Superman, Aliens, and Not Fitting In: 5 Moments in Man of Steel that (Unexpectedly) Touched Me

Last weekend, I went to see Man Of Steel, the new Superman movie directed by Zach Snyder.   I’ve always been a big fan of Superman movies – as a kid I watched each of the old Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve over and over (even the one with Richard Pryor as a computer genius!).  In those days, superhero movies were few, unlike today, when you can’t drive by a movie theater without bumping into one (or two playing simultaneously!).

But Man of Steel actually touched me in a way that most other films don’t these days.  It had nothing to do with the special effects or the over-the-top action sequences in the last third of the film.  Rather it had to do with not fitting in, as a kid or as an adult!  

Here are 5 very special moments from Man of Steel for those of us that don’t fit in: 

1.             A Young Clark Kent asks: “Mom, What’s Wrong With Me?”

Early in the movie a young Clark Kent, who realizes he’s different from other kids and can’t fit in at school, hides in a closet at his elementary school. When his mother (played by Diane Lane) comes to rescue him, you can sense his inner turmoil when he cries out: “Mom, what’s wrong with me??”

Whether we say it out loud or not, most of us who grow up different ask that question at some point in our childhood.  In my own case, not only did I not look like the other kids andhave a different religion, I was always drawn to geeky subjects (back when being geeky wasn’t cool).

I think that one of the reasons that stories of heroes like Clark Kent (or for a later generation, Harry Potter) appeal to so many kids is that they reassure us that it’s OK that we’re not “like everyone else”.  Secretly, it gives us hope that maybe we have other abilities – not exactly superpowers or magic – but other gifts that make us special.   Maybe it’s the ability to do math or write computer programs, maybe it’s the ability to dress weird and sing strange songs, or simply the power to imagine whole worlds in our heads that others can’t see or fathom.

Lady Gaga, in her Monster’s Ball concert in New York City, talked on stage about how she still feels like “a loser kind in high school” because of the way others treated her - she clearly didn't fit in.  And if like me, you were different enough that you couldn’t get a date in high school, remember words of wisdom from journalist Lester Bang from another film, Almost Famous: “That's because we're uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem.”

2. John Kent asks: What kind of man are you going to be?

There’s a great scene where a slightly older (but still young) Clark Kent is being bullied by school kids.  His father, John Kent, played by Kevin Costner, comes up and the kids move away to reveal that Clark is holding on very tight to a fence and holding back his anger and power.  You know he just wants to belt those kids.  And you knew he very well could!

Anyone who’s been bullied (whether in the schoolyard as a kid physically, or as an adult verbally by bigoted or opinionated people) knows this feeling of wanting to fight back!  As a kid this might mean curling up that fist and smashing them in the face. As an adult it might mean some more sophisticated form of revenge, or maybe, you still just want to belt them!  But like the teenage Clark, you don’t, because that’s not the kind of person you want to be.

As John Kent tells the confused young man at that moment:  “One day, you’re going to have to make a choice.  You have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be.  Whoever that man is, good character or bad, it’s going to change the world.”  .  I believe we all have to make choices like these and collectively how we choose affects the course of the planet.

What really touched me about Superman wasn’t that he was able to punch out General Zod in the skies of Manhattan and save the Earth.  It’s that the young Clark Kent saved all those kids in the schoolbus, even after they had been bullying him and calling him a freak.  That must’ve been tough.  Forgive, be kind to others, and as Kevin Costner says, “think about the kind of man you want to grow up to be.”

3.  Lois Lane tries to publish a story about UFO’s in the mainstream media.

In Man of Steel, when a respectable reporter, Lois Lane, discovers that there is a UFO and an “alien” (i.e. Clark Kent before he becomes Superman) hiding in plain sight, she attempts publish an article in her respectable newspaper, the Daily Planet.  The editor refuses to print it, saying “I’m not going to print a story about Aliens walking among us!”  She has to turn to some fringe conspiracy website as her only way to get the story out!  Now of course, this would never happen in real life...would it?  

