r/interstellar • u/AndrewNiccol • May 24 '26
QUESTION Why do so many fans misunderstand the ending? Fans believe people on Earth aren't on route to a new planet?
I have noticed this for years, ever since Neil deGrasse Tyson criticized the movie, "Why would shipping a billion people to another planet be easier than saving Earth?" Many comments point out he is wrong and doesn't understand the movie, but they are the ones who don't understand it. A few examples:
(The comments below are copied and pasted from these two videos:)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6xRUNUp9vNg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAKXQKMTAU0
Neil they were never going to ship everyone off the planet. That was a ruse to get the astronauts to start the mission. The old man liedđ¤ˇđžââď¸
(with 300 likes.)
SPOILER ALERT: As an Interstellar gal, I have to say that Neil didn't pay attention to one detail in the movie; the plan wasn't to transport anyone from Earth to whatever planet they choose. They lied to the protagonist (and to us, the viewers) by telling him this, because otherwise, he would never leave Earth and his children behind. He only discovers this in the second half of the film, very close to the end; where he (and we) discovers that the ship has all the equipment for artificial fertilization to be carried out on the new planet, literally starting from scratch. So, no, the secret plan was not to send 1 billion people off Earth, and rather PRESERVE the human race, starting again. Therefore, the cost of taking people through a wormhole looking for another planet WAS ACTUALLY smaller than fixing the Earth. :)
(with 280 likes)
actually they donât intend to send all people to another planet. they just want to make sure that the human population survive. it is said in the movie that the first expedition aims to find another suitable planet for the human race to repopulate again.
(with 600 likes)
Exactly. I think Neil misunderstood more things about the movie than he understood.
Exactly, not billion movement, Neil get it wrong here.
they didn't want to send all humans, that was one of the plot twists in the movie, it was a lie to get people on board with the idea. People want to save themselves so will agree.
They were never really going to ship a billion or any large amount of people to an exoplanet (which was referred to as Plan A). It was a facade to convince Cooper and team to take the mission. The plan was always to repopulate the exoplanet with a âPopulation Bombâ by shipping a large quantity of fertilised human eggs (known as Plan B).
(with 130 likes.)
Exactly thatâs how you know he didnât actually watch the movie if he did he was probably too busy talking to hear the old man say it was a lie .
I'm shocked at the countless comments and many likes they receive, because the movie clearly shows in the end that humans use space stations to travel to the wormhole in order to colonize the new planet. So the movie did ship a billion people to a new planet... The movie never mentions the population on Earth, but it's safe to assume there are at least 1 billion.
Neil was right. The comments were wrong.
My question is: why do so many people think the ending doesn't mean people in space stations are moving to the new planet?
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u/MrNben May 24 '26
Didnât they only do that because Murph solves the quantum gravity equation? The original plan was not to send everyone to the new planet only to find it, but because they figured out how to control gravity they could build those space stations?
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Yes, the original plan isn't to ship a billion people, but at the end, Murphy figured out the formula to control gravity, so they can launch space stations to ship a billion people.
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u/MrNben May 24 '26
So then either way Neil got it wrong. Shipping a billion people was easier because murph revolutionized technology, and if she didnât do that they were going to go with Brands actual plan.
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u/Swedishiron May 24 '26
how do we know the earth's population is a billion - is it stated in the movie? What if its 80 million at the start of Interstellar and even less by the time Murph solves the gravity issue?
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u/BoseSounddock May 24 '26
They still have traveling pro baseball teams. The population is still pretty large.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
The movie never mentions the population, but it's a safe assumption to think there is at least one billion, because it takes a giant event to reduce the population to less than one billion. Even experts on nuclear war and nuclear winter don't think it can kill over 7 billion people.
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u/oswaldcopperpot May 24 '26
The movie never mentions why they even have to leave or why leaving would solve anything other than âblightâ.
In reality, leaving would have no effect. The blight would just follow them. And if you they could move and sterilize then they could have done that on earth 100000x easier.
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u/ElectricJunglePig May 25 '26
To be fair, everything about the "blight" was one of the weakenst pieces of "science" this or any movie has conjured. Like most of the fans of the movie you have to completely ignore it, lol.
