to say a word about drumland... ;) 44:39 "Why bro?".... Exactly because!! (of the compass!) :) 54:15 Yeah you guys have seen Arrival already... which would be the _ONE_ movie i could think of after that..... O.k. maybe Enemy Mine in the long haul ......... please. ;) Or .. did you ever react to Sully? ;) Uuuh... it's such a good movie. ;)
The crux of her psychological biscuit can be found in what her dad planted in her head, being "...if it's only us, it seems like an awful waste of space".
Speaking as someone who hasn't read the novel, my guess is that they had the hearing because they wanted to publicly discredit the notion that anything really happened, so they wanted her to admit that she had no evidence, and to supply a different "likely" explanation.
Yes, they had the evidence of 18hrs recording (probably new hidden data), and decided to bury it for the time being. In the novel however, Ellie did not travel alone, the machine had five passengers. But everyone reported different, so they were also dismissed of making it up. At least they could confirm to each other that something happened through the trip.
Happy you guys enjoyed this movie. I remember going to see it with my Parents back then and my mom was bored as expected and my dad didn't get it which was surprising but it hit me like a ton of bricks. As someone who at the time thought of myself as an Atheist. I switched to Agnostic who hopes God does exist..
I watched this in the movie theatre.. with the added advantage of recently having read the book. The book was written by renowned physicist Carl Sagan who died way too early. This movie follows the book relatively closely. The most tangible difference is probably that Sagan was a fairly outspoken atheist which was a bit more obvious in the book. (There were several other changes ofc, but I felt the book was pretty clear on which view the author thought was right, which ofc is quite normal.) Sagan was himself the most famous researcher working for the S.E.T.I. program - the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence program, and a specialist on planets. He did quite a few talk shows and specials on these subjects. Bill Clinton was annoyed with this movie. They took his '96 press conference about a meteorite with traces of life and possibly originating from Mars being discovered here on Earth and re-cut him to their purposes without asking permission. (FYI they could eventually rule out any Mars life in the rock, but imagine how close the US was to going off its hinges when the president had to address the nation and impress on it the need to stay calm and rational and let the scientists do their job.)
I am of the opinion, that what Jodie Fosters character experienced once she got where ever she was going, happened on a subconscious level. What i'm proposing here, is, that when she arrived, the aliens kept her in an unconscious state, studied her physically, mentally, psychologically, and genetically (hence her father's apparition telling her she got her mothers hands), and the whole conversation of her with her dad on that beach, was somehow transferred to her subconscious mind, either through some form of telepathy, or through the use of some form of the aliens technology.
Not exactly. In the book, she was not alone. There 4 other scientist if I remember right. And they all had the same experience(meeting dead relatives). BUT. The aliens showed her what all the other advance alien civilizations where doing. Long story short. They're all staving off the expansion of the Universe.
I've been to the VLA ( Very Large Array ) in New Mexico. I was driving along and saw the huge Antena and found it's open to the Public! Totally cool to be in the same rooms they filmed!
I'm still mad about not just the stuff that was left out from the book (the story took YEARS), but the things that were changed for no good reason. It wasn't one person who went on the trip, it was an entire team of 5 people who backed each others story of what happened to them and that they did take the trip. Oh, and far and away the most important thing. The aliens didn't just tell her they didn't make the wormhole network. They told her the entire universe had been deliberately created and told her how to find proof in the mathematical constants of the universe. So it didn't say any one religion was correct but it did give her the proof she needed of A god.
@@hackerx7329 If they're gonna interpret the "creator of the cosmos" as the Christian God. Then that IS a problem. It's very "pedestrian". What if a highly advance civilization is Agnostic. Worse atheist.
Hey guys. Religion or spirituality search for internal truth. Science and logic search for external truth. And if you're only looking for the truth, regardless of your prejudices and desires and expectations. You'll be amazed at what you'll find.
The saying "The Big Bang " was a joke, by someone that thought the idea was a rapidly expanding universe didn't fit the maths. It turned out to get picked up by the media and they loved it.
This is one of my "sick" movies. If nothing else, this movie has the potential to at least BEGIN a conversation about faith. That alone is worthy of attention. I have always enjoyed this movie throughout the years. Also, if you guys like Jodie Foster, you'd love her in The Silence of the Lambs, for which she DID win an Oscar. Another great important film from the 90s to react to if you haven't already seen it.
The crazy thing is in the book Arroway was one of several scientists who went on the trip (the movie introduced the idea that it could only take one person). This meant that the hearing had multiple witnesses and they still doubted it was real.
Hello, check out a movie called, Christine (1983) Horror/Thriller. A classic red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine, the car is possessed by evil. It stars Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky and Harry Dean Stanton. Directed by John Carpenter. Stephen King’s 1983 novel of the same name. Thank you, Chris.
