MovieChat Forums > CAT. 8 (2013) Discussion > Am I the only one who noticed? Cat. 8 = ...

Am I the only one who noticed? Cat. 8 = Exploding Sun. *Minor Spoilers*


Both are 2 episode long mini-series released in 2013, featuring exactly the same premise - an innovation harnessing solar energy gone horribly wrong, causing solar flares to go wild with all sorts of ridiculous catastrophic phenomena that has nothing to do with actual science. Both feature some of the worst acting and script I've ever seen, completely unrealistic characters, pretty much the same plot lines- divorced top scientists because they were oh so busy with their careers, renegade politicians gone mad taking moves that make absolutely no sense. Both series are only saved by cool solar flares CGI.
Can this be a coincidence?

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No, it's actually done that way on purpose. Most D-Day (doomsday or disaster) flicks are purposely formulaic because that's what fans like, myself being one. High quality D-day films are rare. Think of those as caviar whereas these movies are junk food: we know going in they're going to be bad but they satisfy a craving.

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I also noticed they share the same production company (Muse) and distributor (Sonar). Could be Muse had a story idea floating around they wanted to green light, sent it out to different development teams, got two that worked for them. You're right, there are a lot of similarities.

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These B-grade disaster mobies run on a buzz-word game style:

Roll a dice...

What's the problem?

1 - Asteroid going to hit Earth
2 - Moon going to split apart
3 - Sun going nova/CME/Flare
4 - Zombie Apocalypse or other viral agent; Ebola, Bird Flu, etc
5 - Supernatural ELE occurrence; e.g. "End of the Line".
6 - Earth herself rebels; palar shifts, ice ages, etc

Who can fix it?

1 - Genius scientist who is persecuted by the authorities
2 - Plunky glass-ceiling bound female scientist (who is also hot as hell!)
3 - Nerdy bullied guy makes good.
4 - maverick son of the big baddie, who wants to "go good".
5 - Aliams!!!
6 - No hope (most zombie films are like this)

End result?

1 - we all live, happy and safe
2 - we all die (very few films have the balls to end like this)
3 - some of us live; e.g. 2012, most Z films.
4 - some of us live, but on other planets (like Titan AE or Serenity)
5 - (make up something)
6 - (make up something)

Roll the dice and you have a new B grade film - just hand the basics to your script writer to flesh out the story.

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Holy Eff! I love your answer!

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