Comments on: Dreamworks and Bad Astronomy

By: patschican

patschican — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:36:23 +0000

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….

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:09:48 +0000

@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.

By: Jess Tauber

Jess Tauber — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:30:57 +0000

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.

By: h2opolopunk

h2opolopunk — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:08:35 +0000

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.

By: GoatTuber

GoatTuber — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:03:45 +0000

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.

By: DragonGirl

DragonGirl — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:22:17 +0000

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.

By: Smith

Smith — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:36:20 +0000

BTW, in Transformers you missed the part when Barricade punches Sam and Sam lands onto nearby car and somehow Sam survives all that.