1- Remember, the 'chair' wasn't part of the original prints. She wasn't too concerned about it. 2- The wormhole scene is always open to interpretation. The older guy said the city with the 4 suns system she saw while 'traveling' was in her "head" maybe. When she arrived they used Pensacola Beach and her father to communicate. So she wouldn't freak out. That is the key. The system she saw with 4 suns (she counted) was NOT familiar to her otherwise she would have known what system is was. Am I wrong? 3- The movie has shown us once again that religion and science will never meet. Faith and facts go against each other. We can preach the sky is green enough with strong intensity and 'faith', and some folks will believe it is green. Science proves it is not green. It never was. It never will. Sadly, this is the world we live in. A divided world with not one but many many religions, the same God? That's the real question. 4- The ending FOR CARL. (Contact is based on his book). It is referring to Carl Sagan. I'm addicted to science fiction, technology, space, and life in other parts of this universe because of Carl and his tv series called COSMOS. I suggest everyone to watch it one day.
Please one of you read the ending in the novel. It blew my mind and as a result makes this one of my favourite stories. Written by Carl Sagan who used his science knowledge to debate meaningfully with theologians and everyone else about how as humans we create belief systems and that includes humanism can be moral without believing in deities.
Yes, HAM radio is a thing. It isn't as popular as it used to be, though. There are HAM radio repeater networks set up to use for worldwide communications, in case the internet goes down and in cases of natural disasters. I have been involved in CB sideband radio for many years. I studied for my Armature radio license, but never followed through. It was during COVID and there was no local resource for me to test. If I had the money, I would like to get back into it, though.
Father Georges Lemaître. This story was inspired by the woman who discovered the first pulsar, and Howard Hughes. Pulsars are spinning neutron stars, and they do have quakes! The signal of the first pulsar was initially feared to be alien.
A spoiler for Ray but he will not know for what; "Religion is a very noble idea, religious followers, that is a different matter" Both Jodie & the girl that played her younger self both won awards as did the movie. The fact that the tape had 18 hours of static was classified a state secret so the American government keeps control, the knowledge that aliens exist would cause chaos, people would demand more answers, question governmental control, & brought religion into question. The highway system was millions of years old so was here long before God made us.
I work for a woman named Dr. Pamela L. Gay. She is this kind of person. She is an astronomer and she loves what she does. She tries to bring science news and citizen science projects to the people. Her group CosmoQuestx and everyday people mapped objects on an asteroid named Bennu so a landing zone could be selected. 3,500 citizen scientists made 14 million annotations of features on Bennu. At the moment they are working on their next mapping project. Sadly large chunks of their time is spent trying to find funding to keep projects going. It is a sad part of the sciences in the US and around the world these days.
@@julienn8844 They made a whole big thing about her safety and that's why the the chair was there in the first place! If the bolts weren't going to survive the drop, then why even bother?
Carl is turning in his grave at the woke fraud Neil became. Carl was very knowledgable about biology and would never have believed there are more than two sexes.
The fact of the matter is that the Universe is so Large and Old that the probability of any two advanced civilizations being close enough at the same time to actually become aware of each other much less communicate with one another is Slim and None. We have only been leaking our own EM signature for about 100 years and listening for less. 100 Light Years is Nothing in the scale of the Universe. We may Hear something from someone far away or someone may hear us at some time but they or us may be long gone by that time.
It was mostly neglected maintenance due to lack of funding at fault. Once the cables started to break, it was just destined to come down like in Goldeneye.
Check out a movie called What the [Bleep] Do We Know (2004), with Marlee Matlin. It's all about blending science and spirituality. It's also extremely interesting. I very highly recommend it.
It wouldn't have been so easy for Ellie, and her team, to just pick up and go to a different country, after Dr. Drumlin took over the project. She could have left the country, sure, but she would have had to leave most, if not all, of her research behind. Everything she accomplished was via government or public money/equipment. None of her own money was used in the research, so she had no legal right to it. She would not be able to take any of it with her, because it was the legal intellectual property of someone else. When Drumlin took over the project, he took over everything! Just as with any company that a person would work for ..... If you used the company's assets to discover or invent something, it becomes the property of that company, not you.
I was referencing a point when I was trying to say the word and was unable to. It was meant to be a self depreciating joke. I dont need you to depreciate my character because I already do that myself lmao 😂. Also English isn't my first language.
Do you believe in God and do you believe in aliens is basically asking the same question. All conscious beings are part of a conscious universe. And conscious thoughts are electromagnetic by their very nature, in fact, everything in this universe is electromagnetic from the very small to the very large.
