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Posted: |
May 13, 2022 - 5:13 AM
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By: |
jackfu
(Member)
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Unintentionally, I'm sure.
It’s just a movie. And one of my all-time favorites. But what about the folks that were returned by the aliens at the end? Were all of them better off, really?
We know that some of them had been with the aliens for as long as 30+ years – Flight 19 disappeared in 1945, now it’s 1977.
Barry had been taken only hours before the big finale, so maybe no big deal there.
But back to Flight 19 crew members. We now know that they didn’t crash. The aliens took them. Likely saved them.
Why didn’t the aliens drop them off somewhere near their original destination (Ft. Lauderdale) the same night as they had taken off?
Nearly thirty-two years have gone by. For these crewmen, it’s a different world from the one they left. Wives are now thirty years older than they, likely remarried, possibly some are deceased. Their children are now older than they. How do you deal with that?
Who’s going to help the crewmen catch up for the last 30 years?
Yeah, the crewmen are alive, but are they better off emotionally and mentally than they would have been if they’d been returned in 1945?
What about the little girl with the pigtails? How long had she been gone?
Why did the aliens take these folks in the first place?
I liked the treatment this was given in Flight of the Navigator (1986) in which David comes back 8 years later to find his baby brother is older than he. It was an interesting take on the frustration he faced. Of course, it was resolved by another flight, and he was back in 1978.
Happy Friday the 13th!
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Posted: |
May 13, 2022 - 7:47 AM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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These benevolent aliens ransacked Gillian's house also. I remember the TV ads almost made the movie look like a horror film.
I loved the film when it was released, but as an adult I realized how terrible the script was. These aliens terrify a mother, kidnap her kid, (by forcibly pulling him with his mothers hands!) to do what with him who knows, then returns the kid a few hours later after playing musical instruments, saying "hello" in sign language and smiling like they're friendly. These aliens are monsters!
Good points!
They also put Roy thru mental, emotional and spiritual turmoil. They ruined his marriage (if I'd been married to Teri Garr of 1977, I think I'd have told those aliens to f off!).
And hey, what about the cops that ran their car off the road chasing the ship - did they survive the car crash?!
The problem boils down to the script (and Spielberg himself) representing the aliens as invaders for two thirds of the film then presenting the aliens as cute, curious, friendly star children from another world during the climax.
I hadn't seen the film in decades because I just couldn't rationalize the motives of the aliens. It kinda ruined it for me. I did finally view the film again within the last couple of years and enjoy it for its production values and music.
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Posted: |
May 13, 2022 - 9:03 AM
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By: |
jackfu
(Member)
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The problem boils down to the script (and Spielberg himself) representing the aliens as invaders for two thirds of the film then presenting the aliens as cute, curious, friendly star children from another world during the climax.
I hadn't seen the film in decades because I just couldn't rationalize the motives of the aliens. It kinda ruined it for me. I did finally view the film again within the last couple of years and enjoy it for its production values and music.
Yes, it's been awhile since I last watched. As I recall, some of the sequences like Barry's abduction were lit hard orange with strong wind, etc., to generate fear, where the refrigerator raid and the ending were white/blue lighting. Perhaps the fridge raid was micschevious kid aliens (Barry says "Toys!"), and the other was adult aliens? Maybe that was to make it easier on kids to see that it all was done with good, if not well-informed intentions, on the part of the aliens, since it all came out well.
I can't help but think there were some transitional things in this, moving toward E.T..
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