Adapting Forbidden Planet as a Traveller setting
- Thread starter Werner
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Chris Barlow
SOC-10
According to the Wikipedia article on the film " The characters and isolated setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the plot contains certain analogues to the play, leading many to consider it a loose adaptation."
I always thought the Tempest itself would make a good source of ideas for Fantasy RPGs like D and D. Never thought about it or forbidden planet as a Traveller scenario. Because as others have already mentioned, the film has sped of communications being faster than the speed of travel. Thus breaking one of travellers few rules.
I always thought the Tempest itself would make a good source of ideas for Fantasy RPGs like D and D. Never thought about it or forbidden planet as a Traveller scenario. Because as others have already mentioned, the film has sped of communications being faster than the speed of travel. Thus breaking one of travellers few rules.
Thunderchild@1
SOC-1
"Well, fundamentally, it's a question
of crude power, to short-circuit the continuum on a five- or six-parsec level.
Of course, a transmitter of that sort isn't exactly standard equipment.
To build one, we'd have to cannibalize about two-thirds of a ship's electronic gear, and then unship the main drive to juice it.
Just to construct a bunker to house a core would take about 10 days."
Yes, FP does have FTL communications - but, as per the quote above, it is certainly neither routine nor easily utilised!!
of crude power, to short-circuit the continuum on a five- or six-parsec level.
Of course, a transmitter of that sort isn't exactly standard equipment.
To build one, we'd have to cannibalize about two-thirds of a ship's electronic gear, and then unship the main drive to juice it.
Just to construct a bunker to house a core would take about 10 days."
Yes, FP does have FTL communications - but, as per the quote above, it is certainly neither routine nor easily utilised!!
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Sort of like why I have a problem watching military/war movies.
Regrettably, I can only "like" that post once. I have relevant experience and thus, so. much. WTF...
I've discovered that if the movie is still enjoyable in spite of the fact that I know it's a little wrong, I'm ok with it.
On the other hand, if the movie is so wrong about something that it makes the rest of the movie not worth watching (no matter how good the rest of the movie is) or puts the rest of the movie in a bad light, it makes me wonder if Hollywood considers their viewers to be that 'uneducated'. And there have been a few times I've wondered if I can get my money back.
For many movie genera's, being a little loosey goosey with the facts & truth is ok as long as the movie as a whole is fun and enjoyable.
As my life accrues more and more decades, and I read Sci-Fi from the 70's and earlier, I sometimes find myself looking at these story's through the lens of my current scientific knowledge, and trying hard not to look down on the writers of back then. Many scientific theories from back then got pounded into dust by the discoveries of scientific facts.
I'm not a math genius, let alone really understanding everything about physics, but I can still get into Traveller, or even put part of an authors universe into Traveller, and still have fun.
On the other hand, if the movie is so wrong about something that it makes the rest of the movie not worth watching (no matter how good the rest of the movie is) or puts the rest of the movie in a bad light, it makes me wonder if Hollywood considers their viewers to be that 'uneducated'. And there have been a few times I've wondered if I can get my money back.
For many movie genera's, being a little loosey goosey with the facts & truth is ok as long as the movie as a whole is fun and enjoyable.
As my life accrues more and more decades, and I read Sci-Fi from the 70's and earlier, I sometimes find myself looking at these story's through the lens of my current scientific knowledge, and trying hard not to look down on the writers of back then. Many scientific theories from back then got pounded into dust by the discoveries of scientific facts.
I'm not a math genius, let alone really understanding everything about physics, but I can still get into Traveller, or even put part of an authors universe into Traveller, and still have fun.
Indeed. Though much science fiction is about the "speculative idea" being the main character the story, it is still fiction. A lot of old sci-fi is still fun because it is the drama of the characters in the situations presented, not the accuracy of science itself. For other media, if you are paying TOO MUCH attention with precision or verisimilitude then the film or TV show is failing to engage you or you are not the intended audience.
Were I to apply this to other aspects of shows, I should stop watching those Chicago PD and other shows because I live in Chicago and know too much about MY city. Even Kolchak, The Nightstalker. Though young, I was alive in the '70s and know what Chicago looked and was like back then. Kolchak is still a cool show despite its geographic and sometimes cultural inaccuracies of the city then.
I laughed when Close Encounters of the Third Kind had Muncie, Ind with hills and valleys when Richard Dreyfuss chases the UFO in his truck. Also, when they open the door on the Torpedo Bombers in the desert you can see a Grumman insignia on the door, all the lost aircraft were TBMs made by General Motors. But my wife said I was the only person she knows that would notice that.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Your wife should not be too sure about that.