Thing is, from what we know these days those signals probably will never reach anyone. Infact our foot print in terms of radio signals is really really tiny, and probably will never reach anyone since it'll get drowned out and weakened by the interstellar medium long long before it gets anywhere... Which is a pity, or the one i like, the grabby aliens hypothesis is correct and in reality we humans are some of the first (but not definitely not the only) advanced life in the Universe at this moment and in reality it'll be us eventually sending 'greetings' messages to other less advanced species, ie the movie Contact but we're the aliens sending schematics. But either or, it'll be one hell of a journey.
@@NZBigfoot your breakdown is great. It's unlikely aliens would actually see angry Austrian bad mustache guy. It's just annoying on a human and historical level angry Austrian mustache guy could potentially be the first thing an alien species sees for the first time. Humanity just needs to do better.
@@chaost4544 It is more likely the very powerful first uses of RADAR in the 20s would be the first "Hello" as they were very powerful and obviously not naturally produced. Aliens could probably figure out their use as it is a natural evolution of the use of RF generation and detection.
I believe in Christ, but I don't think religion should be the first thing on our First Contact list. Let's figure out how to communicate before we start interjecting our culture. Wars have started over religion. 🖖"Nano-Nano" 🖖
Argument about God and creation of the Universe. Here's my issue. People focus on who or what made the Universe; I think that's irrelevant in terms of religion. Is it possible that an alien being(s) with powers beyond our understanding (aka god) created us, the planet, even the whole universe? Sure, if humanity ever reaches such levels, we'll be creating universes for fun or research. So a superpower alien could have created everything and if he(they) show up, I'll be first in line to thank him for this life and this world. But it would never occur to me to fall on my knees and praise him as something divine. Just because you are powerful and made us, does not make you a moral absolute that is God.
“If you could comprehend it, it would not be God.” “Superpower Alien,” if you would ever meet him, would still not be “God.” Advanced Aliens would themselves still be Creations and not The Creator.
@@Ryan_Christopher What's the difference between an alien that created our universe and us and God that created our universe and us? Both will be beyond our comprehension; both will have powers that will look like magic to us.
Love to see you and the guys react to "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" starring every movie star comedic actor from the 60"s. This movie invented the term "raucous comedy".
I don't remember anything organic there, they just had to advise new production methods, which included things like nanotech and molecular engineering. The schematics also included the testing procedures on that stuff.
My favorite line of all time, spoken by a scientist trying to explain the beauty of her voyage: "They should have sent a poet."
COSMOS is available on Archive if you guys are curious. It's unlike any science documentary you've ever seen before, and is a very personal journey that takes things slow and has a score by Vangelis (Blade Runner) mixed with Classical music. Many people will tell you it changed their life, myself included.
seconded!
It was very easy to misinterpret the spot where got out of the chair while travelling through the wormhole, I've seen lots of people get confused by that before. She was being very roughly shaken up in the chair, which was not part of the plans sent by the aliens but was added by the humans to the design, and then she saw the toy compass floating serenely, not buffeted at all. She realized she wouldn't get shaken around like that if she just allowed herself to free-float like the compass by detaching herself from the chair that wasn't supposed to be there. But unfortunately, that doesn't come across.
Its hard to read but also its shown she would of been hurt. The next scene is the chair snapping from the mounts and then slamming into the side of the sphere. If she was still connected she would of been at the least BADLY injured.
@memnarch129 Almost like the compass given by Matthew's character guided her to safety: coincidence of circumstance, or divine protection embraced?
Either way, I love that humanity was arrogant enough to insist on including a chair for "minimum safety" as though they knew better than the aliens who sent the machine plans.
Palmer tells her the compass might save her life one day.
@@memnarch129 Oh totally I agree. And the comment "it might just save your live someday" as was pointed out by @arong4906 is also a good observation and all of that is fine. The problem is mostly on a first or even a second viewing, her motivations are unclear until after the chair gets wrecked. You can tell she is surprised by the compass, but her trying to get it just seems like she wants the compass for some reason. That's why a common reaction (and what we saw here) is along the lines of "why are you unhooking to get the compass right now? forget the stupid compass!" and even after seeing the chair get destroyed, it is often just viewed as dumb luck that her strange desire to grab the compass made her leave the chair, rather than the higher reasoning she was actually doing and the realization she had regarding the chair in the design. It made it seem like she was grabbing the compass for emotional reasons instead of higher reasoning. In my case I think it was the second or third time I saw it (many many years ago) that I finally clued in on what the filmmakers were trying to convey, because I found it really strange that she would be afraid of losing the compass and unhook herself for that when she was in a sealed pod.
At the same time, I'm also not completely certain how they could have solved that problem completely. A flashback to the scene where she objected to the chair being added would have done it but might have been too on-the-nose - those types of flashbacks are common in TV as a viewer-reminder but in a movie feels sort of like not trusting the viewers. Maybe different camera angles and having her being shaken up even worse might have done it, crosscutting between her being shaken up super violently and the compass floating serenely. But I'm not sure. They probably thought it was a lot more clear when they were making the film than it was to the viewers.
