How soon they forget... - The Langoliers (1995) Discussion

[–] tnargskrap 14 years ago

I didn't think the 200+ lives were lost; I thought they were just in the future already (or the past -- I forget which).

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[–] kratomgirl 14 years ago

Yeah, I agree, I think they were in the future. Or at least I think its the future. I'm sitting here watching it as I type this, but somehow I still don't know or remember this? And this isn't the first time I've watched it, either. Geez...

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[–] rlilga-1 14 years ago

But wasn't the blind girl still alive?

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[–] master_fromthecrown 14 years ago

When they went through the wormhole for the 2nd time and returned they were initially in the future for like 10 minutes before it caught up with them.

However all the original passengers and the british guy are still missing/dead surely as they were awake when the plane went through.

And the blind girl died on the plane from the stab wounds.

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[–] Tanu Tuva 14 years ago

Of course they are dead. How can anyone think they are alive? If they went to another time, and did so at high altitude, what are the chances that they are alive? Even if another plane was there at the right instant, unless it had the same speed and direction they would be killed by the collision.

And I agree with everything the OP said! I still can't believe I missed part of the Sharpe series on Masterpiece Theatre the night this crap premiered in '95.

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[–] tnargskrap 14 years ago

I just re-read details. Those asleep went through a time rip into the past. From that moment, and until time rejoins itself at the end, there are two planes. In fact, imagine all the people who were awake wondering where the sleeping people went. I think you're wrong about their dying.

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[–] CraigToomey 14 years ago

Really? I wonder how the people who left their surgical pins, pacemakers, etc on the plane with the sleeping people felt when they arrived in the future without them.

;)

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[–] Strazdamonas 13 years ago

they didnt. at the time plane went though a rift it split into two identical planes. in one plane all the sleeping passengers disappeared and the rest moved on as usual. in the second one we see things that appeared in the movie. so in the end we actually have two planes, and both planes have different passengers.

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All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for enough good men to do nothing.

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[–] liefstevera 13 years ago

I think I remember the book better than the movie (I read it recently too) but that's just not correct. Those people are really gone. I don't know about dead or whatever, but they were not in the past, nor in the future, and also not in the present. Besides, if all the metal object are actually still 'there', or on that second plane if you will, how could they move? The metal pins in the bodies of the passengers, if the sleeping passengers would see them, shouldn't they be hanging in the air? Otherwise you're saying that the objects have multiplied. How can that be?
(btw I really should see the movie again, I'm just thinking about the book now)

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[–] Strazdamonas 13 years ago

yes i am saying that objects did multiply as far as objects goes but not as far as people go - thus the situation. i havent read the book and i do such figures jut by watching the movie.

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All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for enough good men to do nothing.

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[–] TheSolarSailor 13 years ago

Your theory is flawed as hell, but we all know you will cling to it like lint to a pocket. If your theory had any credence, then there would be no reason at all for things such as pacemakers and surgical pins to be left on the plane. You cannot get around that simple detail no matter how badly you wish to ignore it. So much for your claims of understanding "just watching the movie".

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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[–] CraigToomey 13 years ago

Nothing in the movie supports that idea. The only indication of what happens when someone goes through the rip without being asleep is when Mr Jenkins tells them that one of them must die before they travel back through it.

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[–] CraigToomey 10 years ago

Two planes? You obviously didn't see the movie or read the book. Just one plane. Going through the rip awake is deadly.

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[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CraigToomey 10 years ago

Yes, the Langoliers were consuming "yesterday" and the world was existing as today somewhere else. It's clear though that people either existed in the present or in yesterday but not in both.

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[–] Rainey-Dawn 8 years ago

If there were two planes then when the other came back through to the "now" (well, 10 minutes ahead or so) I can only think of two possibilities:

1) The two planes would merge back together - thus bring all passengers back together on one plane. (And this didn't happen as we saw from the ending)

2) Since the one arrived about 10 minutes or so ahead of time, then the other (real timeline plane) would have landed just shortly after without the survivors that we witness on screen... basically the same plane would land twice both bearing both the survivors of each plane. (This could have happened right after the film ended - the other plane landed - remember they landed about 10mins or so into the future. ------ And yea maybe the real timeline plane could have maybe landed first before "our plane" landed ahead of time).

