Snowpiercer

[Enzo]

Snowpiercer was a movie from 2013, and now SYFY has made a TV series of it.

The gist is that humans tried to cure global warming - or something - and managed to cause an instant global ice age. Uh huh... And so they somehow round up all the remaining humans surviving and load them on a railroad train with a perpetual motion engine - no need for fuel, get it? And it runs on a track all the way around the world...non stop. I guess they laid the track on the sea ice? SO kinda like generation-starship stories, this thing has turned into its own society with the haves and have nots. Zaniness ensues.

When I look it up, it gets critical acclaim, even rotten tomatoes liked it. Standard comments about microcosm of humanity, blah blah blah. But I found it incredibly stupid. I couldn't suspend my dropped jaw. WHy bother to take the remaining humanity riding around the world over and over in a non-stop railroad trip? WHO maintains the track? The train never needs maintenance on the exterior? And I suppose lunch is Soylent Green? And they smack you in the face with a shovel with their social commentary.

Now they are making a TV serial, with the basic premise of the movie, and the standard formula series setup. Who are the good guys? WHo are the bad guys? WHo is a bad guy pretending to be a good guy? WHo is the bad guy who finds a noble core within. blah blah blah.

Of course others may disagree.

[Arneb]

Sounds about as plausible as using humans, with their low energy efficiency and constant negative energy balance, as batteries, of all things.

[Blue Monster 65]

I found it to be rather heavy-handed as well, but enjoyed the look and feel of it. Basic questions about how things worked were not answered, tho, as you said. My thought was, “Why are they moving? Couldn’t they have built a better/more efficient community In one place?” I believe they answer that, but it skims by it and, of course, the whole premise is it’s a train that can go off the rails at any time.

I’d watch it again if I had to, but it would not be by choice. I really don’t get the fan base that’s built up around it. I did not like any of the far too broadly drawn characters to care about any of them. If that’s what humanity boiled down to, I’d say let them all die.

[Enzo]

We evolve into homo stereotypus.

[g-one]

I also struggled with it and couldn't account for the critical acclaim.
Another one I find too obvious with the social commentary is the reboot Twilight Zone.

I do like Kang-Ho Song however. Just watched him in The Good, the Bad, the Weird. As you can tell, highly derivative, but a real fun movie. (It's got a train Enzo, so it all ties in. )

Watch on youtube.com

[Enzo]

As long as there is a train, and it keeps on a-rollin'.....

Watch on youtube.com

[MM_Dandy]

I just watched the movie for the first time a few evenings ago. I had also heard the critical acclaim and couldn't believe how bad it was. But if Syfy can make a mildly successful series out of Tremors, so maybe they can do something similar? I'm skeptical, though.

[Enzo]

I fear it will just be another soap opera. There is an endless appetite for continuing dramas of this sort. They create some guy you want to hate, and a hero who just can't ever seem to quite win. People watch hoping the bad guy will get his comeupance.

[tubeswell]

I agree the movie was bullshit, and the TV series will be yet more bullshit

[Blue Monster 65]

The Good, The Bad, The Weird just became a must-see for me. That looks like a hoot!

[Lance]

I saw it a few years ago and, meh. Maybe the series will answer some of the questions about why.

[Lianachan]

I’d never heard of it, and by the sound of things I shouldn’t go out of my way to see it.