Entertainment
Deleted Scene Fixes The Worst Thing About The Best ‘90s Blockbuster
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
As a society, we’ve been able to agree on only a handful of things over the years. One of them is that summer blockbusters are going to have plot holes and other weird inconsistencies. That’s just the price of the game, really: when a movie’s main selling point is cool explosions and cheesy one-liners, we can forgive it for having some dodging plotting. That doesn’t keep us from joking about the bad writing, of course. Case in point? Independence Day fans have spent decades dunking on the plot point about Jeff Goldblum’s tech geek hacking advanced alien technology using a mid-90s Apple PowerBook.
The idea is wonderfully absurd on the face of it. Like, the aliens have technology advanced enough to help them conquer the stars and travel faster-than-light across the galaxy. How the heck were they beaten by an IT nerd whose people had only recently invented the internet? As it turns out, though, this plot point isn’t as stupid as everyone thought. That’s because one of the deleted scenes in Independence Day revealed something crucial: namely, that all of Earth’s modern technology was derived from an alien spaceship that was captured back in the ‘90s!
WelcomeToEarth.exe
In Independence Day, all the superpowers of the world are attacked by alien invaders who don’t hesitate to blow up power centers like the White House. In the film’s climactic final battle, America helps lead a two-pronged counterattack against these extraterrestrial enemies. Jeff Goldblum’s brilliant tech whips up a virus on his trusty Apple PowerBook. Once Will Smith’s hotshot pilot gets them close enough, they upload the virus into the alien mothership’s operating system. This lowers the shields on the ships attacking the Earth, allowing humanity to fight back and ultimately recapture their world from these nasty space invaders.
Even in the ‘90s, the idea of whipping up an anti-alien computer virus seemed laughable. The technology of the two races should be much different, and the aliens’ tech is presumably much more advanced than our own. However, a deleted scene on the 20th Anniversary DVD of Independence Day revealed that all of Earth’s modern computer technology was derived from the alien ship that crash-landed at Roswell and had been studied at Area 51. In this universe, that’s where we got our silicone-based microchips and binary programming language. Therefore, Goldblum whipping up a computer virus is much more believable because he’s using (more or less) the same technology and programming as the aliens.
Hack The World(s)
Obviously, this plot point is still a little iffy. Having similar technology is one thing, but the aliens should still be too advanced to make this possible. Like, this is the programming equivalent of taking down the most advanced computer security systems in the world using only your Atari 2600. However, the deleted scene still adds some welcome context, and it’s like I was saying at the beginning: blockbusters aren’t always going to make a lot of sense. Plus, “the internet came from aliens” is still more believable than Transformers: The Dark Side Of The Moon, which claimed that Buzz Aldrin secretly went to the moon to check out a robot’s UFO.
At any rate, you’ve now got some Independence Day trivia as bright and shiny as any firework. Next time you show the family this movie and your kid points out how dumb the virus plotline is, you can just tell them about the deleted scene. Will this impress your child? Of course not: he’s just going to roll his eyes and look down at his phone, but there’s nothing we can really do about that yet. PowerBooks might be able to hack alien motherships, but no force on Earth or in space can help you hack into the mind of a surly teenager!
Entertainment
Stargate SG-1 Showed How Evil Its Villains Were In An Episode Where The Good Guys Lose
By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
Stargate SG-1 had a lot of work to do in its first season to go beyond the setting of the 1993 film. By the time Episode 11, “Bloodlines,” hit the air on Showtime it was clear to the new and ever-growing fanbase that this was a different type of sci-fi series. Teal’c (Christopher Judge) was already being compared to Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Worf, and the introduction of his family on Chulak didn’t help the comparisons. Once “Bloodlines” came ot an end it was clear that Teal’c would be different and the Goa’uld were going to be the worst villains in any 90s sci-fi series.
Teal’c Would Do Anything For His Family
The episode opens with Teal’c undergoing treatment to remove his Goa’uld symbiote. It fails. By now, his body relies on the parasitic evil alien to function. That’s enough to get him to open up to Stargate Command about his family back home on Chulak. His son, Rya’c, is going to be implanted with a Goa’uld larvae and Teal’c wants to stop it. General Hammond (Don S. Davis) pushes back and stops the team though he folds at the flimsiest pretense to undertake the mission.
Teal’c and the rest of SG-1, O’Neil (Richard Dean Anderson), Jackson (Michael Shanks), and Carter (Amanda Tapping) sneak onto Chulak and while behind enemy lines learn a word that fans of the show will get very used to hearing: Shol’va. Traitor. Teal’c was branded as Shol’va for betraying Aphosis. That brought down his family’s standing, something Drey’auc, his wife (played by future Eureka star Salli Richardson) makes sure to let him know.
The usual full-speed ahead, gung-ho nature of SG-1 hits a snag when it turns out Rya’c is sick and needs a Goa’uld to be implanted in order to survive. After fighting to spare his son this exact fate, Teal’c is the one to implant his son. It’s a tragic moment made all the worse with the knowledge of how the Jaffa have suffered under the Goa’uld for generations. It’s a success and Rya’c lives but at an enormous cost. When “Bloodlines” ends, it’s not clear if this was a victory, or a loss, for SG-1.
