Movie Talk: The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)

[JBird]

I'm cheating with this selection, as it was the movie of choice for Film Sack, and I didn't see anything else on Netflix that wasn't a TV show.

Originally Posted by Netflix

A secret experiment to disguise a naval battleship from enemy radar inexplicably sends a pair of World War II sailors 40 years into the future. They arrive in 1984 to a changed world and a bizarre electrical storm that seems linked to their arrival.

I went into this with no knowledge of this movie's existence. And by the end of it, I'm sure I will end up forgetting about it. For an 80's sci-fi film, it felt really light on the science, which, according to the trivia, the director made it that way to focus more on the romance between the main character, played by Michael Paré, and the love interest, Nancy Allen.

And that's the main problem with the movie, in my opinion: the romance between two people with little to no chemistry. The only other movie I remember Paré from is Eddie and the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives, and he can be a pretty decent dramatic actor. And I felt like he was wasted in this movie, as his character's situation and future shock was downplayed for most of the movie (another decision made by the director).

All in all, it's dull film with very little to offer.

[DalekSec]

Originally Posted by JBird

I'm cheating with this selection, as it was the movie of choice for Film Sack, and I didn't see anything else on Netflix that wasn't a TV show.



I went into this with no knowledge of this movie's existence. And by the end of it, I'm sure I will end up forgetting about it. For an 80's sci-fi film, it felt really light on the science, which, according to the trivia, the director made it that way to focus more on the romance between the main character, played by Michael Paré, and the love interest, Nancy Allen.

And that's the main problem with the movie, in my opinion: the romance between two people with little to no chemistry. The only other movie I remember Paré from is Eddie and the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives, and he can be a pretty decent dramatic actor. And I felt like he was wasted in this movie, as his character's situation and future shock was downplayed for most of the movie (another decision made by the director).

All in all, it's dull film with very little to offer.

Were we separated at birth??

Typical of so many movies within the genre of the time, the rush to make some manner of romance out of it all, pretty much stepped upon what was, a very interesting story based on real life accounts.

The rumors of the experiment and its repercussions persist to this day and, have been the basis of a good deal of both speculation and conspiracy chatter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment


Sadly, the movie chucks all of this into the rubbish as it strives to become some form of teen heart throb tale.

At least one can say that it is better than the amazingly, violently, gut turning-ly BAD sequel it spawned. Yes, there was a sequel. Yes, it really was that bad.

[Crash Ichimonji]

I seem to recall there being a porn comic loosely based on the infamous Philadelphia Experiment (titled 'The Philadelphia Project'). It was basically a modern lab using research material from the original experiment and using it instead as a means of time-travel for communications (there was a military officer who was overseeing the experiment). However, the large device made for the experiment went haywire and teleported two female scientists, a male scientist, and the military guy to some world full of bipedal lizard men. Chapter 1 was pretty vanilla in terms of content, but chapter 2 (where the experiment goes haywire) involved breast-expansion, age regression, and even penis-expansion for the male scientist.

E-hentai used to have the two chapters, but I can't seem to find them anymore.

[DalekSec]

Originally Posted by Crash Ichimonji

I seem to recall there being a porn comic loosely based on the infamous Philadelphia Experiment (titled 'The Philadelphia Project'). It was basically a modern lab using research material from the original experiment and using it instead as a means of time-travel for communications (there was a military officer who was overseeing the experiment). However, the large device made for the experiment went haywire and teleported two female scientists, a male scientist, and the military guy to some world full of bipedal lizard men. Chapter 1 was pretty vanilla in terms of content, but chapter 2 (where the experiment goes haywire) involved breast-expansion, age regression, and even penis-expansion for the male scientist.

E-hentai used to have the two chapters, but I can't seem to find them anymore.

Now that I would watch!!

Srsly, there is no way the pr0nZ version could be worse than the original.

[Crash Ichimonji]

Originally Posted by DalekSec

Now that I would watch!!

Srsly, there is no way the pr0nZ version could be worse than the original.

I've never seen the movie this thread is about, and thanks to you guys I intend not to.

Too much stuff gets romance where it shouldn't, gotta agree. I remember reading 'Tuck Everlasting' in middle school, and when I saw the previews for the film they made a few years ago (the movie adaptation from the 80s was actually more true to the book than the millennial film) and how it was about the girl and Jesse falling in love and being all Twilight about the whole immortality thing (or, well Twilight came AFTER, more reason to hate Stephanie Meyer and her sparkly fap-fiction more)..I honestly felt disgusted.

It's either that, or completely overhauling the storyline in an unnecessary manner. World War Z is apparently like that. Rather than be about the aftermath of the zombie-apocalypse, it's *gasp* about the war against the zombies itself, because that hasn't been fucking done in every motherfucking zombie movie beforehand.

And as much as I liked the Planet of the Apes movies (the ones from over 30yrs back, let's forget the Tim Burton one ever happened...), when I found out about what original book was about, I think the franchise could have been condensed to maybe a single three-hour film. But then again we'd lose Heston's famous "You maniacs!" scene in movie 1, the nuke-worshipping, skinless telepathic humans of movie 2, and the scene of baby Caesar/Milo repeatedly saying 'Mama' at the end of film 3.

[JBird]

Originally Posted by DalekSec

At least one can say that it is better than the amazingly, violently, gut turning-ly BAD sequel it spawned. Yes, there was a sequel. Yes, it really was that bad.

And then there's the SyFy-produced remake, which still managed to cast Michael Paré, but as a different character.