When respected investigative journalist Leslie Kean got a call from retired members of European military saying that there was something to the UFO stories that have been proliferating and that they were putting out a report about this she got all kinds of warnings from her colleagues (spoken and unspoken) about the stigma around the subject, which she feared might be career suicide.  She wasn’t fitting in.  Luckily, she kept at it, and eventually wrote a New York Times bestseller that is a great book the subject for believers and skeptics alike: UFO’s: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On The Record.

When the late John Mack, a psychiatry professor at the Harvard Medical School (and Pulitzer prize winning author), made waves by writing that abduction phenomenon should be taken seriously back in the nineties, he was subject to all kinds of “harrumphing” by his colleagues at Harvard. To paraphrase Alan Dershowitz, a well known Harvard Law professor: There were certain things that you were and were not allowed to study as a Harvard professor.  Angels? That was a fine.  Aliens? Not so much.  Angela Hind wrote, "It was the first time in Harvard's history that a tenured professor was subjected to such an investigation." 

Again, you are free to write or study whatever you like, as long as it fits in. Sometimes, I feel that to be considered “respectable”, we are given a modern, socially enforced, equivalent of Henry Ford’s choice about the Model T: you can have any color you want, as long as it’s black!

4.    The young Kal-El escapes from a dying Krypton.

The scenes of Krypton in Man of Steel were visually stunning and moving, a virtual “film within a film”. But there was something else about this story that moved me.

The idea of escaping an advanced civilization during or just before a cataclysm is really the latest incarnation of a very popular old idea.  Somewhere, in our collective unconscious, as Jung called it, is the mythology of an advanced, dying civilization and the dual archetypes of the wise “old man” who foresaw its destruction and the “child” who escapes.   These patterns repeat themselves in stories that humans have been telling for thousands of years, ranging from the Lost Continent of Atlantis, Aeneas escaping the fall of Troy to found Rome, Noah escaping the Flood, the stories of the Anunakhi from the Sumerian texts, and numerous Native American myths of coming from “over the water” or “under the earth” after escaping a cataclysm (of fire, or water) to start a new civilization here in North America.

Most popularly it’s called the “Atlantis myth”, and if you imply that it might be something more than that among historical scholars - well, let's just say you won't fit in any longer!   In the modern view, civilization and technology advance linearly from simple to complex (like a very straight arrow).  But times like the Dark Ages after the fall of Rome, the loss of complex building techniques after the fall of Egypt, the loss of the library of Alexandria put a lie to this myth – the true path of advancement may be much more circular or spiral.

Whether it’s simply a collective psychological archetypal story that appeals to us, or an actual genetic memory of some long lost event in humanity’s deep past, there is something seriously worth studying in this collective mythos of an escape from an apocalypse (not to mention, in this latest version, as in some versions of the Atlantis myth, the Kryptonians misused the resources of the planet and this was responsible for the catastrophe).  How do we know, for sure, that we’re not living in an extended dark ages after the fall of some advanced civilization like a Krypton or Atlantis?  Don't ask.  You won't fit in.

5.    “Come on!  I grew up in Kansas. I’m about as American as you get!”

After being very skeptical of Superman, the humans (all Americans in this film), seem to realize that he brings them some benefits along with his “otherness”.  But this doesn’t stop them from trying to use surveillance drones on him to find out what “he’s up to”.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Unlike Snowden in the recent NSA spying scandal, the government doesn’t go after Superman  for “opting out” of the government spying program.  It’s too bad you or I can’t opt out.

In my opinion, this movie depicts an undertone in America against those who are “different” going way back:  Irish-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Jewish Americans, Catholic-Americans were all questioned  about their “Americanness” and had to “prove themselves”.  And if, like Superman, a Kyrptonian-American, you weren’t born here, so much the worse!  Hell, in Obama’s case, he was born here but still had his “American-ness” repeatedly questioned (though after the recent spying revelations, you might argue, like the New York Times did, that he’s proving himself just fine by becoming, in effect, George W. Obama).