I got it right away on first time watching. But then I didn't work out how the Emperor was in The Phantom Menace even at the end. Until she gets out of the chair the pod keeps going around in the block till it's safe to get onto the highway.
Great commentary for a great movie guys! I read the book, and I saw the movie when they were first released. The movie had some differences from the book, but none that detracted from it or changed the story. The movie had so much. It was a drama, a love story, sci-fi. It had shock and awe, and really made you think about how things that at first glance seemed far apart, could be closer than initially thought. I loved the ending, and would have even if they hadn't discovered those hours of blank tape.
Her wiggling hand on the steering wheel was normal, and correct. Older cars like that didn't have power steering. You had to make fairly large hand movements to make small corrections to the wheels.
52:25 funny you should say that cause the guy who said 'We are made of star-stuff' is the same guy who wrote the novel Contact, Carl Sagan
"We are star stuff harvesting starlight"
"...wanna take a ride?" Goosebumps. Every time.
Wow, what a wonderful selection!
Just loved yer enthusiasm during this watchalong, so thank you for that!
1:13:30 The movie suggests a "higher being" a few times, but you missed it. In the book, they find a pattern in the irrational number Pi. In the movie, it's the quadruple star pattern, also repeated in the popcorn on the floor when her father dies, the star map in her office at Arecibo, the sparkles on the sand and dirt.
A lot of scientists were in fact “religious nuts”. They studied the universe not to disprove God but to understand his creation.
Catholic Church is the only church with her own Observatory. Original Medieval one at the Vatican, new one state-of-the-art at Arizona.
50:31 Julian - I remember sitting in the theater opening weekend in 1997 with a friend and during this EXACT speech, I had the EXACT same thought. Not only that she would be nominated for an Oscar but that she WOULD win it - her THIRD as Best Actress. In my mind, I could imagine when they announced her name THIS VERY SPEECH being used as the clip for her nomination. Jodie ABSOLUTELY BLEW ME AWAY in this role. The emotions she goes through and her character arc are absolutely phenomenal. You can only imagine my shock, dismay and disgust that she wasn't even nominated in 1998.
The disgust that she wasn't is unbelievable to me
I was drawn in from the very beginning of this movie. The radio signals going back in time the further you travelled away from Earth. Brilliant.
To this day, the scene with her father dying, that one-shot from the living room to the bathroom mirror -- the bathroom mirror! (How?) -- gets me in the gut, really makes me feel it. Beautiful art there, a really beautiful moment that informs the whole movie.
Good reaction guys. Everybody on the same page.
Love the emotion in that scene. It's also one of the best "how did they do that?!" scenes ever directed. I can't post the link because of the youtube algorithm so search "Cinematographer deconstructs THAT shot in 'Contact' Don Burgess". That video has a great breakdown of how it was accomplished.
They also go from outside the house, through the window to a shot inside the house at the beginning and the reverse Similar shot.
If you did not realize Contact was written by Carl Sagan one of the best known Astronomers and planetary scientist of the 60s threw the 80s He was the Narrator of so many PBS and BBC things in the 80s. The book like his other works left for you to think about and make your own conclusions.
COSMOS "Billions and Billions" -Carl Sagan 🖖
He was a lot more than a "narrator." He wasn't just reading a script. He literally wrote the book.
@@shomeghuy7226 I call it Narrator because it was talking in science documentary. I also add Astronomer and Planetary Scientist before it. The man is a legend and woke my fascination with astronomy and dreaming as a kid to be an astronaut.
@@Paul_Waller He made the world of science so much more for generation X and has lead this so much scientist and science fiction authors in this world
I hate to be that guy, but... You meant through *_not_* threw. 😉
I love this movie! I'm going to edit in other comments as I watch more, but that 1st reaction to Drumlin at the press conference was classic!
3:45 Already heading for IMDB, aren't we?! Evan Rachel Wood! That's her name! I could've saved you 10 seconds if I'd been there.
5:05 I thought her being in this movie is why you brought ul Reagan earlier. Let's not forget she is who that one guy was trying to impress when he shot Reagan in 1981.
21:11 My James Woods recommendation is Indictment: The McMartin Trial. It'll make you furious with the legal system, the media, and the public in general while making you love him and the lawyer he plays. It's a true story where he plays the closest thing to a hero in the story.
37:40 I'm the same way, Michael! I go quiet when I'm into a movie.
42:05 Isn't that the ride that killed a guy?! Don't go to Oldtown, guys, please! I, too, live literally minutes away, and it's not safe!
Young Ellie is played by Jena Malone.
@@josephboulet4477 , dammit, you're right! I'm mixing up my teen crushes.
