"Space madness" is such an old name for the fear of potential mental health issues in astronauts, that it's not used any more. Many of the people who want to go into space are already at high risk of certain mental illnesses. So, just like what the crew on the Tanis mission, they pre-screen for mental illnesses. The most common afflictions are asthenization (is a condition experienced by astronauts following long-term space flight, in which following return to Earth the astronaut experiences symptoms such as fatigue, irritability, lack of appetite, and sleep disorders), depression, anxiety and increased tribalism (psychological closing). No psychosis or extreme paranoia is seen and the hallucinations are likely from cosmic rays passing through the cortical nerves and areas of the brain that control sensations.
The major worry from radiation of cosmic rays on the brain, wouldn't be an issue for people sitting on Tanis' surface or flying in their ship as their radioactive shielding would be 200 years ahead of our current technology.
The most important point here, which I'm ashamed to have missed initially, is they had been on Tanis surface for 900 years and no longer in space, so Pandorum as a space caused mental illness, was already impossible to develop except for the first patient that showed symptoms in space, Gallo, and if the hibernation pods can keep humans alive and regenerated for 1000 years (Bowers still looked 30), why wouldn't Gallo's brain heal? He just seemed to behave like any other NPD and/or sociopath who should have been screened out pre-flight.
To explain the disease the writers would have had to use a cause from hibernation fluids/process or virus/bacterial infection. The symptoms fit nothing that our astronauts have.
Really, the better explanation would have been a disease caused by extended hibernation or a virus or, even better for a sci-fi movie, a micro alien life form or human developed nano-tech cybernetic implant that went rogue.
Criticism of religion is not racism...
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THX1138b (9)
7 years ago
It was already explained in the movie as a result of the "hyper sleep" which is based on a technology which doesn't exist so all your conjecture on what astronauts actually experience is pointless.
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Jehosaphet (1055)
6 years ago
Agreed. Just got done watching it my first time here and it stood out even in the first time viewing. A recent article I read pointed out that the "weirdness" you get in space has been overstated anyway...stating that while you may have to brush up on your social skills, being in space doesn't fundamentally change a person's psyche.
I certainly couldn't see it changing enough to cause the kind of insanity depicted here...this was nuts lol
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