ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

I had an argument with a guy once who thought I was nuts for believing that a virus could be uploaded to an alien ship's computer.

I couldn't make him see that the movie spoon-fed us all the foreshadowing and background info we needed for the virus strategy to make sense.

The defense for the concept goes like this.

The aliens were very adept at conquering less advanced civilizations. That's what they did for a living. They were pros.

Their computers were geared to interface with less advanced technology. That's why they were able to "use our own satellites against us." To do that, the interface would have to include both input and output. Their computers were feeding signals into our satellites, and receiving signals from them.

A sufficiently advanced computer would have no trouble deciphering a message sent to it from a less sophisticated one — especially if it was designed to do exactly that, as shown by the way they used our own satellites. So, the alien computer would understand anything received from our systems. It's smart.

Conversely, the last thing the cocky aliens would expect is that our lame and archaic computers could pose any kind of threat. None of their former victims ever thought of it. So, even though they were smart, they were also over-confident.

Look at it this way. A really stupid Frenchman could tell a convincing lie to a really smart American — if the American also spoke fluent French. Duh . . .

It's a classic David-and-Goliath scenario: smack the arrogant giant with a little rock in just the right place and lay the jackass out cold.

The defense rests.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

Seriously, guys, nobody wants to comment on my theory about the "virus" strategy in this movie? Watch the trailer and get in the mood to discuss this. I think my logic is flawless.

Anybody disagree?


______________
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[alltare]

Sorry Bud - you're full of beans on this one. This virus strategy is the main thing that makes INDEPENDENCE DAY a turkey.

1) If we assume for a moment that the aliens' computers could somehow decypher and understand any messages uploaded to them (and therefore somehow make them vulnerable- you cleverly skipped over how that would happen), how in the heck could Jeff Goldblum know what to send them? He would know nothing at all about their operating systems, or the machine languages of their CPUs, or anything else about them. I think we can safely assume that they weren't Pentium-powered. If he couldn't know these things, it would be impossible for him to write a virus to attack them.

2) Related to the above, I don't care how smart the aliens are- if they traveled zillions of miles to conquer Earth, but based their entire attack on using OUR satellite systems against us (and apparently primarily to make their communications possible), then they did a very stupid thing. With all of that technology, why not bring along 3 or 4 of their own orbiters, over which they would have had complete controll and complete security.

There are many other things that make this movie, to me, a contemporary PLAN 9. but the virus issue is my primary gripe.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

At last! Somebody who's ready, willing, and able to debate this with me! Thanks, Steve.

Everything I've read that refutes the possibility of the computer virus strategy makes the same mistake. They all want Jeff Goldblum's little 1996 laptop to do a much larger portion of the work than it really had to do.

You said, "He would know nothing at all about their operating systems, or the machine languages of their CPUs, or anything else about them."

Respectfully I submit that you missed the point, sir.

Don't think of this as two very different computer systems that don't speak the same language. Think of it as a poor simpleton who speaks only one language, and an arrogant genius who is extremely multilingual. He can understand anything said to him — but because he's arrogant, he's easy to lie to. Just say what he wants to hear and he swallows it hook, line, and sinker.

As I stated above, "A sufficiently advanced computer would have no trouble deciphering a message sent to it from a less sophisticated one — especially if it was designed to do exactly that."

You said, " . . . how in the heck could Jeff Goldblum know what to send them?"

Oh my goodness, that's the easy part! It sent a self-replicating code. And what did the code say? Well, it turns out that's irrelevant, as shown in this definition of a virus from Webopedia.
________________________

A computer virus is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes.

Viruses can also replicate themselves. A simple virus that can make a copy of itself over and over again is relatively easy to produce.

Even such a simple virus is dangerous because it will quickly use all available memory and bring the system to a halt.

An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself across networks and bypassing security systems.
________________________

So, the alien computer is the arrogant genius who takes no precautions against a threat from a race of simpleton's and their pitiful little computers. Jeff's self-replicating code is swallowed hook, line, and sinker. Then it replicates like crazy and takes over the whole alien system.

Remember, the alien computer understands the message because it's a "multilingual genius", designed to interpret alien machine languages. And it stupidly does what the code tells it to because it's not designed to guard against a threat which the arrogant aliens didn't anticipate.

It's just that simple, Steve.

