Alien Planet

this is the first time i have seen a show that actually depicts what could be out there in a scientific fashion.

The way we can calculate the possibility of life is by the Drake Equation, created by Frank Drake in the early 1960s. It states: N= (r* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc) L where:

N= number of possible civilizations to communicate with

R* = is the rate at which stars capable of sustaining like are formed

fp = the fraction of these stars which have planets

ne = the number of planets similar to Earth in the planetary system

fl = the fraction of the Earth-like planets that hold life

fi = the fraction of life that becomes an intelligent civilization

fc = the fraction intelligent civilizations that attempt to communicate

L= the number of years the civilization remains able to communicate.

When these numbers are taken into consideration, we realize that there is a great possibility of life out there. There are about 400 billion stars in our galaxy, so there could be life right next door (relatively speaking, since that may be hundreds of thousands of light years away). Even if there is no life in the Milky Way, there are billions of other galaxies to turn to. We likely will not contact such civilizations in our lifetime, but it gives us a new kind of hope and dream for the future of our planet and the future of mankind.

so Darwin 4 could actually exist out there somewhere.

...just don't live in it. Yet?

The film may not be for self-proclaimed serious scientists....or for "serious creationists"...but for curious six year olds this was more than watchable and raised interesting questions in the xenobiological realm. So for me, as their Dad it was a success.

But even for all those serious science fans, with the commentary of Hawking, Kaku, Venter...what is the quibble about? Admittedly we are talking about something that if it happens will happen well after my children's children are dead, but trying to estimate what might be still is fun, and ideally incentive enough to continue to search the stars. Kaku works in a message of how rare and treasured life should be, even here on our own planet. Have any of the participating scientists rebuked this film?

As for all the "serious creationists", I still think this movie is more captivating than a discussion of how many angels could dance on the head of a pinhead.

The probes, with their wide eyes and narrow dots inside, gave a nice illusion of shock as each new creature was unfurled. The DVD came packaged for the sake of TV with commercial inserts, and sneak previews for something coming in the next three seconds. I found that a bit annoying.

Anyways, I can see some of the criticism, overly sleek animation leaves the creatures devoid of texture...more insight into the animals behavior (eating, socialization)...but I think this was mostly a chance to introduce the basic concept of life on another planet (hence disappointing to the two groups above) and a chance to display Wayne Douglas Barlowe's artwork...with whom I was regrettably unfamiliar, so I'll look forward to sharing some of his library books with the boys.

Not sure if he has done illustrations for the Book of Revelation, but that might appeal to some.

Yours for heresy and fantasy,

Thurston Hunger

7/10

An intriguing and engaging exploration of an alien world. The CGI was excellent all around with some breathtaking views of the flora and fauna of Darwin IV, a world about 6 light years from earth. It really was fun to watch. The achilles heal alluded to in the summary is the overly optimistic view of our ability to build the software necessary to carry out this venture. I'm a programmer with 12 years experience and I can tell you in no uncertain terms we are not even close to being able to program an AI like Leo. Every "breakthrough" in software development productivity since the move from assembly to C in the early 1970s has been a big gimmick. We need at least one and probably two massive breakthroughs on the same order to pull it off and I gotta tell you, I haven't seen any sign of it even on the distant horizon. Maybe someday this trip will be feasible, but not until software construction is as second nature as bridge building.

Still, all in all, definitely worth watching.

The documentary is based off of a novel called expedition and two probes from earth are sent by the von Braun to search for alien life. Alien planet is a really good documentary in my opinion and I'm sure others as well. The two probes also come equipped with mini probes like the spider probe witch can crawl into spots too small or dangerous for the two probes as well as speedy disk like probes that can fly and are called camera disks, the probes also come equipped with water ballon like that monitor the weather. The creatures too are quite fascinating like the daggerest witch lives on trees and hunt for their prey the trunk sucker witch is cool in my opinion, the daggerest uses its claws to pin its prey down in witch it falls to ground and the daggerest comes down and uses a third claw attached to it's chest in witch it sucks up all the tree sap that the trunk sucker sucked up earlier on the tree, ones the daggerest sucks up all the tree sap from the trunk sucker it then leaves to find new prey in the tree tops leaving it's prey dead on the floor. Another interesting creature is the gyro sprinter a fast two legged animal that runs from predators like the arrow tongue at Rex sized carnivore. Over and all the documentary is a really good impression of the book people who read the book first will probably be amazed seeing the creatures moving. I my self give it a good rating of 8 and I highly suggest you check it out.

I felt like a kid again watching this flight of fancy. I liked the interspersed animations and real world interviews of some top scientists, making it feel real though of course (and alas) it is pure invention.

How could someone watch this and not be enthralled, not wish for us to support pure science and space exploration? It makes me want to run right out and do something to further the possibility that such a mission might one day be undertaken.

I don't care if the biology is imperfect; I do care that it's a dozen times better than the typical Hollywood s-f flick that has all its creatures looking like they evolved on earth. Still too many pairs of eyes over mouths here, but a distinct improvement over big-eyed gray aliens.