Reviews

After going through all the reviews, it seems that people had a poor idea of the interactions of the ants and aphids. They could be keeping them as pets, but it is more like farming them.

The aphids suck juices out of plants, and make honeydew which is nutritious. The ants stroke the aphids and they excrete the honeydew. The ants protect them, take them inside at night and in the winter. They are moved around to get to the juicy places. So in the movie, the ants try to do this with humans. They give people the idea that the ants are good for them, and the people are sort of in a daze, and run the sugar mill for the ants. The ants are better than us, and more intelligent - that is the sort of ideas that have overtaken the humans.

One of the comments here was to not take the movie seriously. We always are looking for life outside of the Earth. Sometimes the comment is made that it could be something that we never expected.

The comments in the movie say that the eye creatures want a cold climate, and the tops of the mountains suit them fine. It really is not clear if they want to take over the world, which would be difficult near the Equator with the heat there. They might just want to be left alone near the mountain tops. Of course, killing people attracts attention. Life from other planets may be really different from what we imagine. All of the Earth's life seems to be DNA based, with carbon as an important element. Bringing soil from Mars here seems risky. But there are meteors from Mars that have landed here. This movie should be seen by those who study the origins of life. Taking it seriously is not the issue - it is a warning.

There is only 1 person who knew that the wife was murdered - Judy. If Gavin would murder his wife, then he might want to eliminate his accomplice also. I have not reviewed all 1003 comments so forgive me if this was discussed previously.

There was a discussion about the necklace - it was not made by Gavin to resemble the one in the painting. It was handed down to the wife from her great grandmother, grandmother, and mother. Besides money, Judy got a bunch of jewelry also (from the wife's collection). It was pointed out that Judy thought Gavin was attracted to her, but he mostly felt that she resembled his wife.

I suppose Gavin would think that Judy would keep her mouth shut because she would be charged for a crime - could be felony murder, conspiring, aiding and abetting, or murder in the first (second, etc.) degree. She should have moved to another city.

Personal note - my mother took me to see the movie when it came out, and I was eight years old. I thought that the same actress seemed to be playing the roles of the wife and Judy, but I did not get the point that it was actually supposed to be the same person. Sometimes performers played dual roles. It would seem to me that an experienced detective would pick up on that rather quickly, especially if he had a close, romantic relationship.

The scene where the wife was thrown out the window in the tower, a flashback memory of Judy, is Hitchcock's true genius. He doesn't just imply what happened, he shows you exactly what happened, in case anyone is not clear.

Another odd detail - the sound of the car engines are quite robust and give a hint of what we are missing with the pollution controls today. Not that I want smog.

My review is mostly about the garnet found recently.

A freemason said it could be part of a ceremonial breastplate. This seems to mimic the Urim and Thummim wore by priests in Jerusalem - "lights and perfections". So what were they doing? They wanted to ask God a question - the answer would be something like a yes or a no - innocent or guilty for example. Perhaps the gems glowed. Casting of lots was a method used frequently. As an example, one battle went poorly. No one was to keep any spoils of war. They divided up the tents, half and half, and so on until 1 tent was left. They dug around and found some items from the enemy as spoils of war. This was why things went badly. Not because of poor planning or strategy.

As for the Ark - the priests were afraid of it. Held by long poles. Wooden box covered in gold. Held the commandment tablets, Aaron's rod, and some manna. Could it be uranium? We had a Mr. Science guy come to our high school - 2 round disks of uranium - went poof and flash when brought together. Another idea was static electricity and 2 metal plates. There might have been a crank to move them near and apart. When the oxen stumbled the Ark cart almost tipped over - a man held it up and saved it. He died then. The walls of the Temple were thick and gold covered. Gold can moderate neutrons. The enemy had captured the Ark and they returned it after they got tumors.

At some point, it was missing. Look - the poles are sticking out from the curtain - a 200 year coverup.

It could be in Axum in Ethiopia.

Something that nobody has mentioned --a new priest probably was trained on a mockup of the Ark.

The ceremony in Axum involves holding tablets on the priest's heads. As if they remember something of the original procedures.