Actually, though, we do know what the endlessly self-replicating code was, and we see it taking over the alien system in the movie. It's a simple gif of a laughing skull! That gif was not just a joke thrown in by the filmmakers, something Jeff supposedly tacked on to the virus to taunt the aliens — the gif was the self-replicating virus itself!

Mission accomplished.

______________________
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

Brent Spiner's character is coming back in the sequel, and this Youtube interview with him and Vivica A. Fox (Jasmine the stripper — still looking very nice), explains how this is possible when we thought the alien killed his character.

________________________________

Brent Spiner on the Deleted Dialogue that Unsealed Dr. Okun's Fate in 'Independence Day'

___________
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[alltare]

Bud,

I'll say this with the full knowlege that I, too, risk being labeled as a hothead.

First, your circular logic is invalid: We earthlings know NOTHING about the alien computer system(s), and the aliens haven't made any attempt to tell us. So you have taken it upon yourself to invent your own description and definition of what you think they were using, then you have used that constructed machine as proof of its own vulnerability. You have gone even further afield by giving your construct the human traits of arrogance and gullibility.

Second, I'll say again: If you know nothing about the machine language of the target computer, or it's "operating system" or any of the internal functions of said computer, then YOU CAN'T INFECT IT WITH A VIRUS. I don't care if it can universally translate messages sent to it. That does not cause it to become infected. You have a very simplistic view of the operation of computers: It's not as simple as sending a text file that says, e.g., "Erase all memory". The target computer may be able to translate those words into the Zygrobian language, but that doesn't mean anything will happen beyond the simple translation. You are confusing "translation" with "infection" or "execution".

To use your own words ("A computer virus is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes"), this is where your argument is flawed. Goldblum DOES NOT KNOW what code to enter, because he knows nothing about the alien system. He DOES NOT KNOW where, in the alien machine's memory, to tell it to deposit his malevolent code. He DOES NOT KNOW what parts of the alien operating system his program should attack. He must know these things if he wants to impact the target system. No matter what language he sends to the aliens, he MUST know these things about their computer to achieve his goal.

You talked about a self-replicating picture:
1) It was never stated that it was "self replicating". In fact, the image was represented as a thumb in the aliens' eye, and not as the actual virus.
2) Again, even if Goldblum's intent was to cause it to be some kind of self replicating virus, he DID NOT KNOW HOW TO CAUSE THE ALIEN COMPUTER TO ACOMPLISH THAT, BECAUSE HE DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HOW THEIR COMPUTER WORKED. A simple translation wouldn't cause earthly code to become executable alien code. No way.

Third, Both of our arguments assume that the alien computers are actually understandable by mere earthlings. If INDEPENDENCE DAY was real then it's more than likely that we wouldnt even know their computing and control systems if they were sitting in front of us. For example, what if the alien computers were based on a number system other than 2 or 10? What if they were analog rather than digital types. Etc., etc., etc. We have certainly not yet reached the ultimate evolution of the computer. As an extreme example of computer "evolution", I recommend Isaac Asimov's short story, THE FEELING OF POWER. You can read it here:
http://downlode.org/Etext/power.html
How would you go about sabotaging THAT computer?

To sum it up, a mere earthling could not hope to crash an advanced system. It's just too alien.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

You're not a hothead, Steve. You just enjoy a good debate. So do I.

But I'm completely baffled by how you continue to miss the point of my defense of the virus strategy. You just don't seem to understand the meaning and the importance of this key statement:

[alltare]

Maybe it's your misunderstanding of how computers work, or maybe I'm just not wording my thoughts in a way that you'll understand, but in either case, it's not sinking in.

INDEPENDENCE DAY is just a fictional story, and not a very good one either, so there's no point in repeating what I've already said or in pursuing this subject further. I've spent enough time on it.

[Bud Brewster]

______________________________________

I'm not a computer expert, of course, but my theory about the Jolly Roger virus states that the aliens spent 50 years studying mankind in preparation for the invasion, and they came equipped with computers that were designed to interface with those of their intended victims. It was a key element of their attack strategy.

And that one fact, friends and neighbors, makes hash of anybody's claim that the two systems couldn't interface!

However, even though Mr. Ben Adams of Overthinking It.com didn't think of my brilliant and simple solution to the problem of human/alien computer compatibility, he too believes it would work, based on all the clues an attentive person would pick up while watching this wonderful movie.