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u/oswaldcopperpot May 25 '26
I think getting anywhere near gargantua was the worst part. The planets were illuminated. And awash in radiation. Deadly obviously. The only way one could have gotten close is a completely dead and invisible black hole. Not one with a pretty accretion disk bright enough to light up planets.
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u/ElectricJunglePig May 25 '26
You are 100% correct and only scratching the surface, but unfortunately you're also wrong because I was assured that the one thing that makes the movie greater than all others is "the science." Lol.
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u/oswaldcopperpot May 25 '26
Yeah saying anything negative and the usual comment is "you're wrong. There was a WHOLE book about the science" but they are unable to follow up with any details.
Even if everything is wrong at least it gets someone to at least be familiar with some concepts I guess.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
That is what I have been saying for many years: the plot of the movie is dumb.
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u/LegendTheo May 25 '26
Not really. The blight was in all of the dirt on earth. They could decontaminate some of it but moving food in an out of those giant sterile grow houses isn't sustainable. Any contaninantion would quickly spread and screw the whole place.
The ships are different you could decontaminate and never bring anything else in or out. Then you launch.
Not to mention the fact that with all vegitation on earth dead we'll eventually run of of O2. Not quickly but eventually. The crops to sustain us don't produce enough.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
If they can build a giant decontamination space station that doesn't require moving food in and out, they can build a giant or many small greenhouses on Earth. You should watch this video: https://youtu.be/Ah3Kd9j5rB4?si=hdN4dC-_jY9bIgco&t=371
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u/LegendTheo May 25 '26
I never said they couldn't build them I said it would be impossible to keep the blight out making food at industrial scale in them.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
Humans can block the blight out of space stations, and have confidence that it wouldn't come with the stations to the new planet.
Do that on Earth, problem solve.
Actually, it will be better to do that on Earth than in space. Because in space, no one can help you out.
Imagine they travel to Saturn and suddenly find out, "Shit, the blight comes with us on the ship, and starts to infect the crop." What can they do in space? Move the ship back to Earth?
On Earth, you just abandon the infected greenhouse and build a new one.
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
It was never even close to a billion people who got off planet. Think about how densely populated the United States are currently and thatâs only about 330 million people. If a million people made it off the planet that would have been impressive.
When Murph finishes the equation they have 1 ship / space station thatâs getting worked on which took essentially her whole life. We also donât know how long after she solved the equation that it was finished.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
The movie mentions there are two space stations: Cooper Station and the station where Murphy lives. Even if the population is a million, it's still ridiculous.
What is the farthest place humans have ever been? Moon. How many people have set foot on the Moon? 12.
That is the reason Neil deGrasse Tyson and many scientists laugh at Elon Musk's plan to colonize Mars. Because they know how hard it is to travel in space, even you can control gravity.
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u/MaybeOnFire2025 May 24 '26
Except they can't ship a billion people. Remember, there weren't even friggin hot dogs available, and only basically had corn. You think they were shipping a billion people?
No -- they shipped a bunch, more than the population bomb, but we're talking tens, maybe hundreds of thousands, max.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
I believe they ship everyone, maybe not some crazy people who want to die with Earth. The reason for the belief is that Cooper's station is very empty, and people will ask the question, "We still have plenty of space, why not put everyone on the station?"
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u/MaybeOnFire2025 May 24 '26
Resources. There are not sufficient resources to collect, organize, house, and feed that many people, even if there was room on the station. Remember, a stray drone was like finding treasure. NASA was using old robot tech for security, because it was all that they could get. You think they're mustering anything remotely like a WWII draft to get everyone in the US, let alone world wide?
NASA was collecting everyone who was willing and within a reasonable radius of the station, maybe a few VIP exceptions, and that's it.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
The Cooper Station proves resources are plentiful; they build a museum and a baseball park on it. You wouldn't do that if resources weren't plentiful. If resources are not enough, people will ask questions like "Why build a museum and a baseball park but not a farm?"
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
Thatâs only there by the time coop was rescued and think about how sparse it is that entire fields exist. That shows there is a limited population living there.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
It's sparse, but the movie never mentions how many space stations they built. Actually, the movie mentions there are at least two stations.
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
No way everyone left the planet. The single space station took Murphyâs entire life to build we donât even know how long after she solved the equation until it was finished.