This example shows we mimic the past -- New Year's Eve -- a time ball is dropped in Times Square in NYC, NY. Everyday a time ball was dropped in harbors so the ship's clock could be set at Noon - it would start a bit bit early and drop slowly (or may be raised up slowly) and be in position at Noon - so the clocks would be set before a voyage began. We are mimicking what was done in the past.

Another problem is the the Ark was carried around Jericho and they made horn noises and banged on drums, and nobody looked at the guys climbing a rope into an apartment. When a walled city was defeated it was said that the walls fell. That is an expression.

Another issue -- they thought that sand filtered out the salt in seawater. Wells near the ocean showed water rising and falling with the tides. It took from Caesar's time to the 1800's to realize that fresh water was less dense than sea water and rested on top. Maybe there was an attempt to test the well water theory - it would be a great asset and allow many remote sites to be manned - and rule the seas.

But no - it does not work that way. So it may have been a secret project on Oak Island, but then it was dropped.

The woman from Mars wants virile men from Earth to repopulate her planet. Not a bad idea, but those men would not be easy to control.

Secondly, she constantly refers to Earth people as stupid, and acts as if we were beneath her.

So as Dr. Morbius once said, wouldn't their offspring be low grade morons? (Forbidden Planet).

A gold item really looks like the day it was made, even after hundreds of years (like finger bars from the Atocha wreck -1622). But pure gold is too soft for everyday use, like dinner plates or jewelry. Other metals are added for strength. Question: Does that make the gold easier to dissolve in seawater?

Silver - yes - it really corrodes - coins get all stuck together.

So why do they get a reading of lots of gold?

Next - the wooden ships had ballast stones - smoothed from rivers. A big lump would give away the position. It is a good idea to barricade a ship before burning it- you can't control a burning ship.

Has a pile of stones been found? To really hide, you can take the stones out before burning a ship.

Last - the Halpern map is a copy - they are interested in the spot marked "Traffe" - a hatch. It might have been "trasse" using a long "s" which was the style back then - like in "Congress" at the top of the "Bill of Rights". So like means a trace, or remnant. A square hole was found there, which appeared to be what was left of something.

The great idea how to deal with the Zetars was to put the human they latched on to into a pressure chamber. I believe Mr. Spock said "if they follow the Captain's plan ..." I looked several times, but I could not find any mention of such a plan. They could negate gravity inside the chamber, and this had something to do with the fact that the Zetars were out in space for a long time. So what. Also, as a human, anyone might have problems if the pressure was increased rapidly. The usual scuba diving rules would still apply to a human. You can go down at a reasonable rate, but coming back up can cause a person to act like a soda can that was just opened. You must go up slowly and wait at several stages on the way up. Lt. Romaine was floating with no gravity in the air pressure chamber and the pressure was doubling rapidly. How did the Captain and Mr. Spock ever get that idea ? It seems that a scene was left out.

The other issue was the kind of brain wave pattern which was "identical" for the girl and the Zetars. If you looked at such a pattern for a human and recorded it again a minute later it would have a similar but not identical wiggly pattern. Even less likely if you compared it with an alien.

I did not study all 119 reviews, but nobody seems to think that storing 4 to 5 barrels of flammable oil under a roller coaster is a good idea. One of the rides derailed and shot down into the barrels, after the beast damaged the structures. The fire quickly spread since much of the roller coaster was made with a wooden support structure. Four barrels were standing together in one scene, and another barrel was near the spot that the gun was loaded with the special isotope.

