![Cyborg Woman vs. Rich Housewife On "Caprica"](http://cache-08.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/03/126x100_7c99dcb51c1be7c7f4.jpg "Cyborg Woman vs. Rich Housewife On "Caprica"")
Enter your username and password.
Okay, I obviously haven't seen Pandorum yet so I'll give it a chance but . . .
Why is it so gosh darn dark on that space ship? Couldn't they have painted the walls white or blue or anything other than gun-metal gray? The darkly lit and depressing gray metal space ship interior is such a tired cliche now. Hell even in Alien there were brightly lit areas meant for crew habitation that didn't look like the mechanical sections of the ship. Reply
Why is it so gosh darn dark on that space ship? Couldn't they have painted the walls white or blue or anything other than gun-metal gray? The darkly lit and depressing gray metal space ship interior is such a tired cliche now. Hell even in Alien there were brightly lit areas meant for crew habitation that didn't look like the mechanical sections of the ship. Reply
@strideo: Again, like you, I haven't seen the film, but from this part of the article "Normally, there's supposed to be someone there to help reorient you when you reawaken from hypersleep" I'm guesing the ship isn't really designed for habitation since everyone is meant to sleep the entire way.
From a non-story POV, I'm guessing it's supposed to make things darker and scarier. Reply
From a non-story POV, I'm guessing it's supposed to make things darker and scarier. Reply
@Kiamat: And there's part of the problem for me. It seems like things just look like that just for the sake of making the atmosphere scarier and oppressive but from a story telling point of view I just can't believe that all these space ships will be designed to look only slightly cheerier than a freaking boiler room that Freddy Kruger would hang out in.
Imagine how much more original it would be if at the beginning of a film the ship is brightly lit and clean but as the film progresses more lights start to get knocked out and rooms start to have blood on the bulkheads from the mayhem and murder going on. As the environment all around the characters slowly gets trashed and brightly lit corridors give way to darkened halls with flickering lights or dim emergency lights things would start to feel more claustrophobic.
Also the idea that a horror movie needs to be mostly in the dark is not necessarily true in my opinion. I think a lot of horror film producers get confused between what is actually horrifying and what is just startling. Startling is when a creature pops out and grabs it's victim, horrifying would be when a creature paralyzes it's victim and buries them among the bodies of other victims to be eaten later while they're still conscious. Reply
Imagine how much more original it would be if at the beginning of a film the ship is brightly lit and clean but as the film progresses more lights start to get knocked out and rooms start to have blood on the bulkheads from the mayhem and murder going on. As the environment all around the characters slowly gets trashed and brightly lit corridors give way to darkened halls with flickering lights or dim emergency lights things would start to feel more claustrophobic.
Also the idea that a horror movie needs to be mostly in the dark is not necessarily true in my opinion. I think a lot of horror film producers get confused between what is actually horrifying and what is just startling. Startling is when a creature pops out and grabs it's victim, horrifying would be when a creature paralyzes it's victim and buries them among the bodies of other victims to be eaten later while they're still conscious. Reply
@strideo: I agree that if a ship is used to transport awake passengers then it should be brighter. Just look at the ship in Wall-E. Bright colours and very clean lines. Nice place to live for a few hundred years or so! The thing with this ship or say the Event Horizon. They are both working ships. The ship in Pandorum is essentially a transport ship for people asleep. The only people awake onboard would be the crew. They would be trained to work in these conditions. Just like a NASA crew. A shuttle doesnt have a Starbucks or peace mural thrown in..its a working ship. No need for luxuries. The Event Horizon had one purpose too, to create a black hole. Granted it went tits up. But still a working ship.
Gun metal gray seems to be the norm. I heard that battleships and aircraft carriers got coated in that because firstly its cheap on mass (Aircraft carriers are bloody huge) and secondly less distraction when using the ship in battle. A real life working ship. Ships in films like Aliens, Sunshine, Event Horizon and Pandorum are all bloody huge working ships. So they probably fit the real world rules around the design. I wouldnt want to paint a ship yellow if the tins cost 70 quid a pop. How would you afford the fuel. Reply
Gun metal gray seems to be the norm. I heard that battleships and aircraft carriers got coated in that because firstly its cheap on mass (Aircraft carriers are bloody huge) and secondly less distraction when using the ship in battle. A real life working ship. Ships in films like Aliens, Sunshine, Event Horizon and Pandorum are all bloody huge working ships. So they probably fit the real world rules around the design. I wouldnt want to paint a ship yellow if the tins cost 70 quid a pop. How would you afford the fuel. Reply
@CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard): If you've ever seen the inside of an aircraft carrier then you'd know that it is brightly lit and most of it's interior bulkheads are painted in lighter colors and not everything is gray. The inside of an aircraft carrier is downright perky when compared to some of these science fiction spaceships that are pretty much designed for their mood as much as functionality.
Like I said; even the Nostromo from Alien isn't entirely drab throughout. I didn't mind the dark and menacing look of spaceships such as the Event Horizon either but now it's getting old.
Also I never said I was looking for a story about a luxury ship, just a ship that wasn't completely nasty so I don't know where the Starbucks remark came from but speaking of the shuttle it is quite well lit in there isn't it? Hmmmm. Reply
Like I said; even the Nostromo from Alien isn't entirely drab throughout. I didn't mind the dark and menacing look of spaceships such as the Event Horizon either but now it's getting old.
Also I never said I was looking for a story about a luxury ship, just a ship that wasn't completely nasty so I don't know where the Starbucks remark came from but speaking of the shuttle it is quite well lit in there isn't it? Hmmmm. Reply