Talk:The Abyss/Archive 1

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References to use

Please add to the list references that can be used for the film article.
  • Booker, M. Keith (2006). "The Abyss". Alternate Americas: Science Fiction Film and American Culture. Praeger. pp. 219–232. ISBN 0275983951.

I'm still new at this

How do you cite sources, i've tried the help page, but no help as i've tried to follow the instructions but no help. I'm asking cause there is an anamorphic DVD available of the special edition that's chinese in origin. I know it exists cause Rewind Comparisons lists it as anamorphic and they don't post the specs as definite until they confirm it. I've seen specs listed as unconfirmed before on other discs. I've seen this disc for sale on eBay and another site with photos of the packaging and i've found a torrent labeled as a rip from the Chiense DVD and it's very much anamorphic in format. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Frostedflame (talk • contribs) 05:31, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

old post

"The Pseudopod was created using revolutionary 3d package at the time, called "Alias", Jim Cameron also used Alias in T2 to create mercury-like T2000 robot."

I'm unsure about this quote. I think you're talking about the T-1000 (the new terminator sent to destroy John Connor dressed as a police officer, played by Robert Patrick)

Fluid-breathing Rat

"Some believe that, at the time of the film's theatrical release in the UK, the rat-breathing scene was shown fully intact, and that it was only some years later, when the film came to be shown on UK television networks, that the scene was indeed edited heavily. However, there is other anecdotal evidence that when The Abyss opened in the UK in 1989, this scene had already clearly been cut."

This scene has been aired on British television at least once: I've seen it, many years ago. The rat was immersed in a clear plastic tray, then held under by a lid on top. The rat could be seen opening and closing its mouth.

It's possible that just this clip was shown on a science program of some sort, but I think it was part of a screening of the whole film. --Robert Stevens 20:52, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

  • I remember this, it was a clear plastic tray and the rat was held under by a metal-gridded tray. i remember seeing this in all versions of the film but didn't see it at the cinema, my first time was on sky (analogue) satellite some months after the cinema release. cycloid 08:59, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
  • I saw "The Abyss" on UK TV, and it had the rat breathing liquid sequence in. Anthony Appleyard 08:58, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
  • I've just watched this on Sky Cinema 2 (UK); the scene was in.
  • The Special Edition docu: Making the Abyss tells the story. 5 rats where submerged, filmed and lived.

Censor vs. Censure

First, sorry for the reverts I made there. Clearly I needed more coffee before trying to edit WP. Second, the words censor and censure have different meanings.

  • Censure: to formally rebuke (to criticise harshly) [1]
  • Censor: to review in order to remove objectionable content [2]

Censure is the correct word to use in the article -- TexMurphy 08:33, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Storyline

The USS Montana did not collide into an unknown object, they collide into an underwater cliff seconds after an unidentified object passed near the submarine. The cause; The encounter with the NTI caused the sub's electrical systems and hydraulics to malfunction. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bnm1212 (talk • contribs) 21:45, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Who Is Captain Pierce Oliver Kidd Brewer Jr.?

There is a dedication at the end of the film to this person. Who is/was he/she? What relevence does it have to the movie?

Earl Canada 209.52.102.92 01:44, 21 December 2006 (UTC)


  • He was a performer in the film and friend of the director's. He died a year after the movie was released.

novel

Could anybody tell me what the ISBN code is of the novelisation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.94.22.147 (talk • contribs)

Amazon says the Orson Scott Card novels have the following ISBNs:
ISBN-10: 2290026573
ISBN-13: 978-2290026571
HTH. — Frecklefoot | Talk 00:23, 8 January 2007 (UTC)


My first-edition paperback (June 1989) copy has the following ISBN:

ISBN 0-671-67625-3

I have also seen a hardcover edition, in French, in a public library in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, in the mid-1990s.

I've expanded the trivia note about the background info on Bud and Lindsey that was provided to the actors from the first chapters of the novelisation. It's explicitly stated in the afterward of the novel, but I'm not sure how to put it in as a footnote. Could someone tell me how so i cana dd it?--Tiberius47 04:44, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

She had a nervous breakdown because of the film

We should add that the Italian lady had a breakdown, just cant write her long name.--HalaTruth(ሐላቃህ) 23:35, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

  • I've seen repeated anecdotal references to that but never a defacto-article or other published confirmation of it. Until someone produces some proof of it I think it is inappropriate to present it as having occured.

The statement that Lindsey relied on Mammalian Diving Reflex is incorrect. She didn't, she was drowned, and relied on the cold water temperature to delay brain damage until she could be revived. Mammalian diving reflex is when there is no water in the lungs - she clearly breathed water in and was drowned.JohnC (talk) 03:13, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

New technology

Several pieces of new diving technology were developed specifically for this film. Most notable is the diving helmet with wraparound visor (so the actors' faces could be seen) with high voice quality intercom system. Earlier deep diving helmets were as hard to see out of as they were to see into, (larger, flat windows were in use, but not as large as seen in the movie) and intercom audio quality was about as good as a lousy fast food drive-up speaker. Similar helmets can be seen in use on Discovery Channel's "Blood, Sweat and Rigs" documentary series about the recovery and repair of Gulf of Mexico oil rigs after the 2005 hurricane season.

  • I've just added the Conception field, and am hoping to also address the film's technology in the near future, drawing on Starlog interviews with Cameron and conceptual designer Ron Cobb.


Project Jennifer

Does this film take some inspiration from the Project_Jennifer ?