This last scene of the film moved me personally.  In the aftermath of 9/11, I was shocked at the kind of questioning and looks I got whenever I left the big city, simply for being a Pakistani-American.  Sadly, I felt I had to be careful and diplomatic, not cause any waves, and not always say what I was thinking.  What was I really thinking? 

Honestly, I wanted to throw up my hands, as Superman did, and say: “Come on! I grew up in Michigan. I’m about as American as you get!”

These five moments in Man of Steel (among others) had a profound resonance for me (and I hope for others who don’t “fit in”).   Maybe that’s why I like speculative and fantastical fiction in general, it allows us to see truths about ourselves without ruffling any feathers since it’s “obviously fiction”!

So, maybe these 5 moments in the story may not be the same ones that appeal to the majority of the movie-going audience, or even to traditional Superman fans.  After all, I’m not talking about Life, Justice, and the American Way here. 

Or am I? After all, I never was very good at “fitting in”!

Aliens, Radio Signals, Warp Drive, and Dead Heads: SETI con asks "Are we alone?"

Anyone who’s been reading my blog will know that I’m a big fan of science fiction, and maybe even that I’m a big fan of scientific discovery, which is why I was excited to attend the first ever SETIcon in Santa Clara last weekend.

Although I had read a lot about SETI in the past, my main knowledge of the guys running SETI came from watching the movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster and based on the novel by astronomer Carl Sagan (of “billions and billions” fame).

Those of you who’ve seen the movie will recall Jodie Foster’s radio astronomer character (“Ellie Arroway”) being very upset when the funding for her search for extraterrestrial signals was cut off. In a last ditch effort, after being turned down for funding from everywhere including Hollywood (“Those guys have been making money from aliens forever!”), she ended up getting funding from an eccentric billionaire.

Whether art was imitating life or the other way around, SETI itself used to receive funding from NASA, but this was cut off in the 1990’s. Since then, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (yes, whom some would call an eccentric billionaire) donated quite a bit of money to set up the Allen Radio Telescope array so that the search for ET could go on utilizing private funding.

For those of you who don’t know, SETI basically studies radio (and now light) signals from various stars in the night sky, looking for evidence of an “intelligent” signal that could only come from an “intelligent” species that at the very least has mastered radio technology. SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and has been going on in some form or another for almost 50 years.

To date, no confirmed signal has been found, though there have been several “candidate” signals that could never be re-acquired for further study.

The SETI institute is located in Mountain View, CA, which is just down the road from where I live (another benefit of being in Silicon Valley), and I was glad to be able to attend this conference so easily (it was held in Santa Clara). There were attendees from as far away as India and Kuwait, and as close as well, Santa Clara.

A Blending of Science, Science Fiction, and the Grateful Dead??

Since science fiction (in all of its forms) has always been a great way to get the public excited about science (everything from the Alien Attack movies in the 50's to Star Trek in the 60's forward), I was glad to see that this conference was not just about Radio astronomy (which I'm sure is a fascinating subject in and of itself), but included an intelligent blending of scientists and sci-fictionists (for lack of a better term). In my opinion not only did this make the conference more fun, but it also helped to open up our imaginations a bit, something that is necessary because the whole idea of extra-terrestrial intelligence is still speculation.

Despite being the first year of SETIcon, and a relatively small number of attendees, there were some great speakers – all of whom were pretty easy to approach and get to know. Here's a small sampling of SETIcon:

• Mickey Hart - On Friday night, we were treated to seeing a preview of work from Mickey Hart – yes, that Mickey Hart, the drummer of the Grateful Dead , about the “rhythms of the universe”. It turns out he’s been collaborating with the scientists at the SETI institute working on a “sounds of the universe” DVD/CD. Mickey said he loves “timelines” and he always begins his books with a timeline that starts with “The Big Bang” from 13 billion years ago.
  For years, he’s wondered what this most primordial event of the universe (the Big Bang) might sound like. This DVD showed his on-going attempt to capture the sounds of the universe ("Everything is vibrating, so everything has a sound" - Mickey), and mix them with incredible visual images to make "art". Mickey pointed out that the Hindus and others speak of an original sound and the Greeks refer to the music of the spheres, so this isn't a new undertaking.
  Listening to this was almost like having a mystical experience, and added a bit of needed "right brain" creativity to what has been mostly a "left-brained" search for ET, and as a fan of the mystical, I enjoyed Mickey's presentation quite a bit. There were some deadheads in the audience, and you can bet they were more than a little excited to meet Mickey!
  
