May 07 2008
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Space Nazis!
How awesome would it be to see a scifi movie about secret Nazi bases on the Moon?
Pretty freakin’ awesome, that how awesome. And now we get to see it!
Cooooool. "Iron Sky". Love the title.
Now, I have to make some points. I’m me, after all.
1) There is no dark side of the Moon, at least no permanent one.
2) Tires made of rubber and holding air won’t work too well. That’s why the rovers had mesh tires.
3) The dust billows when the saucers land, but there’s no air on the Moon for the dust to billow, um, in. It would fly up and back down on little ballistic parabolic arcs.
4) Nazi flying saucers! Sweet!
Now, I have to add that this looks like it’s based on really silly conspiracy theories from the 1970s and 80s; I read a (really bad) novel about it based on those same CTs and it had all the same trappings: Antarctic Nazi base, flying saucers, etc. But "Iron Sky" looks pretty cool. They have a website for the movie, and it has a bulletin board for community input. I may drop in some suggestions for them…
P.S. No one tell Ben Stein about this movie. Nazi scientists! His head would explode.
Tip o’ the pith helmet to Timo Poikola for letting me know about this.
Hmmm…a little Rocketship Galileo thrown in possibly?
That, of course, was the plot of the Spaceship Galileo from Heinlein… Never made into a movie however.
How much you wanna bet Hoagland will be on C2C within a week talking about it, possibly claiming that it validates/incorporates/alludes to various crackpottery he’s written about? (assuming that he hasn’t already done so)
There’s also the classic “Rocketship Gallileo” by Heinlein - a nuclear scientist and a couple of plucky kids (straight out of October Sky/Rocket Boys) refurbish a transport rocket for what they think will be the first flight to the Moon, only to discover a moonbase full of Nazis!
Hey, this sounds just like Rocket Ship Galileo.
/snark
Ahhhh! The Antarctic Space Nazis (as gaming author Ken Hite calls them)! Fodder for dozens of alternate-history/pulp-adventure RPGs. I’d love to see more.
So is this actually going to be a big screen movie? Or what? I am excited to see it!
I’ve been blowing up Space Nazis off and on since 2000. Hard Vacuum: it’s not just a game, it’s a documentary (apparently…).
Still, nice to see they have retained a fondness for sidecars! Hello?? Indiana Jones??
Frankly, do these nazis ever learn?
The song in the trailer is nice. Anyone know what it is?
[…] Man Conquers Space, Paleo-Future, Phil Plait, Science Fiction, Space, YouTube, movies Via the Bad Astronomer: Towards the end of World War II the staff of SS officer Hans Kammler made a significant […]
From YouTube:
The music is “Under the Iron Sky” made by Adamantium Studios: http://www.adamantiumstudios.com/
You know, you almost have to thank the Nazis for providing an inexhaustible plot device that sci-fi writers can use when they don’t want to go through the trouble of actually creating an antagonist
This movie is totally stupid. Everyone knows the Nazi UFO bases are in the hollow earth, accessed via a hole in Antarctica. Admiral Bird’s expedition people!!!!!
Wait, what was the downside to telling Ben Stein again?
And there goes Godwin’s Law.
5) Can the full moon be so high up in the sky in Antarctica…?
I love the pigeon at the end pooping on the Iron eagle! So, is this an actual movie, or what?
A much more fun movie would have been set in 1969, with the “True Story” behind why they had to fake the moon landing — it was a Nazi ambush at Tranquility!
Arghhhhh!!! Can someone tell me why my comments are being stopped by a spam filter?
That’s a pretty old woo woo myth. There’s also ones about secret Nazi bases in Antarctica, on Mars, far beneath the Earth’s crust and so on. Those Nazis sure do get around.
Just pointing out, not being sure if all present know: the inspired lunatics behind Iron Sky have already done a movie: Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, a comedy parody of Star Trek and Babylon 5. It’s the best fan film and one of the best films, period, that I’ve seen.
Then again, I’m a Finn, the same as the makers of these movies, so that may have something to do with it.
Google for “Star Wreck” and you’ll find the official homepage, wherefrom the movie can be legally and hugely downloaded in its entirety.