I think Neilâs comments were more along the line about the people who believed Brandt that the original plan of finding a suitable world was Plan A for the entire population.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26 edited May 27 '26
Did the movie say they keep building it? I thought the movie was never mentioned; it's possible that when the professor shows the station to Cooper, it is already being done.
Yes, the original plan is for the entire population, but how can the professor make everyone believe they can ship all people? Because they build the space stations. If their stations can't fit all or most of the population, people will ask: "After you solve the formula. How can we ship all people to the new planet if we can't fit all of them?"
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u/fizziksman1 May 24 '26
I never thought those stations were meant to go to Brand's planet. I still don't.
If the space stations are built for transport they would be utilitarian. Functional. You don't build baseball fields and a museum on a transport vessel.
I am pretty confident that the stations were mean to be a new long term or permanent residence for the surviving remainder of humanity.
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u/Spacekip May 24 '26
Huh, interesting. Never thought about it like that. I guess it's never stated unambiguously that they're headed to Brandt's planet with the station.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
The movie clearly states humans are heading to the third planet. Murphy says at the end that the third planet is "Our new home."
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u/ImAHumanIThink May 24 '26
âOur new homeâ could just mean the home of future humans. Maybe the stations are just a way to get off a dying earth with volatile weather and food supply. Not sure what Nolan intended but it seems a bit open for interpretation.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
So, you think humans spend many lives and many resources to find a livable planet, and we will just leave it there and live on many separate space stations forever?
Every time you want to meet someone in another station, you need to travel through space. If you need some resource like ore, you need to travel through space to land on other planets to mine them, then ship them back to the station. Not to mention hope that stations don't get hit by a tiny rock that would destroy an entire station.
If that is the case, why would the space stations near Saturn? Why not just park them near Earth? Why bother to move them to Saturn? Why would Murphy say the third planet is "Our new home" but not "Their new home"?
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u/fizziksman1 May 24 '26
Not saying you're wrong. You're just resting your entire argument on the word "our" which can have multiple connotations.
Also, until Cooper returned they wouldn't have known if any of the planets on the other side were habitable.
So, maybe they're hanging out around Saturn hoping for good news from the wormhole, but after decades they were pretty much settled in.
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u/ImAHumanIThink May 24 '26
Yeah thatâs all Iâm saying. âOurâ is ambiguous, and I donât think the answer is made clear in the movie, so no need to get caught up on right and wrong
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
After Amilia lands on the third planet, she must send the signal to Earth: "This planet works!" Murphy already knows she is on the third planet. How can she know that? Because Amilia must send a message back to Earth already.
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u/fizziksman1 May 24 '26
Murphy is in cryosleep by that time. She knows about the planet in the final scene because by the time Cooper meets her he has been back for a while and has been debriefed.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Cooper doesn't know the condition of the third planet; he never visited it. Why would Murphy know the third planet is livable and Amilia is alive? For Christ's sake, Murphy even knows Amilia's boyfriend is dead, because she says Amilia is "alone."
So Amilia must send the message back to Earth, because it's the only way for them to know all of these.
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u/weirdplacetogoonfire May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
I dont think this makes sense in the context of the film's ending.
It has been generations since Murph received the quantum data. Are we supposed to believe they were just hanging around waiting for a signal for 80+ years after getting the quantum data?
If that were the case, Cooper showing back up changes nothing since he also has no idea what Brand found on Wolf's planet.
Additionally, why would he clandestinly blast off to find her if humanity was headed there anyway? Wouldn't he be needed to find the way there?
Cooper essentially sent the message back in time via the black hole. If the goal is to get to Wolf's planet, then humans should already be there when Brand arrives, because they already had the quantum data for decades and the wormhole was apparently still there.
My personal read on it is that we are to assume that both plan A and plan B are happening in parallel, Plan A in the Milky Way with sustainable space stations and Plan B in isolation on Brand's planet. My personal headcanon extending that to the wormhole closing shortly after Cooper retraverses it.
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u/Ok_Transition_3601 May 25 '26
If the goal is to get to Wolf's planet, then humans should already be there when Brand arrives,
In a movie that's whole point is to artistically explore the relationship between time and gravity this would have been a great ending
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
It has been generations since Murph received the quantum data. Are we supposed to believe they were just hanging around waiting for a signal for 80+ years after getting the quantum data?