  
• Dr. Frank Drake – anyone whose investigated the scientific possibility of for Extra Terrestrial intelligence will know of Frank Drake, who started investigating whether radio signals could be coming from intelligent alien signals some 50 years ago, dubbed Project Ozma. Frank Drake is considered the Father of modern day SETI, and he is the creator the of the well known Drake Equation, which is an equation that tries to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations there may be in our galaxy. Anyone who’s looked up at the night sky, marveling at the number of stars and wondering how there couldn’t be any life out there amongst the billions of points of lights will intuitively understand the Drake equation. Wikipedia even has a section on it: click here .
  Basically if you plug in some assumptions about the number of earth like planets orbiting earth like stars, and how many of these might have life on them, and how many of those are intelligent, and how long those intelligent civilizations might last, you end up wtih an estimate of how many intelligent civilizations we might communicate with our galaxy.
  
  Of course the big thing that's open about the Drake Equation are the actual factors - which make the resulting number vary widely. Carl Sagan estimated the number to close to 1 million, while Frank Drake himself estimates closer to 10,000. No matter how you slice it though, it's very difficult to make the number come out to "1", which makes it unlikely we are alone! On Saturday night at the conference, we had a banquet honoring Frank’s 80th birthday and 50th anniversary of Project Ozma, which was a fitting way to start the first SETIcon.
  
  
• Dr. Jill Tartar. Jill is the director of SETI research at the SETI institute, and has a host of honors and recognition as a scientist and educator. Many say she was the inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact, including being the point person for “pitching” for SETI funding after NASA discontinued it’s funding.
  
  
• Tim Russ and John Billingsley Star Trek fans will recognize these names. Tim Russ played the Vulcan Tuvok on the Star Trek: Voyager series, and John played Dr. Flox in Star Trek: Enterprise series. Tim is an amateur astronomer and really committed to both astronomy and the SETI cause, and it was great to hear him on several panels. Although I couldn’t go to all the sessions, I think that he played out one of the most thought-provoking scenarios about interstellar travel (More on this later).
  

Of course there were many other speakers, including Robert J. Sawyer, an award winning science fiction author (who was the author of the novel that the TV series Flash Forward was based on), Andre Bormanis (who was the science advisor for several Star Trek series), Seth Shostak, SETI’s senior astronomer, who also does their podcast “Are we alone?” each week, Kevin Grazier (science adviser for Battlestar Galactica, who finally answered the question, How does Galactica’s FTL engines work?), Robyn Asmiov (Isaac Asimov’s daughter), and many real scientists - astronomers, astrophysicists and astro-biologists.

The speakers included, on a more personal note, an old mentor of mine from MIT, Greg Papodopolous, who left MIT many years ago to become the Chief Techonology Officer at Sun Microsystems. I did a research project with Greg on parallel computing during my undergrad days at MIT, and it was great fun to see him again and learn that he'd been involved with SETI also.

So, Did we Answer the Question? Are We Alone?

OK , so by now you’ve probably guessed that attending this conference was fun (it definitely was!), and from the speaker list, you probably guessed that I got to mix with a lot of interesting personalities (I did, and am still in touch with some of them!).

But, did I learn anything? More importantly, did it answer the burning question: Are we alone?

Yes and No.

Yes I did learn something, and no it didn’t answer the question of whether we are alone or not (you’d probably have heard about it on CNN if the conference had gone that far!)

But the conference raised a number of related questions which are equally as interesting, and easier to discuss, which the panelists did enthusiastically. On this front, I think mixing science fiction authors and actors with professors and PhD’s was a very smart move, since these questions have no simple answers, and are still to a large part, a matter of speculation.

