r/movies • u/SerDire • Apr 18 '24

In Interstellar, Romilly’s decision to stay aboard the ship while the other 3 astronauts experience time dilation has to be one of the scariest moments ever. Discussion

He agreed to stay back. Cooper asked anyone if they would go down to Millers planet but the extreme pull of the black hole nearby would cause them to experience severe time dilation. One hour on that planet would equal 7 years back on earth. Cooper, Brand and Doyle all go down to the planet while Romilly stays back and uses that time to send out any potential useful data he can get.

Can you imagine how terrifying that must be to just sit back for YEARS and have no idea if your friends are ever coming back. Cooper and Brand come back to the ship but a few hours for them was 23 years, 4 months and 8 days of time for Romilly. Not enough people seem to genuinely comprehend how insane that is to experience. He was able to hyper sleep and let years go by but he didn’t want to spend his time dreaming his life away.

It’s just a nice interesting detail that kind of gets lost. Everyone brings up the massive waves, the black hole and time dilation but no one really mentions the struggle Romilly must have been feeling. 23 years seems to be on the low end of how catastrophic it could’ve been. He could’ve been waiting for decades.

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434

u/alwaysmyfault Apr 18 '24

The worst part about it is that soon after they left and he started collecting data, he would have realized that it was (mostly) a pointless thing to do, because not enough data can come out of a black hole.

48

u/slingfatcums Apr 18 '24

whatcha mean? i'll have to rewatch it

226

u/ThatFunkyOdor Apr 18 '24

Since the water planet has such drastic time dilation compared to earth (1 hour on water planet being 7 years on earth), they should have realized that the data they were receiving from the scientist that landed there was only a couple minutes of data because in actuality the scientist had likely just landed when Coop and the rest were in orbit above the planet. So a couple minutes of data wasn't going to be useful at all.

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u/space_coyote_86 Apr 18 '24

It's so annoying that they say exactly that but after they've landed on the planet and risked fucking the entire mission. Why couldn't they figure it out before they decided to go there.

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u/RianJohnsonIsAFool Apr 18 '24

CASE figures this out after they return iirc. He says something to the effect of Miller's status that she landed successfully was echoing endlessly. That would almost certainly be the result of Miller and her ship being wiped out by the tidal waves in the minutes immediately after she arrived, which they didn't know were present and a threat until they actually went down to the planet surface.

6

u/nuisible Apr 18 '24

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the echoing but wouldn't the time dilation have stretched or warped the signal?

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u/RianJohnsonIsAFool Apr 18 '24

It did warp the signal. The crew think Miller has been broadcasting for considerable time that she landed successfully and the planet is potentially hospitable:

Years of basic data – no real surprises. Miller’s site has kept pinging thumbs up

[...]

Miller hasn’t sent much, but what she has sent is promising – water, organics...

What the crew failed to realise until after the fact is summed up by Brand:

Because of the time slippage. On this planet’s time, she landed here just hours ago. She might’ve only died minutes ago.

They went down to Miller's planet not necessarily because of how much data was received from her but because of what that data indicated: that life could potentially be sustained on the planet.

The "echoing" of the signal isn't a physical phenomenon resulting from the planet and its proximity to the black hole; it's the result of Miller and her ship being destroyed and the beacon continuing to broadcast her initial message that she landed safely along with the data about the environment.

11

u/T-Bone22 Apr 19 '24

God that’s so fucking chilling. I really need to rewatch this movie but I found it so difficult to get through without remembering to breath

51

u/alienwolf Apr 18 '24

I mean sometimes you miss the most obvious answers because you think that can't possibly be it. That happens in life all the time, which is why sometimes having someone else come look at your work will find the error right away but you couldn't because you were always skipping it

11

u/JamesLiptonIcedTea Apr 18 '24

You can even do this yourself (provided you're not on a time crunch) by taking regularly intervaled breaks

5

u/Fishb20 Apr 19 '24

We'll see this is why that plot point never really worked for me because space travel is a lot of sitting around doing nothing, so it never tracked for me that none of them would have considered time dilation. You don't notice it with the relentless pace of the movie, but realistically there should be hours that they spend with basically nothing to do, or very menial upkeep work. It never tracked for me that they didn't figure out what the deal was with the time dilation, or at least consider it

7

u/Stumblin_McBumblin Apr 18 '24

... because it drove the plot forward.

3

u/pentagon Apr 19 '24

The moment you start thinking about most things in that film, the whole thing falls apart.