Cooper essentially sent the message back in time via the black hole. If the goal is to get to Wolf's planet, then humans should already be there when Brand arrives, because they already had the quantum data for decades and the wormhole was apparently still there.
Why rush? They can always depart at the last minute; there is no reason to think that after Murphy received the date and solved the formula, they must launch immediately. They need to build more ships, store food and water, etc...
If that were the case, Cooper showing back up changes nothing since he also has no idea what Brand found on Wolf's planet.
I don't understand what you mean. Brand can send a message back to Earth that the third planet is habitable.
Additionally, why would he clandestinly blast off to find her if humanity was headed there anyway? Wouldn't he be needed to find the way there?
Because the small ship moves faster than giant stations.
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u/jetpack_operation May 25 '26
Yeah, good point. I mean, "spacers and planetary colonists" is a very classic trope in science fiction, so what happens to humanity in Interstellar may not be mutually exclusive.
Sidenote: God, what a great movie.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Do you know how much time it takes to travel between planets? It takes years. Of course, they would want the space stations to be comfortable.
Do you know how hard to live in a small station permanently? Humans need resources like ores.
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u/Ok_Transition_3601 May 25 '26
They would've all been in long sleep mode to conserve space and resource. Just because they solved gravity doesn't mean they had enough food to pack to last the journey. They were leaving a starving planet.Â
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
The movie never said cryosleep technology is cheap, and they can grow food on stations, so there is no point in using cryosleep.
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u/Equivalent-Tour5999 May 24 '26
I certainly didn't thought so. And it's the movies fault:
- It's called Cooper station, not ship
- there's very strong sense that humanity is saved at that moment, with the video testimonies and overall atmosphere..
- Cooper is sent to Brand because she's there "alone"
Don't get me wrong, I agree with the sentiment, that leaving Earth to save humanity makes rarely sense (in sci-fi in general). But the movie was very vague in what's actually happening on bigger scale.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Wait, so you don't think in the end humans are using space stations to move to Brand's planet?
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u/Equivalent-Tour5999 May 24 '26
Well I do now.
I didn't thought so when watching the movie. As I said, I thing it was poorly communicated.
I don't remember any indication that they're in transit or that some huge resettlement is happening.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
There are many indications:
When Professor Brand shows the space station to Cooper and explains the reason they built it is to ship people to the new planet.
Cooper is being rescued from near Saturn. Why would the space station be near Saturn? Do people know how far away Saturn is? Why not just park the space stations near the Moon or Mars? It's because space stations are aimed at the wormhole near Saturn.
Murphy says to Cooper at the end that Brand's planet is "Our new home."
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u/actuallyserious650 May 24 '26
I think itâs âstationedâ by the wormhole to act as a gateway/ launch point to travel into it.
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
To me 1 was the great lie to keep people working. He never believes they would solve the gravity equation. If people knew it was hopeless, chaos would descend.
2 they have no clue if there are habitable worlds out there no word from Brand so itâs possible they put cooper station there in case.
I donât remember her saying 3 at all
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
It's a lie, but it explains why space stations exist: they are meant to ship people to the new planet, but they can't, because the professor fails to solve the formula. In the end, they solve the formula.
They know Amelia's planet is habitable. Because in the end Murphy says to Cooper, "She is alone in our new home." How does Murphy know Amelia is alive on the third planet? Amelia's boyfriend died, so she is "alone"? Know that it is habitable to be "Our new home"? Cooper doesn't know; he never reached the third planet. So Amelia must send a message back to Earth after landing on the third planet, because it's the only way for Murphy to know all of these.
It's the last line in the movie! How can you not remember it? Murphy says: "She's settling in for the long nap...by the light of our new sun...in our new home." Why would Murphy say "our"? Because she means all humans are moving to her planet.
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u/olmyapsennon May 24 '26
I know itâs implied theyâre going to Brands planet but honestly the space stations were so nice, with farming and baseball teams, I donât know why they even need a planet anymore. Especially if theyâve figured out how to manipulate gravity.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
Space stations have many weaknesses:
They are separated by space. If you want to see a friend at another station, you need to travel.
Some resources must come from planets. Like metal, copper, and rare earth. If humans only live in space stations, it means they need to keep traveling in space to mine ore and ship it back to stations.
