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Message no. 1
From: "Steven A. Tinner" <bluewizard@*****.COM>
Subject: Virus = Renraku Shutdown + Titanic
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 16:50:47 -0500
Well, I finally found out why my group has been begging me NOT to see this
movie.
The movie Virus does a darn good job of combining the film Titanic with
Renraku Shutdown (OK, maybe the Poseiden Adventure and R:S ;-))

If you need some ideas for how to handle Deus and the drones in R:S there's
a few decent visuals in Virus.
Nevermind the goofy ending and choppy editing Virus was fun, had plenty of
action, and quite a bit of inspirational material for an aspiring GM.

Steven A. Tinner
bluewizard@*****.com
http://listen.to/Tinner
"Disco Lemonade"
Message no. 2
From: "Davidson, Chris" <Christopher.Davidson@***.BOEING.COM>
Subject: Re: Virus = Renraku Shutdown + Titanic
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 16:02:56 -0800
> If you need some ideas for how to handle Deus and the drones in R:S there's
> a few decent visuals in Virus.
> Nevermind the goofy ending and choppy editing Virus was fun, had plenty of
> action, and quite a bit of inspirational material for an aspiring GM.
>
You mean aside from all the flaws in logic. If the "virus" was so darn all
intelligent...how come it couldn't figure out how to repair all the broken radio's that
the crew smashed (since it scanned all the computers records and everything, it should
have been able to learn this...also, it should have been able to, since it could meld with
a human and use it's brain and thoughts like it did with the captain), I mean, that black
guy from the other ship repaired a radio in like 30 seconds...which brings to question,
why it didn't think of the power situation and figure out to either protect the ships
power center, or get borgs that didn't need power. It looked the crew had a while to
figure out that the "virus" needed power to keep going and they figured out
enough to smash the radio's before it transmitted itself to another machine. Maybe it
wasn't so all intelligent after all.

-Toffer
Message no. 3
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: Virus = Renraku Shutdown + Titanic
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 07:21:52 -0700
For the mere cost of a Thaum, Davidson, Chris wrote:
/
/ > If you need some ideas for how to handle Deus and the drones in R:S there's
/ > a few decent visuals in Virus.
/ > Nevermind the goofy ending and choppy editing Virus was fun, had plenty of
/ > action, and quite a bit of inspirational material for an aspiring GM.
/
/ You mean aside from all the flaws in logic. If the "virus" was so
/ darn all intelligent...how come it couldn't figure out how to repair
/ all the broken radio's that the crew smashed.
[snip: If it was intelligent why wasn't it smart?]

I haven't seen the movie, but I can answer the question.

Intelligence does not equal common sense.

You can have the highest IQ on the planet, but it won't do you any good
if you don't have the common sense to use it.

Maybe the virus had a grand plan so complex that we couldn't even begin
to understand it. It could have chosen it's plan in favor of fixing
the radios because it's plan had a higher return (maybe absolute world
domination within 48 hours with it's plan as opposed to fixing the
radios and achieving world domination in 52 hours).

Or, maybe the person who wrote the movie didn't have any common sense
:) (which just goes to show that common sense doesn't have anything to
do with creativity either).

-David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 4
From: "Davidson, Chris" <Christopher.Davidson@***.BOEING.COM>
Subject: Re: Virus = Renraku Shutdown + Titanic
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 07:54:02 -0800
> I haven't seen the movie, but I can answer the question.
>
> Intelligence does not equal common sense.
>
I get your point...btw, what is a Thaum?


-Toffer
Message no. 5
From: Paul Gettle <RunnerPaul@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Virus = Renraku Shutdown + Titanic
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 15:50:33 -0500
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At 07:21 AM 1/26/99 -0700, David B. wrote:
>Or, maybe the person who wrote the movie didn't have any common sense
>:) (which just goes to show that common sense doesn't have anything
to
>do with creativity either).

Actually, common sense is in direct opposition to script writing.
How's the old quote go? "If movie villans had any common sense, they'd
eliminate the hero before the end of the first reel."

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-- Paul Gettle, #970 of 1000 (RunnerPaul@*****.com)
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Message no. 6
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: Virus = Renraku Shutdown + Titanic
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 14:45:53 -0700
For the mere cost of a Thaum, Paul Gettle wrote:
/
/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
/
/ At 07:21 AM 1/26/99 -0700, David B. wrote:
/ >Or, maybe the person who wrote the movie didn't have any common sense
/ >:) (which just goes to show that common sense doesn't have anything
/ to
/ >do with creativity either).
/
/ Actually, common sense is in direct opposition to script writing.
/ How's the old quote go? "If movie villans had any common sense, they'd
/ eliminate the hero before the end of the first reel."

My favorite take on this is from Austin Powers. (If you haven't seen
this movie yet you deserve to have it spoiled for you :)

There's the scene where Dr. Evil has captured Austin and gives the
order to put him in an elaborate death trap and then gets up to walk
away. His son is agast and suggests that they just shoot Austin in the
head (it's a nice little father and son moment :) Dr. Evil tells his
son that he (the son) just doesn't get it.

I.e., the villan has to give the hero a way out, it's part of the job :)

David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm

Further Reading

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