And for the record, he is a computer expert. Here's how Mr. Adams is described: A computer science major turned pirate hunter turned lawyer, Ben currently works as a JAG officer in the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Adams touches on many (but not all) of the sound and logical points I presented above. I enjoyed reading his well-crafted analysis of the "hacking" scene in Independence Day. Much of what he says below is too technical for some folks — but that's okay, because my own explanation demonstrates that his more complex solution to the problem is actually unnecessary.

But it's really nice to know I'm not the only one who's open to the idea, and who enjoyed the challenge of figuring out just how it could work.
__________________________

__________How to Hack into an Alien Space Ship

_________ by Ben Adams ~ July 4th, 2012

Few instances of technology in movies have received more scorn than the Independence Day "hacking" scene, in which Jeff Goldblum's David Levinson uses a mid-90s PowerBook to send a virus that takes down an entire alien star fleet. The scene regularly makes any list of ridiculous uses of computers and technology, and is the internet's go-to example of bad Hollywod tech.

So in honor of a few colonies that no one thought could defeat the greatest empire the world has ever known, I'm here today to fight for the little guy, to defend the indefensible: Why the Independence Day hacking scene could have worked.

There are really two issues that need to be addressed: compatibility and security. Compatibility is whether or not any code, much less a crippling virus, could plausibly have made it from David Levinson's mind and keyboard into the alien computer system. This is an issue from both a hardware and a software standpoint. Security is whether or not, given a compatible system, David Levinson could really write a virus that does what's shown.

Hardware Compatiblity: Alien Serial Bus

The first and most obvious hurdle that a would-be xeno-hacker has to conquer is a physical one: in order for one computer system to affect another, it needs some way of getting information from point A to point B. In the security world, an "air gap" is a security measure that relies on this limitation to prevent unauthorized access. If there's no physical connection between your system and your adversary's system, there's nothing an attacker can do about it. The air gap between David, sitting in a hangar in Area 51, and the alien mother ship in orbit, is a large one to say the least.

Note however, that an air gap is rarely perfect. If someone uses portable media (like a USB drive) on an internet-facing computer and then uses the same media on your "air gapped" network, the air gap has just closed. That code can potentially make its way onto your network (like say, the one that controls your nuclear centrifuges). In the movie, that's exactly what happens: the hackers compromise a presumably trusted "media device" (the crashed Fighter), and use it to gain access to the entire system.

USB Drive

Of course, that only gets them half way there. They've moved data from the Fighter to the Mother Ship, but David prominently (and for the makers of ID4, profitably) uses a PowerBook Pro to do his hacking. This issue is the source of most of the scorn heaped on ID4, because any human-made computer is going to be wildly different in fundamental design than any alien space ship.

This becomes less ridiculous, though, when we consider the background of the alien craft in question.

The Fighter has been in Area 51 for 40 years. It is the most technologically significant machine in the world and the brightest minds of multiple generations have probably had their hands in this endeavor. The head of the lab makes it clear that they've been rebuilding it for decades, even if the "gizmos and gadgets" haven't been powered on until the arrival of the rest of the Fleet. There's no doubt that every millimeter of that craft has been taken apart and diagrammed, with full schematics available.

They also know what the aliens look like, so they have an idea of xeno-ergonomics. From this, it's likely they could have inferred where on the ship the alien interfaces and I/O ports are — essentially, what an Alien Serial Bus looks like and how it might work. It's likely that the Area 51 team developed some form of human-to-alien compatible adapter long before the fleet even arrived. That adapter would mean that a signal generated by the PowerBook could make its way into the computer system of the alien Fighter, and then from the fighter to the alien Mother Ship.

Software Compatibility: Xeno-Linux

Of course, PCs and Macs sometimes have compatible ports too, and they can't talk to each other. Just having a path for your signal doesn't mean that the signal is going to mean anything to the other system when it arrives. The most common argument against the ID4 hacking scene runs along the lines of 'If a Mac and a PC aren't compatible, it certainly isn't going to be compatible with an alien's operating system (insert Linux joke here)."

