Pacific Rim

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

2 questions

1. What is the source material behind this movie? I think I read someone mentioning Neon Gene Evil Angel Lion.. Honestly I'll never figure out anime names and how they don't translate to Engrish.

2. motie configuration? I saw a mecha with 4 arms, but they all appeared to be equal size on both sides.

[taalismn]

2 questions

1. What is the source material behind this movie? I think I read someone mentioning Neon Gene Evil Angel Lion.. Honestly I'll never figure out anime names and how they don't translate to Engrish.

2. motie configuration? I saw a mecha with 4 arms, but they all appeared to be equal size on both sides.

1. Neon Genesis Evangleion....though I doubt it. It's not clear in that anime exactly where the 'Angels' come from. In Pacific Rim, they come from a rift in the bottom of the ocean, possibly extradimensional, like many other giant monsters over the ages of movies, manga, and anime.

2. My bad. The first shown clip didn't show so clearly that the dude in back had BOTH arms that split into two smaller arms each. You would appear to be correct on the properly symmetrical form(though I still think having two smaller arms on one side and a honking big weapon arm on hte other would be cool).

[taalismn]

I think its actually a newer sci-fi source, something original in nature. I did mention the Evangelion thing earlier, but only as a joke.

As for the second question, what is a "motie"?

Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven sci-fi novel: 'The Mote in God's Eye'... In it, the first (intelligent) aliens Humanity ever encounters have an asymmetrical body form, with two fine manipulator arms on one side and a massively muscled 'work arm' on the other side, so heavily muscled that its tendon and muscle attachment points to the shoulder and neck prevent the 'Motie'(as the Humans call them, for their homeworld's location inside a nebula known as the God's Eye) from having a full range of motion with their head. They compensate by having a big directional ear on that side that can warn them of anything(noise-making) coming from their blind side.

[The Baron of chaos]

On side note:
It is just me or Idris Elba motivational speech from the trailer sound like something we could read on the back of a Rifts Earth book? Once time i wondered how the voice of many Rifts main actors would be, and now i can't help thinking "man good chance are Ol' Man Prosek sound like Idris Elba...or at least i hope so, would explain EVERYTHING!!"

[DhAkael]

I think its actually a newer sci-fi source, something original in nature. I did mention the Evangelion thing earlier, but only as a joke.

Actually, most of the inspiration he gets is from 'Big O' for more recent material, and going WAYYYYYYYY back to the works of Go-Nagai (Grandizer, Gai-King, Dangard-Ace, Manzinger, etc) for general over-all "FEEL"
...and yeah, most likely a bit of Eva tossed in for good measure for the angst/wangst factor
Re; "It hurts every time I use Eva-01 / my Jaeger..."

Though I'm really hoping G.dT doesn't do that final schtick. Anno is bad enough. Having a director "doing" Anno? ugh.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

I think its actually a newer sci-fi source, something original in nature. I did mention the Evangelion thing earlier, but only as a joke.

Actually, most of the inspiration he gets is from 'Big O' for more recent material, and going WAYYYYYYYY back to the works of Go-Nagai (Grandizer, Gai-King, Dangard-Ace, Manzinger, etc) for general over-all "FEEL"
...and yeah, most likely a bit of Eva tossed in for good measure for the angst/wangst factor
Re; "It hurts every time I use Eva-01 / my Jaeger..."

Though I'm really hoping G.dT doesn't do that final schtick. Anno is bad enough. Having a director "doing" Anno? ugh.

So if I wanted to watch an Anime of a similar nature that wouldn't be retarded or so confusing because of the massive loss of translation..which direction should I go?

[Comrade Corsarius]

As for the second question, what is a "motie"?

You philistine.

Go and read "The Mote in God's Eye" and its sequel "The Moat Around Murchinson's Eye".

Read it NOW.

For extra points, also read "Falkenberg's Legion" and "King David's Spaceship".

[taalismn]

As for the second question, what is a "motie"?

You philistine.

Go and read "The Mote in God's Eye" and its sequel "The Moat Around Murchinson's Eye"..

Actually the sequel is 'The Gripping Hand'...unless there was a second edition title change.

The sequel wasn't quite as good as the first, in part because the discovery of delving into the first book's backstory is part of the fun, plus the rising tension all the way to the end, but it's still decent. But 'Mote', even now, still holds up well in the post-cyberpunk era(discrepancies from which can be explained quite readily by the fact that human civilization in 'Mote' is emerging from its own interstellar dark age and the collapse of the previous Golden Age civilization(which in turn arose from the collapse of the Earth-based CoDominium, the time line of which IS now laughable)).

[Comrade Corsarius]

Actually the sequel is 'The Gripping Hand'...unless there was a second edition title change.

Yes and No. I have both books, and they are identical (but my copy of the gripping hand is harcover with a map of the mote system in it). 'The Gripping Hand' was the regular release, but here in Australia we got the UK release which, for whatever reason, has the above title.

One of the coolest things I can think of (with my currently 'flu-addled brain) is that all the characters have, effectively, ipad/tablets (cool idea 'a') which are throwaway devices (cool idea 'b'). While this is common enough for us now to toss a malfunctioning piece of hardware, the idea you'd chuck a dodgy computer was revolutionary then.

The tablet devices also link to the ship's (or hotel's, or planet's) computer network, in the same way we have mobile Wi-Fi now.

I quite like all the codominium stories, even if the reason for Pournelle's 'future history' never came about.

[BigKab]

What turned me onto it was an illustration of a 'Jaeger' with the Cyclops optics & 4 arms like the PA used in for Riot Control. Thought it was too similar to the PA in Rifts.

Then I watched the movie trailer and was turned off by the acting & the script. The Mechs & Monsters should be the stars.

[taalismn]

What turned me onto it was an illustration of a 'Jaeger' with the Cyclops optics & 4 arms like the PA used in for Riot Control. Thought it was too similar to the PA in Rifts.

Then I watched the movie trailer and was turned off by the acting & the script. The Mechs & Monsters should be the stars.

Dang! And here I was hoping to watch it for scintillating, thoughtful, philosophical ponderings rendered in insightful character dialogue.