Plot summary

At over 1200 words, the plot summary was somewhat too long (and was tagged as such) [3]. I've replaced it with an adapted copy of a plot summary from this earlier revision (July, 2005). It's now about 450 words, quite readable, and seems to cover the plot quite well. --Tony Sidaway 18:32, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Perception of The Abyss as Cameron's albatross

Why does there seem to be an unspoken consensus to make this film out to be Cameron's one great failure? thenumbers.com, boxofficemojo.com and imdb all show the film as having taken a loss at the box office. They all post roughly the same numbers. Yet Cameron's own comments from just after its release, plus the more-recently published Titanic and the making of James Cameron (yes, I cited it often in this wiki entry :-) ) describe a successful, profitable movie. I trust I don't need to remind anyone reading this of the success it has since become on home video/laserdisc/dvd.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=b-8aKAAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:Paula+inauthor:Parisi

http://i31.tinypic.com/mukfg8.jpg

I sent Mrs. Parisi an email in the spring of 2007 asking her about the box office numbers in her book. Her reply (regrettably lost later to an emergency format) said that the numbers she used were from The Hollywood Reporter's own records as well as box office receipts. While I doubt she counted the receipts herself, the data must have been readily available and accessible.

That scanned interview shows that even then, Cameron was aware of this malformed perception. A perception that has persisted for almost two decades and one that has been propagated by the reputable websites listed above. The propagation of a myth. I can understand this in the context of an urban legend and word-of-mouth, but I don't understand how these websites are subscribing to it, other than perhaps laziness. I think it's telling that they all post the same numbers for The Abyss. I'd be curious to know what the original source of the error is.

The problem is you only have Paula Parisi's word for her sources being accurate. Perhaps it was her intent (or even her job) to show Cameron's works in a more positive light. Of course, if a valid source from The Hollywood Reporter can be found for the box office of The Abyss, then by all means add it. But Parisi's book by itself is just a claim rather than an impartial source. I recall at the time of The Abyss's release that it was widely deemed a flop (unfortunately I no longer have my stack of film magazines from that period so I can't include any of them as a source) although I know it had reasonable success on video and DVD afterwards. Personally, I have always seen The Abyss as the crossroads in Cameron's career. You can tell with The Abyss that he was trying to be a more serious science fiction filmmaker, but since it didn't do so well he backpeddaled to the "shoot 'em up" route instead and made Terminator 2 and True Lies - which were both financial successes, but hardly artistic or intelligent. 80.41.26.0 (talk) 10:13, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
Okay, except I've presented more than just the book itself. Parisi's numbers are correspond precisely to Cameron's, with five years between the publications. Still not impartial, but significant. Amur (talk) 20:48, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

References in popular culture

These points are unsourced and need to be converted to prose and integrated into the article. Until the, I'm placing them here.--J.D. (talk) 14:42, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

*In the episode of South Park entitled "Imaginationland Episode II", the scene in which Ed Harris revives Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is parodied with Eric Cartman and Kyle Broflovski.

  • In the 1996 film Twister, a large petroleum tanker is destroyed by a tornado. The words "BENTHIC PETROLEUM" (the name of the company operating the experimental drilling rig) can be clearly seen as the truck flies past the camera.
  • In The Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah Connor, her son John, and the T-101 cyborg take refuge in a closed Benthic Petroleum service station.
  • In the computer-animated film, "Monsters vs. Aliens", Bob spies into another room by holding his eye and extending a gelatinous arm around a corner. It is an unmistakable reference to the scene in "Abyss" when the aliens spy on the crew using a water tentacle.

Name of actual twin-hulled surface ship?

Does anyone know the actual name of the twin-hulled surface ship? I worked briefly on such a ship at Todd Shipyards in Seattle, Washington. It had 4 (2 per hull) BIG "wells", I think, from deck (or thereabouts?) through the bottom of the hull, if I remember correctly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.6.252.4 (talk) 14:22, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

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NTI or NHI?

What does the "NTI" truely mean? If it were "non-human intelligence" I would expect something like "NHI" rather than "NTI".--SiriusB 11:50, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

  • I've changed it to "Non-Terrestrial Intelligence", which is what Lindsey called them. -- TexMurphy 12:28, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
The abbreviation NTI is not really helpful to tell the plot. Those beings seem to be closer to the earth than the humans, so why calling them Extra Terrestrials? In the film this name was given out of an unreflected intuition, but here we shouldn't bewilder the reader with illogical expression, as neither the movie nor the abridged plot here has the smallest indication that the beings came from outer space. --Robbit (talk) 12:24, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
Only a person completely unfamiliar with the evolution of life on this planet could think that a race such as this could ever evolve here - it was very implicit they were from another planet. Sorry, doesn't wash. 50.111.46.61 (talk) 18:21, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

Did Bud cut the wrong wire?

I have a theory regarding The Abysss, and I can't seem to find any info on it anywhere. Did Bud actually cut the wrong wire and the NTI's prevented the bomb from going off? After-all, they were well aware there was a nuclear weapon and were observing Bud during his descent. It would be kind of odd for them to not be aware of or care what was going on and intervene. Has James Cameron or anyone else responsible for the film ever been asked about this? Even if Bud did cut the right wire, how could an advanced race of underwater aliens just ignore a nuclear weapon they had discovered earlier and not pay attention when it lands next to them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.254.116.128 (talk) 17:34, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

  • The novel describes how the aliens were aware of the warhead and perfectly capable of neutralizing it, but they chose to refrain and observe Bud. They guided his choice of which wire to cut. This rationalizing aside, I suspect that Cameron would say that what you saw is what happened. He cut the correct wire and that's the end of it. To have pursued a story line of the aliens intervening because he had chosen the incorrect wire would distract the audience and undermine the extraordinary tension of the scene.
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