unforum

[CodeB]

[SPEC] Coincidences & References

[Euchre]

In Close Encounters, there's also a scene of model trains being wrecked. Spielberg actually did those as a child and he credits them with inspiring his film making career. Not surprising we see so many trains as toys and real ones in his films.

[kosmopol]

I find very cool the "abc" as broadcaster in Encounters. Not as Spielberg tie-in, but as JJ Abrams with LOST and another productions.

I'd love if this news would be used or remastered for this new project, like "Mysteries of the Universe" or so.

[FilmEdge]

If it helps: Spielberg has stated many times that his earliest influence by films was Cecil B. DeMille's THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH from 1952 — the climax of which features a collision of two circus trains. Spielberg's quote about the film, made while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association last year, was "My fate was probably sealed that day in 1952."

Reportedly he recreated the scene with model trains much to the annoyance of his father, which prompted Spielberg to film his model train wreck so he could watch it again and again (and emulate DeMille's scene).

Indeed trains have been featured in many of his films, especially in CE3K which Abrams pays homage to in SUPER 8. In fact, this teaser trailer for SUPER 8 also pays direct homage to DeMille's train crash scene, including a man driving his car onto the tracks and driving headlong into the approaching engine.

I wrote an article comparing all this in photos, but as a new forum member (reading along for a short while though), I hesitate to link to my own work here in my first post on the boards. Will provide pics or link if there is interest in the comparisons/homages going on here.

Meanwhile, the layers of influences abound even in this teaser trailer. I can only imagine what more will be revealed.

[RasGold`]

[FilmEdge]

Thanks for clarifying, ndemeter and E.

[bnkr]

For me, references to Cloverfield and its viral saturate what we've experienced so far concerning Super 8.

High level military involvement
-Throughout the trailer for Super 8, there is direct mention of USAF involvement.
-Cloverfield began with a notation that the footage was recovered by the US Department of Defence.
-When we link this with the information we've prised out for the Super 8 ARG, high-level military involvement is relevant to both.

The strength of the (creature?) at hand
-The creature in Super 8 is strong enough to presumably bash its way through iron/steel/other ferrous metal.
-The Cloverfield monster could break buildings and crush tanks.

The idea of footage perhaps being caught real-time by passers-by
-Although not confirmed, there is a strong line of thought that Super 8 refers to the film which could suggest the events it will depict were captured by that style of camera.
-In Cloverfield the events were narrated through a camcorder of sorts.

Oblique references to the Cloverfield ARG
-This is where, perhaps, my longing for a Cloverfield 2 gain the better of my judgment.

-The 6 flavors of the Rocket Poppeteers harking back to "you can't drink just six!" for Slusho and Cloverfield.

-The random quote on the Tagruato site by Ganu who evaded capture saying [paraphrase] "they tried to hold down my hands...but I can point to the stars" - exactly what those two characters in the Rocket Poppeteers logo are doing. http://www.tagruato.jp/headlines.php?story=news_08_01_18

Although in the end, it's probably all coincidence.

[RasGold]

[famine]

Well Ras, a moderator or admin can tell that simply by checking the IP address used when posting the comment. I would imagine that if it weren't you they would have spoken up and said something. Judging by the fact that it was edited to show it was you simply shows me that they matched your IP address to that guest post and further proved that you are trying to start trouble by making OOG references and creating pages as gamejacks. Just please put your foot in your mouth for once and leave, it would really be best for all of us.

[RasGold]

Please keep our conversations civil.

[ndemeter]

[RasGold]

Thank You ...

[Adm_BlackCat]

So here is my seemingly random coincidence. (With references )

On 05-Feb-1977 (the date given to us on the PDP-11 simulator) President Jimmy Carter met with one Admiral Hyman G. Rickover.
http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/diary/1977/d020577t.pdf (See the 12:57 entry)

Admiral Rickover was known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy" and a part of the Atomic Energy Commission which later became Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyman_G._Rickover

The reason I bring this up is because we have part of JFKs Partial Test Ban Treaty speech, which prohibited atomic testing. And Rickover played a big role in the area of atomic energy and naval reactor programs. (For ships/submarines that carried nuclear weapons.) and just happened to meet with the sitting president on 05-Feb-1977.

I doubt it means anything to the ARG, but I found the connections interesting enough to share.


Note: The ERDA not only managed the naval reactor programs, but the nuclear weapons programs as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Research_and_Development_Administration