I 'feel' like this concept was around much earlier than Solaris, but since I can't think of any specific examples this morning, I can't say much.

(Takes a sip of coffee.)

Forbidden Planet (1956) revolved around things materializing from people's thoughts.

And I could swear there was a Fritz Leiber short story with a similar premise.

I don't know.

Anyway, that one guy played by Perry Lopez wasn't too bright. Well into the episode, when it should been obvious that thoughts on the brain's surface will come to life, and his girlfriend asks if those planes are dangerous, he blurts out that, "not unless it makes a strafing run." Wrong thing to say, there, Buddy.

I remember watching this when I was in my early twenties and thinking if I were walking across one of those grassy meadows, I would say something like, "This would be a perfect place for two beautiful bisexual women carrying a bong and some hashish and in search of a nice single guy like me to share in some fun."

McCoy can keep his Alice in Wonderland giant rabbit.

@sukhisoo said:

I 'feel' like this concept was around much earlier than Solaris, but since I can't think of any specific examples this morning, I can't say much.

(Takes a sip of coffee.)

Forbidden Planet (1956) revolved around things materializing from people's thoughts.

And I could swear there was a Fritz Leiber short story with a similar premise.

I don't know.

Anyway, that one guy played by Perry Lopez wasn't too bright. Well into the episode, when it should been obvious that thoughts on the brain's surface will come to life, and his girlfriend asks if those planes are dangerous, he blurts out that, "not unless it makes a strafing run." Wrong thing to say, there, Buddy.

I remember watching this when I was in my early twenties and thinking if I were walking across one of those grassy meadows, I would say something like, "This would be a perfect place for two beautiful bisexual women carrying a bong and some hashish and in search of a nice single guy like me to share in some fun."

McCoy can keep his Alice in Wonderland giant rabbit.

😂🤣Oh man, that was funny. I was LMAO. You woulda got your dream too!

But yeah the idea got a lot darker with Solaris when it was resurrecting people from your past that were literally dead. That would be fuckin' creepy.

It is very likely that Theodore Sturgeon read Solaris and was at least partially inspired by the novel when he wrote the original script.

The earliest scifi I can think of that touches on things materializing from thoughts for the purpose of pleasure is The Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury... It was a really popular book so I bet it would've influenced any scifi writer who came soon after. iirc there's a chapter, after the humans colonize & basically exterminate all native martians, where a lone martian survivor has the power to make all the humans' thoughts & dreams come true by becoming the person they're thinking of. Now that I think of it, the plot of Solaris is right in line with that, almost a blatant ripoff lol.

I haven't read the book Solaris but it's been on my list for ages. I thought the 2002 movie by Soderbergh was great. Wasn't as impressed with the 1972 Tarkovsky version, but I have personal issues with Tarkovsky haha.

The Martian Chronicles tv miniseries from the 80s didn't include that chapter. That's too bad because it would've been really cool. But I guess we still have Shore Leave, one of my fave episodes.

@rooprect said:

The earliest scifi I can think of that touches on things materializing from thoughts for the purpose of pleasure is The Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury... It was a really popular book so I bet it would've influenced any scifi writer who came soon after. iirc there's a chapter, after the humans colonize & basically exterminate all native martians, where a lone martian survivor has the power to make all the humans' thoughts & dreams come true by becoming the person they're thinking of. Now that I think of it, the plot of Solaris is right in line with that, almost a blatant ripoff lol.

Sounds like it.

I haven't read the book Solaris but it's been on my list for ages. I thought the 2002 movie by Soderbergh was great. Wasn't as impressed with the 1972 Tarkovsky version, but I have personal issues with Tarkovsky haha.

That's funny you say that because Tarkovsky's Solaris was a friggin' slog for me to get through. It dragged and was boring. Soderbergh's was much more concise and to the point. Jeremy Davies was excellent in that film and I also loved Cliff Martinez's original score. Had it on my phone to listen to for years, in fact. Back to Tarkovsky, I wouldn't mind someone taking a crack at Stalker in a remake. Granted that film wasn't as bad of a slog as his Solaris but I would be interested to see what another talented director could do with that source material.

@movie_nazi said:

That's funny you say that because Tarkovsky's Solaris was a friggin' slog for me to get through. It dragged and was boring. Soderbergh's was much more concise and to the point. Jeremy Davies was excellent in that film and I also loved Cliff Martinez's original score. Had it on my phone to listen to for years, in fact. Back to Tarkovsky, I wouldn't mind someone taking a crack at Stalker in a remake. Granted that film wasn't as bad of a slog as his Solaris but I would be interested to see what another talented director could do with that source material.

Dude hi5 on Soderbergh's Solaris (and lowkey Tarkovsky hate), Jeremy Davies absolutely MADE that movie with his awesome character role. Fun fact, he developed that character for Wim Wender's "Million Dollar Hotel" which he did a year earlier. His goal was to make up a nonspecific mental disorder, something we can't immediately label as "autistic" or "bipolar" or whatever but we just know it aint quite "normal". For that reason I think it's the best depiction of mental disorder/divergence I've ever seen. If you dug him in Solaris I highly recommend Million Dollar Hotel. It's sort of a whodunnit dark comedy set in a hotel where everyone is batsh* craycray.

Tarkovsky's Solaris.....uh.... yeah... like you said, major slogsville. My personal issue with Tarkovsky is his abuse & killing of animals on camera ("Andrei Rublev"), but even before I saw that one I was unimpressed by Solaris, Stalker & Mirror. Artistically he strikes me as one of those directors who feels the need to deliberately make his movies difficult to watch. You know, the opposite of Kurosawa who said "a truly great movie should also be enjoyable". Like what's with Tarkovsky's 5 minute hyper closeup of a man's ear in Solaris? How does that add any artistic value other than to say "I can show a 5 min hyper closeup of a dude's ear to ensure that nobody is enjoying the story." Like you said, Soderbergh was much more concise and to the point, thoughtful and artistic while also being enjoyable. Kurosawa award.

