MovieChat Forums > Pitch Black (2000) Discussion > Where were they going?

Where were they going?

posted 11 years ago by gidister
12 replies | jump to latest

The plot has absolute zero context and this bothered me a lot. Also, what a strange combination of people to throw together. I only got from the beginning that they were supposed to travel some more distance and that the crash-landing was on a different planet than the one they were supposed to go. This makes it even more absurd that it happens to be with a breathable atmosphere and that they landed within walking distance to what seemed to be a human settlement, no less.

Oh well. At least the second half was much better, and I still enjoyed the movie. 6/10

[–] oudorper 11 years ago

Yeah the movie about the crash on the planet without a breathable atmoshere and without the human settlement turned out to be a bit short so they went with this crap. What were they thinking...

[–] independent-tek 7 years ago

That was an AWESOME response!

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[–] kaskait 11 years ago

The ship was heading toward Earth. It was more of a freight carrier rather than a passenger liner. So it seems the characters got a cheaper ticket, no frills service and were stored next to cargo.

[–] ttaskmaster 11 years ago

The fact that it has a breathable atmosphere and a human colony means it's probably a charted world, thus logged in all the navigational databases and such.
So - Given how the ship is on autopilot while the crew is in hypersleep anyway, it's perfectly feasible that, in the event of an emergency, the autopilot is programmed to head towards (or just crash-land on) the nearest registered habitable planet in the database. Good sense safety feature. Shame they didn't think about airbags and crumple zones too!!

Combination of people is what makes it interesting.
Imagine if they'd all been interstellar survival experts and space vessel mechanics - They'd just fix everything up and then survive long enough for a rescue. A two hour film of people sat playing cards and just... waiting.

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[–] gidister 11 years ago

Good answer ttaskaster. However this exactly the kind of detail that was missing from the movie. Not even saying where they were from and what their main mission was.

I agree that a bunch of similarly educated people in the same field put together would have been more boring, but it would have been nice to have some kind of excuse for the crew that we see in the movie, even a somewhat flimsy one would do.

I guess I don't like being kept in the dark too much, I realise in some cases it's actually a good thing, it drives the plot and keeps your interest, but with the assumption that the lack of information will eventually be resolved, which doesn't happen here. Generally, I feel more immersed in a story if there is sufficient context to begin with.

[–] ttaskmaster 11 years ago

IIRC, they do say they are all headed to planet Blah (whatever the name was), from which they will be going separate ways - Imam and his boys are off to some colony to spread the word, Riddick and Johns are headed to a prison, English bloke is going to sell his trinkets on some rich planet, etc...

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[–] gidister 11 years ago

ttaskmaster

If you're right then I must have missed the whole damn thing, which is a shame because I do recall having some trouble following the dialogue.

Thanks for the trouble anyway.

[–] ttaskmaster 11 years ago

It was very quickly mentioned in passing here and there, so no worries.
The Wiki (based on the script) says they were headed to the Tangiers system and from there, Imam was going ultimately to New Mecca, Helion Prime.

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[–] gidister 11 years ago

Thanks for looking that up.

[–] independent-tek 7 years ago

Excuse me, but this is not a frigging book. It's a movie. Use your imagination. Who f'ing cares how they ended up where the movie starts?
It's science FICTION.

The pumps don't work 'cause the Vandals stole the handles
Bob Dylan

[–] gidister 7 years ago

Three years later, I think I stand by my original point. "Generally, I feel more immersed in a story if there is sufficient context to begin with." You feel much more part of a story (and thus immersed) when you know where the characters are, what they are doing, what they want to do, etc. Most storylines have some kind of device that drives the plot and gives the story a sense of purpose (such as taking the ring to Mordor) - even if it eventually never happens. Here, IIRC, it's just survival, and you have no idea who the characters are, their motivation or where they come from (except from those little snippets of info which I apparently missed). This results in not really caring for any of the characters. Even crappy action movies (think Van Damme) try to work in some kind of back story to try and get the viewer to give a *beep*, even if it's flimsy.

[–] gidister 7 years ago

Oh yeah. "Use your imagination." That's what books are for...