Man, the last thing I remember we brought the random dude on our spaceship and he had this gnarly looking crystal. I was ready to dump it, but before I knew what was happening the guy became a super sexy monster man and bopped me on the head, and now I don’t remember a thing. Do you remember what happened in Supernova?
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) We only see the actual captain of the Nightingale 229 briefly at the beginning where we see him preparing to get his PhD. What is the subject of his PhD?
2) Spader is revealed to be really over-qualified to be involved with a deep space rescue ship. Why did he choose to join the crew on their current mission?
3) Who else is on the crew and what are their positions?
4) Explain in your own words what the alien artifact actually is and what the supposed intention of it was.
5) In the end the bomb is ejected. What is the consequence of this action as explained in voice over?
Answers
1) He is studying the presence of violence in 20th century children’s cartoons (like Looney Toons) and their subsequent removal from the medium and rejection by society as a whole. Basically he is studying a kind of sociology / anthropology focused on 20th century media?
2) He was addicted to a drug called Hazen. Coincidentally the doctor on board’s ex-lover was also addicted to the drug, and surprise surprise that same ex-lover becomes the key to the rescue plot of the entire film!
3) Robert Forster was the pilot / captain and James Spader is the co-pilot as mentioned before. Angela Bassett is the medic, Lou Diamond Phillips is also a medical technician (and general sexy beefcake), Robin Tunney is a paramedic (and lover of Lou Diamond), and Wilson Cruz is the computer programmer. Everyone dies by Spader and Bassett by the way.
4) It disguises itself as a magical object that makes the user youthful, stronger, and more intelligent. It seduces the user and convinces him/her that they need to bring the object back to Earth to use it / make money off it/ whatever. In reality it is a giant bomb that causes the nearby star to go supernova designed to eliminate other intelligent life in the universe. How sinister.
5) The star indeed goes supernova. The computer suggests the shockwave will reach Earth in 51 years and it will either destroy it (I guess because it will make everyone go crazy? Supernovae I assume don’t really affect other stars in any consequential way) or we’ll ascend to a new plane of existence. Other notes / the script suggest that indeed it destroys Earth which is a bummer.
Ah right, I totally owned that monster man and went into deep space with my lady love. We totally like space fused in our little space chamber and now we are having a baby, hooray! I love happy endings.
Bad Movie Twins 