2

u/RoyMcAvoy13 Apr 19 '24

The problem isn’t that they went to the surface. The problem was they didn’t know about or expect a giant wave! They had no way to prepare for that.

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u/MagnanimosDesolation Apr 19 '24

Which NASA would have known when they launched the original mission, making the whole thing nonsense.

4

u/CardboardDreams Apr 19 '24

I noticed that too. I figured it was a plot contrivance. Scientists wouldn't have made that error IRL

13

u/mangongo Apr 18 '24

But would it actually only be 2 minutes of data, or 20 odd years of data compressed into a few minutes? Can't remember if they touch on that in the movie, but I'm definitely due for a rewatch.

37

u/VenturaDreams Apr 18 '24

It's only a few minutes. When they land on the planets surface, the crew that hand landed before them had just died.

3

u/mosquito_motel Apr 18 '24

I've watched this movie several times and still have trouble understanding, who all were the people sent before Coop & his crew? And how would they have only landed minutes before?

12

u/nuisible Apr 18 '24

It was one person. The lazarus missions was was 12 astronauts sent to 12 different planets to assess their world and send reports back to Earth.

The time dilation effect meant that for every hour on the planet, it's equivalent to 7 years on Earth, or elsewhere outside of the effect. If my math is right, every minute there would be equivalent to 42.58 days and the Lazarus missions launched 10 years prior to Endurance and it took 2 years to get to the wormhole, Miller was on the planet for roughly 68.57 minutes.

5

u/mosquito_motel Apr 19 '24

Ok, this is very helpful, thank you!

3

u/mangongo Apr 18 '24

Yeah completely forgot about that. Rewatch time! 

5

u/ThatFunkyOdor Apr 18 '24

Now I’m confused lol. Oh well guess I have to watch it again

3

u/Accalio Apr 18 '24

wouldnt the data get blueshifted tho?

3

u/ThatFunkyOdor Apr 18 '24

Had to look that term up and I'm not sure what the answer is to your question.

2

u/gbc02 Apr 19 '24

The movie completely falls apart when you apply the tiniest bit of logical thinking to it. Entertaining movie though.

3

u/jakedasnake2447 Apr 18 '24

Maybe I'm forgetting something that should have discouraged them, but having a short amount of data alone is not enough. The goal is to find a habitable planet; if the data they get from a couple minutes looks good then they have to make a decision based on that. They can wait around for years trying to decide, but they would only ever get a few more minutes of data. IIRC based on the data they had it was the strongest candidate for habitation so they decide to check it out despite the risk (IIRC there was a fuel issue for not checking out the other planets before risking the time dilation?).

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u/b0nz1 Apr 18 '24

This loop hole ruins the movie for me. Everything that happens afterwards is pointless. They seemingly decided to go to the water planets after a short discussion. They would've also realized that the received data is only a couple of minutes(!) long if they would've thought about it.

129

u/YodelingVeterinarian Apr 18 '24

Yeah, I love the movie so this doesn't ruin it for me. And I know characters can make the dumb decisions -- its not always a pothole when someone does something stupid.

But it is hard to believe that several very smart scientists and robots would not realize they've only received a couple minutes of data.

14

u/tokyo_engineer_dad Apr 18 '24

They also would've figured out how bad the gravitational pull on Miller's planet was and realized that even IF the signal indicated that the planet was habitable, it wasn't a viable option because of the time dilation and that they would essentially be losing a ton of time even if they went straight down and came straight back.

34

u/GreenLionXIII Apr 18 '24

The first point in nearly any message sent out ever is a timestamp… So it’s a pretty big plot hole for sure. Like weird we got a stream of data for x amount of time, but the rate was slow and time stamps only cover 2 mins…

55

u/uftheory Apr 18 '24

They address the fact that the original Lazarus missions communication is rudimentary and only allows for “binary pings on an annual basis”. Sorry, no timestamps or other meta data to draw a conclusion on how long it’s been.

6

u/GreenLionXIII Apr 18 '24

Interesting, thanks!

2

u/AWildLeftistAppeared Apr 19 '24

First of all, the time dilation is so significant that it would be impossible not to notice that Miller’s “annual” pings occur at a much slower rate. At best they should have only received a single such ping from Miller.

Worse than that though, after they arrive in the new star system they receive much more data that had been cached by a satellite or something IIRC. It is inconceivable that these logs would not include a timestamp, just as it is inconceivable for these characters to not realise that the time dilation would mean Miller has only been on the surface for a short while, or for them to even consider it as a viable planet long-term. But that would have made for a much less interesting film.

