Why didnt they just turn the machine off 700 years ago? - Mutant Chronicles (2008) Discussion

[–] lehnrik 15 years ago

First point: The guys that discovered the machine did'nt have the key that was needed to start it.

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First point.

Everyone on these boards seems to think the prologue takes place 700 years in the past or around our time. There are several references to these events taking place over 10,000 years ago(one character says it point blank) and the prologue says it happened at the end of the last ice age. Again, I've seen people question how there was an ice age recently and that is not what they are saying-the ice age they are referring to was the last one that occurred(I don't know how much more precise they can be when saying "the last ice age" except the film-makers maybe needed to dumb-down the audience and say "the last ice age, not one recently you are immediately imagining, but no, we mean the last ice age for real."

This means the people who destroyed the machine were our cavemen ancestors. And would explain why swords were such an important method of destroying the creatures instead of guns-the first battle had no guns and the cavemen would have used their fierce fighting skills with bladed weapons-the modern fighters in Chronicles are weakened by their dependence on gunpowder weapons which have limited or no effect on the mutants.

The beings who first fought the machine had limited intelligence and burying the machine was probably all they could think of. The bible is described in the prologue as having been preserved in one place on Earth(I believe a remote part of Russia) and the religion in the film grew to prevalence only recently.

Point Two

You answered that one yourself. The key was an ignition switch so the aliens could return home. Obviously they did not expect cavemen to defeat them stranding them on our planet.

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[–] Guidedstrike 15 years ago

I don't think cavemen used swords and bladed weapons. Maybe a rock bound to the end of a stick or spears, but I highly doubt they had the skills and knowledge to make a actual metal weapon.

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[–] lwa9921602-1 15 years ago

Well,that's up to debate. We think of cavemen from the movies but 10,000 years ago they had pretty good knowledge of weapons. It's just before recorded history.

They recently found a 100,000 year old female fossil adorned with jewelry which many people found surprising. If women were wearing vanity pieces 100,000 years ago, I can see men with bladed weapons 10,000 years ago.

Anyway, point is, this movie takes place 10,000 years after the first invasion.

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[–] MysticJustin 15 years ago

The oldest known humanish remains are less then 1/4 that age so stop pulling *beep* out your ass...

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] MysticJustin 15 years ago

Interesting... didn't know they found anything that old... but where's your magic artical about 100,000 year old jewerly? Anywho... 1.3 million year old jaw bone piece doesn't really mean there were humanish, and yes that is a word seeing as you can add ish to any noun and make it mean what it's suppose to mean, people around, that jaw could be from any animal and they just assume it came from a human ancestor since it kinda looks like a human jaw bone.

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[–] lwa9921602-1 15 years ago

http://anthropology.net/2007/06/04/82000-year-old-jewellery-found/

Above is one of several articles if you do a google search. The specific article I read is not coming up at the top results but the above article should suffice.

The scientists are not guessing about the human jawbone. They are going by the shape, teeth configuration, hinged aspects of the jaw. It is no different than when modern remains are found(say in a fire or buried) and forensics can determine the approximate age and certainly whether it belonged to a human or other animal.

Hope that was helpful

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[–] MysticJustin 15 years ago

Wearing shells isn't the kind of jewerly you were trying to talk about... who cares if they hooked up some shells on some rope, that's not really enough to say they could make/transform metal to make bladed weapons.

Again, they are guessing... forensics are just an educated GUESS.... they don't know for sure that jawbone is from any kind of human....

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[–] lwa9921602-1 15 years ago

My original point was if they were making jewelry 100,000 years ago(and these articles show it to be further back) than 10,000 years ago they should already have had bladed weapons. Certainly it is within the realm of possibility for suspension of disbelief for this film.

If you really believe that forensics is just guessing, then I guess you would wish to throw out most of the current murder convictions based on forensics. I certainly hope, if you ever face the unfortunate aspects of a criminal murder trial that your defense is not that forensics experts are just guessing at their conclusions.

Scientifically, if they state they have a theory(scientists theorize the jawbone comes from a human) then you would be correct, they are using their best guess.

They don't say that here. They are pretty certain about it. Just because you choose not to believe in scientists conclusions does not make them wrong.

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[–] Whispers86 15 years ago

ok, here's the point we need to be thinking about, the fact that this...tale, probably takes place in the future, actually it says from what i read...2707...and if it was 10,000 years ago then that would be 1707, so yes, swords, guns, shields, hell even missiles were being used at that time. so this argument between you two menstruals is completely useless, and i have two points to support.