This is where the "team of brightest minds" thing comes into play again. In the movie, the mission of Area 51 is to figure out how the craft works and how to fly it. Even if they haven't previously got enough power to actually fly the spacecraft, it's likely that the computer system could be at least booted up and tinkered with. Because none of the mechanical systems could be powered on, the computer on the ship would be by far the most studied piece of equipment on the craft. Getting data in and out of the Fighter's computer would have been heavily researched, and it's likely they already had a good idea of at least the basic building blocks of code used by the system.

The arrival of David Levinson is the last piece of the puzzle — he has already figured out at least part of the alien's computer language by looking at the binary code the aliens send through our satellites. Even before he knows about Area 51, he's created an interface on his computer for translating the alien computer language into a semi-usable form.

In that sense, the PowerBook is really just a human-friendly GUI to access the Fighter's computer system. From there, Levinson can use Area 51's preexisting research to translate the Mac's code into Alien++ and send it via the Fighter's communications to the mother ship.

Security: The Trusting Alien

The next question is, even assuming that David Levinson can write and transmit usable code to the alien ship, could he really take the whole fleet down with just one virus? Remember, all the code he writes has to do is A) shut down the shields and B) spread itself to other alien ships (and C) display a kick-ass skull and cross bones.)

The "shut-down shield" code would presumably be the easiest, since the Fighter has a similar shield and David is shown shutting it down in the hangar. The "spread itself" part depends on how good the alien security is. The na??ve view is that their computer security would be as overwhelming as the rest of their defensive technology. This tongue-in-cheek critique of the movie from the security-centric website InfoSec Island is telling: "the remotest possibility that a human-written virus could affect their superior system is completely without substance." [emphasis added].

The assumption that the alien technology is superior to ours across the board is unfounded. We know that their space travel and weapons technology is far superior, but computer security is a very different ball of wax. As the US military is learning in a painful way, having the best planes and biggest bombs doesn't mean your systems will be the most secure.

The assumption behind having computer security is that other people might try and do something they're not supposed to on your system. The problem is that we know nothing about their culture's propensity or even capacity for this sort of behavior — the assumption of widespread and systematic dishonesty on computer systems is a very human one.

Perhaps their culture is so rigidly honest that lying, even to a computer system, is utterly taboo. The captured alien certainly isn't reticent to tell the President all of their plans. Perhaps, like in Harry Turltedove's World War series, their culture was united under one empire so early in their history that certain aspects of war never really became an issue, and they are woefully unprepared for an asymmetric "insider" attack. In a society where individuals can communicate mind to mind (as the aliens can), would unauthorized access to computers even be a thing? There's no reason to assume that just because one aspect of their technology is powerful that another will be as well developed.

What's clear from the movie, however, is that their security sucks. Centralization is generally a bad sign from a computer security standpoint. Their system is so heavily centralized that an external agent (the Mother Ship) can manipulate an individual Fighter to a ridiculous level of granularity, even overriding the system and opening the cockpit doors. Any human security expert would lose their mind if they discovered than an F/A-18 was designed so that a remote signal could lower the landing gear or open the cockpit hatch without the pilot's consent — the potential for abuse by an enemy is too great.

Their behavior in the movie shows that they have simply not considered the possibility that humans have access to their technology. They are arrogant enough to use our own satellites and assume we won't try and reverse engineer their signal — so arrogant, in fact, that the signal isn't even encrypted. It's also clear that the aliens have a particular blind-spot for simple, obvious solutions: they can't even break Morse code when it's used by the human forces. Even their largest and most important invasion ships are designed with a massive and fatal single point of failure so large that a drunken Randy Quaid can hit it.

With all of that apparent, it's possible that their computer security is non-existent. Perhaps the ships are all just linked together, prepared to accept whatever codes and commands are given to them, confident in the good-intentions of the party sending those commands. The virus might be as simple as:

virus.exe
if(shield)
then shield=FALSE
for all(connected_host)
upload virus.exe to connected_host
execute virus.exe on connected_host
display(skull.bmp)
play(evil_laugh.wav)

Hacking a computer means gaining physical access with a compatible computer and sending the right code to defeat the system's defenses.

In Independence Day, the crashed fighter and forty years worth of research into it provides the necessary hardware and software background, and the alien's arrogance provides the nuclear-bomb sized hole in their computer defenses. When David Levinson arrives on scene at Area 51, 99% of the leg work of figuring out the interface and system code is already done, either by him or by Area 51's scientists.