*Those that we watched die, did really die.

I personally think the story went as we saw on screen, the one and only plane went though that rip in time, all that were awake disappeared and the only survivors were those that were sleeping at that time. Then those we watched die did die.

What I don't get is how sleeping put them into the past instead of disappearing like the rest of passengers. I guess all their brain waves were slower at that time? I'm only guessing.

“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure” ~Gandalf

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[–] EatMoreCajunFood 14 years ago

"I just re-read details. Those asleep went through a time rip into the past. From that moment, and until time rejoins itself at the end, there are two planes."

- I think that's a good explanation. Or, if it's easier, think of it this way - like a train traveling on a track. The rails split at one point & the train becomes 2 trains. One train (the original) continues on while the other splits off onto a separate track.

The passengers on the original train don't notice anything odd because in THEIR REALITY, everyone is still there & the train is moving along normally. However, in the alternate reality, the handful of passengers that split off with the duplicate train are experiencing many different things.

A short time later, whatever happened to the space/time continuum to allow the split to happen, happens again, rejoining the two tracks into one, with the duplicate train & passengers melding into their original train that is now at the station.

Since this is in the realm of sci-fi/theoretical physics, I don't know if the people who died in the duplicate plane's reality are dead in the original plane's reality. (BTW, Great use of a transportation object to represent "planes of reality" / "planes of existence")

I think there are 3 possible outcomes:
1) those people are still alive because their original reality bodies were still flying along normally & landed safely with everyone else
or
2) those people are dead in the original reality, maybe from a heart attack or something
or
3) those people are still alive but feel some remnant of whatever happened to their duplicate self - perhaps having some unexplained chest pain or a mental breakdown/fit of rage

That's the best I can do with that explanation although no one can really know for sure because even though it is theorized that this could be possible, no one has actually observed it yet.

"There's two kinds of people my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig."

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[–] TheSolarSailor 13 years ago

So nobody noticed that passengers just disappear in the real time line where everything is normal? If there is merely two different planes, then what is the point of pacemakers, fillings, and such items being left behind by all who were awake? If the two time lines re-converged, the passengers simply got off the plane and went about their lives, when suddenly they were yanked out of their routine and merged with those who were at the airport and appeared out of thin air, as witnessed by the little kid who saw them simply appear before his very eyes? These people did not know one another, so why would theory suddenly be all standing together in the airport and still know one another without being dazed or confused? Sorry, but the theory of two planes and all being well at the end makes not one lick of sense.

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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[–] lukekingjohnson 11 years ago

We don't know if those who were awake went through all that because the film followed those asleep, not the awake ones.
The two plane theory doesn't suggest that both planes would arrive in LA at the same time. So as far as we know the people who were awake could have continued on in the present and an alternate time line was created for the sleeping passengers. Or they were sent 15 minutes into the future. But unless they landed at that same airport to look around and refuel they would have arrived at their destination much earlier than the sleeping passengers.

The film didn't continue on long enough for us to know if the other passengers had in fact already arrived and were 15 minutes early in time, or if they were sat on the plane and those few sleeping passengers disappeared before their eyes. If time can replicate a plane then there is no reason for it to not replicate pace makers earrings etc.

I think that they went ahead 15 minutes but without a plane and just fell to their deaths. I remember in Stephen Kings The Tommyknockers (book) A boy makes his brother disappear and he imagines he sent him to a planet where there is no air.
Another cool possibility but nothing to support it. Perhaps they went to Todash.

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[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tnargskrap 14 years ago

Have you seen Donnie Darko? He goes into a parallel time thread, lives through an entire future, only to come back to the point time split and be killed.

I don't know if there's a way to "prove" either way. Fun to think about.