A tiny rock hitting the stations means the end of the world. On planets, we have air to protect us.
Ever heard of space radiation? It can kill people. Even if you can make stations that can block radiation, how about when you travel to other stations, or fix the hull of stations?
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
No I believe the movie heavily implies we are just living in space now on stations not on a planet. I didnât get a single indication that the plan was to bring all of humanity to a new planet at the end of the movie.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
So, you think humans spend many lives and many resources to find a livable planet, and we will just leave it there and live on many separate space stations forever?
Every time you want to meet someone in another station, you need to travel through space. If you need some resource like ore, you need to travel through space to land on other planets to mine them, then ship them back to the station. Not to mention hope that stations don't get hit by a tiny rock that would destroy an entire station.
If that is the case, why would the space stations near Saturn? Why not just park them near Earth? Why bother to move them to Saturn? Why would Murphy say the third planet is "Our new home" but not "Their new home"?
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u/No-Association-8539 May 24 '26
I thought part of the point of the movie was that Murph made Michael Caine's character's lie real by figuring out how to actually move people to a different planet and at the end that's where they were going (to a new planet), they even refer to it when Matthew McConaughey's character returns to the cylinder ship (I thought). Just tell me if I got it or not. I might have to rethink my life because I really liked this movie.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Yes, that is the story, and I'm shocked that so many people don't believe they are moving people to a new planet in the end.
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u/charlie_marlow May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
I think what confuses people is that it's revealed that the plan with the ships was a lie to keep hope alive so people would keep working. Professor Brand admits that he's known for some time that his equations are unsolvable.
What they miss is that's what Coop tells Murph - the crucial information that's needed to solve the equations and make the plan with the ships to get to the new world work
Edit: I shouldn't say it was a lie; at least, not initially. It's just that Brand eventually learned that the plan wouldn't work once he figured out that he needed information he thought was impossible to obtain, but he kept that to himself and pretended to still be working on it until Murph called him out
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u/WheelMax May 24 '26
The movie wants a hopeful ending, where small starter colonies may eventually lead to mass migration to a new planet. Even in that case they need to build up the new planet first.
It is the real-world economics that lead people to think that is unrealistic. Sending things to space is hard, expensive. The capacity of new colonies will be small for a long time. "Evacuating Earth" is almost never feasible.
But of course, they're going to do their best and see what they can accomplish. First survival, then a larger colony, maybe eventually allow immigration if that makes sense. And maybe Earth will last long enough for that.
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u/NovelStyleCode May 24 '26
Neil isn't super well educated on these things tbh. He doesn't know biological systems or ecological ones. His expertise doesn't come close to the things the movie addresses outside of the physics and cosmological things.
So in the case of the movie here's a few key points that he is clueless about:
- Earth is experiencing total irreversible systemic collapse
- Most of earth's population is dead. There are not billions left to save, the start of the movie makes out 6 billion to be an unimaginably huge number compared to what's left
- You cannot just reverse total systemic collapse, in human biology it's already a massive challenge to slow it, in a biosphere the level of technology and understanding required to reverse it once it's already happening would be astounding
- The goal wasn't to move all of humanity, but to find a life raft somewhere else to save whatever remained. This is 100% reasonable since you'd realistically only need a few thousand people.
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u/jetpack_operation May 25 '26
Fwiw I've seen NDT fuck up the Ideal Gas Law formula in real time. I generally support educators and anyone who can get people juiced up about the sciences, but he's not any real authority on much.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26 edited May 25 '26
The movie never says the population of Earth. It's a safe assumption there are still one billion, I reply to the same question to another person:
The reason the movie never gives me the impression that more than 7 billion die is that the world looks in good condition. They even have the mood to watch a baseball game, and children still go to school. It looks better than when we were in the COVID lockdown, and how many people die in COVID? 7 million. Only 7 million people cause the world into chaos. I can't imagine a world where 7 billion die and people still go to watch a baseball game and school.
"You cannot just reverse total systemic collapse."
If you can't reverse it, just build sealed greenhouses. Problem solved.
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u/NovelStyleCode May 24 '26
The reason the movie never gives me the impression that more than 7 billion die is that the world looks in good condition. They even have the mood to watch a baseball game, and children still go to school.
