What accent is Tennant using?

Or, maybe "it's the thinking man's Saw."

Come to think of it, it might have been used exclusively to market video rentals that didn't do well in the box office. I only recall reading the phrase on the back of VHS tapes. Also, the comparison was only made to very popular movies. You would never see one like "it's the thinking man's Blues Brothers 2000."

I suppose, not too long ago, the idea that one day we would be using pieces of plastic as money was a "futuristic" concept.

"This is a beautiful example of how a single gene can control the evolution of complex patterns in nature. Now we want to understand why: What is it about this one gene in particular that makes it so good at driving rapid evolution?"

It reminds me of the Hollywood catchphrase, "It's the thinking man's X." I haven't heard that one for a while.

What you described sounds a lot like the protagonists in Gattaca and The Truman Show, also by Andrew Niccol.

Agreed, although I hadn't been paying much attention and didn't know Andrew Niccol was involved.

It seems to be a way to set up a society in which a small group of people to live a very long time without depleting all of the planet's resources. It's obviously a metaphorical thingie.

It's part of what is necessary to sell sci-fi, unfortunately.

It's not that bad relatively speaking, but if you're already sold on the movie, I'd say don't watch it. I think the film looks good myself, and the trailer does point out some of the story arc that you would never know in advance.

I've often wondered about that one.

I got the feeling the episode was directed very specifically at long-term Futurama fans who now have young kids. Especially with Amy's line about the ironic hipster parents.

If you liked Solaris, I definitely recommend that you read Stanislaw Lem, if you haven't already.

Prometheus

I liked Gattaca. It had a nice noir vibe, I thought, and top notch actors. I generally appreciate an honest attempt at a sci-fi flick with serious actors. Same with Solaris.

Thanks, as I was writing that I realized that the "cross-section" idea didn't quite make sense. But then I quickly forgot about it.

I think it's a 2D representation of a 3D cross-section of a 4D object. The moving version of the image (which you've probably seen) is "successive" cross-sections of the 4D object.

I just assume McKay would know that his neighbor had dementia, because it seems like the kind of set up that would happen for a scene like this. We might find out in the set up that McKay is supposed to be a jackass in general (personality-wise). Or, we might find out that he is a nice guy who just got pushed over…

I think the point is that McKay is engaging in behavior that any primate would recognize as aggressive and assertive of dominance. The issue isn't whether his reaction is understandable.