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[–] nprav3 13 years ago

I can't believe you people are so certain as to where these people went. Time travel is only a theory, there is no way to determine any of it.

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[–] tnargskrap 14 years ago

Just watched it again and now I'm sure. Mr. Jenkins says "this has happened to us. I'm quite confident the rest of the world is still ticking along"

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[–] CraigToomey 14 years ago

Since he also said, when they were planning to go back through the rip, "one of us must die" what he must've meant by "the rest of the world" was everyone who was not on that flight when it first went through the rip.

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[–] TheSolarSailor 13 years ago

Since he also said, when they were planning to go back through the rip, "one of us must die" what he must've meant by "the rest of the world" was everyone who was not on that flight when it first went through the rip. >>> Yes, that is OBVIOUSLY what he meant, though some here will bend over backwards to read into it things that were no intended just to prop up a off-kilter theory.

- - - - - - -
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[–] Razzbar 10 years ago

How can anyone think they are alive?

How can anyone believe in wormholes? How can anyone believe anything in that movie.

The whole damn thing is a fantasy, so why can't the missing people do absolutely anything the writer wants to say?

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[–] Tanu Tuva 10 years ago

The writer clearly said that they are dead.

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[–] Duncan_Idaho02 8 years ago

Those who were awake all lost their lives. that was made clear in the movie. Not sure how anybody can miss this. If they simply went into the future then why would the british guy lose his life when he is awake as they go back through the rift? seems like some of you people simply want to ignore the facts in the film to make it fit a narrative you prefer.

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[–] PeterSouth 14 years ago

I can accept the horrible computer graphics

This film was made in 1995. Those graphics were not horrible at all, but rather good!

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[–] tyrron 14 years ago

Jurassic Park came out two years earlier, just for comparison.

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[–] neko-neko-1 8 years ago

Jurassic Park was a big budget film and most of the effects were pratical (i.e. animatronic rexy during the attack on the jeep, the sedated triceratops, people wearing raptor suits in the kitchen scene) if I remember correctly

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[–] TheSolarSailor 13 years ago

This film was made in 1995. Those graphics were not horrible at all, but rather good! >>> Actually, the graphics were horrible when it aired originally and not the least bit convincing. I remember it well and couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was atrocious looking then and it is atrocious looking now. I remember wishing that it had been a theatrical film and then maybe they'd have had enough budget to get some actual good actors and sport some decent effects. Great story, horrible movie adaptation.

- - - - - - -
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[–] Bluenose12 13 years ago

I agree with TheSolarSailor,the other passengers were definitely dead,otherwise why would they bother about having to be asleep at the end,Mr. King rarely does lovey,dovey happy endings (apart from his remake of The Shining which had an awful ending).A lot of people are overcomplicating things.

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[–] CraigToomey 12 years ago

Excellent point. If there were two planes and the awake passengers who disappeared were actually alive and well someplace else, the solution for the passengers stuck in the past would be to simply fly back through the rip awake and join the passengers who had done that earlier wherever they are.

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[–] screen14 14 years ago

The concept is fairly interesting, but the movie I didn't really like too much. I expected the last survivors to be emotionally traumatized by the events they witnessed, but they walked away like they were going out to a ballgame or dinner and a movie. It makes no sense that the central part of the story (the disappearances) has little to no bearing at the end.

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[–] Paul_Ke 14 years ago

They reacted like people who had just been rescued from death. Yes, it was tragic that they'd lost people along the way, but crap, you have to think they'd be a little giddy--at least for a minute--about surviving all that. I'm sure they'll mourn later.

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[–] marklindsaychapman1 13 years ago

Horrible acting!!!! How dare you :)

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[–] sebastian111 12 years ago

Unfortunately marklindsaychapman, when a film is bad, most of the viewers won't just say "the screenplay is bad" or "the direction is bad". They instead will say - whoa the actors are so bad / the acting is horrible :)

And when the same actor will be in a good movie, with a good screenplay, direction and production value they will just say : the acting was so good !

