Real-time 3D visualization of space
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[quote]Solaris (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Solaris is a science fiction novel by Stanis?‚aw Lem, published in Warsaw in 1961. English translations of the book are available as ISBN 0802755267 (1970) ISBN 0156837501 (1987), ISBN 0156027607 (2002), and ISBN 0571219721 (2003). It was adapted into to a film in 1972 and again in 2002 (see Solaris (movie)). There is also an opera of the same title by German composer Michael Obst.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The novel is about the ultimately futile attempt to communicate with an alien life-form on a distant planet. The planet, called Solaris, is covered with a so-called "ocean" that is really a single organism covering the entire surface. The ocean shows signs of a vast but strange intelligence, which can create physical phenomena in a way that science has difficulty explaining. The alien mind of Solaris is so inconceivably different from human consciousness that all attempts at communication are doomed (the "alienness" of aliens is one of Lem's favourite themes; he is scornful about portrayals of aliens as implausibly humanoid).
The novel begins with the arrival of the protagonist at a scientific research station hovering above the surface of Solaris. Research has been ongoing for years, but scientists have been unable to do more than observe the highly complex phenomena on the surface of the ocean, all the while classifying them into an elaborate nomenclature without understanding what they actually mean. When the protagonist and his colleagues become more aggressive in trying to force contact with Solaris, the experiment becomes psychologically traumatic for the researchers themselves. The ocean's response, such as it is, lays bare their own personalities, while revealing nothing of the ocean's. To the extent that the oceans's actions can be understood, the ocean begins experimenting with the researchers' minds by confronting them with their most painful and repressed thoughts and memories through the materialization of complex human constructs; The protagonist is confronted with memories of his deceased wife and his guilt over her suicide. What torments the other researchers is only hinted at (as they are careful to conceal it) but it appears to be much worse.
Solaris is considered by some to be Lem's greatest novel. Particularly noteworthy are extended passages describing, in cool academic language, phenomena that are totally beyond human comprehension.
Andrei Tarkovsky's film follows the novel quite closely, though it emphasizes human relationships over Lem's theories on exobiology. The ending of the film, however, displays a sentimentality completely contrary to the book. Steven Soderbergh also made a film of Solaris, which appears to be influenced by both the book and by Tarkovsky's film.
Tom wrote:@Planet X
Your concept sounds really interesting.
Yes, Selden, but in this case this was an interesting variation of the novel. I don't think a Celestia addon for this planet would satisfy neither the novel fans (this is just an oceanic world, with one land emerged IIRC -i read this book 25 years ago, sorry- the pitch is that the mankind of this pecular planet IS the ocean) nor celestians.selden wrote:Extremely long, slow plot development is one of the characteristics of just about all of Tarkovsky's films.
Jeam Tag wrote:Because of the poor interest of this feature (the planet mapping), that coud'nt show the real interest of the story.
I Absolutely agree.rthorvald wrote:I don??t think a Solaris AddOn would be very interesting... Maybe as an exercise in creating a good water texture, but not much else to see.Jeam Tag wrote:Because of the poor interest of this feature (the planet mapping), that coud'nt show the real interest of the story.
BTW, i do prefer Tarkovsky??s version, though the other one wasn??t a bad film. I think the original conveyed the grand, unexplainable "feeling" much better - Soderbergh??s version was a little too streamlined, so to speak...
Don't sure of what you mean: there was numberous PKD derived film! Better was 'Blade Runner' -even if the movie is not totally connect to the novel, 'Do androids dream of electric sheeps'/'Les andro??des r??vent-ils de moutons ?©lectriques', that was a great, really great movie.... and, maybe the little 'Screamers' ('Plan??te hurlante', adapt?© de la nouvelle 'seconde vari?©t?©') adapted from a short story (Second Variety), and numberous other inspired by.it reminded me of (the now) typical Phil Dick-derived film...
Jeam Tag wrote:Don't sure of what you mean: there was numberous PKD derived film!it reminded me of (the now) typical Phil Dick-derived film...
Jeam Tag wrote:But PKD, as great he was, never really wrote about pecular planets descriptions, and is not really an inspirator for fictionnal textures for Celestia. But you must read his books, this is a great author
Ah, yes, you're absolutely right. End of the Off-topicrthorvald wrote: I meant that Soderbergh made his film into something that resembled PKD??s themes too much - distorted / multiple realities.