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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 01/08/2006 : 13:19:54
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A few years ago my husband bought Wayne Barlowe's book Expedition. Barlowe is a SF and Fantasy illustration artist, probably best known for Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials where he illustrated aliens from classic SF novels. Expedition illustrates an exploratory trip to the planet Darwin IV. The lifeforms on Darwin IV are quite different from earth's because of the planet's unique characteristics, including weaker gravity, a thicker atmosphere, an the lack of oceans (although Darwin IV did have oceans in the past). Plants and animals aren't clearly separate types of life as they are on earth, the animals on Darwin IV have poorly developed eyesight and more often use sonar. Also interesting is that most predators tend to be liquivores (like spiders), literally sucking the liquid out of their prey.
I bring it up now because last year the Discovery channel did a great fictional documentary based on Expedition called Alien Planet. It is now released on DVD so you can buy it for $10. or rent it through netflix. The film is very well done, including enthusiastic interviews with scientists like Michio Kaku and Stephan Hawking, as well as Barlowe himself. The most entertaining aspect of the film is that they change it so that humans today are conducting the Expedition, and they interview the scientists as if the expedition is real.
Anyone interested in hard science fiction would enjoy both the book and film.
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Edited by - marfknox on 01/08/2006 13:22:01
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