1. already stated, you're thinking in the period of our time instead of the time period the movie takes place, thats your bad, so fail.

2. you're debating the timeline and evolution of a F*&%ing FICTIONAL place/alternate timeline. double fail.

but who cares if us as humans were able to make jewelry or made swords and such a long time ago...and it has no relevance to this thread or even the topic of debate to start with, so thats a triple fail, for both of you.

and to the original poster, these questions are good ones to ask, and have already been answered, its just these two got on my nerves.

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[–] lwa9921602-1 15 years ago

Okay, God 45.

1. you're here debating with us so you fail with us.

2. You need to go back to the second grade and take up math again because you fail. 10,000 years before 2707 is NOT 1707

2707 AD
-10,000
=
8,707 BC

3. So, swords, guns, shields do come back into the debate as 8707 BC was before recorded history.

4. Anyone who cannot do simple subtraction should realize that he is the real menstrual who is completely useless.

addendum:
Actually, the math is a little more complicated.

10,000 - 2707 years(AD) leaves 7,293 years so

7,293 BC to be perfectly accurate, but I'm sure 10,000 years was an estimate anyway. Still before some other menstrual comes along and claims I can't count, thought I would get that out there.

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[–] Whispers86 15 years ago

but you're still missing the fact you're debating an alternate timeline/world yet using our world as a source to their evolution, which from what it seems is completely different for our own.

and no, 7293 came after the first cave paintings which happened about 2700 years before so that wasnt before recorded history...so you fail on that as well.

and just so ya know, its rude to steal people's words and using a calculator doesnt make ya smart, but i do admit i did subtract 1,000 instead of 10,000, so that was my fail.

and i wasnt debating, i was telling you how epically useless this debate was since you lack enough imagination to even realize the fact i previously stated above...its a fictional, alternate..mickey mouse world..no reason to go get heated up about it and bringin out your wikipedia pages to support your reasonings.

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[–] lwa9921602-1 15 years ago

Once again you fail GOD(lol)

Recorded history is defined by written language as a use for recording events. Not painting on a wall.

7293 is before recorded history by correct definition.

Its rude to steal peoples words just like its rude to intrude on someones conversation and call them menstruals that are useless. Funny how someone like yourself can be rude but gets offended when the rudeness is returned.

I didn't use a calculator. I did the math in my head. Unlike you, I can do that and get it right.

Keep going back and forth with me on this and insist you aren't debating, lol.

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[–] Whispers86 15 years ago

but now we're not debating on that same subject are we? you're trying to attack my character like you did in the previous post. so i know i offended you, which im sorry for. but you didnt offend me because honestly, you're nothing but 1's and 0's, you dont mean enough in the grand scheme of things to offend me.

but in this case i was right, you two were bickering like a couple of little girls about a subject that has no relevance to the Original subject of this thread, which is why i decided to intervene because honestly, that is useless.

so, next time, stay on topic.

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[–] lwa9921602-1 15 years ago

We were discussing the original point of the thread! Again, you show how stupid you are-unable to read, comprehend or do math.

The point was and is why they didn't turn off the machine 700 years ago. It led to a discussion of how 700 years ago was the wrong date as the film clearly says it was 10,000 years ago. Which led to a discussion of what tools they might have had that would make sense both in the fictional world they have and how it might fit in with our own history. And how scientists have uncovered evidence that may or may not point to this.

Then you butt in unable to follow that simple thread.

You don't even make sense in your own arguments. You state they would have had bladed weapons because the date would have been 1707(which means you are referring to earth history) then state next we should not consider earth history as the film is in an alternate universe/timeline,LOL.

You insist on insults(ones and zeros' is a good one. If you are referring to my computing skills, thank you, I agree, they are superior to your own as shown by your failed math skills.)

You claim we are bickering while you continue to bicker about it(lol).

Finally, you come in here, change the topic because your small mind cannot follow a thread and then criticize because the thread's subject(which you changed yourself) is changed.

Keep posting here, so everyone can see what an ignoramus and hypocrite you are.