It is always a good day when I get to see the WHOLE R Knights crew get together to react to an amazing movie...but this one is especially amazing...so it truly is a good day.
Oh...and Julien..."Sparks" or "Sparky" is just a very common old fashioned nickname for any person who uses a radio, or works with electronic and/or electrical equipment. I believe the original name "Sparkes" goes back to Old English and means something like "energetic" or "fiery".
Also, at 28:53...it seems like Mike and Julien are doing "Dr. Evil pinky",which is a hilarious thing to say about Haddon. 😂
But if you look at the Austin Powers films, you will see that Dr Evil does that gesture with his palm facing out and away from his body, not facing in towards him like you guys did. Please do not worry, most people do the gesture the way you guys do, so it is not at all surprising that you do it that way too. Trust me...when you guys look at the movie and then flip your hands around to face outward, you will not believe how AMAZING it feels to do the Dr Evil pinky just like Dr Evil...it is like some weird neurological thing that happens, it literally triggers your nerves like a little pressure point. LOL 😁
The first radio transmitters predated electronic amplification by several years. They used resonators that were excited by an electrical spark discharge. I believe the custom of referring to a radio operator as "Sparks" or "Sparky" came from that.
Great reaction and analysis, fellas. You guys were very astute.
#23:59 you asked "Wasn't there like an actual deep space thing that happened". I don't recollect when it actually happened but I think your asking about something we called 'The WOW signal'.
THATS IT!!!!!
Yo!! Happy New Year my dudes. Love when you do SciFi. Very cool ish.
OG classic, right there!
I am happy that you all saw this. It is such an underappreciated movie. Full of incredible lines:
"You're an interesting species. An interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other."
"They still want an American to go, Doctor. _Wanna take a ride_ ?"
The tracking shot up the stairs to the bathroom cabinet mirror is just brilliant cinematography and possibly my favourite moment in any movie.
The whole crew together? Fantastic!
Contact is a great movie. I was roughly 13 seeing this in theatres and it definitely left its mark on me.
It has a fairly realistic take on the subject of alien contact and how various people would handle it. Realistic, but still a bit hopeful.
33:42 Ms Patel is the doctor from Babylon 5 that fights with Dr. Franklin over his stim usage in season 3.
Nice catch.
And the mission controller was David Endowie, Earthforce special intelligence.
@@wrorchestra1 Yep. Was going to mention that too.
B5 then a movie based on a Carl Sagan book? Your scify game getting good
I loved the original cosmos series. I miss the old hopefulness.
Thanks 😀
First viewing of this channel so I don't know if this already exists but let's get Arrival going! It's practically almost maybe a spiritual successor to this
One of my favorite thought provoking movies:
Did you love your father?
Prove it.
I’m glad you liked this one. I think this was maybe the best movie that came out that year.
A priest came up with the idea of the big bang, and a monk was the pioneer of genetics (Mendel, who famously experimented on pea plants in the monastery to formulate _mendelian_ inheritance that perfectly explained basic genetic inheritance)
12:25 Hey guys... Just for the respect... I usually keep myself from crying about her loss.... because i lost my dad and only real parent at a comparable age..... and i'm still not really gotten over it in some sense....... But heck yeah....
This is one movie and scenery .. which triggers me hard...
(No, he was in a hospital far away, i would not have been able to do anything, at all, ever)
...... FU i love this movie.... And Jodie Foster. ;)
15:39 Basically yes ..... i think, her core motivation is to still being able to listen, _just_ in case, her dad or her mom or _ANYONE ELSE_ might be out there.
And i love that ;)
Luckily, i don't need to say a word about drumland... ;)
44:39 "Why bro?".... Exactly because!! (of the compass!) :)
54:15 Yeah you guys have seen Arrival already... which would be the _ONE_ movie i could think of after that.....
O.k. maybe Enemy Mine in the long haul ......... please. ;)
Or .. did you ever react to Sully? ;) Uuuh... it's such a good movie. ;)
90s Classic! Glad you liked it!
“High priestess of the desert" is probably a reference to “Art Bell” radio show who broadcast high in the desert.
Seeing this in the cinema at the time was amazing, that warp travel scene on the big screen was mindblowing to us back then
Look up and react to Carl Sagan's "Cosmos". Carl was decades ahead of the rest of us.
The crux of her psychological biscuit can be found in what her dad planted in her head, being "...if it's only us, it seems like an awful waste of space".
Speaking as someone who hasn't read the novel, my guess is that they had the hearing because they wanted to publicly discredit the notion that anything really happened, so they wanted her to admit that she had no evidence, and to supply a different "likely" explanation.
Yes, they had the evidence of 18hrs recording (probably new hidden data), and decided to bury it for the time being.
In the novel however, Ellie did not travel alone, the machine had five passengers.
But everyone reported different, so they were also dismissed of making it up.