The virus doesn't have to be perfect, either. As David admits, the virus won't knock out the shields completely, just turn them off for a few minutes while the aliens figure out what happens and reset the system. Given access to an "insider" threat like the crashed Fighter and a team of the Earth's most brilliant scientists, it's conceivable that the infamous "PowerBook hacking an alien space craft" scene could happen to an alien fleet completely unprepared for a cyber-threat .

The aliens came to conquer a supposedly inferior species — just as the haters attack our beloved film by telling you that a PowerBook pro with 16MB of RAM can"t hack an entire alien space fleet. But we believers are fighting for our right to live, to exist. Were going to live on. We're going to survive. Today, we celebrate Independence Day.
______________________________________

Ben Adams is a Naval Officer living in Southern California who should probably be using his time more effectively. When he's not driving warships or fighting pirates, he maintains a blog.

Reading about Independence Day making you want to watch it? Get The Overview: Independence Day and watch it with the writers from Overthinking It.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

I just couldn't resist putting this here, even though I created it for the July 4th Featured Threads post. I love this movie.
________________________________

"We will not go quietly into the night!

We will not vanish without a fight!

We're going to live on!

We're going to survive!

Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!"

~ General George Washington — July 4th, 1776



_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

Hey!

All the science aside, this was a KICK-ASS movie!

I remember seeing it the first time with my wife and sons at the local multiplex and we all loved it!

Sure, there were lots of cliques and plot holes but we didn't care. It was one of those films that just worked. The boxoffice showed that too!

[Bud Brewster]

___________________________________

IMDB has 158 trivia items, and here's a few that I found interesting (in blue text), along with comments by my below each one.

Enjoy!
___________________________________

According to producer/co-writer Dean Devlin, the U.S. military had agreed to support the film by allowing the crew to film at military bases, consulting the actors who have military roles, etc. However, after learning of the Area 51 references in the script, they withdrew their support.

Note from me: Hmmm. Interesting. Why would they object to a movie version of Area 51? Was it because the depiction was . . . too close for comfort?

The scene in which Will Smith drags the unconscious alien across the desert was filmed on the salt flats near Great Salt Lake in Utah. Smith's line, "And what the hell is that *smell*?" was unscripted. Great Salt Lake is home to tiny crustaceans called brine shrimp. When they die, the bodies sink to the bottom of the lake (which isn't very deep) and decompose. When the wind kicks up just right, the bottom mud is disturbed and the smell of millions of decaying brine shrimp can be very very bad. Apparently, nobody warned Will.

Note from me: And all this time we thought it was supposed to alien B.O.!

____________ Independence Day Desert Scene


__________

Production designer Patrick Tatopoulos presented Roland Emmerich with two concepts for the aliens. Emmerich liked both designs so much, he came up with the idea to use one design as the actual alien and the other to be a bio-mechanical suit the aliens could wear. Both of Tatopoulos's concepts appear in the film.

Note from me: That's a fine piece sci-fi thinking. The suits themselves were a good idea, and having the design resemble a sort of "bad ass" version of the smaller alien creatures to intimidate the enemy is exactly what medieval armor was designed to do! Clever.

______________ Independence Day - Nuke 'Em


__________

The President's speech was filmed on August 6, 1995 in front of an old airplane hangar that once housed the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima exactly fifty years earlier on August 6, 1945.

Note from me: When you think about it, that's ironic for several reasons, including the fact that dropping the A-Bomb was desperate messure intended to end a terrible war — similar to what was happening in the movie.

_________ Independence Day - President Speech


__________

The main helicopter used during the "Welcome Wagon" operation was a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane which was outfitted with an array of flashing lights. In the DVD commentary, producer Dean Devlin said that when they first test-flew the helicopter with the lights on, over 150 calls were received in Orange County from callers who spotted the helicopter and, unsure of what it was, reported it as a "U.F.O. sighting".

Note from me: Devlin and Emmerich missed a PR opportunity there. If they'd fix up several of the helicopters and flown them around LA in formation at night, the media buzz about the "UFO's" would have promoted the film!

In the briefing room scene at Area 51 behind Hiller and Grey there is a night vision pan of the base. What you are seeing are actual shots of the real Area 51 taken by a conspiracy theorist from a place called "Freedom Ridge". The ridge was commandeered by the U.S. government in the late 90s and is no longer accessible to the public.