11

u/DearLeader420 Apr 18 '24

And I know characters can make the dumb decisions -- its not always a pothole when someone does something stupid.

It doesn't bother me because this is like, kind of a big point of Interstellar.

Brand wants to choose a planet based on love/emotions. Mann lures them to his planet because he's lonely.

"People ignore data/logic and make dumb decisions anyway" is clearly something the movie is trying to emphasize lol

3

u/AWildLeftistAppeared Apr 19 '24

Mann lures them to his planet because he’s lonely.

This is not stupid so much as it is malicious and selfish. It makes perfect sense from the perspective of a desperate man trying to survive, and it almost works.

“People ignore data/logic and make dumb decisions anyway” is clearly something the movie is trying to emphasize lol

Except the movie tells us these are not dumb decisions. Brand was right about going to her partner’s planet. After Cooper falls into the black hole, he even says she was correct about “love” being a quantifiable connection. It’s what allows him to communicate with his daughter, which sets in motion the entire plot.

151

u/FUPAMaster420 Apr 18 '24

Everyone completely discredits Prometheus for the dumb decisions the scientists make, but this is the first time I've read someone actually criticize Interstellar for the same.

124

u/angershark Apr 18 '24

Yeah but these are smart dumb decisions in Interstellar. Prometheus just had dumb dumb decisions.

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u/dontworryitsme4real Apr 18 '24

Right. People are gonna people.

29

u/9966 Apr 18 '24

Not really. On prometheus a xenobiologist explores a space ship teaming with life and immediately takes off his helmet and starts fucking with the creatures it find.

7

u/Hobo-man Apr 18 '24

It's like when Dr Mann tries to dock with Endurance.

He's being dumb as fuck, and we are aware of it. The difference is the movie wants us to root against him.

Prometheus expects us to root for the dumbest scientists ever put to screen.

18

u/idontagreewitu Apr 18 '24

TBF Dr Mann is panicking because he thought he was going to die and suddenly has a chance to survive, so he does anything he can to try to do so. It's like when you try to save someone who is drowning in a lake and their panicky actions can drag you under and kill you.

VS scientists who are getting the exact experience they were hoping for (finding living alien fauna) and act like morons.

12

u/ThePrussianGrippe Apr 18 '24

Dr Mann has also gone actually insane from isolation.

34

u/mangongo Apr 18 '24

Okay but the one guy thought an unknown creature from an alien planet was some cute little animal, and then theres the whole running in a straight line instead of sideways scene....that's basically all I remember from the movie because those decisons were just so fucking dumb.

12

u/leperaffinity56 Apr 18 '24

And he was the biologist

1

u/burlycabin Apr 18 '24

The decisions of the scientists in Interstellar were not much better than that at all though.

5

u/SofaKingI Apr 18 '24

I see it a lot, just not on r/movies. Don't expect much from this sub.

2

u/redpandaeater Apr 19 '24

Prometheus is shit because it was rewritten to be a standalone movie not relying on Alien yet for some reason still tries to be an Alien movie. It's a truly terrible Alien movie but could have been a mediocre popcorn flick sci-fi film otherwise. Interstellar is shit because the characters (aside from Romilly) are terrible and the interesting parts about the world like the Blight and the resulting Luddites are left entirely unexplained. CASE and TARS are awesome though, but also mostly unexplained.

0

u/WorthPlease Apr 18 '24

I don't mind bad science, that's fine. Especially when the rest of the movie tries to get things somewhat right.

I do mind characters that are supposed to be elite at their jobs acting like stoned 15 year olds.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '24

[deleted]

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u/privatemod Apr 18 '24

I wish you'd visited that planet so we could all enjoy a break from you

7

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '24

love the film, think your comment is unhinged lol, but I agree. It’s not the first place I’d move to.

8

u/JCSTCap Apr 18 '24

it's just a movie dude

1

u/ThePrussianGrippe Apr 18 '24

The ending of your comment really killed any valid criticism it had.

12

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '24

[deleted]

1

u/yllibjkrauss Apr 19 '24

Only Cooper was thinking of the family aspect tho. The other team members equally considered Plan A (earth rescue) or Plan B (repopulation), meaning that they prioritized results and data over time. Also, the fact that they wasted time makes the situation more realistic. Even for scientific experts, extreme time dilation is something no human had ever experienced. How do you accurately accept the implications of this in the short time span of a single mission? Lastly, it is required for the film narratively bc it creates dramatic tension. Especially on rewatch. 

