[X] My Assistant

[slinted]

This isn't really a Spirit only topic, but since she has been on Mars a bit longer, I'll give her the honor of this thread.

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/rovingmars/

January 27 release

[djf]

Overall, I enjoyed Roving Mars when I saw it last week. I won't bother rehashing issues of CG, sounds in a vacuum, etc. For its intended audience I find it difficult to imagine how they could have done significantly better with 40 minutes to work with.

One aspect I especially liked were the gorgeous, high-detail shots of the flight hardware. The best images I'd previously encountered were the NASA press photos, which are IMHO of marginal quality. With proper motion picture lighting and color correction the rovers gleam, almost jewel-like, on the screen. This film represents the best look most people will ever get at these machines; and one really couldn't ask for a better record than several thousand IMAX frames. Much is made in the film about the fact nobody now living might see these spacecraft again. But I felt that theme was undercut by how "present" the assembly/testing scenes make the rovers to the audience.

Something that originally occurred to me watching "Mars: Dead or Alive" and was reinforced while watching Roving Mars is how important cordage and fabrics are to these missions: the parachutes, bridles, airbags, airbag retraction tendons, and all that cable lacing. While the materials are new, most of this would be familiar to someone from the 19th century. Watching the technician hand-tying what appeared to be surgeon's knots around the cable bundles, I couldn't help but think of the of the continuity between the ships of exploration like Endurance and Fram and these spacecraft. It is truly a testament to the art knotting that this is still the best way to secure bundles, even when you have $800M to spend!

And while on the subject of films, perhaps if this were the plot of Roving Mars it might have a chance at the Oscars.