The only spoiler is my comment on the "Ghost Mine' show. In the FAQ I had asked if there any earthquakes in the area. The ranch is near the eastern border of Utah. The town of Magna is near the center. They had a magnitude 5.7 quake on March 18, 2020. There followed 1180 after shocks. The Wasatch Fault was mentioned. It is not clear when the episodes were filmed. Not every quake or after shock relieves stress in the rocks. Some viewers might remember the "Ghost Mine" show also on the History Channel a few years ago. The spoiler is that the whole Ghost Mine collapsed at the end. Stressed out. Have you heard of the African Ocean? No - but it is starting to form - from the Dead Sea to the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania (Africa). The Earth formed from maybe 30 supernovas which make Iron and Nickel. Iron can't be fused or split to get energy. Our Sun is now fusing Hydrogen to make Helium. This continues with heavier elements until Iron is produced - it has the most compact nucleus. So how do we get Uranium and other heavy elements? The star collapses and the outer layers squash the insides and then bounce off in a really big messy explosion. Gravity wins. So we have Iron and Nickel in the Earth's core, and lighter elements in the crust. Granite, which is thought of as a heavy rock, is made up mostly of lighter elements, such as Silicon, Oxygen, Aluminum, Potassium, and Sodium. The land masses are sort of floating on a liquid layer. The heat from radioactive decay builds up and splits a continent, or spreads the Atlantic Ocean. People have seen strange things for many years along faults. I feel it is especially more common if the humidity is very low. I have no explanation for microwaves or cow problems. Sorry for the explanations, but lots of things are connected.

In the Paper Chase episode, author Randall Sullivan mentioned the writing of Francis Bacon, who died in 1626. In his "Natural History" book, Mr. Bacon discussed straining seawater through sand to get potable water. The British military may have been trying to test this theory - it would give them great advantage all over the world. The isolated nature of Oak Island made it a good place to try this in secret. That is the main point of this review. Any number of vague hints could have been given as to what was going on - pirate loot, Templars, you name it. Whether fresh water was available on the island or nearby on the mainland is not important. Mr. Bacon was one of the founders of the Nova Scotia colony. Some efforts might have been made there or discussed before his death, but that is just a guess. The problem: Seawater is denser than fresh water, due to the dissolved salts and minerals. It might displace the lighter fresh water to some extent. So a well on Oak Island might show the water level rise and fall a bit due to the ebb and flow of the tides. This might have misled people to think that the seawater had the salt filtered out. As Bacon describes percolation -- "Dig a pit upon the sea-shore... and as the tide cometh in, it will fill with water, fresh and potable." The box drains may have been part of the experiment, to bring water in, and not just booby traps. The coconut fibers might be there as part of the filter system. After all the pits, tunnels, and shafts were made, it would become obvious that Bacon's scheme was invalid. The British could just abandon the whole operation since it would not be of any use to anyone. I located a book by Rawley from 1683, which appears to be the copy that R. Sullivan showed. A later edition, by Spedding, Ellis, and Heath, in 1857, Vol. II, has a footnote: "Wells of fresh water close upon the sea shore sometimes ebb and flow with the tide. But this arises from the comparative levity of the fresh water, in consequence of which it is, so to speak, floated up when the tide comes in." So "Caesar mistook the cause" when he was digging pits in Alexandria. By the 1850's the percolation or filtering idea seems to be shelved. Reverse osmosis and distillation are used today to provide fresh water. Note: My previous review on this is hereby amended. I have not yet read Mr. Sullivan's latest book on the island - it was sold out. I will also try to read a better copy of Bacon's Natural History.

This episode mentioned the writings of Francis Bacon - Natural History or Sylva Sylvarum, in 10 Centuries. Century I (one) discussed experiments in percolation. This was shown briefly in the episode. My comments: The book seems to suggest that salt water could be filtered somehow and become fresh and potable. As an example, "salt water passed through earth, through 10 vessels one within another, and yet it hath not lost its saltness... but drained through twenty vessels hath become fresh." Good luck on that. Perhaps the whole effort on Oak Island was to get fresh water. The box drains filled with coconut fibers may not have been booby traps but a filter system. Mr. Bacon was involved with the Nova Scotia colony. I am not familiar with that general area. How much fresh water was available on Oak Island? How about nearby on the mainland? The treasure could have been simply good potable water.

The scientists in the movie have a line - sort of like this: Since the last known element is 111 this must be element 112. No real scientist would ever make a statement like that. Maybe it could be 113, or 115 or who knows what. The actual element 112 was made by smashing zinc and lead together. The current heaviest element is 118 - made by smashing Californium 249 and Calcium 48.

