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The Monte Hall Effect

By: Tim Lloyd Tola Marts
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  • Summary

  • Tim Lloyd and Tola Marts are two leaders in the Seattle aerospace community with over forty years of experience between them dealing with aerospace and high tech issues. They're also avid film buffs, and in each podcast they'll take a different science fiction film and discuss three key facets: *Science: How well do the scientific ideas in the film reflect real science. *Fiction: Do the film's plot and characterization take the viewer on a fun or intriguing journey? And… *Film: Does the movie make the most of cinematography, so that it works better in conveying its ideas than it would in a book, or graphic novel, or play? At the end of each podcast they’ll give the film a percentage ratings for each of those facets. NOTE: there will be spoilers for the film being discussed, but they will try to keep spoilers for other films to a minimum. The podcast theme music- intro and outro- is written and performed by Guy Ellis, and more of his music can be found at https://soundcloud.com/gu42 and https://www.facebook.com/cloudcoverband/.
    © 2024 The Monte Hall Effect
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Episodes
  • 12: Aniara

    12: Aniara
    Mar 8 2024
    The boys talk “Call Your Boyfriend,” ABBA, The Swedish Chef, tasty pastries, the best dates to visit Minnesota, “The Rapture,” bleak (and unwatchable?) movies from Scandinavian directors, "Funny Games" (grrrrrr...), misunderstood "happy" endings, Avenue 5, Silent Spring, the cold calculus of actual human colonization, "A City on Mars" by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, the genetically perfect progeny of the oligarchy, yet more orbital mechanics (Tola rants about the plane of the ecliptic), getting straight to the existential horror, spaceships and colonies likely being more cramped than we realize, space being really big, but Mars not being really all that far away, the brilliant future of AI as a copyright and/or classroom cheating enabler, ignorance of the constellation of Lyra, Tola's requisite sailing reference, Chekhov's algae, the entropic nature of complex systems, "Aurora" by Kim Stanley Robinson, differing access to crayons, the profundity of William Shatner, an epic AI mike drop, Jayne Cobb's workout regimen, cults, giant space orgies that are not as much fun as they sound, the relative ease of interplanetary communication, the death of hope, random sci-fi puzzle boxes, confusion versus wonder, paying horribly for carrying even a small measure of optimism, failure cascades, the false dichotomy of saving Earth vs reaching for the stars, "Children of Men," being careful about what we watch and read in the middle of the night, space trying to kill you, the Lars von Trier oeuvre (h/t Brian Kamman!) and much more – all while taking in a movie based on an epic, book-length poem from Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson. Content Warning: at several points we discuss the topic of suicide, which also factors into the plot of the film. If you are in crisis and need to talk to someone, text HOME to 741741 (in the US) for free help from a counselor. Thanks again to Paul Zastrow for sound editing this episode. Final score: Science (78%), Fiction (93%), Film (90%). Next up: "Buckaroo Banzai" as a palate cleanser! (re-posted 3/12/24)
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    1 hr and 31 mins
  • 11: Snowpiercer

    11: Snowpiercer
    Feb 11 2024
    In this episode the guys join the future Captain America, the former archangel Gabriel, the future Kim Ki-taek, the former Caligula, and the former Gene Kranz as they circumnavigate a frozen Earth in Bong Joon-Ho's 2013 Snowpiercer. They explore the mysteries of apex predators vs. reindeer, the merits of late- or post-capitalistic societies and meritocracies on a moving platform, the dangers of engineering's ability to (inadvertently) cause bigger problems than it solves, the late, lamented P.J. O'Rourke on El Salvador, cannibalism, the dangers of poor railway maintenance, the expectations of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series (if it ever came to the screen), science fiction poetry (Swedish and otherwise) and the late author Harry Martinson. Special thanks to Paul Zastrow for sound editing this episode. Final score: Science 78%, Fiction 83%, Film 95% Next up: the boys get arty and existential with 2018's Aniara.
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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • 10: Life

    10: Life
    Apr 15 2023
    In this episode the guys welcome a very special guest: their long time friend, Naval Aviator and retired NASA astronaut Jeff Ashby and talk about a FMECA gone wrong, the ISS, radios, ground communications, TDRS, schedule, crews, procedure vs cowboyism, creative plumbing solutions, clean vs clutter, the miracle of velcro, Jeff's Sleeping Pod Project, fire in space, oxygen candles, using standard atmosphere, Aliens Gone Bad, depicting zero gee, the Vomit Comet, doing biology in a glovebox, protocols, contaminents, fluffy space dust bunnies, computers, realism vs entertainment, hydrazine, moving the station, control moment gyros, technical advisors, Jim Lovell and Ron Howard, adding drama, inspiring future astronauts, remembering Neil Armstrong, predicting orbital debris problems twenty years ago, New York's scenic and welcoming Southern Tier, vast quantities of horribly cheap and terrible science fiction films, mediocre directors make mediocre movies, Tola's obsession with sailboats, underappreciated Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, using the ISS, NASA's Office of Planetary Protection (do we or any of our listeners know anyone who ever worked there?!?), six expendable meatbags, astronaut crosstraining, lots of parallels to Alien, Chris Hadfield's biography, we talk again about how velocities work in space, twinkling stars, catching fast things without breaking them, Reanimator, who's the boss?, designing for perfection, the fallacy of the perfect glove, designing around hazards, Chekhov's Mouse, going from monocellular to highly evolved intelligence in hours not years, films winking at their auidiences, flamethrowers in space, venting, whack-a-mole fire extinguishers, ISS not being the Nostromo, keeping people away from poisons, we talk again about how organic stuff works in a vacuum, the buddy system in space, space suit pressure, nitrogen purges, being perilous and terrifying without being toxic, Tim mentions Hadfield's biography again talking about the risking of drowning in microgravity, navigating through the hydrazine thruster system(!), understanding sensors in terms of orders of magnitude, more whack a mole, losing your grasp on reality, sacrificial canibalism, solutions that no longer make a single bit of sense, blocking a scene so you can't figure out what's happening at all, how it's hard to nudge things into the sun, yet another exciting discussion of orbital mechanics in case you haven't had your fill from earlier episodes, getting the clock ticking to amp up the suspense, Tim's totally awesome Student Nitric Oxide Explorer, NORAD, sullying the good name of Goodnight Moon, lying movie trailers and the lying liars who make them, how nobody makes lifeboats that only hold one person, real world ISS lifeboat problems, the least bad answer, Man Out Of Space Easiest (MOOSE!), The Twist!(tm), and the omniscient and emotional intelligent alien. Final score: Science 68%, Fiction 63%, and Film 70%. Next up: the boys get political with Bong Joon-ho's 2013 film "Snowpiercer"! Special Guest: Jeff Ashby.
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    2 hrs and 4 mins
Art Science
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