28 September 2019
mission of mystery in Ad Astra,
Event Horizon is really the Nep-
tune movie that’s worth your time.
The premise: In the year 2040,
humanity tests an experimen-
tal warp drive with the hopes of
producing its first faster-than-
light spacecraft. But instead of
celebrating a new era of human
exploration, the spacecraft,
dubbed the Event Horizon,
completely disappears—only
to reappear in Neptune’s orbit
seven years later. Enter Dr. Wil-
liam Weir (Sam Neill), the chief
architect of the experimental
FTL ship, and Captain Miller
(Laurence Fishburne), the skip-
per in charge of figuring out
what the hell happened. What fol-
lows is an H.P. Lovecraft–ian
horror story with bits of
Hellraiser, Solaris, and The
Shining thrown in.
Neill and Fishburne deliver
fine acting, but it’s Horizon’s
impressive set design, prac-
tical effects, ambition, and
ideas that will stick with you.
For one, the ship looks gothic,
modeled after Notre-Dame
Cathedral, providing a reli-
gious undertone without being
eye-rollingly obvious. And
Neptune is the perfect plane-
tary setting for the film. Just as
this icy hellscape rests on the far
edge of our solar system, so too is
the Event Horizon resting on the
far edge of human understanding.Add in some cringe-worthy
CGI (hey, it was the ’90s)
offering just the right
amount of camp, and you’ve
got a sci-fi film for the ages.
Coming off of moderate
success with a movie adap-
tation of Mortal Kombat,
Anderson wanted to tackle
a big-budget sci-fi project
that felt as original as Alien,
the cinematic gold stan-
dard for sci-fi horror. But
in pursuit of that lofty goal,
he encountered big issues.
Because of the troubled produc-
tion of another doomed ship
film (Titanic), Paramount pres-
sured Anderson to edit the film in
just four weeks. Then, after test
screenings, Horizon lost a quar-
ter of the total runtime because
audiences found certain scenes
too grotesque. Although Ander-
son exorcised a lot of violence,
one absurdly grotesque shot still
made it into the movie: Sam Neill
ripping out his own eyeballs, just
before dissecting another crew
member from stem to stern. And
no, there’s no hope for a director’s
cut. Anderson has confirmed that
most of the material has been lost.
Years later, however, Event
Horizon went on to achieve cult
status among sci-fi, horror, and
sci-fi/horror fans. And it’s since
earned an even deeper nerd con-
nection: The idea that the movie
is a secret prequel to Warhammer
40k. (Warhammer, a miniatures
strategy game turned ultra-
popular sci-fi franchise, is a
topic too dense cover here. Just
Google “Immaterium” and you’ll
get the idea).
Whatever the reason, Event
Horizon remains a classic of its
genre because it asks the question
central to any great piece of sci-
ence fiction, in any medium: If we
humans are the fish, and our solar
system the fish bowl—what lies
beyond the glass?Traveling to the far-
thest planet in our
solar system is a
daunting proposal.
Tr ave l t a ke s a b o u t
12 years—the time
it took Voyager 2 in
- And the atmo-
sphere is poisonous,
and the temperatures
extreme. But what
about Triton, one of
Could
Humans
Even
Colonize
Neptune?Neptune’s 13 moons?
Unlike Neptune, Triton
has a solid surface,
potentially hiding an
ocean enriched with
ammonia, significantly
lowering its freezing
point. If humans could
harvest it, and the
subsurface geother-
mal heat, Triton could
be hospitable, despiteits –391° Fahrenheit
surface temperature.
In March 2019,
NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory proposed
a spacecraft mission
to Triton, during the
next launch window
in the late 2020s.
Maybe our story with
Neptune is only just
beginning.A LOVECRAFT-IAN
HORROR STORY
WITH BITS
OF HELLRAISER,
SOLARIS, AND
THE SHINING
THROWN IN.“
Sci-Fi
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