Regular readers know I love finding little (and gargantuan) mistakes in movies when it comes to science. I take some pride in being able to find them, and also some pride in not going ballistic every time I see one and making fun of the director/writer/producer/gaffer/animal wrangler.
So it really bugs me when someone points out a mistake that I have missed in something I have seen a bajillion times. When I was in Detroit a couple of weeks ago, Mike Narlock from the Cranbrook Institute of Science mentioned something to me I couldn’t believe, but it turns out he’s right.
Ever heard of Dreamworks? Makers of such minor flicks as "Saving Private Ryan", "Deep Impact", "Castaway", "Galaxy Quest", "Sea Biscuit", and "Transformers"? Yeah, them.
They have an animated logo that is really quite good and memorable. It’s one with the boy fishing from the crescent Moon. Have a look:
Did you see the Bad Astronomy in it? OK, no, I don’t mean that the kid is sitting in the crescent, when the hook of the crescent isn’t actually real, it’s just a geometric effect of the way we see the Moon lit by the Sun. Not that, the other thing.
No? I don’t blame you. It’s tough to spot; I never saw it until Mike pointed it out.
The Moon is reflected in the water. Then the camera tilts up, and we see the actual Moon with the boy sitting in it. But look at the features on the Moon! For example, you can see a circular dark patch on the right side just above center, and a hooked dark patch just below it. But those features are oriented the same way in both the "real" Moon and the reflection! In the reflection, they should be flipped vertically, because the Moon’s reflected image should be upside-down. The animators forgot to flip it over.
Now, this is not Earth-shattering bad astronomy. Duh. It’s one of those little "gotchas!" that anal-retentive people like me (and Mike, don’t forget him!) delight over for a moment and then forget about.
But this is my business, and I missed it! I’m a failure. How can I ever write a snarky movie review again knowing I might miss some little niggling thing that a dozen commenters will point out to me over and over again?
Hmmm. I suppose I’ll manage. If I can survive my own example of bad astronomy, I guess I can survive this as well.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:08 am
ha! Good one.
Did you also see the stars inside the crescent?
May 27th, 2008 at 11:19 am
they also forgot to flip the clouds
May 27th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Yeah, and the kid is totally using the wrong bait.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:31 am
What about moon lit from the right and clouds from the left?
May 27th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Michelle is right; there are stars in the disk of the moon! That’s way worse astronomy than getting a reflection wrong; the stars are *behind* the Moon, whether it’s lit up or not.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:33 am
You’re right. That totally blows the believabilty of the scene…
Still, for a studio logo, you would have thought they would have worked out the details a bit more…
Still, I suppose they spent more on this than the “Mutant Enemy” logo.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:35 am
To be fair, the strength of the Dreamworks logo isn’t its internal consistency but the company’s willingness to manipulate and abuse it. At the beginning of Bee Movie, the kid is floating up to the moon on a bunch of balloons, but misses it and falls, smacking his head on both points of the crescent on his way down. The second Jurassic Park movie had the kid fishing like normal, but he catches something big and, after fighting with it for a moment, is yanked offscreen, accompanied by a T-Rex roar. The Ring has the ring of light from the movie flash over the moon for an eyeblink.
Of course, when they don’t do anything like that, I suppose the errors are a little bit more noteworthy.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Hmm… I’m not sure if this should be bad astronomy so much as a Photoshop Disaster. Either way, though, it’s still amusing.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Hmmm. I wasn’t looking for any other things in the logo. But I don’t see any stars in the dark part of the Moon image. And it looks to me that the clouds are actually being lit by the Moon, which in itself isn’t right because a crescent Moon isn’t bright enough to do that.
It does look like they forgot to flip the clouds though. Nice catch.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:51 am
You guys are anal-retentive alright!
SRM
May 27th, 2008 at 11:51 am
….Honestly, it’s a company logo.
It’s not even a movie with crappy science in it, it’s just a logo.