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[–] marklindsaychapman1 12 years ago

Hey Sebastian111, Your quite right i got a hammering for Swamp Thing (USA)Sci-Fi channel 1991 -1993 playing Dr Arcane...(maybe justified)!...but when i played Chief Officer Wilde in Titanic ...i was brilliant!!!Lol...Cheers Sebastian111..btw , iam producing small budget documentaries now...and loving it!

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[–] oregondanne 12 years ago

You are the real Mark Lindsay Chapman? Awesome! I just rewatched The Langoliers last week and like the four previous times I've watched it you were its shining star. Great performance and perfectly cast as Nick Hopewell. Keep up the great work!

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[–] Veronica65 10 years ago

I thought you were wonderful as Nick Hopewell! I also remember your performances on Dallas. I even remember the John Lennon kerfuffle. ;-)

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[–] chelle-35 12 years ago

Well not you.. you were dead by then. :)

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[–] FlyingPie 12 years ago

I'm not sure if the 200 lives were lost. I figured they may have stayed in the present. But one thing that bugged me is that Laruel said she was going to meet a guy in Boston who she liked from his personal ad, but then decided she liked that British guy. It also seemed to me that the British guy died for no purpose. They said he was going to stay awake so he could wake up the captain, but he simply disappeared, and the captain woke up on his own. What was the reason for that?

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Roger, Roger.
You have clearance, Clarence.
What's our vector, Victor?

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[–] CraigToomey 12 years ago

He wasn't going to shake the captain awake. He re-adjusted the cabin pressure right BEFORE going back through the rip so the others would awake naturally right AFTER they went through the rip. The captain had to go to sleep with the others because he was the only one who could land the plane therefore they had to make sure that he didn't disappear. SOMEONE had to stay awake though so the cabin pressure could be re-adjusted, waking the sleeping passengers.

Nick asked Laurel to relay a message to his father because he knew he wouldn't be alive to do it himself after going through the rip awake. Mr Jenkins also mentions that one of them must die by going through the rip awake. It's just a movie, not an actual scientific explanation of how time travel works. There's no mention of two planes, parallel universes, etc. If the script says they died then they died.

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[–] teppo-2 12 years ago

Meh. They were glad to be alive, how is that surprising? Yes, a lot of people died, but those were not people that they knew, or even saw die. They only saw their stuff. Aside from of course Toomey, the girl and the other stab victim, and in the end Nick. But the foremost thing would still be happiness at being alive after all was already thought lost.

It's not a perfect ending, of course, but it's far from terrible as well. If anything there were some other things that could've been improved if you want to go all logical, like why didn't Nick try to knock himself out after flipping the switch, etc etc. As always one can nitpick. Suffice to say I like Langoliers enough that I just watched it for... uh, well, at least the fifth time.

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[–] danavenell 11 years ago

''Aside from of course Toomey, the girl and the other stab victim, and in the end Nick.''

Which is why rather than just showing relieved to be alive, it's somewhat ludicrous to finish with them jumping for joy - FREEZE FRAME!

Blondie has seen her little blind niece slowly die. Next she's giddy with excitement about delivering some cryptic message about daisies to the father of an Australian I mean British guy she sort of fell in love with a bit, who also just died. But never mind that... lets run outside for some fresh air!

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[–] CraigToomey 10 years ago

The blind girl isn't blondie's niece. She was the niece of one of the passengers who disappeared.

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[–] lostn 10 years ago

Then someone comes up with a really good idea to inform the authorities so that no other planes go through the wormhole causing hundreds of others to die.

What puzzles me is what possessed the original pilots to fly into that time rip? Clearly it was something unusual. Why wouldn't you try to avoid it?

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[–] CraigToomey 10 years ago

How would the pilots know that the aurora borealis that they saw was a time rip? Northern lights might not be something you see everyday but they aren't known to be possible portals to yesterday or anything airplanes need to steer clear of. In fact, the internet is full of aurora borealis pics taken from planes.

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