Here they are, in my humble opinion, five of the most interesting questions raised at SETICON 2010 (other than “Are we alone”, of course), in no particular order:

1. Should we be sending out signals to extra terrestrial societies? If so, what should we send? And Who speaks for the Earth?
   
   • This question came up again and again. Of course, SETI’s official charter is to look for signals, not to broadcast them. But there have been many broadcasts from Earth (including our TV signals starting from the 1940’s and 1950’s, as well as broadcast by Frank Drake from Arecibo, the big radio telescope in Peurto Rico).
     
     As eminent a scientist as Stephen Hawking has suggested that if we broadcast a signal, it could be picked up by a much more advanced civilization than ourselves, and …well you might see something like Independence Day (remember that movie with Will Smith)?
     Actually, joking aside, this a pretty serious concern, as many speakers pointed out that a less technologically advanced civilization has rarely withstood contact with a more technologically advanced civilization (case in point: the Native American population after contact with Europeans). Given my interest in both science fiction and native american history, I find this topic more than a little fascinating … I actually started writing a novel once about what might happen if a more technologically advanced alien civilization arrived here on Earth -it's called Synchronized - and this conference has led me to believe it's worth completing.
     
   
   


2. Will we ever develop warp drive and be able to travel to the stars?
   
   • The scientists discussed this at length along with the science fiction authors and consultants to TV shows like Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. From the point of view of the scientists, this would require traveling faster than the speed of light, something that is not permitted by Einstein’s theories of relatively. Lots of interesting ideas were discussed for “folding space” which wouldn’t violate Einstein's general theory of relativity, but the answer was that it would take so much energy to do this as to be practically impossible. When many members of the audience objected, the scientist pointed out that they weren't saying this to be negative. In fact, most scientists would love to figure out a way to get around Einstein's laws (they'd land a nobel prize if they could), but as far as we know, travelling to the stars at faster than light speeds would violate the known laws of physics.
     
     I actually thought the best answer to this question came from Tim Russ, of Star Trek: Voyager fame, and the only member of the panel who had actually flown faster than light (at least in a TV series). He said to imagine that we were sitting at a similar symposium at the time of Columbus, and the question we were being asked wasn’t about traveling over the water to the other side of the earth, but of traveling to the moon. Using the technology of the time, wind power and sails, it would seem “impossible” to ever get to the moon, even if all of the wind power on earth was utilized in the effort. So Tim was suggesting that there may be some kind of breakthrough that we don’t know about yet, which will let us travel to the stars – his bet was that it might have something to do with quantum mechanics and parllel realities. The scientists bet was that it wouldn't happen.
     
     I agree whole-headertedly with Tim that most scientists of today, just like the scientists of every other era, are a bit short-sighted and only looking at a limited perception of reality - that which has been proven in the past. I'm reminded of the head of the US patent office who resigned in the early 1900's because "everything that could ever be invented had already been invented"! Boy, was he wrong! Someday, there will probably be some unexpected new discovery or breakthrough that may make it possible to travel to the stars.
   
   


3. If Aliens exist, where are they, why aren’t they here?
   
   • On an not-unrelated note, there was the more serious issue that if travel across stars will ever be possible, then we should assume some technologically advanced races (say a million years more advanced than we are) would have mastered that technology already. So, why haven't they visited us?
     
     This is a pretty controversial topic, because it relates to UFO theories and sightings, which pretty much every speaker on the panel dismissed as "lacking credibility".
     
     The only answer that made sense to me was that Earth is in a relatively uninteresting corner of the galaxy, and given the millions of likely planets out there, it’s unlikely that an intelligent species would visit here without some concrete reason to (other than to abduct us and do experiments on us). Since we've only mastered radio signals in the last 100 years, this means that any star that is more than 100 light years away wouldn’t have received any transmission from us, making Earth an unlikely place that someone from another part of the galaxy would want to visit. This seemed logical answer.
   