Okay, that looks pretty terrible but my question is about pneumatic tires on the moon. Why wouldn’t they work? Other than the drop in atmospheric pressure (fixed by simply letting air out) what’s the difference in operating them on earth versus the moon? I’m neglecting the effect of UV on the rubber here. I thought they used mesh tires on the rover in order to save weight (at the expense of a rougher ride)…
The trailer features Nazis launching a rocket from a base in antarctica to the moon, after which the Nazis land in a bunch of flying saucers, and you’re taking issue with how the dust billows when they land?
This reminds me of a story I heard about some historian who took issue with the font used in a document in ‘Moulin Rouge’–he pointed it out to his wife, who subsequently pointed out that they just sang ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and he’s taking issue with font.
The line “That’s no moon - it’s a space station!” comes to mind. Besides, weren’t the Galactic Empire forces (Star Wars Episodes 4-6) the biggest Space Nazis ever?
I’m so glad to be on a board with other people who have read Rocket Ship Galileo.
I was going to post “I thought all the moon Nazi’s were taken out in Rocket Ship Galileo..”
Oh, and Phil - though not Bad Astronomy Antartica would be a crappy Lattitude to Launch a spacecraft from.
Ah - the old Dark Side of the Moon myth. I’m constantly amazed that people still think that because we can’t see the far side therefore it must be dark. It’s like a baby covering his eyes thinking if he can’t see you then you can’t see him. Classic example of people unable or not bothering to think things through! I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to put people right about that (after I’ve got past the introductory “So, you’re into astronomy! What star sign are you?”)
I’ve been playing around with the superb Celestia program recently - and managed to get a view of the Earth from the “edge” of the Moon where there is a brief Earthrise and Earthset - if you get the settings right you can fast-forward and watch the Earth pop up over the Moon’s horizon, spinning like mad - then loop backwards in a tight semi-circle before setting again over a 29 day period. Sometimes it even appears to “jump” over the Sun. I wonder how long it will be before someone sees that view for real.
I thought “dark side of the moon” referred to the side of the moon that faces away from us. Dark in the sense of “unknown” not the lack of light.
The music is way cool, and the movie looks like it could be good too.
Masks: As a scifi fan, specially of Babylon5, I enjoyed Star Wrecka a lot. It is well done, and it’s incredible what a gang of pals can do with passion and time. Hollywood should be scared
I’m pretty sure the Toast King would have something to say about this…
Did anyone notice that during the scene with the “moon-cycle” there were double yellow lines running down the middle of the road?
I dunno, Phil. I share much of your sci-fi tastes, but this does look kinda silly.
You missed a big one Phil: the internal combustion engine driving the motorcycle.
Looks like a frakkin’ hoot! I’ll just turn off me ol’ brain for a while & enjoy the ride.
Loved the bird crap at the end!
Rich in Charlottesville
Phil said:
> 2) Tires made of rubber and holding air won’t work too well. That’s why the rovers had mesh tires.
I gotta agree with Jeramyk, why wouldn’t pneumatic tires be good? Apollo used pneumatic tires on a hand cart (Apollo 14?).
Kevin, why shouldn’t the Nazi’s have double yellow lines? It is a road, maybe they have two-way traffic?
Egaeus, excellent catch. He’s driving what appears to be a conventional motorcycle. In order for it to work, there’d need to be a large air tank attached.
Not only did the motorcycle have an internal combustion engine, it was also making noise.
I gotta say, it looks freakin’ awesome to me.
But I liked Iron Man, so clearly I have a taste for fine pulp.
For the pickers of nits… it’s a comedy.
From the about the story page on the Iron Sky website :
Yeah, I saw the yellow line and the side-car, as well as the guard-rails. I’d love to see this.
@Max: “You know, you almost have to thank the Nazis for providing an inexhaustible plot device that sci-fi writers can use when they don’t want to go through the trouble of actually creating an antagonist.”
Laughed soda out my nose.
Made me think that they’ve provided inexhaustible fallacious debate material for Creationists too.
Personally, I love the Nazis the same way I love the KKK - they’re just so damned theatrical in real life that they fit right in to any fiction story without so much as a tweak.
