![]() ![]() 'The Expanse: Dragon Tooth' returns us to the Rocinante with new 12-issue comic series in April 'The Ark' premiere sets up a sci-fi survival saga in outer space It included the OSSA's habitat base, the ocean floor, surrounding coral reef, and a multi-engined spaceship equipped with a 16-foot-tall fin (4.9m). The underwater environment was built at 1/16 scale and measured 40 feet by 20 feet (12m x 6m). Okun was the production's visual effects supervisor. David Stump was the miniatures director of photography and Jeffrey A. Clark Schaffer served as the miniature set designer with the skills of chief model maker Monty Shook. "Sphere's" miniature special effects are top notch and were accomplished by Grant McCune Design. The ship is inexplicably enormous and spans a half mile in length (.8 km), with a colossal fin thrusting up into the water like a submerged skyscraper. Most notable in the expensive production is the futuristic American spaceship possibly designed to penetrate a black hole and return with a prized alien artifact that contains an extraterrestrial presence named Jerry (later Harry). Grant McCune Design at work on the miniature effects for "Sphere." (Image credit: Warner Bros.) If one can view this as a B-movie gem and let it wash over you, it's well worth a watch. The film does stumble with plot logic and character motivations seemingly tossed into the churning ocean but they're not enough to take your suspension of disbelief into uncharted waters. Anderson's "Event Horizon" one year earlier. ![]() The concept of alien relic influencing or manifesting human thought is nothing new in science fiction circles and is best represented in director Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" or even the sentient planet found in Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 masterpiece "Solaris." It was also used in similar fashion for director Paul W.S. Later, the central story takes an intriguing turn when it's discovered that the shimmery cosmic globe inside the ship has the power to manifest human thoughts, dreams, and nightmares, which results in some unintentionally funny scenes with a gooey jellyfish swarm, vicious sea snakes, and even a Jules Verne-inspired monster squid (or at least the electronic outline on a radar screen). What's inside the sphere? (Image credit: Warner Bros.) The expedition consists of a psychologist (Hoffman), a biochemist (Stone), a mathematician (Jackson), and an astrophysicist (Schreiber) who all seem ill-equipped for the dangerous deep sea mission yet carry on for nearly two hours with incessant accusatory bickering.Įarly in the film it's revealed that this spacecraft is a futuristic American vessel that jumped through a black hole and came back in time to the 18th century with cargo intact. Navy to join scientists assembled by a secret faction of our government to examine an enormous alien spaceship discovered on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.Ī human contact team is formed to investigate this unknown interstellar vehicle which crashed three centuries ago some 1,000 feet (305 meters) below the surface and is now buried by extensive coral growth. It's the story of a well-known psychologist who years ago wrote a paper detailing protocols for extraterrestrial first contact. The finished novel was published in 1987 and the film roughly follows the same plot trajectory. Unable to fashion a balanced storyline, Crichton shelved the project until he could deliver a compelling tale to fit the premise. Promotional poster for "Sphere." (Image credit: Warner Bros.)Ĭrichton started writing "Sphere" way back in 1967 as a follow-up piece to his " The Andromeda Strain," crafting a plot that chronicled a team of American scientists finding a 300-year-old spacecraft underwater that contained markings written in English. ![]()
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