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Mortal Engines

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Mortal Engines
Post by isaac_newton   » Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:51 am

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Just been looking at the trailers for the film.

Looks quite exciting.

Is anyone going to see this?
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by Michael Everett   » Tue Dec 04, 2018 1:49 pm

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The books that the film is adapted from is the Young Adult/Teen Mortal Engines series by Phillip Reeves, the first book being the series namer. I have read one and while the concept of mobile/predatory cities is quite unusual, it didn't really appeal to me, although I do admit that I am probably not in the primary target demographic.
While I'll probably pick up a copy once it's released for home viewing, I don't plan to see it in the cinema.
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by Annachie   » Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:34 am

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The book is on my list of things to get too.

The movie? I'd rather read the book first.
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by Senior Chief   » Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:47 pm

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isaac_newton wrote:Just been looking at the trailers for the film.

Looks quite exciting.

Is anyone going to see this?



Nope, not interested... There is table-top miniature wargame called Distopian Wars... looks like a rip-off of the game... Another un-original idea stolen by movie makers...
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by ywing14   » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:52 pm

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I tried to read it and didn't finish.
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by Daryl   » Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:15 am

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I just can't stretch my credibility that far. Honorverse physics is OK, who knows what physics will have found in a couple of thousands of years time. Look at what was known 2 thousand years ago.
However to assume that many millions of tons of city could be mobile across the dry earth's surface just doesn't compute. Plus we could destroy one such with one missile using today's tech.
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by Dilandu   » Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:46 pm

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Daryl wrote:However to assume that many millions of tons of city could be mobile across the dry earth's surface just doesn't compute.


Technically, it is possible. Albeit it would not be rigid, tank-like structure. More like gestalt of numerous individual moving modules, each containing some industrial object & part of population. In short, more like a network of individual machines, interconnected by flexible cables, tubes and catwalks. Such "moving city" may be possible.

P.S. Another possibility, actually, is a flying one... build inside of mile-sized concrete tensegrity sphere. The old "Cloud Nine" design, envisioned by Fuller; the volume-to-weight ratio of the sphere is so great, that even a relatively small heating of air inside (say, one degree, provided by nuclear reactor) would allow it to float in air. And, since its tensegrity structure, it become stronger with size increased, thus allowing a simple concrete to be used.
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by Imaginos1892   » Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:39 pm

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London is chock-full of unreinforced stone or brick buildings. Half the city would collapse before taking ten steps. Even the modern buildings would fall apart eventually in such a constant low-level earthquake.

Where could walking cities get the millions of tons of water they need every day? How much of the Thames River is included in 'Walking London'? How about the other rivers that have been covered up over the years?

Where would London walk to? Could it cross the Channel? The ocean? Any significant mountain range? Could it even get over a 200-meter hill? Could it go through trees? Would it get stuck in a swamp? One hell of a tow-truck you'd need there…

Dilandu wrote:P.S. Another possibility, actually, is a flying one... build inside of mile-sized concrete tensegrity sphere.

The volume of a one-mile sphere is about 2.19 billion cubic meters, the center is at 800 meters altitude, so it would displace just about 2.2 million tons of air. Raising the internal temperature by 1º C would reduce the weight of air inside the sphere by about 8,800 tons. That's just enough to lift a 1-mile-diameter concrete shell 1.7 mm thick.

The whole walking city idea is soooo stupid on soooo many levels…it put my bullshit meter in the shop with a bent pointer. I think it would be like watching After Earth — two perfectly good hours that you'll never get back.
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by Dilandu   » Mon Dec 10, 2018 4:20 pm

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Imaginos1892 wrote:London is chock-full of unreinforced stone or brick buildings. Half the city would collapse before taking ten steps. Even the modern buildings would fall apart eventually in such a constant low-level earthquake.


Well, considering that in "Mortal Engines" world, the London than we knew was gone about 15000 years ago, obliterated during Sixty-Minute war - basically, the moving one is a completely new construction) Obviously designed to withstand vibration.
Could it cross the Channel?


Since in the "Mortal Engines" world there is no Channel anymore - as well as North Sea, Central America and a good chunk of East Asia - the question is actually moot.

Could it go through trees?


Er, are you serious? Even sequoia forest would hardly be even noticed by something with literally million tons of mass & inertia.
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Oh well, if shortening the front is what the Germans crave,
Let's shorten it to very end - the length of Fuhrer's grave.

(Red Army lyrics from 1945)
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Re: Mortal Engines
Post by Imaginos1892   » Tue Dec 11, 2018 11:33 pm

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Well, all I know about the movie is what I saw in a noisy preview full of giant bashing things and flashy jump-cuts. If that was supposed to make me want to watch, it failed dismally.

Like when I saw the preview for 'Real Steel'. At the end, I said, "Wow. Rock-em Sock-em Robots, The Movie."

And I was right, too.
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