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[–] bestestdev 15 years ago

I know I'm a little more than a month out from this conversation, but:

"A Stone Age was usually followed by a Bronze Age, during which metalworking technology allowed bronze (copper and tin or other metals) tools to become more common. The transition out of the Stone Age occurred between 6000 BC and 2500 BC for much of humanity living in North Africa, Asia and Europe. In some regions, such as Subsaharan Africa, the Stone Age was followed directly by an Iron Age. It is generally believed that the Middle East and southeastern Asian regions progressed past Stone Age technology around 6000 BC. Europe, and the rest of Asia became post–Stone Age societies by about 4000 BC. The proto-Inca cultures of South America continued at a Stone Age level until around 2000 BC, when gold, copper and silver made their entrance, the rest following later. Australia remained in a Stone Age until the 17th century." - Wikipedia article on the Stone Age.

The Bronze Age would've brought metal tools, including bladed weaponry, so around 7000 BC we wouldn't actually see metal swords/shields/helms and the like.

Also, does anyone else find it hilarious that Australia wasn't brought out of the Stone Age until the 17th century?

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[–] vicky_lc2001-1 10 years ago

It's not hilarious, no. Australia didn't have any domesticated animals to help humans in their work, it also was a barren land where farming would've been impossible for the Aborigines to accomplish. The Westerners who arrived relied and relies on a lot of exports to help them bring Australia to modern times.

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[–] brizzle6313 15 years ago

Both of you:

Who the *beep* cares?! This is a FICTIONAL TALE based in a FICTIONAL TIMELINE in a FICTIONAL UNIVERSE!!! Honestly, whether swords were invented 10; 20; 100,000 years ago or YESTERDAY for all I care, please suspend your ability to (believe, or) doubt EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!! When i see any of your names in the credits of ANYTHING EVER WRITTEN OR PRODUCED IN HOLLYWOOD! then feel free to rip these movies apart as you like. Otherwise, shut the **** up b/c your script hasn't been greenlit yet! PLUS: You don't have Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, or JOHN *beep* MALKOVICH IN YOUR MOVIE!!!!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[–] fallen_elite 10 years ago

Ah. Damn... I guess I couldn't complain about my Pinto exploding since I'm not an automotive engineer. I'll have to go back and take down a bad review of a hospital too. Sure, they maimed someone through neglectful performances but I'm not a surgeon so I clearly can't have an opinion about their work. [/end sarcasm]

You don't have to make a movie to notice some things were poorly done. You can realize its hard to make a movie, and be unable to make a good one, while still realizing another movie is poorly done. Your demand really is absurd in a society with specialization... hardly anyone could review anything. Yay, asymmetrical information! That is really a good goal... now, who is the one that really ought to shut up?

Back on point, I thought the first 5 minutes of the movie looked really interesting. Sadly, the steampunk war got pushed aside for lackluster mutants. I normally don't like rottentomatoes, particularly when using its ratings to compare movies released years apart, but this movie didn't get below 25% approval from critics and audiences for no reason.

1.) Detailed drawings having been made far prior to current events in the movie, yet not simply being used earlier. 2.) A friend surviving being drug through a tunnel for what seems like a long time (days at least?) while stabbed yet not dying to make some unnecessary melodrama. 3.) I personally had a "wtf moment" when the girl with two swords can't share one and the other girl was given a knife to hold off the mutants instead [shockingly she gets overwhelmed when using just a knife]... killing two-swords off by having her idiotically stare at a mutant (sure, it was from the corpse of a friend) while being warned was another way to end the flick while begging for a low score.

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[–] m-a-brookes 13 years ago

Metal swords in some form are common place from around 5000 years ago in the bronze age, and weapons were made long before then in other forms. Spears, axes and knifes/swords can be traced to 10000 years ago and earlier made from flint which can be as sharp if not sharper than any metal.

And the forensics being an educated guess comment is the dumbest thing I have heard in a while.

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[–] vicky_lc2001-1 10 years ago

The Australoid, the first set of humans who left Africa and settled in Asia and the Pacific is said to have been 60-80k years ago.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] vicky_lc2001-1 10 years ago

You know, we all assume everyone 10k years ago were Paleolithic. For all you know there were Neolithic advanced cultures that we're simply wiped out for various reasons. Bauval and geologists believe the Sphinx is at least 10k years old.

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[–] bufalo73 15 years ago

Maybe those 10000 years doesn't count back from OUR next century. Given that it is fiction, those 10000 years back are our now. Then, after the first invasion, civilization could go down to something like the one in old Greece or someting like this and they are in our future, raising again to were we are now. The fact that there's a world war raging for decades doesn't help in advancing civilization.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] jayhonk 15 years ago

"...that has to be the dumbest explanation I have heard. "

Which one!? LOL

Actually I thought the OP had a good point. Given the fictional fantasy universe, blah, blah, blah, if the previous Civilization which defeated the machine, had the knowledge of how to turn it off--down to the detail of the shape of the blade needed for that last twist of the knob, (which is shown in the chronicle page that just so happens to flip up as the hero is in agony about what to do next) then why, oh why did they not just flip the switch?