But I guess now we know why Wernher von Braun was so keen to get to the Moon, and why he went to Antarctica - it’s a Nazi thing. I’m sure Joe Rogan can fill you in on all the details Phil.
And don’t bother trying to deny it - we all know you’re a shameless von Braun apologist.
The bit when the Nazi flag unfurls and the astronaut renders the Nazi salute is hilarious! Especially if you speak German. The voice is saying — and this is a loose translation — “That’s one small step for Mankind, one giant leap for the Fatherland.”
Just adding my .02..
- I think the movie/premise looks awesome and will certainly be in line to see it when it hits the big screen (or buy it if it ends up straight-to-DVD)
- The trailer song is fantastic. I *will* have a copy and look for future works by the artist. As an aside, I’m surprised that (for all that have mentioned they liked it) no-one has noted how the theme starts out scratchy and diffuse and 1940’s authentic-ish..until the forward to 2018; and then it kicks in to crisp, clear high fidelity.. Quality attention to detail, that..
- The motorcycle side-car? More quality attention to detail. That one aspect all but defines Nazis (motorcade-wise) to WWII aficionados..
- I have to agree the “dark side of the moon” is likely a layman’s slip for “far side of the moon.” A bit disappointing, since I’m liking their attention to detail, otherwise..
- The trailer-end tagline is absolutely killer!
- +1 for the pigeon..
/..thanks, Phil, for bring this to attention..got half-a-dozen friends psyched over the trailer..you should email the studio and ask for a finder’s-fee..
Shouldn’t ‘Ironsky’ be about the Soviets, though?
btw - With regards to that “double yellow line on the road”..
When did Germany start driving on the left-hand side..? Am I missing something, here..?
How about the rockets being launched directly at the moon hanging brightly in the Antarctica sky?
Looks interesting, for sure.
Bah, tahlmorra beat me to it: the far right driving on the left side of the road?!
Instead if gas chambers, they could simply have chambers that lack oxygen. It would save a great deal on their Zyklon B bills.
@Scott D
Not only did the motorcycle have an internal combustion engine, it was also making noise.
Of course it was making noise. It was an internal combustion engine after all.
(Granted, you shouldn’t be able to hear it through vacuum, but that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be making noise.
I always thought the “dark side” of the moon was named that because it’s “dark” to radio signals.
Egaeus, excellent catch. He’s driving what appears to be a conventional motorcycle. In order for it to work, there’d need to be a large air tank attached.
Maybe that’s what the sidecar is.
As Gerry Driscoll says
“there is no dark side of the Moon really… as a matter of fact it’s all dark”
The Tyres should hold air without any problems if they could stand the temperatures, more than +100°C during the day and less than -150°C during the night.
Hi,
Jarmo from the Iron Sky crew signing on here.
Don’t let me interrupt, I just wanted to say I’ve long been a fan of Bad Astronomy and this discussion is great
We know we’ve taken quite a few liberties with the laws of physics and in the end it’s a comedy, but I personally (and pretty much every single one of the team.) love discussing the scientific details and trying to figure out ways how something could actually work.
I actually have couple of questions if you don’t mind… But first a short lesson in Finnish. The far-side of the moon in finnish is called “Kuun pimeä puoli” ie. “the dark side of the moon”. That’s obiously has caused a world of misunderstandings during the years, including that finns generally tend to speak of the dark side even in English.
But the question actually is the use of internal combustion engines on the moon. Now, we actually went trough it with our scientific advisor quickly and the conclusion from that at least in theory it could be possible to make a motorcycle work.
What we never really got into was exactly how extensive modifications would you need to make gasoline and diesel engines work in a vacuum?
Now, the first thing is obiously oxygen. Could that be solved by a different fuel, or a dual-injection system, or would you need to enclose the engine in an atmosphere?
The second is the the other effects of vacuum. I would take that cooling would be a problem? How about extreme difference in heat? Wouldn’t that cause difficulties by deforming the metal parts of the engine block?
And the difference between gasoline engines and diesel engines? Would either one be easier to adapt?
Also there’s the question of fuel, but that would seem like the smallest problems. While we run cars on petrolium products here on earth, producing ethanol and bio-diesel wouldn’t be any more of a problem on the moon than producing food.