At least they could confirm to each other that something happened through the trip.
I met Carl Sagan in college when SETI was founded.
Happy you guys enjoyed this movie.
I remember going to see it with my Parents back then and my mom was bored as expected and my dad didn't get it which was surprising but it hit me like a ton of bricks.
As someone who at the time thought of myself as an Atheist. I switched to Agnostic who hopes God does exist..
I watched this in the movie theatre.. with the added advantage of recently having read the book. The book was written by renowned physicist Carl Sagan who died way too early.
This movie follows the book relatively closely. The most tangible difference is probably that Sagan was a fairly outspoken atheist which was a bit more obvious in the book. (There were several other changes ofc, but I felt the book was pretty clear on which view the author thought was right, which ofc is quite normal.)
Sagan was himself the most famous researcher working for the S.E.T.I. program - the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence program, and a specialist on planets. He did quite a few talk shows and specials on these subjects.
Bill Clinton was annoyed with this movie. They took his '96 press conference about a meteorite with traces of life and possibly originating from Mars being discovered here on Earth and re-cut him to their purposes without asking permission.
(FYI they could eventually rule out any Mars life in the rock, but imagine how close the US was to going off its hinges when the president had to address the nation and impress on it the need to stay calm and rational and let the scientists do their job.)
36:46 "imagine it's just a better radio" hahaha it descrambles Cinemax.
I am of the opinion, that what Jodie Fosters character experienced once she got where ever she was going, happened on a subconscious level. What i'm proposing here, is, that when she arrived, the aliens kept her in an unconscious state, studied her physically, mentally, psychologically, and genetically (hence her father's apparition telling her she got her mothers hands), and the whole conversation of her with her dad on that beach, was somehow transferred to her subconscious mind, either through some form of telepathy, or through the use of some form of the aliens technology.
Not exactly. In the book, she was not alone. There 4 other scientist if I remember right. And they all had the same experience(meeting dead relatives). BUT. The aliens showed her what all the other advance alien civilizations where doing. Long story short. They're all staving off the expansion of the Universe.
I've been to the VLA ( Very Large Array ) in New Mexico. I was driving along and saw the huge Antena and found it's open to the Public! Totally cool to be in the same rooms they filmed!
I'm still mad about not just the stuff that was left out from the book (the story took YEARS), but the things that were changed for no good reason. It wasn't one person who went on the trip, it was an entire team of 5 people who backed each others story of what happened to them and that they did take the trip. Oh, and far and away the most important thing. The aliens didn't just tell her they didn't make the wormhole network. They told her the entire universe had been deliberately created and told her how to find proof in the mathematical constants of the universe. So it didn't say any one religion was correct but it did give her the proof she needed of A god.
The problem with this is that people kept equating this "Creator", to the Judeo-Christian God.
@@joeldelica8706 That isn't a problem as it was intentionally left open for each reader to interpret as they wish.
@@hackerx7329 If they're gonna interpret the "creator of the cosmos" as the Christian God. Then that IS a problem. It's very "pedestrian". What if a highly advance civilization is Agnostic. Worse atheist.
Hey guys. Religion or spirituality search for internal truth. Science and logic search for external truth. And if you're only looking for the truth, regardless of your prejudices and desires and expectations. You'll be amazed at what you'll find.
"Look at that beauty in the back though"...
Yes its one hell of a radio Telescope... oh you mean the car... **sad face**
"I didn't know you were so into radiotelescopes...oh."
Hahaha sorry buddy. Gerard and I are car people
The saying "The Big Bang " was a joke, by someone that thought the idea was a rapidly expanding universe didn't fit the maths. It turned out to get picked up by the media and they loved it.
"I hope it blows up."
"Oh, no!"
Lol
This is one of my "sick" movies. If nothing else, this movie has the potential to at least BEGIN a conversation about faith. That alone is worthy of attention. I have always enjoyed this movie throughout the years. Also, if you guys like Jodie Foster, you'd love her in The Silence of the Lambs, for which she DID win an Oscar. Another great important film from the 90s to react to if you haven't already seen it.
Believe or not i know a bit of trivia about this movie but have never seen it.
Science is the how; Religion is the why. We need both.
Religion is a scam. I think you wanted to write faith.
The crazy thing is in the book Arroway was one of several scientists who went on the trip (the movie introduced the idea that it could only take one person). This meant that the hearing had multiple witnesses and they still doubted it was real.
Ah cool, I’m reading the book now
Breakfast in South Africa. Great book and movie. Cool reaction. Cheers. 🥃🇿🇦
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
One of my favourite reaction channels reacting to my all time favourite film.
I hope we did a good job
@@RKnights Great job, thank you!
