A Sound of Thunder

blamanj writes "One of the great sci-fi short stories, Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder is scheduled to be released on film next month. Links to the trailers (QT, Real, WMP) can be found here. The original story prefigured chaos theory in its 'small changes, large effects' premise. Indeed, when I first heard the term 'butterfly theory,' I assumed it was based on Bradbury's story. Unlike the original, however, the film won't be touching on dystopian politics, but appears to have been turned into a 'Jurassic Park'-style creature feature. Sigh. Oh, well, we can hope that the new Fahrenheit 451 will be treated with a bit more respect."

Comments

Hollywood

[skinfitz]

Oh, well, we can hope that the new Fahrenheit 451 will be treated with a bit more respect.

You don't know Hollywood very well do you?

Re:Hollywood

[theKinkyRabbit]

You don't know Hollywood very well do you?

Well, Frank Darabont at least has some experience when it comes to turning a novel into a movie.
Unlike the bunch who worked on "A Sound of Thunder".

This, at least, can cast a little bit of hope on the project (until some exec blasts into the editing room asking for a truckload of changes, that is).

Originality?

[shawnseat]

I couldn't let this one pass. In the late 19th century it was known that the roughness of the surface of a tube effects the amount of fluid that flows through a pipe under pressure (look up any discussion of the Reynolds Number and pipe or tube flow). The roughness of the pipe is a very small cause that causes a large macroscopic effect.

Re:Originality?

[AndroidCat]

For the want of a nail, the horseshoe was lost;
For the want of a horseshoe a horse was lost;
For the want of a horse, the rider was lost;
For the want of a rider, the message was lost;
For the want of a message, the battle was lost;
For the want of a battle, the war was lost;
For the want of a war, the kingdom was lost;
And all for the want of a horseshoe's nail.

Author unknown, but it probably dates back further than the chopped version Ben Franklin quotes.

Re:Originality?

[blair1q]

No it isn't.

The roughness of a tiny section of a pipe would be a very small input.

The roughness of a theoretically infinite length of pipe is a very large input.

Re:Originality?

[Forbman]

...but on the other hand, GM flipped this on its ear. They had a radiator that was very nicely engineered, with smooth coolant flow throughout the radiator. Well, it didn't work worth crap.

They finally realized that the turbulent flow created a bunch of vortices in the flow that helped carry away more heat, because it increased the relative surface contact area of the water.

In certain conditions, a turbulent boundary layer increases the efficiency of flow for the entire fluid body because it sets up a nice smooth laminar flow... (think: golf balls, Lance Armstrong's time trial helmets, etc).

It's the Election, stupid

[mhackarbie]

If there was ever a perfect occurrence of amazing science fiction prophecy, the connection between the upcoming election and the one in the story is it.

The people who removed that are idiots.

mhack

Re:Propaganda

[0xdeadbeef]

By turning "evil" corporations and governments into cartoons, they whitewash the real malfeasance that goes on everyday. Science fiction literature at least tries to maintain a sense of reality, as ironic as that sounds.

Ever try explaining to a non-geek why the RIAA is bad? "Well, they're just trying to make money." If it isn't an Enron-type scandal, most people don't understand or don't care, because they've been conditioned to accept it.

Starship Troopers is genius. He used the movie to critique the book, demonstrating the inevitible result of Heinlein's polity of "veterans" with a comic book teen drama. He turned a militeristic wet-dream for anti-social teenage boys into "90210", and did it with heavy sarcasm that goes right over the heads of the kind of people who enjoy dumb action movies and teen dramas. Brilliant!