A: Oh, yeh. Then there wouldn't have been a movie.

Just saw the movie last night and I couldn't take my eyes off it. I am giving it either 7 or 8.

Also, what was the machine actually doing? I missed that part.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 15 years ago

No matter what anyone says to give this cretinous slop pile cred, it'll still be a steaming pile of not much. Hail to the Machine and all its clogged drains!

What is the sound an imploding pimp makes?

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[–] aoc777 15 years ago

Another looney theory (including spoiler, so warning!) with no relation to the game at all:

The whole movie from start to end is in the future. Human kind kills itself nearly and causes a 'nuclear' winter aka the last ice age. Civilization collapses and recedes. Out of the fog of winter comes a threat in terms of a weapon that people no longer understand and that releases mutants (transforms people into berserk soldiers killing the enemy or something like that - no explanation really needed). During the fight against the machine a part of the machine is recovered during a reconnaissance mission along with some sketches. However, as there is no understanding of the machine and no other solution against the mutants they are sealed away. For the next thousands of years some monks brood over the sketches and machine part and come up with an interpretation. Well, they got it wrong.

By the year 2707 of some undefined scale humanity has clawed itself back to some sort of steampunk age, where 4 factions are fighting for domination...

Move to the end: What better weapon than one that makes your enemies go berserk and kill each other, while you fly off to another world. So, if the mutant making machine was the actual weapon, when the reconnaissance team stole part of the machine, they actually deactivated the escape pod part of the machine and not the weapon part. So instead of escaping the makers of the machine became mutant material (explains where the first wave came from and the size of the wave as soon as the seal was broken). So what was on the space ship escaping? Mutants?

Side notes regarding the sword discussion earlier in the thread:
Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword where the invention of swords is placed around 3000 BC.
There is some evidence that the early Egyptians used hand-held blades, which would place the invention of the sword into earlier times, about 4500 BC. But due to the low quality of bronze at the time it was probably only ceremonial at the time. Much of history prior to that is lost due to insufficient records. Who knows what was around before, the Aztecs used stone swords, so not having good bronze or steel is not really a hindrance. Anyway, this was a movie, fiction, not a historical record. Don't limit your fantasy and imagination by facts.

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[–] brettjtalley 13 years ago

Yep, aoc nailed it.

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[–] sub_mish 12 years ago

We don't know that they were going to return home. I thought they were going to Mars to *beep* up them corporate rich bastards with Evacuation Tickets :-p

Sits in corner counting inconsistencies and Spoiling It For Everyone

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[–] Eradan 14 years ago

Just two of a THOUSAND plot holes....

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[–] mniedekker 13 years ago

i have an explanation for the second plot hole.

''The second point is why would an outside power alien race if you will who is determined to physically change man enough to send a machine to earth make the machine with an off switch/return home key unless of course it was to come home once the job was done. ''

who says their goal wasnt to help us.
its a device that can bring people back from the death and maybe it was just broken or not mend for us to use.
maybe it was mend for martian biology.
and if it was mend for martians then that would also explain why it would go to mars, because thats where it was supposed to go from the start and it just happened to land on earth because of a mistake.
and what we thought was a on/off switch was more of a reset button, and after it was reset and working properly again it went to the right coordinates given to him.

i havent seen this film in quite a while so i can a little off on some things.
but its a fictional movie and im just giving a option to explain your ''plotholes''

EDIT

maybe the people who wrote the book where worshipping it.
maybe they thought it was a gift from god or the devil,
and in the past a group was worshipping it and they would also be the ones 2 bring the first mutants there as sacrifices.
another theory to explain the plotholes.

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[–] sub_mish 12 years ago

Hush now. You're Spoiling It For Everyone.

Sits in corner counting inconsistencies and Spoiling It For Everyone

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[–] clickbait 9 years ago

lol at this thread...OPs question is fair and a good one but there isnt any point in analyzing this turd fest...cause there is so many giant plot holes in every scene that a jumbo swiss cheese will look very tight in comparison...this thread is just waste of time and energy and u should just forget about this retarded movie and let it die out and never return on any screen again...

~If the realistic details fails, the movie fails~

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