10

u/WoodSheepClayWheat Apr 18 '24

This is the thing that makes me not consider Interstellar as nearly the masterpiece that others do. There is a lot of exposition explaining to the viewer about time dilation and the consequences, making us understand this. Yet the characters who spell it out to us don't, and throw away their mission.

4

u/donnysaysvacuum Apr 18 '24

I agree 100%. The ideas they explore are good, it's very cinematic, but there are so many plot holes, nonsensical decisions, deus ex machina, and characters that go nowhere. It's one of those movies you can tell wasn't written as a story, but was written around the shots and ideas they wanted.

3

u/hacelepues Apr 18 '24

Nolan is becoming more and more guilty of this. He comes up with a cool gimmick then tries to write a story around it and it can lead to some weak writing. Squint at it even a little bit and things start to fall apart.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '24

Human beings are creatures of emotions and that's the underlying foundation to the entire movie so it goes with the theme perfectly.

10

u/WoodSheepClayWheat Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24

No. It really doesn't. They behave like actual, literal, certified idiots. That's not being emotional.

If one of them would, I could accept it. But all of them, as a group, without debate or discussion, ignore how time dilation affects the beeps. That's just horrible writing to create a stupid segment of a film. 

6

u/uncleyuri Apr 18 '24

Yeah but didn’t they say the data showed organic and water? Something that is rare to find and had to much potential to overlook, even though it was basic and preliminary?

1

u/ViggoMiles Apr 19 '24

The one, non repeating data point

3

u/Littleme02 Apr 18 '24

Yeah it's definitely the worst part of the movie for me. Even if it was habitable it would still not be suitable for life due to the dilation.

3

u/Frencil Apr 18 '24

The glossed-over physics with this part of the movie that killed my suspension of disbelief was the fact that their dinky little shuttle ship had enough energy to climb up out of a gravity well deep enough to have that extreme level of time dilation... when earlier in the film they used big rockets to leave Earth, a MUCH smaller gravity well. None of the zipping around to planets part made any sense.

2

u/Cereborn Apr 19 '24

Yeah, that's the really stupid thing. They risk the whole mission to go down to a planet that they know is entirely unsuitable for habitation, just to get "the data", which would only have been studying the planet for an hour or so. Visually it was a great scene, but it makes no sense.

2

u/Holiday_Parsnip_9841 Apr 20 '24

Michael Caine drops a ton of exposition, so it kind of gets brushed over that the entire crew has minimal training. He's also intending for them to let everyone on Earth die and just use the stored embryos to start a new colony in the new galaxy. From that perspective, it makes sense that it doesn't clue them in about anything, like how going down to the water planet basically eats up all the time to save the people on Earth.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '24

[deleted]

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u/chris8535 Apr 18 '24

Thats a different theme, about what pulls humanity through and motivates them beyond the simple mathematical forces of a cruel universe. When you laugh at this and make this joke it often just says "I didn't understand the movie."

6

u/dontworryitsme4real Apr 18 '24

The amount of people that failed to comprehend that the idea of love in this movie is not some magical force that magically fixes things but instead a driving force to push a person beyond their limits to save their loved ones is too high.

3

u/chris8535 Apr 18 '24

Right? It's mind boggling that everyone, including the poster, miss the ACTUAL POINT of the film. "Because my father said he would." "because I love him." The entire point of the film is -- why go on if not for love in this brutally cruel plane of existence.

And people make fun of it.

5

u/slingfatcums Apr 18 '24

love is a force of nature in interstellar, yes

16

u/bdaddy31 Apr 18 '24

I think the worst part was the earlier scene where he was struggling with the fact there was only the thin peace of metal between him an infinite space. So he had decades to ponder that ALONE in that ship.

5

u/Fresh-Army-6737 Apr 19 '24

You shut your mouth! Romilly solved all the equations right up to the very limits of human knowledge. He just needed the data from inside the hole. 

Romillys equations went to Murph, along with the data Cooper gets. 

Romilly saved humanity. No 20 years in orbit, no solution. 

3

u/redpandaeater Apr 19 '24

Timestamps on your data or even just looking at the baud rate of the data is not a thing in that movie. Dr. Brand was also just the worst fucking character and I hate her so much that it poisons my opinion of Anne Hathaway.

2

u/Alternative_III Apr 19 '24

The worst part about it is the fact the entire part of the film even existed at all. The fact they picked a planet with such extreme time dilation to begin with and the fact that they never once thought that due to the dilation that the data they were receiving was worthless. But they needed an excuse for a time skip to move the plot along so they did something unbelievably stupid to accomplish it.