Woops sorry about the minor derail, but this seemed like a good place to finally voice my soderbergh fanboyism and tarkovskophobia.

@rooprect said:

@movie_nazi said:

That's funny you say that because Tarkovsky's Solaris was a friggin' slog for me to get through. It dragged and was boring. Soderbergh's was much more concise and to the point. Jeremy Davies was excellent in that film and I also loved Cliff Martinez's original score. Had it on my phone to listen to for years, in fact. Back to Tarkovsky, I wouldn't mind someone taking a crack at Stalker in a remake. Granted that film wasn't as bad of a slog as his Solaris but I would be interested to see what another talented director could do with that source material.

Dude hi5 on Soderbergh's Solaris (and lowkey Tarkovsky hate), Jeremy Davies absolutely MADE that movie with his awesome character role. Fun fact, he developed that character for Wim Wender's "Million Dollar Hotel" which he did a year earlier. His goal was to make up a nonspecific mental disorder, something we can't immediately label as "autistic" or "bipolar" or whatever but we just know it aint quite "normal". For that reason I think it's the best depiction of mental disorder/divergence I've ever seen. If you dug him in Solaris I highly recommend Million Dollar Hotel. It's sort of a whodunnit dark comedy set in a hotel where everyone is batsh* craycray.

Tarkovsky's Solaris.....uh.... yeah... like you said, major slogsville. My personal issue with Tarkovsky is his abuse & killing of animals on camera ("Andrei Rublev"), but even before I saw that one I was unimpressed by Solaris, Stalker & Mirror. Artistically he strikes me as one of those directors who feels the need to deliberately make his movies difficult to watch. You know, the opposite of Kurosawa who said "a truly great movie should also be enjoyable". Like what's with Tarkovsky's 5 minute hyper closeup of a man's ear in Solaris? How does that add any artistic value other than to say "I can show a 5 min hyper closeup of a dude's ear to ensure that nobody is enjoying the story." Like you said, Soderbergh was much more concise and to the point, thoughtful and artistic while also being enjoyable. Kurosawa award.

Woops sorry about the minor derail, but this seemed like a good place to finally voice my soderbergh fanboyism and tarkovskophobia.

No problem! I like some of Soderbergh's films as well. That reveal in Solaris when you find out Davies character was actually the copy was mind blowing. If I remember correctly, the deal was he was so self absorbed that he was the person he loved the most so Solaris made a copy of him. Good stuff. I have to admit I haven't kept up on Soderbergh but there is a film of his that I really like, its called The Limey . Oh man, so well done with how he tells the story in short little flashback snippets. Dude is highly talented, no question. I didn't like his Ocean's flicks. Not really into what I call bubble gum Hollywood box office churners. Movies with big names but little substance. Not saying they were done bad but wasted talent on them for sure. Any mid director coulda made those films.

What did you think about George Clooney's performance in Soderburgh's version of Solaris?

@SecretaryIMF said:

What did you think about George Clooney's performance in Soderburgh's version of Solaris?

I thought he did well. I've never been a huge fan of Clooney but most of the stuff he does is adequate work.

Have you ever seen him in The Monuments Men?

And speaking of foreign language Sci-Fi movies, has anyone ever seen the Swedish Sci-Fi movie Aniara yet? It was made in 2019 I believe and the main plotline reminds me of the original version of Solaris.

@SecretaryIMF said:

And speaking of foreign language Sci-Fi movies, has anyone ever seen the Swedish Sci-Fi movie Aniara yet? It was made in 2019 I believe and the main plotline reminds me of the original version of Solaris.

No, please send me the link for it on this site so I can check it out.

Unfortunately I don't know how to link anything. If you don't want to spend $5.99 to rent it on YouTube movies just look up Aniara recap on YouTube and voila! a very detailed and interesting description of the shall appear. TBH, I stumbled across the Aniara recap on YouTube a few months ago during one of my "WTH am I watching on YouTube during the COVID lockdown" nights. I may be wrong about how much Aniara has in common with the original version of Solaris, but I think that it's worth viewing.

@SecretaryIMF said:

And speaking of foreign language Sci-Fi movies, has anyone ever seen the Swedish Sci-Fi movie Aniara yet? It was made in 2019 I believe and the main plotline reminds me of the original version of Solaris.

I haven't seen it but thanks for the suggestion... I love watching non-Hollywood scifi because they typically don't get bogged down in action & special effects. More atmosphere and mood which is what I prefer. Is it good enough to buy the bluray on ebay ($10-15)? For good movies I like to own a copy.

@rooprect said:

@SecretaryIMF said:

And speaking of foreign language Sci-Fi movies, has anyone ever seen the Swedish Sci-Fi movie Aniara yet? It was made in 2019 I believe and the main plotline reminds me of the original version of Solaris.

I haven't seen it but thanks for the suggestion... I love watching non-Hollywood scifi because they typically don't get bogged down in action & special effects. More atmosphere and mood which is what I prefer. Is it good enough to buy the bluray on ebay ($10-15)? For good movies I like to own a copy.

Me too. Currently my Plex server has over 700 films but I have many more on DVD, Blu-ray, and .isos on my hard drives. It's quite annoying going to your favorite streaming service to watch a film you saw there before only to find out it is no longer being hosted there.