Hello, check out a movie called, Christine (1983) Horror/Thriller. A classic red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine, the car is possessed by evil. It stars Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky and Harry Dean Stanton. Directed by John Carpenter. Stephen King’s 1983 novel of the same name. Thank you, Chris.
Captain Dallas and Kane also served on the Nostromo together.
1- Remember, the 'chair' wasn't part of the original prints. She wasn't too concerned about it.
2- The wormhole scene is always open to interpretation. The older guy said the city with the 4 suns system she saw while 'traveling' was in her "head" maybe. When she arrived they used Pensacola Beach and her father to communicate. So she wouldn't freak out. That is the key. The system she saw with 4 suns (she counted) was NOT familiar to her otherwise she would have known what system is was. Am I wrong?
3- The movie has shown us once again that religion and science will never meet. Faith and facts go against each other. We can preach the sky is green enough with strong intensity and 'faith', and some folks will believe it is green. Science proves it is not green. It never was. It never will.
Sadly, this is the world we live in. A divided world with not one but many many religions, the same God? That's the real question.
4- The ending FOR CARL. (Contact is based on his book). It is referring to Carl Sagan. I'm addicted to science fiction, technology, space, and life in other parts of this universe because of Carl and his tv series called COSMOS. I suggest everyone to watch it one day.
Contact is one of the greatest Sci fi ever
Please one of you read the ending in the novel. It blew my mind and as a result makes this one of my favourite stories. Written by Carl Sagan who used his science knowledge to debate meaningfully with theologians and everyone else about how as humans we create belief systems and that includes humanism can be moral without believing in deities.
I always get chills whenever I read the end section regarding Pi. Such a fabulous idea and profound
Yes, HAM radio is a thing. It isn't as popular as it used to be, though. There are HAM radio repeater networks set up to use for worldwide communications, in case the internet goes down and in cases of natural disasters. I have been involved in CB sideband radio for many years. I studied for my Armature radio license, but never followed through. It was during COVID and there was no local resource for me to test. If I had the money, I would like to get back into it, though.
Father Georges Lemaître. This story was inspired by the woman who discovered the first pulsar, and Howard Hughes. Pulsars are spinning neutron stars, and they do have quakes! The signal of the first pulsar was initially feared to be alien.
Feared?
@grabtharshammer Pulsars aren't sentient ;-)
A spoiler for Ray but he will not know for what; "Religion is a very noble idea, religious followers, that is a different matter"
Both Jodie & the girl that played her younger self both won awards as did the movie.
The fact that the tape had 18 hours of static was classified a state secret so the American government keeps control, the knowledge that aliens exist would cause chaos, people would demand more answers, question governmental control, & brought religion into question. The highway system was millions of years old so was here long before God made us.
I work for a woman named Dr. Pamela L. Gay. She is this kind of person. She is an astronomer and she loves what she does. She tries to bring science news and citizen science projects to the people.
Her group CosmoQuestx and everyday people mapped objects on an asteroid named Bennu so a landing zone could be selected. 3,500 citizen scientists made 14 million annotations of features on Bennu. At the moment they are working on their next mapping project. Sadly large chunks of their time is spent trying to find funding to keep projects going. It is a sad part of the sciences in the US and around the world these days.
"The Abyss" by James Cameron is almost on the same level, maybe only 9.7/10.
Fantastic movie and if you haven't seen our reaction i recommend it 😊
18:45 Funny enough, in the book (published in the 80s) all of the skepticism was saying it was the Soviets.
Missed, Hydrogen times pi”….missed the fact the signal reset and returned in pursts counting in primes….Oh dear!
Same director as Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, and Cast Away
18 hours of static....and no other physical proof. Sooooooo I guess in that fraction of a second, Jodie Foster ripped the chair out of the ceiling.
Yes, not the fact that she was falling from a more than 200 fact drop that could've had enough velocity to rip the chair out.
@@julienn8844 They made a whole big thing about her safety and that's why the the chair was there in the first place! If the bolts weren't going to survive the drop, then why even bother?
@jojackmcgurk4499 ya you know what that's a good point.
The man who wrote the novel this movie was based on is Carl Sagan who was sort of Neil deGrasse Tyson's mentor.
Carl is turning in his grave at the woke fraud Neil became. Carl was very knowledgable about biology and would never have believed there are more than two sexes.
The fact of the matter is that the Universe is so Large and Old that the probability of any two advanced civilizations being close enough at the same time to actually become aware of each other much less communicate with one another is Slim and None. We have only been leaking our own EM signature for about 100 years and listening for less. 100 Light Years is Nothing in the scale of the Universe. We may Hear something from someone far away or someone may hear us at some time but they or us may be long gone by that time.
And as us who believe in God, thats who we look upon for something greater than us.
"Wanna take a ride?"
Arecibo telescope sadly collapsed due to age and a loss of interest in ground-based radio telescopes
It was mostly neglected maintenance due to lack of funding at fault.