   


4. Is Radio Astronomy the right way to look for Alien civilizations? How will we communicate with an alien civilization?
   
   
   • We are taking our current technology (radio signals) and using that as the basis under which a more advanced civilization might be broadcasting to us. This of course, gets at two core questions – will aliens communicate like we do, and is SETI looking in the right place?
     
     In my personal opinion, this is an interesting question and there’s no good way to answer it, and it probably deserves a much more investigation than was done at the conference. The best answer, given by senior Astronomer Seth Shostak, was that this is the best we can do right now, and any advanced civilization might realize that less advanced civilizations “come of age” when they master radio technology or wireless communication. Just as columbus didn't wait for better ships to be built, we can't wait for better radio telescopes to start our quest.
     
     
   
   


5. Is SETI a worthwhile endeavor, should we continue to fund it?
   
   • Underlying many of the other questions, this was the pink elephant in the room. If it's such a difficult task to scan the whole night sky, and aliens might not even be communicating in ways we understand, is SETI worthwhile to do? Well, actually, as I mentioned, the government is no longer funding SETI proper (i.e. the search for radio signals, though NASA does fund astrobiology research at the SETI institute).
     
     100% of funding for SETI proper comes from private donations and tickets for events like SETI con. Personally, I think SETI has the ability to light up the imagination of the young, to make them more interested in math and science in a way that few other “official activities of our day” do. Whether an alien signal is found or not, it makes sense to have a program like SETI. Of course, if an alien signal IS FOUND, then this would probably be the biggest discovery in the history of the human race ... so I think i can speak for everyone at the conference who thought that we should all help fund SETI to a certain extent, since it concerns us all - not a single state or profession or nation. So, let's all chip in - at the very least if you're interested in the answer to these questions, be sure to attend SETICON 2011!
     
   
   

As you can see, answering each of these questions is not simple; I think I could easily write a separate blog post (or even a chapter in a book) on each of these questions. The panelists (and attendees!) brought up many thought-provoking points and counter-points on each of these and many other topics. (see www.seticon.com ) to see the full program.

In short, I think the conference was not only fun, it was also worthwhile. These kinds of questions force us to think of ourselves as a common species on a common planet, and not as individual fiefdoms known as countries or religions, which is why it’s very important to have something like SETI.

In the meantime, while SETI continues to search the heavens, it was pointed out again and again at the conference that that our TV broadcasts have been in space for more than 50 years already, which means that someone out there (within 50 light years) may have detected our presence already.

Which means that even if there were no signals directed at us in the past, there may very well be something – a signal or who knows what - coming our way in the future… all we have to do is keep our eyes (and ears and telescopes) aimed at the sky!

The Day the Earth Was Almost Destroyed

[NOTE: Now that I’m on winter break, I’m taking a partial hiatus from writing Stanford GSB related blog entries, at least until the term starts back up in January]

As a fan of Science Fiction movies, I couldn’t resist going to see “The Day the Earth Stood Still” – the new version with Keanu Reeves, on opening weekend. I’m a big fan of the old version from the 50’s, despite its dated cold war themes, and generally can’t stay away from anything Sci Fi related.

So what did I think of the new movie? I’d love to give it an enthusiastic thumbs up, but can only manage a “so-so” review.

The old and new films are both about the arrival of an alien visitor (who looks human, to make us comfortable, and whose name is Klaatu) who lands in a major American city (Central Park in the new one, and if I’m not mistaken Washington, DC in the old one). One thing that hasn’t changed from the old Cold War theme: The government tries to take possession of the alien, and shoots him. They won’t even consider allowing him to speak to a gathering of World leaders at the UN.

Are we really that parochial? If an alien really visited the Earth and landed in the US, is this the attitude that we would take?

Unfortunately, I think they got this one right, in both versions. I’d like to think that if the representative of an advanced civilization were to arrive to deliver a message to the Earth, just happens to land in the USA, that we would let him speak to the UN – to all the nations of this planet. But I can just see our military whisking away the alien away to Guantanamo as a presumed “enemy combatant” and commandeering his ship as “foreign technology” that we want to re-engineer.