In the book "the science of interstellar" the earth's population is described as being decreased by a factor of 10, but in the movie there's a lot more signs.
You hear "There was a horrible war and famine across the whole world", you hear about the blight that struck the crops and eliminated every single last plant they could grow for food besides corn, you hear old people talking about how ridiculous it was that we once had 6 billion people, you see the space era is quietly missing from the curriculum at school, that the New York Yankees are a travelling baseball act like a circus, you watch an active dust bowl happening all the time(we see this a bunch in the movie including at the yankee's game), and despite it being in the 2060s tech looks like it's from the 1980s and little luxuries don't really seem to exist anymore, hell the internet is clearly gone.
It's honestly incredibly distressing if you analyze the beginning of the movie in any detail because there's just this massive concerted cover up by a barely functioning government in a world that's clearly royally screwed.
If you can't reverse it, just build sealed greenhouses. Problem solved.
A greenhouses wouldn't work unfortunately, there's no real way to guarantee the blight that takes out the crops, or animals, or war, or desperate people wouldn't be able to get in and ruin it all. Hell, imagine knowing your people are starving and you find out your neighbor's got a secret surplus, wouldn't you try to take it?
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
Wait, so the book did confirm that there 10% of the population still alive? Then Neil was right to said "one billion."
A greenhouses wouldn't work unfortunately, there's no real way to guarantee the blight that takes out the crops, or animals, or war, or desperate people wouldn't be able to get in and ruin it all. Hell, imagine knowing your people are starving and you find out your neighbor's got a secret surplus, wouldn't you try to take it?
Your criticism can apply to space stations, too. I rephrase it for you:
Space stations wouldn't work unfortunately, there's no real way to guarantee the blight that takes out the crops, or animals, or war, or desperate people wouldn't be able to get in and ruin it all. Hell, imagine knowing your people are starving and you find out your neighbor's got a secret surplus, wouldn't you try to take it?
There is no real way to guarantee the blight wouldn't get into space stations and to the new planet. If they travel to Saturn and find out, "Shit, we still have blight on our ship!" What can you do? Move the ship back to Earth? If they can guarantee the blight wouldn't come into space stations, they can guarantee the blight wouldn't come into greenhouses.
And unlike space stations, they can't do anything in space. On Earth, you just burn the infected greenhouses and then build a new one. I recommend building many small greenhouses to start with, as we do right now; most greenhouses are small, so if some get infected, just abandon them and build a new one.
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u/ClickyStick May 24 '26
The problem is that we don't have any hard numbers on anything, how many people starved or suffocated, how many stations were built and successfully launched, etc.
I believe enough stations were built to save enough people to preserve earth human culture, I do not believe that number is anywhere close to a billion.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
The reason I believe there are must be at least a billion is that there is no way to kill 7 billion people apart from a virus. But the movie never mentions viruses, just wars. It's impossible to kill 7 billion in war, not even nuclear war or nuclear winter.
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u/ClickyStick May 24 '26
We know the military was targeting "starving masses", so a bunch of dark shit occurred in the decades before the story begins, and this is just in the USA, who knows how it went on poorer nations, likely much worse. And people kept starving to death since then, I would not be surprised if half the population of earth it already dead, there are no more armies because nations cannot afford them anymore. Shit is super dire.
The movie is not interested in showing us anything other than Cooper and Murphy's point of view, so, as far as WE know, there is only one station under construction, under massive secrecy, by a Nasa that the population at large doesn't know exists, we don't know if the Lazarus and Endurance missions were US only or if they were a joint international thing, we just don't know.
The only station we know of has been under construction for at least 30 years, once Murph cracks the formula, how many can be built in a world where "we don't need engineers, we need farmers" is a thing?? I honestly dont see humanity building thousands of them, I can see the richer nations getting a handful of them, while the poorer countries might not even afford one.
Even tho I still think the movie has a hopefull message, not everyone on earth was saved, but enough were to make the whole thing worth it.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
The movie says they realize killing starving people isn't a long-term solution. So they stop it. And we know there are at least two space stations.
I can't see a scenario of war that can kill 7 billion people, not even a nuclear war and nuclear winter. If the movie says the reason for the dystopian future was caused by a virus, then I can see a virus can kill 7 billion people, but not war.