I understand that some of the science in the 1950s and 1960s has been shown to be wrong or not quite correct, but I take the view that does the movie have a solid story line and good acting to compensate for that today. Forbidden Planet is still one of my favorite science fiction movies of all time. The story and acting are more than first-rate.
Silverhawk
SOC-12
We who model trains and are not that fanatical call them rivet counters.
Modeller 1: Did you see that Manufacterer X is coming out with a Union Pacific 1937 ARA Boxcar.?
Modeller 2: Yes, but it sucks. They only put 14 rivets on the struts but the prototype (real car) had 15 rivets. And the color is off slightly from the correct shade. That shade wasn't used until 1965.
It makes no sense to me to worry about it. at 1/87th scale (HO) who is going to be able to see it without a magnifying glass. An who is going to know about when they changed paint colors.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
I’m N scale so I don’t give a damn. That and colors fade as years roll by, which year is being modeled? That being said, hurts my soul to watch mixed era manifests, ES44s pulling boxcars with roof walks? Madness!
This is Los Angeles Municipal Warehouse No. 1, in Los Angeles Harbor. (Wikipedia)
You reminded me of a sign there.
The white sign over the left portal is a warning that workers must not stand on top of cars going into the building. I don't remember the exact wording though, and this photo from Wikipedia doesn't have that detail. At least the left and right portals were for rail; I'm not sure if the central one was originally rail or was always a ramp and platform between the rail lines.
I could go check it out in the morning, if anyone cares...
And while looking this up, I discovered that the Port of LA was looking, back in mid-2020, to have it redeveloped. (Sigh. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, but that doesn't provide all that much protection.)
I used to have a small N-scale setup, as well... the details on my ARR (Alaska RR) cars were sufficient to ID the prototype not just to model, but to individual engine. The coal hopper? I saw the specific prototype car roll past on the way home from the party where I was given it.
Not my work; I was about 13. But Uncle Jack bought me ones painted by an "obsessive accuracy nut" librarian... Whom I also knew.
There are some N and Z scale detail nuts. (Uncle Jack's train set was one of the three-rail lionel sets... with all cars being length scale 1/3 the vertical and width scale....)
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Silverhawk
SOC-12
Looking at it from Google Earth it looks like there is a corresponding entrance (exit?) at the other end of the building. That would make sense since a truck is driven in one end pulled to where the railcar is waiting with either load to go on ship or empty and waiting for load to come off ship. That type of transloading has gone the way of the dinosaur since containerization has taken over.This is Los Angeles Municipal Warehouse No. 1, in Los Angeles Harbor. (Wikipedia)
You reminded me of a sign there.
The white sign over the left portal is a warning that workers must not stand on top of cars going into the building. I don't remember the exact wording though, and this photo from Wikipedia doesn't have that detail. At least the left and right portals were for rail; I'm not sure if the central one was originally rail or was always a ramp and platform between the rail lines.
I could go check it out in the morning, if anyone cares...
And while looking this up, I discovered that the Port of LA was looking, back in mid-2020, to have it redeveloped. (Sigh. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, but that doesn't provide all that much protection.)
Silverhawk
SOC-12
In certain situations I'm okay with incongruent cars and locomotives like open houses for the public, setup of modular layout for public display because most people don't know the difference anyway.
"Look Johnny. Look at the Choo Choo," while the train lead by a throughly modern EMD SD70Ace goes by.
But those times where it is supposed to be 'right' to a certain level, I agree with you it hurts.
Silverhawk
SOC-12
I think though we are drifting a little to far off topic.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
Sure modern n scale done by upper tier companies are very accurate- it’s just that for most people you have to have magnifying glass to see the rivets.
Now I have a different rivet counter problem- I know too much about the cars and their cargo. Tank cars are usually dedicated to one chemical, covered hoppers that carry grain are different from ones that carry plastics or concrete, etc.
Seeing the wrong car type spotted at an industry that doesn’t use that cargo is painful in the same way wrong history in movies is.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
Naw, tastes, expectations, knowledge of the audience that in our case are players or ourselves as auteurs and directors are very relevant to how we create/interpret and/or populate environmental fluff and plot points via technology and alien worlds.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
In nautical shipping break bulk is definitely old school but still practiced. For rail of course local transload businesses that are exactly that are not only still used but flourishing and expanding, often handling multiple product lines and even packaging/loading outbound products.