An element has a certain number of protons. Period. Each atom could have a variety of neutrons, which seem to help hold the nucleus together. So for an example, Uranium has 92 protons, and a variety of neutrons, bringing its atomic weight up to 235 or 238, and several other varieties - these are isotopes. Each proton or neutron is added as "one". What is interesting is that there may be a stable "island" at element 120, but it is anyone's guess. It should be noted that these heavy elements were not "discovered" - they were made. People picked the 2 smashing elements based on calculations. Note that often only a few atoms were made, sometimes even just 1. To make matters worse, one guy faked his data. So the bulk properties are not known. For example, is Element 118 a solid or a metallic gas?

How is the rain solution going to tip the axis back to normal? Why would the rain replace missing mass and restore the too low gravity in some areas? To be fair, the monsoons do shift the Poles a bit. The scientific details are made up. Yes, rain would have mass, but compared to the vast bulk of the Earth, it is a hill of beans.

Scientists in the 30's - 50's movies are like another species. People today say they are a molecular biologist, or a nuclear physicist, etc. Not a scientist. A striking example was "Son of Frankenstein" with Rathbone as Wolf Frankenstein. Ygor says - 'but you are a scientist' - meaning that he should have no trouble doing a brain transplant! They went to the deepest part of the Earth - Carlsbad Caverns - to avoid noisy data. That would be about 1600 feet - they say 1800 feet - who knows. That is only scratching the surface. The deepest we have drilled is about 20,000 feet.

Finally, a plane was seen to be bombing trucks in a convoy - probably WWII footage.

I realize that many estates had mazes in the past. Some might have had a pond or pool in the center. OK. I don't want to say too much about the lord of the manor. It was briefly stated that the only pleasure he had was swimming in the pool in the center of the maze. OK. Why couldn't a pool be made near the castle? We all seem to get caught up with the mysteries. It could have a wall around it and be hidden from view. It seems to be a long trip to the maze center - good exercise, maybe. Perhaps an indoor pool could have been constructed. Time and money do not seem to matter.

Where to begin? They set off "to find new galaxies for colonization" in the year 2000. The narrative starts: "Beyond this, and into infinity, is Man's last frontier. Over 2 billion light years of solar system, reaching from the great clouds of Magellan to the galaxies of Andromeda and Triangulum". They go "far beyond Earth's universe". This is a sample. So they lift off from Cape Kennedy, which looks like a large desert. Actually seems to be a V-2 launch from White Sands, New Mexico. The meteor shower shows the objects on fire - not likely out in space with no air. Taurus the Bull is a constellation. You really can't go to a constellation - they are just outlines in the sky as seen from the Earth. Usually they are based on some figure that brighter stars have made. Go can go towards a constellation, but after some time you would pass the obvious stars and go beyond them, past our galaxy and on and on. "We should be nearing the Triangulum Galaxy". "Of all the lifeless galaxies we had to land on this planet". OK - A galaxy is a swirling cloud of stars and dust - billions of stars. A solar system is a group of 1 or several stars, and maybe planets, comets, asteroids and other junk, bound together by gravity. A constellation is an apparent shape made by some stars, originally. Used to tell stories or as an indicator of the seasons. (When you see this shape, start to prepare for winter - you would say that to your kids.) They have instant communication with the Earth control center. They at one point their speed is 125,00 - with no units, like MPH or meters per second. Triangulum is not really near the Taurus constellation at all. There is a nice galaxy there, M33. Mr. Messier made a list of things that look like comets, but are not. People would keep bothering him with their great discoveries. You may not realize that if you look at a galaxy with your eyes, it looks like a gray fuzzy blob. Maybe with a really big mirror you see more. Your eye is not a camera- that can take long exposures, or stack many pictures together. Then you get the nice color images. M33 is about 3 million light years away. Light goes 6 trillion miles in one year - that is what a light year is. The main problem is that these galaxies are really far away. We can't even get to a nearby star yet. To check out a galaxy would take eons of time. The writers give kids a wrong impression of things.