I'm sure one of these days we'll find a movie we can agree to disagree on :P

I am willing to bet anything that the scene where the ship re-materializes in the end, and all the sailors are merged into the ship itself, was slipped in by John Carpenter, who is credited as executive producer. And now I'm imagining a "better" movie if he were directed the Philadelphia Experiment.

[morwalugi]

Haven't seen that film.There was another one where Roy Schneider and the boys from 1980's slip back with their aircraft carrier in WW2 and we see Zero's waging war on modern
jetplanes

[DalekSec]

Originally Posted by Crash Ichimonji

I've never seen the movie this thread is about, and thanks to you guys I intend not to.

Too much stuff gets romance where it shouldn't, gotta agree. I remember reading 'Tuck Everlasting' in middle school, and when I saw the previews for the film they made a few years ago (the movie adaptation from the 80s was actually more true to the book than the millennial film) and how it was about the girl and Jesse falling in love and being all Twilight about the whole immortality thing (or, well Twilight came AFTER, more reason to hate Stephanie Meyer and her sparkly fap-fiction more)..I honestly felt disgusted.

It's either that, or completely overhauling the storyline in an unnecessary manner. World War Z is apparently like that. Rather than be about the aftermath of the zombie-apocalypse, it's *gasp* about the war against the zombies itself, because that hasn't been fucking done in every motherfucking zombie movie beforehand.

And as much as I liked the Planet of the Apes movies (the ones from over 30yrs back, let's forget the Tim Burton one ever happened...), when I found out about what original book was about, I think the franchise could have been condensed to maybe a single three-hour film. But then again we'd lose Heston's famous "You maniacs!" scene in movie 1, the nuke-worshipping, skinless telepathic humans of movie 2, and the scene of baby Caesar/Milo repeatedly saying 'Mama' at the end of film 3.

Can we perhaps toss Rise of the Planet of the Apes into that same "memory hole" as the remake of Planet of the Apes?

Let this be a lesson... Few remakes of classic movies ever do more than annoy the audience.

And AMEN on the romance stuff. In the case of one of my fave series, The Walking Dead, I am really astounded by all of the romantic drama being pumped into the series. Call me strange but, were I to find myself in the Z.A., I would be too damn busy having way too much fun, blasting the zombies and seeing to the matter of survival, to live out some Days of Our Lives nonsense.

[DalekSec]

Originally Posted by JBird

And then there's the SyFy-produced remake, which still managed to cast Michael Paré, but as a different character.

I'm sure one of these days we'll find a movie we can agree to disagree on :P

I am willing to bet anything that the scene where the ship re-materializes in the end, and all the sailors are merged into the ship itself, was slipped in by John Carpenter, who is credited as executive producer. And now I'm imagining a "better" movie if he were directed the Philadelphia Experiment.

I know, right?

Actually, the bodies becoming part of the ship is part of the story of the supposed actual experiment. That and "Phasing" into and out of time.

[JBird]

I liked Rise of the Planet of the Apes (hate the long title, though)

[DalekSec]

Originally Posted by morwalugi

Haven't seen that film.There was another one where Roy Schneider and the boys from 1980's slip back with their aircraft carrier in WW2 and we see Zero's waging war on modern
jetplanes

Final Countdown!!!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_(film)

Epic CHEESE from 1980!!!

[Crash Ichimonji]

Originally Posted by JBird

I liked Rise of the Planet of the Apes (hate the long title, though)

Agreed. I found it more satisfying despite the ninja-CGI apes being just too unreal (er, more unreal than other aspects of the film anyways). I'm looking forward to the eventual sequel that is supposedly about Caesar's tribe of liberated primates being hunted by the government (and the spread of the human-killing, ape intelligence-boosting virus).

Transformers was another movie I wish never happened because of being stuffed to high-hell with love-stories and human-drama like some soap-opera turducken. Never saw 'Revenge of the Fallen' nor 'Dark of the Moon' , so can't say anything about them. But to paraphrase VGCats, it was basically "Dawson's Creek" with guest cameos by the Transformers.

But I'll tell you what, not ALL reboots/remakes/movie-adaptations are pure-shit; just the majority. 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' aside, I also think that Syfy's (or Sci-Fi as it was known as then) TV movie-series of 'Dune' was better than the 80s version (keep in mind I never read the books). The 80s version (be it the abridged or full-length version) just seemed too...I dunno...'forced'? Like they were trying WAY too hard to make the movie seem futuristic (possibly from ingesting too many drugs at once while writing and storyboarding). Baron Vladamir Harkonnen was just a floating, festering, morbidly-obese scumbag and not the devious plotter and shrewd villian he was supposed to be. Making all inhabitants of Geidi Prime all look like characters from a 'Heavy Metal' magazine illustration didn't help in making the Harkonnens look like anything BUT filthy inbreeds (and I could have done without having Sting in that plastic speedo....*shivers*). And weirding modules? The fuck? Nice concept, but it looked like a steam-punked polaroid strapped to one's wrist. Though the phrase 'My name is a killing word' is still a badass line.

Back to what I was saying, the Sci-Fi 'Dune' at least made more sense in costuming and aesthetics. Sand-dwelling people wouldn't be wearing skin-tight muscle-suits. There's a reason why folks in the Sandbox here wear the robes and such. Plus the Sci-Fi version at least made the effort to tell stuff blatantly omitted in the 80s movie. Like how Lady Jessica was actually the baron's daughter, how Chani and Paul had a son that was murdered by the Harkonnens, and even the fact that there was more emphasis played on the politics of the Dune universe.