Note from me: I'll be looking closer at those backgrounds next time I watch the movie . . . not I really expect to see much.

The film was banned in Lebanon under pressure from Hezbollah, because it included scenes where Israeli and Iraqi soldiers joined forces, in the montage where militaries around the world signed onto the U.S. plan to counter-attack the alien forces. For the last few decades, Lebanon officially boycotts any form of entertainment that features Israelis.

Note from me: One of the best things about this highly entertaining movie is the inspiring way the nations of the world united against the aliens. I thought that a terrific idea.

President Whitmore was originally intended to be a Richard Nixon-like figure. The role was originally written for Kevin Spacey, Dean Devlin's friend from high school. An executive at Fox refused to cast Spacey, insisting he didn't have the potential to be a big star. The part was re-written and Bill Pullman was then cast in the role. Kevin would later be cast as an alien in K-PAX (2001).

Note from me: Talk about your irony! Kevin Spacy is now starring a hit TV series called House of Cards, in which he plays a powerful, corrupt, conniving politician!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

During my double-feature viewing of ID4 (one and two) recently, I realized that the critics of the first movie were being a bit hypocritical.

They criticized the "virus defense" as unrealistic (even though I've logically proven that it's completely legitimate, based on the fact that aliens' computers were designed to understand our systems), and they ridiculed the idea that "they're using our satellites against us" as illogical (even though the movie sets up the concept from the very beginning).

But none of these movie's critics bother to mention that this highly imaginative and enjoyable film shows Will Smith's dog fight over Los Angles going from that city in California to the Grand Canyon . . . in just seconds flat!

Is that possible? Hell no!

Is that exciting and entertaining? Hell yes!

So, how come the party poopers who criticize this great film don't realize that the movie skillfully mixes brilliant sci-fi concepts with highly entertaining and whimsical elements? The folks who slam this epic bit of entertainment for not being completely believable seem to be perfectly willing to forgive all the flaws in classics like Earth versus the Flying Saucers and The Day the Earth Stood Still.

I think those two great classics offer more brilliant concepts which fans like me can enjoy thinking about, than the "flaws" their critics present.

And these two recent sci-fi blockbusters do the same thing for modern audiences.

Does anybody agree with me on this?
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

Will Smith's dogfight was NOT in the Grand Canyon! He was still in the California/Nevada area since after he started dragging that nasty old ET across the desert in his parachute he came accross the convoy heading OUT of Calif. headed to Area 51! The canyon was therefore still in part of southern Calif. I'm sure a check of a map would find at least one!

Still....I do think that there are some movies you just have to eat your popcorn and immerse yourself in the fun!

Oh, let's talk about it and examine every bit of it,...But Golly! You just gotta love it!

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

I certainly don't believe everything I read in IMDB's trivia sections, but one item from ID4 says this.

Most of the cast and crew, including Will Smith, were unpleasantly surprised to suffer severe sunburn on their legs during the filming in Utah of the Grand Canyon duel/crash scenes.

Okay, even if we assume it's true, just because they filmed it in the Grand Canyon doesn't mean that's where Will Smith was supposed to be.

In other words, even if there is a convenient canyon within minutes of Los Angeles, perhaps it wasn't considered . . . grand enough for this movie!

But when we consider the fact that Will simply walked — while dragging the alien behind him — from the crash site to the Great Salt Lake after loosing his fighter jet, it seems clear that the movie played fast and loose with geography.

I'm pretty sure there isn't a giant salt flat within walking distance of either LA or the Grand Canyon.



The obvious conclusion is that Independence Day chose to be entertaining at the expense of being realistic. That being the case, the inaccurate geography is certainly forgivable. I didn't object to it when I first saw the movie — in fact, I didn't even notice it until much later.

To be fair, ID4 is actually a combination of whimsical elements and logical concepts. We all agree on the whimsical elements, but we don't all agree on the logical concepts.

Like the virus attack.

However, that's okay because it can be considered (and enjoyed) as another of the whimsical elements. That's what I did when I first saw the movie (and loved it), and it wasn't until much later than I pieced together all the clues that proved (to me at least), that the virus attack wasn't whimsical at all!

It made perfect sense.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)