There are plenty of atheists that need a good verbal lashing. Leave poor dreamworks alone.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:52 am
@BA: that movie is too low quality for that.
do a google image search for a higher res image of the logo and you’ll see them.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Well Phil, as they say, the best thing to do is get back up on that horse and try again!
So start working on some snarky reviews for Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and any other big Summer movies you notice some Bad Astronomy (or any bad science)! My kids and I spotted a bunch that were obvious in Indiana Jones (but still enjoyed the movie tremendously), but I’m sure I missed a bunch of stuff.
That is, assuming your work on the book is all finished.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Phil for some bizarre reason i like your site, but this is to much. I can never again take your movie reviews serious and will have to form my own opinion. Thank you very much for this burden
May 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Well, I just saw Indiana Jones this weekend and there seems to have been a general disregard, if not an outright disdain, for physics in that movie. If you want to be scientifically critical of a movie, your head would explode if you try to pick that one apart. Sometimes it’s best for one’s sanity to just let it go.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Make a movie review of boll’s postal and show us all the science errors to redeem yourself
May 27th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Grrr…. Argh.
(Mutant Enemy has the best logo evar.)
May 27th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I have to say that I’m disappointed that even after all this time Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Day Out still goes undebunked.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Not only that, but the tensile strength required of the fishing line to reach from the pond all the way to the Moon would be, like, really high.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
If we’re going to be picky about that moon logo, the curve is wrong. That’s more like an eclipse curve than a young moon phase.
I was looking for stars in the dark part. I’ve changed needlework charts where someone did that.
As for Indiana Jones, it was fun and very worth seeing. My kids have a new appreciation of mushroom cloud.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
DUH, the clouds are clearly lighted from within, not by the moon which is mostly dark anyhow.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
In this house we treat it as a competitive game to find the all the errors in films. Science for most things and history for the costume dramas are the most common targets. The sad thing is Hollywood is making the parlour game too easy with such chronic poor quality and stupidity.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
And to think I relied on the BA to keep me informed about these kind of things. Guess I’ll have to start getting my astronomy updates from Richard Hoagland’s site.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
For what it’s worth, here Down Under that is what the moon looks like!
May 27th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
How about – the crescent moon is oriented vertically. In the evening. Low to the horizon. Which clearly means this is shot in the arctic, so the water should be frozen.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
The stars in front of the moon aren’t in the video, but they are in the still image.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Hale-Bopp’s Rule : As soon as you show off how nit picky and anal you are, 10 people instantly materialize who are EVEN MORE nick picky and anal than you.
I also saw Indiana Jones…turn off brain and disregard any knowledge of how the world works and you will enjoy it.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
@Budget Astronomer
The bigger problem is, if the moon is lit on that side and it’s vertical, it would have to mean that the sun is also above the horizon, which should make this entire scene daytime, rather than night time.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Hey Phil, you have got to apply your skeptical skills to, ‘Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull of Infinite Suck’.
I’ve been telling everyone else not to see it, but I’m sure with your keen skeptical eye you might be able to see one or two science errors, (along with the artistic ones).
Maybe you could get Novella to give George Lucas an MRI while you are at it. He’s mentioned those “man lives without a brain” tabloid stories on the Skeptic’s Guide before, but I suspect this one might just turn out to be real.
May 27th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
@ BA: You can see stars in the crescent on the image of the logo you posted(but not in this video)
May 27th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
That’s an especially difficult catch to make since the reflection and and actual crescent moon never appear in the same frame simultaneously. The fact that someone actually noticed the discrepancy is indicative of someone with W-A-A-A-Y too much time on their hands, and in serious need of a date.
That said, this also reminds me of an unfortunate memory of my own that I’m still trying to live down….
Years ago a group of us used to get together once a week to watch Star Trek Voyager. I once made a comment that the show’s producers had a great eye for detail since, during the opening credits, you could see the ship’s reflection as it traveled across the rings of some planet. Ever since then I have been subjected to ridicule whenever we passed anywhere near a mirror.
The same group now gathers to watch BSG. Needless to say, I’m keeping my yap shut about any other observations.
May 27th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I think you’ve stumbled upon the reason why so many people don’t want to listen to scientists these days!