Personally I love the idea of diesel engines, since I’ve always had a soft spot for dieselpunk, it’s evenb cooler than steampunk.
BTW Oh and they are actually the same saucers in the Antarctica pics and moon landing pics, the ones leaving antarctica just have booster engines bolted on for extra thrust (and a cooler effect).
4WD cars in Australia is often fitted with a snorkel on the air-intake to enable them to cross rivers with the motor submerged in water. You could fit a similar thing to your moon vehicle and supply oxygen through the snorkel.
You would probably have to come up another way of cooling the engine.
You could use electric motors, how boring they may be, U-boats did have them during world war II for use when submerged.
I liked the trailer a lot, I have to say. I was a little worried at first, that this might be a “serious” film, but if it’s made by the Star Wreck crew (I loved that movie!), no worries! If you haven’t seen Star Wreck yet, you really oughta watch it. It’s avilable at the movie’s own website, at least it used to be. Too bad it’s all spoken in finnish, but the english subtitles are very funny, too…
And back to the Iron Sky: so what, if the sidecar has a combustion engine running smoothly in the Moon, there’s a PIGEON flying and pooping there, too, for cryin’ out loud!
Maybe some kind of airtight drome over the whole base, or something like that, I dunno… and I don’t care! Definately gonna see this film!
Oops, just watched it again, and maybe that pigeon wasn’t even supposed to be on the moon, I mean the clouds in the background and all…
Of course, the question is….are there zombies in this movie?
[…] Vía Bad Astronomy Blog […]
I guess I can’t really confirm or deny the inclusion of zombies in Iron Sky… But I can say that there are Nazi Zombies in the (hopefully) upcoming Dutch film Worst Case Scenario: http://www.gorehoundinc.com/
I laughed too at the part with the asphalt road and internal combustion engine motorcycles with rubber tires on the moon.
But hey the premise is utterly silly so you may as well go all the way!
So: They’ve been on the Moon from 1945 to 2018. That’s 73 years. There would mean two generations of Nazis that were born and raised in 1/6 of Earth’s gravity. That kind of low gravity environment would probably stunt growth among the “natives” born on the Moon, and cause severe bone and muscle loss for the original settlers. If the Nazis return to Earth as the trailer says, they’re not going to able to walk in Earth’s gravity, much less fight a war.
I don’t know if this already has been said, but the Finns that are making this movie also made an awesome movie called “Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning.” I really recommend you to see it. It’s free and can be downloaded from http://beta.legaltorrents.com/torrents/53-star-wreck-in-the-pirkinning
Fair Warning! This post is from a person who enjoyed Sky Captain (not because it was good, but because it was fun) and Flyboys (because the story paled in comparison to the planes!!!)
I can’t wait for the movie (course it’ll be YEARS and hopefully i won’t forget) - will it be in English? Subtitled? Dubbed?
But anyway, do you think the musicians would be willing to sell an mp3 of that song? it was that good, i want to own it! You could make pre-production money by selling it for a rediculous price!!!
(oh, by the way, if they are on the far side of the moon, which you say is ‘dark’ to broadcasts from Earth, how do the Space Nazis know that Jenna Bush is president?)
I always thought the “dark side” of the moon was named that because it’s “dark” to radio signals.
More like “dark” as “unknown”.
Cooooool. “Iron Sky”. Love the title.
“Rautataivas” would have been better. But another movie in Finnish might have been too much…
I dunno, Phil. I share much of your sci-fi tastes, but this does look kinda silly.
It is supposed to be kinda silly.
I can’t wait for the movie (course it’ll be YEARS and hopefully i won’t forget) - will it be in English? Subtitled? Dubbed?
It will be in English, and it will be distributed under Creative Commons, so you can download it legally.
It will be released no earlier than late 2010.
There certainly is a “Dark Side of the Moon”. One of the best albums ever released. Even has a physics demonstration of light passing through a prism on the cover.
Star Wreck is indeed a really good movie. I loved the space battles, where lasers behave like, you know, lasers, not tracers. Great fun!
As for the sidecar on the moon, I was assuming that the whole area was in a pressurized air bubble… silly me.
There are large areas of permanent shadow regions near the poles of the moon.
These area might have lots of water ice (and descendant from Atlantis
).
