Talk:Independence Day (1996 film)

The Sirens of Titan

I was lying in bed last night, thinking about one of the funnier scenes in the Kurt Vonnegut novel, The Sirens of Titan where The characters Unk and Boaz, marooned on Mercury, are sent the message "Flip the spaceship over" as a way to escape from the planet. Then I thought about the scene in ID4 where Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are in the saucer for the first time, and Will Smith has to flip the piece of paper over, showing the proper orientation of the controls. The ID4 scene seemed like an allusion to the Vonnegut book, as Unk and Boaz were white and black, respectively, as well. 65.248.164.214 (talk) 20:35, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Aircraft

hey what aircraft were used in the film?(76.211.140.155 (talk) 20:44, 24 June 2008 (UTC))

Blu-ray release date

The article erroneously claimed that the Blu-ray was released on March 11 2008. While this was indeed the US release date, it was available in the UK almost three months earlier, on December 24 2007. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mentasm (talk • contribs) 00:59, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Similarities to War of the Worlds

I could avoid "weasel wording" by describing precisely how the plot is the same as The War of the Worlds (aliens come and attack Earth, are defeated by viruses, etc.), but then it becomes original research as all the sources I can find that meet all of Wikipedia's 758 requirements that confront this issue are sensible enough to describe it as something like "a cursory retelling with a small twist". Would a reputable plot summary of the WotW novel along with one of the ID film be enough? My suspicion is that because it wouldn't actually point out the similarities, it wouldn't be enough. Can I appeal to WP: Common Sense? Raoul (talk) 09:02, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

While it is obvious that it is an "update" of sorts of WOTW, the common sense mentality would apply. But a statement of such would be better suited in the production section with sources of the filmmakers specifically explaining the inspiration. Listing a spoiler is no longer a concern; Wikipedia even discourages using the spoiler tag. But placing a statement beginning with "some felt" indicates hearsay and opinion, and adding a source only indicates the same of those mentioned. Placing this in the "critical response" section of a film article can indicate a positive/negative impression of the film inherent only to the statement. It'd be best to list a notable critic's explanation as to why the similarites to WOTW was advantageous or detrimental to the movie. - SoSaysChappy (talk) 02:26, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Fair enough. I'll drop this as I have no interest in looking through either loads of interviews to find the writers' inspiration or a lot of major reviews to try and find a mention of the similarities and how they impact the quality. Half of one of your sentences suggests that you misunderstood what I was doing with the sources, but it doesn't affect your argument, so I don't see any point in debating it. Raoul (talk) 12:48, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

I think the computer virus was a modern homage to the biological virus from War of the Worlds. And El Toro plays a role in both movies (the original, not the Tom Cruise version). This, plus the fact that there's an alien invasion, what else does this movie really have in common with the novel? - Jombage (talk) 05:46, 12 August 2008 (UTC)