Skip to main content

Movie Identification - Spaceship, earth destroyed but not really



I saw a movie on TV a long time ago that I can't seem to find. Plot is basically this:


Earth is going to be destroyed (known or maybe unknown) and a crew is on a spaceship flying somewhere. During their trip they receive notice that Earth has been destroyed and the plot centers around how they handle it.


The twist is, after some of them die, the survivor's 'wake up' and find out they were in a simulation that was trying to discover what people would do when confronted with that information.



Answer



Terminal Voyage from 1994




In 2035, global warming rendered the Earth barely inhabitable and its human population is on the verge of extinction. The Earth Federation sends a space ship on a century-long trip to a distant planet Trion which could be suitable for colonization. The eight crew-members come from Russia, United States, China, United Kingdom, France, and Saudi Arabia.


As the ship approaches Trion, the crew wakes from hibernation. They immediately find a decomposed corpse of the Captain in his capsule. The ship's XO, Commander Hollis, assumes command. When he reads a secure transmission from Earth received while they were sleeping, he commits suicide, leaving a note that he "joins his loved ones". The new CO, Lieutenant Jammad, reveals the content of the message: the Earth has been devastated in a nuclear holocaust.



....



When questioned, Becker denies any guilt then sets off the self-destruction sequence. Granier and Han are too devastated to continue and commit suicide with a morphine overdose, and Reese and Zinovitz make it to the escape capsule. As the countdown reaches zero, they find themselves in an underground simulation facility stationed on Earth. There was no space flight - it is their final test, an "extreme stress simulation" scenario which involved the death of the commanding officer and multiple system failures. The crew have only been in hibernation for 6 months, and Hollis, Jammad and Becker apparently knew about the test.



The kicker is:




However the nuclear war on Earth was indeed real, and the facility is empty and abandoned. The film ends with a view of a destroyed city, as Reese and Zinovitz look on to uncertain future.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

What is Tolkien trying to say in this letter?

In a draft of a letter, later recorded as #246, Tolkien makes a strange statement. I am interested in the first few sentences of the letter, but I will include the remainder for the sake of context. In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond . But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power . But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy ...

tolkiens legendarium - Was Galadriel's temptation of Boromir instrumental to his fall?

We know Galadriel tempted the members of the Fellowship, did she tempt Boromir with visions of taking the Ring and saving Gondor? In the books, Boromir willingly accepts the judgement of the council that the Ring should be destroyed, but after the meeting with Celeborn and Galadriel his personality seems to change. Was the temptation offered by Galadriel in some way responsible for Boromir's fall? Answer It's likely, but not certain I believe it is likely Galadriel tempted him with the ring, and in doing so re-ignited a pre-existing idea to take the ring, but to be clear lets break this down into three parts. Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir after setting off Boromir after being tempted Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir pleas for the ring to go to Minas Tirith, to help Gondor in its defense against Mordor. “ Why should we not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serve us in the very hour of need? Wielding it the Free Lords of the Free may surely...

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...