This post is written in part to fulfill my promise to Maya that I would watch Treasure Planet before she graduated. It was either this or Dead Poet's Society. I thought I had seen this movie before, but it must have been too long ago because a lot of it seemed unfamiliar (not too unfamiliar as I've read Treasure Island , seen the live action Disney movie, and Muppet Treasure Island ). Here are a few things that I thought about it: It's very artistic. The mix of traditional and CGI is well done (not as jarring as Fox's Titan AE from two years previous) This movie is fantasy, not science fiction. So, I'm not going to say "Space doesn't work that way!" except for one comment. Solar sails don't work that way! Solar sailing is a fascinating process, but it relies on the pressure of photons. It leads to very slow acceleration over a long period of time. The surface area of the sails needs to be much bigger than that depicted. Every species seems uniqu...
Blog started at my students' urging. Many different things will be talked about here.