Oh my goodness!
I don’t know if this was mentioned before: But the astro-nazi loft the wrong arm (about 1min in video), the left one!
But of course the nazis do have a lunar base. And Elvis is with them, and Kennedy, and Marilyn Monroe and Mao and Stalin…. did I miss anyone?
The best thing in this trailer was the bird at the end!
DrFlimmer: Wasn’t the salute scene seen mirrored in the visor of another Nazi? And if the mirror-image (mirror-nazi?) seemed to raise its left hand, then the supposed real-nazi raised its right arm, which was the right arm, right?
Silly terminology.
I hated “Star Wreck”. Is it just me? It seemed like a promising premise, but it ended up as just a bunch of fan wank. Imagine one of those lame online threads about spaceships from one milieu fighting those of another… being turned into a movie.
@ DrFlimmer:
The “astro-nazi” is raising his right arm, the image is being reflected off of another “astro-nazi’s” faceplate.
@Lars: point taken, i’ll be more precise with my wording next time.
When i saw that pigneon, instantaneously i knew it was going to do poo over the nazy eagle :p….cheap
This movie id going to suck hard, another stupid movie that will teach us how nazis were evil… blehh
Would have been far better an secret war on 1945-50, with ruskis, yankis ,nazis…and aliens
Such a waste of film
It refutes Ben Stein perfectly, really. All the nazi scientists are on the moon, so they can’t be here teaching evolution.
(Of course it’s a stupid argument, but it’s still better than the stuff ol’ Ben comes up with . . .)
Hey BA, what was the title of the crappy novel that you read? I remember the Projekt Saucer series by W. A. Harrbinson and it has many of the Nazi CT elements in it.
Irishman says: “I gotta agree with Jeramyk, why wouldn’t pneumatic tires be good? Apollo used pneumatic tires on a hand cart (Apollo 14?).”
The tires would work for a while if you kept them at 2 to 3 atm absolute (as opposed to gauge pressure here on Earth), but the temperature extremes (not to mention the UV) would quickly do them in. The daytime temperature is close to, if not over, the melting point of rubber, and the nighttime temp is cold enough that rubber will shatter like glass when you hit a rock or something.
Maybe if you made them out of something like Kevlar, but then you’re travelling down the road to a non-pneumatic tire.
- Jack
Rigi asks: “But the question actually is the use of internal combustion engines on the moon…how extensive modifications would you need to make gasoline and diesel engines work in a vacuum?”
If you look at the early moon expedition proposals, such as the von Braun team’s “Conquest of the Moon” (part of the Colliers’ series), they had internal combustion engines on their tractors. Not quite as straightforward as modifying a conventional gas or diesel engine, but close. They used gas turbines burning hydrogen peroxide as a monopropellant, because it simplified the fueling requirements and doesn’t require a radiator, but a standard IC engine can be made to work as well.
Of the two, diesels would be easier to modify. They don’t require a precise (I can’t spell stoichiometric:-) air to fuel ratio since they burn in excess air. It might be easiest to just box the engine in a pressurized vessel and let it run normally, piping oxygen in and the exhaust to the outside. Cooling would be a problem since you only have radiation to work with in getting rid of the heat. It would take a sizable array of cooling panels. A possible solution would be active cooling by storing up something cold (like liquid nitrogen) to cool the engine coolant in a secondary loop. That would add another constraint to your operating time, not just worrying about running out of fuel and oxidizer, but coolant as well.
- Jack
Actually, what is truly frightening is the possibility that Jenna Bush could actually become President in the future!
OMG!!!!!!!!! I just watched Star Wrecks!!!!! Why did I not know about this sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!
Phil, if you have not seen this, you don’t know what you are missing! This is the most hilarious thing I have EVER seen!!!! And please tell me that Capt. Pirk does NOT look life Wesley Crusher!!!! If this is made by the same people making the Space Nazi film, I can’t wait!!!!
Very interesting. I have to get my hands on that book. Unfortunately Amazon seems to list only four used ones starting at $100. Still, if it truly was worth it that wouldn’t be a problem. Have to look into it more.
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You can now support the music guys and buy the teasersong for 1€ from http://www.adamantiumstudios.com/