Once the cables started to break, it was just destined to come down like in Goldeneye.
7:49 BIG BANG THEORY tv show has made "being smart" a weak loser, between that and bullying, done a lot of damage
Mocking people who are on the spectrum....
Many of the advances we have came from such people...
BBT also made nerd culture trendy which is why all the great Sci-Fi franchises lie in ruin now.
Check out a movie called What the [Bleep] Do We Know (2004), with Marlee Matlin. It's all about blending science and spirituality. It's also extremely interesting. I very highly recommend it.
Wonderful, thoughtful film (like its author). One exception: Foster and McConahay have zero chemistry together.
The Clinton footage is mostly related to the Hubble telescope.
The alien appears to her as her father. Which alien have we seen who appears to someone as their father?
Kosh. The aliens are the Vorlons. ;)
It wouldn't have been so easy for Ellie, and her team, to just pick up and go to a different country, after Dr. Drumlin took over the project. She could have left the country, sure, but she would have had to leave most, if not all, of her research behind. Everything she accomplished was via government or public money/equipment. None of her own money was used in the research, so she had no legal right to it. She would not be able to take any of it with her, because it was the legal intellectual property of someone else. When Drumlin took over the project, he took over everything! Just as with any company that a person would work for ..... If you used the company's assets to discover or invent something, it becomes the property of that company, not you.
Prime numbers do not happen in nature. The fibonacci sequence is nature thow.
Did that guy seriously hold back on “juxtaposition” because “it’s a big word”? Don’t think your ignorant arrogance is going unnoticed.
I was referencing a point when I was trying to say the word and was unable to. It was meant to be a self depreciating joke. I dont need you to depreciate my character because I already do that myself lmao 😂. Also English isn't my first language.
Never driven a 60s American car, eh?
36:30 close enough
Do you believe in God and do you believe in aliens is basically asking the same question. All conscious beings are part of a conscious universe. And conscious thoughts are electromagnetic by their very nature, in fact, everything in this universe is electromagnetic from the very small to the very large.
This movie is a sobering reminder the first TV signals to reach another alien species will probably be angry Austrian guy with a bad mustache.
Thing is, from what we know these days those signals probably will never reach anyone. Infact our foot print in terms of radio signals is really really tiny, and probably will never reach anyone since it'll get drowned out and weakened by the interstellar medium long long before it gets anywhere...
Which is a pity, or the one i like, the grabby aliens hypothesis is correct and in reality we humans are some of the first (but not definitely not the only) advanced life in the Universe at this moment and in reality it'll be us eventually sending 'greetings' messages to other less advanced species, ie the movie Contact but we're the aliens sending schematics. But either or, it'll be one hell of a journey.
@@NZBigfoot your breakdown is great. It's unlikely aliens would actually see angry Austrian bad mustache guy. It's just annoying on a human and historical level angry Austrian mustache guy could potentially be the first thing an alien species sees for the first time.
Humanity just needs to do better.
@@chaost4544 It is more likely the very powerful first uses of RADAR in the 20s would be the first "Hello" as they were very powerful and obviously not naturally produced. Aliens could probably figure out their use as it is a natural evolution of the use of RF generation and detection.
Must avoid religion debate.....
Feel free to start one if you would like, it's on topic.
I believe in Christ, but I don't think religion should be the first thing on our First Contact list. Let's figure out how to communicate before we start interjecting our culture. Wars have started over religion. 🖖"Nano-Nano" 🖖
Argument about God and creation of the Universe. Here's my issue. People focus on who or what made the Universe; I think that's irrelevant in terms of religion. Is it possible that an alien being(s) with powers beyond our understanding (aka god) created us, the planet, even the whole universe? Sure, if humanity ever reaches such levels, we'll be creating universes for fun or research. So a superpower alien could have created everything and if he(they) show up, I'll be first in line to thank him for this life and this world. But it would never occur to me to fall on my knees and praise him as something divine. Just because you are powerful and made us, does not make you a moral absolute that is God.
“If you could comprehend it, it would not be God.”
“Superpower Alien,” if you would ever meet him, would still not be “God.” Advanced Aliens would themselves still be Creations and not The Creator.
@@Ryan_Christopher What's the difference between an alien that created our universe and us and God that created our universe and us? Both will be beyond our comprehension; both will have powers that will look like magic to us.
Well, decent enough reaction. Except for way too many juvenile attempt at humor for a serious film.
Love to see you and the guys react to "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"
starring every movie star comedic actor from the 60"s. This movie invented the term "raucous comedy".
The book was much better. Parts of the machine were organic and had to be grown. The details are marvelous.
I don't remember anything organic there, they just had to advise new production methods, which included things like nanotech and molecular engineering.
The schematics also included the testing procedures on that stuff.