Bloodlines Set The Table For The Jaffa Revolution
Teal’c kept his family a secret from Stargate Command because knew his family, deep behind enemy lines, was a weak point for him that could be exploited by the Goa’uld, and how could anyone trust him with his family in danger? What he left out was the presence of Bra’tac (Tony Amendola). At 103 years old, the legendary Jaffa warrior is still a brutal fighter capable of taking down a unit of palace guards without breaking a sweat. Like Teal’c, he’s a former First Prime to Apophis, and also like Teal’c, he becomes a close ally of SG-1.
Future scenes between Bra’tac and Hammond are among the best in the entire series. Bra’tac’s eventual defection is one of the many unintended consequences of the team’s actions during “Bloodlines.” Daniel blowing away a Goa’uld spawning tank, Rya’c and Drey’auc, humans entering Chulak so easily, all of it comes back in later seasons.
Teal’c may be the Worf of Stargate SG-1 but he’s his own, tragic character, trying to carve a new path forward for his warrior people in the face of centuries of tradition and honor. It’s completely different. At least Teal’c doesn’t get his butt kicked by every new threat.
Entertainment
Sci-Fi Spin-Off Movie Bombed Thanks To Harry Potter Finally A Success On Netflix
By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
It took Jumanji 14 years to go from award-winning children’s book to the big screen. Author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg’s sci-fi follow up Zathura was optioned from the moment it hit bookstores in 2002. By 2005 movie audiences were exploring the galaxy in a flying house. Or they would have been, if anyone had seen it in theaters, which, they didn’t. Zathura suffered from one of the worst release dates of the 2000s thanks to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but today it can be enjoyed on Netflix without one of the most successful franchises in history competing for your attention.
Jumanji IN SPPPPAAAAACCCCEEEEE
Zathura is the forgotten film in the Jumanji franchise. It opens like all the rest though, two young brothers, Walter (Future Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) find a mysterious board game, start playing, and realize it’s shaping reality around them. Instead of Robin Williams turning up, the kids get Dax Shepard as an astronaut lost in space, and instead of a crazy old hunter, they have to deal with the lizard-like Zorgons. A pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart plays Lisa, the boys’ older sister who gets dragged along for the adventure after sleeping in.
Even though the entire movie is centered around the house spaceship, Favreau found ways to make Zathura visually interesting, surprisingly for the time, by using practical effects over CGI. That includes multiple miniature models for the spaceships, a full-sized replica of a frozen Kristen Stewart, and the impractical decision to film the house falling into a gravity well by actually tilting the set 40 degrees straight down. With all of the performers on it. The result is a movie that looks amazing even today.
Robert Pattinson Vs. Kristen Stewart
The story of Zathura isn’t as good as the original Jumanji, but it’s not bad. An obvious moral and writing that decides to turn subtext into text is perfectly acceptable for a film meant for children. The problem with the movie was it was released on November 11, 2005. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was released on November 18, 2005. Which movie do you think kids wanted to see?
Ironically, the dueling release dates means that prior to changing pop culture forever, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson went head-to-head at the box office. Goblet of Fire made $900 million, Zathura made $64 million. In this case the release date and box office mean so much to the film because if people watched it, they’d realize it’s a fun movie.
Zathura Is Ready For A Remake
The success of the Jumanji sequels with Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black has started talks about a potential Zathura remake. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’s bazaar hinted at a larger world of interconnected boardgame universes which could be the perfect setup to return the franchise to space.
By flipping the Jumanji formula to be avatars in a reality-warping video game instead of kids playing a board game, the franchise found a whole new level of success that lets them use major Hollywood stars as a way to appeal to kids and adults. For everything Zathura did right, Dax Shepard is no Robin Williams. Jumanji in space is a great concept that today, would find the right audience and be another in a string of hits for the revitalized franchise.
Zathura is now streaming on Netflix.
Entertainment
Xbox hopes to win back disaffected gamers with new disc-to-digital program
Following the recent news that Sony will end support for physical discs for its PlayStation consoles beginning in Jan. 2028 and the attendant fan backlash (Forbes called it “Sony’s Biggest Scandal in 20 Years“), Microsoft’s Xbox team is taking proactive steps to get ahead of the negative publicity for its own next-gen console, the Xbox Helix, which is every bit as unlikely to have a physical disc drive as the rumored PS6.
Last month, details about a new Xbox program code-named “Positron” were leaked, hinting at a potential disc-to-digital program, but the details were relegated to spare snippets of code labeled Disc2Digital. Now, a new report obtained by Windows Insider gives us better insight into what Microsoft hopes to achieve with Positron.
Most of the fan backlash has focused on the second-hand market, which would be effectively killed off if all games became digital products, but there’s another valid issue raised by the loss of physical disc drives: backward compatibility. What are the millions of gamers with vast libraries of physical games supposed to do if future consoles no longer support a disc drive?
Mashable Top Stories
Thankfully, Microsoft has already emphasized the importance of backward compatibility in previous iterations of its Xbox gaming consoles, and Positron seems like a continuation of this same commitment.
According to reporting by The Verge, Microsoft plans to allow gamers to digitize their physical media libraries without third-party hardware. All that will be required is the disc, a compatible game console, and a Microsoft account, though be forewarned: this feature will only apply to Xbox One and Series X discs — neither the original Xbox nor the Xbox 360 is supported by Positron.
Of course, as we’re still in the testing phases for this technology, and as neither the Xbox Helix nor PS6 has been officially announced, all of this is still subject to change. Maybe, just maybe, the fan backlash will be loud and convincing enough to force these major gaming companies to change course. Unfortunately, we’ll likely have to rely on projects like Positron to keep our physical media alive and functioning in the future all-digital era.
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