A neat new twist in the movie is the reason for the alien’s visit. In this version, Klaatu is not just the representative of alien civilizations watching the Earth; he says he is a friend of the Earth (though as we learn, this doesn’t mean he’s necessarily a friend of the human race).

He’s here to decide whether we are killing the planet or not. This green theme is a pretty good new spin, if somewhat overused these days. Klaatu tells us that there are only a few habitable planets out there, and he can’t allow us (humans) to kill this one. Quoting Klaatu (Keanu Reeves): If the earth dies, humans die too. If only the humans die, then the earth still lives on. A fair, logical argument.

Like most good science fiction, the first part of this movie actually makes you think about larger issues. It certainly made me think about habitable planets and how many there might be out there. There’s a famous equation, the Drake equation if memory serves, that takes assumptions of the number of stars, the number of planetary systems, the number of habitable planets, and the number of advanced civilizations. If you work out the numbers with only 1% for each variable, you come up with a large number of inhabited worlds.

What would happen if the probabilities were so small that there only a few habited planets out there, as is the case in this movie?

And of course, this movie does make you think about what would really happen if an alien spacecraft were to visit our planet and why.

Those are the positives. Jennifer Connolly does a pretty good job as an astro-biologist (is there such a thing? How much biological material have we actually found in outer space?). She’s also the step-mother of 11-year old Jacob, whose army engineer father she married a few years ago, but who passed away.

This is where, in my opinion, the movie starts to fall apart. Why does this have to be the case with almost all science fiction movies?

They start with an interesting concept that actually makes you think; but, as they try to bring the movie into the standard hollywood three-act script, they all end up with some variation of the standard formulas, ruining the originality of the film and making the second half into a dumb thriller or action or preachy lesson.

I don’t think I’m revealing much when I say that that at first Klaatu decides to destroy humans off the face of the earth, because he views us as a destructive force (which the government cronies and the Secretary of Defense, played excellently by Kathy Bates, do a very good job of convincing Klaatu of).

Eventually, he comes to realize that humans are more than just a destructive force. That we have strong emotions and that they include compassion and longing, etc. This in-and-of-itself is not a problem - The problem is how he comes to this realization; It’s done through the 11-year old Jacob, who single-handedly destroys this multi-million dollar Hollywood production. Well done, kid. At least you saved the Earth, sort of.

So, OK, I have to admit, as a kid, I loved it when kids played an important role in science fiction. E.T. involved kids and aliens. Wesley Crusher had an interesting role in Star Trek the Next Generation.

But this one just doesn’t work. The 11-year old snot-nosed kid, not only disobeys his mother every chance he gets, sporting an “oh I’m so cool” braided hairstyle that’s well beyond his years, but he also tells the government exactly how and where to find Klaatu, leading to the abduction of his step-mom by the government in the process. We're then led to believe that this might have been a good thing becuase he got to spend more time with the Alien.

I have to say I wanted to smack the kid off the screen so that we could get on with a real science fiction movie. Alas, it was not to be.

After seeing the movie, I looked up some reviews to see if I was alone in this sentiment and was just being a cruel, heartless adult. Here’s my favorite part of the CNN review: “Jacob is a whiny, obstinate, and disobedient little boy that would lead most extraterrestrials – and not a few of the rest of us – to reach for the destruct button.” Amen.

For other science fiction fans out there, think Jar Jar Binks. Now I wish someone would get a-hold of this flim and create a phantom edit (for those of you who don’t know someone created an edit of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace which digitally editout out Jar Jar Binks, without whose annoying antics the film might have been a relatively good film). Unfortunately you’d have to chop off the whole third act of the movie to do this. Oops.

Note: As a film-maker myself, I’m not supposed to be suggesting that anyone do anything that infringes on the copyright of Hollywood films, so I can’t really condone a phantom edit. (BUT IF YOU HAVE ONE, LET ME KNOW, I’D BE HAPPY NOT ONLY TO WATCH IT BUT TO WRITE ABOUT IT HERE IN MY BLOG. EVEN BETTER: what if someone were to edit out the kid and put in Jar Jar Binks, the movie might be actually be more fun and less annoying!).