[meteorite-list] "Meteor Storm" on Syfy

From: Bob Loeffler <bobl_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2010 08:45:39 -0700
Message-ID: <20100131154541.D2BDB105BE_at_mailwash5.pair.com>

My favorite from the 70's was "A Fire in the Sky" from 1978 (not the crappy
ET movie with the same name from 1993 with DB Sweeney). It had Richard
Crenna and Merlin Olson in it. See here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077553/ Not a great cast, but I think I liked
it because (1) it was about a comet that was going to hit Phoenix... and I'm
from Phoenix, (2) it actually hit Phoenix in the movie... instead of being
blown up by nuclear warheads just before entering the atmosphere, and (3) I
was only 10 years old at the time... so it was believable. If I saw it
again today, I might not like it as much. :-)

Anyway, I did see "Meteor Storm" last night on SyFy and it was as bad as I
expected. I haven't seen a good movie on SyFy in years... but for some odd
reason, I still flip the channel to it, just in case they might have a good
movie for once. I loved it when the lady said that the meteorites were the
size of bullets (when she was on Alcatraz Island), but 10 seconds earlier
when she had one in her hand and was studying it, it was about the size of
her fist. :-) And even though the meteorites were supposed to be small,
they would take out 3 floors of an office or apartment building when they
hit, yet impacts to people or the ground caused holes that were just a few
inches in diameter. As expected, the special effects were horrible,
especially the flames from the Aries rocket that they launched at the end of
the movie. The flames looked like they were made on an old PC computer
using CGA (not CGI) EGA graphics. Instead of a smooth progression from one
color to another, you could see a definite yellow area, then a definite
orange area, etc. At least the acting wasn't horrible. Not great, but not
the worst I've seen.

It was just another really bad movie that won't help the education of
humanity. But, obviously, it was only meant for mindless entertainment.
Mindless? Yes. Entertainment? I'm not sure about that. :-)

But, there was at least one thing that I think was good. The big asteroid
that was going to hit at the end of the movie was called Apophis, which is a
real NEO (near Earth object). Good for them. There was one other good thing,
but I can't remember it. Sorry.

Regards,

Bob


-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of
lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu
Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 5:37 AM
To: Walter Branch
Cc: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "Meteor Storm" on Syfy

Walter:

They also had "Meteor" on (1979), which predates all the disasteroid
movies that came out at the time of Shoemaker-Levy 9.

Not quite as bad a movie, but not the bast in the world given it cast:

Sean Connery (Bond, James Bond)
Karl Malden

those famous Russian actors
Natalie Wood and Brian Keith

many more famous actors

and a cast of thousands (at least hundreds) as it includes all those
people in "red shirts" that you know are going to die.

All of these gems for now quite so good science.

It has been a while since I have seen it, but now have nice copies of them
that I can bring to class.

Larry



> They had a movie called Asteroid on earlier today. That one is a real
> keeper as well. I love it when rocks just explode into huge fireballs on
> impact with the ground :-)
>
> -Walter Branch
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu>
> To: "Elizabeth Warner" <warnerem at astro.umd.edu>
> Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 11:43 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "Meteor Storm" on Syfy
>
>
>> Thanks for the link. It is on in 20 minutes (10:00 here in Tucson). It
>> looks like a "gem," something that I can use in my class as an example
>> of
>> what is wrong with this scene?
>>
>> Larry
>>
>>> So, anyone else watching this masterpiece on Syfy?
>>>
>>> http://www.apocalypticmovies.com/tag/meteor-storm/
>>>
http://www.sfuniverse.com/2010/01/29/michael-trucco-talks-battlestar-big-ban
g-and-one-huge-meteor-storm/
>>>
>>> Clear Skies!
>>> Elizabeth
Received on Sun 31 Jan 2010 10:45:39 AM PST