May 27th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Yeah, and it’s the bell that’s called Big Ben….
May 27th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I’m always afraid that kid will slip down too far and impale himself on the horn.
May 27th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Phil, since the reflection is clearly in a terrestrial pond, it has NOTHING to do with Astronomy….send for the Bad Geologist!
May 27th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I have to say the only thing i spotted was the stars on the disk of the moon of the still image.
May 27th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Oddly, I noticed that long, long ago. Probably the first time I saw their logo. And I’m a really rough critic in movies — I blurt out scientific inaccuracies, technical blunders; which is why I watch movies now in the privacy of my own home.
But it occurred to me early on that one of the key parts of the DreamWorks name is the word “Dream”. And we know how realistic those are.
I can fly in my dreams. Dodge bullets, travel to distant stars with warp drive, relive the past, see the future: all the great things about dreams.
I think this one — and only this one — should get an honorary Approved by Bad Astronomy stamp. =-)
May 27th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Did anyone notice the “alien” moon in the Bugs Bunny/Michael Jordan movie (I forgot the name of it)? But there was a shot of an animated moon (supposedly Earths moon), that had totally wrong features.
Has anyone ever tried to pick out constellations and asterisms in animated starry skies? I usually find that animated movies have alien skies too.
May 27th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Relax, it’s pretend. Go with the willing suspension of disbelief.
May 27th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I can’t find it online anymore, but years ago The Onion had a story headlined, “Man Refuses to See Movie With Physicist Friend”. My students insisted that they had changed my name to protect my identidy.
May 27th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
On the topic of movies, Phil said he was dying to see “Sunshine” about a year or so ago but said the local theaters weren’t showing it. I love “Sunshine”, and dammit, I want him to scrutinize it!
May 27th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Doesn’t it look like the clouds are actually passing behind the moon? That would be the worst example of bad astronomy, I think.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:57 am
In regard to crescent moons: so far the most creative use I saw was in Disney’s “Treasure Planet”: the long camera move revealing the “crescent moon” to be a crescent-shaped space station.
Yes, i’m easily amused. Why?
May 28th, 2008 at 7:36 am
BTW, in Transformers you missed the part when Barricade punches Sam and Sam lands onto nearby car and somehow Sam survives all that.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Hmm…actually… As an animator myself, I don’t think those are errors. The opening scene is not supposed to reveal itself as a reflection until after the fish hook hits the water. If it showed a proper reflection of the clouds then the jig would be up from the start. Since the clouds aren’t properly reflected, there’s no reason the moon should be and considering how short the segment is, it might create unnecessary visual dissonance…it might look funny when you aren’t spending any time thinking about it. As for the lighting on the clouds..the clouds seem to be lit by the moon itself. It is the focal point after all so everything reads back to it. Being able to see the sky through the disc of the moon is irrelevant. In this case, the moon literally is a crescent.
I don’t see any errors here, just carefully chosen artistic license to maximize the impact of a few seconds of animation.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Don’t forget that the kid doesn’t have a reflection in the water. Don’t beat yourself up though, you spotted the bad astronomy in the video, you just missed the bad oceanography.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I had noticed that before, but it never really struck me as strongly as with you. It’s all good… thanks for letting all of us know about it.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
You think this is bad, Bad? In one of the episodes of ‘The Universe’ show aired in the last year or two they have a crescent moon/planet (I don’t remember which) WITH STARS SHINING THROUGH THE DARK PART. Shows like this often have really idiotic graphics in them. Too bad the folks they interview don’t get to look at final cuts before airing.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
@Jess: But… Dreamworks did that too! There ARE stars in the dark part of the crescent!
You don’t see them on the video due to the bad quality but if you look on Google Images and find a high res of their logo you’ll see the stars there.
June 1st, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Oh leave Dreamworks alone, for the love of Hugh*. They made Galaxy Quest, one of the funniest spoofs ever.
Guy Fleegman: I know! You construct a weapon. Look around, can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?
* Hugh Grant — he’s dreamy….