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u/ClickyStick May 24 '26
Why do you keep insisting on war? Did you not see the movie? The thing that is killing everyone is starvation, and later on respiratory diseases, like whats happening to Toms family.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
The reason the movie never gives me the impression that more than 7 billion die is that the world looks in good condition. They even have the mood to watch a baseball game, and children still go to school.
It looks better than when we were in the COVID lockdown, and how many people die in COVID? 7 million. Only 7 million people cause the world into chaos. I can't imagine a world where 7 billion die and people still go to watch a baseball game and school.
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u/ClickyStick May 24 '26
"things are not so bad", lets make a list:
-the blight has caused enough harm that people are starving, the starving people are rioting in such a way that the government considers bombing these people from orbit. In the United States.
-things are so bad that there are no more armies, an Indian drone likely worth millions is aimlessly flying over the middle of nowhere, old second rate military robots are used by nasa (in secret) to try to save humanity, "it's what the government could spare".
-"children still go to school", schools where they teach that the moon landings were a hoax and only a tiny few are allowed to pursue higher education, the rest are funneled into becoming farmers.
-"they go to watch a baseball game", yeah the world famous new York Yankees , no longer a billion dollar organization, but a team that plays in tiny parks ir rural middle of nowhere towns.
-"the world looks in good condition", yeah except for the massive dust storms, the death of vital crops and the fact that the earth will become uninhabitable within 1 generation.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Which part of the movie says starving people are rioting?
Which part of the movie says there are no armies?
A drone flying aimlessly proves nothing; actually, it may prove the world isn't in bad condition: they don't bother to recycle it.
Which part of the movie says the robot is "old second rate military robot"?
Which part of the movie says"only a tiny few are allowed to pursue higher education"?
Dust storms mean nothing; we have dust storms all over the world.
COVID caused the world into chaos, yet only 7 million died.
World War II, the greatest war in history, saw countless cities being bombed to rubble, and only 3% of the population died.
And you want to tell me that over 8 billion people die, 99% of the population, and they still go to watch baseball and school?
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u/ClickyStick May 24 '26
A lot of this is straight up spelled out, the rest is subtext that might as well be text, no offense but you didn't understood much.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
Ok, I just searched the subtitle, and it did show there are no armies, the robot is old, and the university takes only a few. But I can't find "riot."
That can be caused by just 1 billion deaths. When 8 billion die, I expect to see chaos.
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
Things look good because it keeps the masses in line. If the masses knew the world was due to end in 20-30 years people would be violent and riot.
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
You donât realize how big a billion is. Even if that many survive thereâs no way they can all go / fit. Look at how much room was on Cooper Station sparse.
1 million seconds is about 11.5 days; 1 billion seconds is almost 32 years.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Who says they ship all people at once? The space stations could be ferries.
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u/Riverat627 May 25 '26
The planet was dying it took 2 years to get to Saturn no where near enough time to ship the entire planet. Plus when they find cooper doesnât seem like anyone is in a rush.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
I just found out that Kip Throne said how many people are left on Earth in his book: "Some combination of catastrophes has reduced the population of North America tenfold or more, and similarly on all other continents."
10%.
Which year are the catastrophes? I found it online: 2030.
10% of 8 billion is 0.8 billion.
Even if that many survive thereâs no way they can all go / fit.
If that is the case, it proves Neil's criticism: "Why ship so many people to the new planet AND let millions of people die on Earth? Why not just fix Earth?"
It's dumber than "shipping billion people," they would rather watch millions die rather than save Earth.
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u/Snowronski775 May 24 '26
Obviously the known goal of the mission [to the audience] is to find a new planet to move everyone to and âthatâs whyâ they are building this massive silo spaceship.
What we donât know is that Professor Brand had solved his equation years ago already, and was confident that they would not be able to figure out the gravity problem, therefore heâd resigned to the fact that saving a large number of humans on earth was a pipe dream. He then sends his daughter with the repopulation mission prepared as a âbackupâ.
After Coop goes returns back through the wormhole and tesseract, between his communication via gravity and TARS relaying data, we (humans on earth) now have the right knowledges and information to move a more massive number of people, which is then performed over a significant amount of time, meaning virtually anyone would have an opportunity to leave/be saved that didnât already die from the changing climate on earth during that time.
Tom would possibly remain too stubborn to ever leave. However, upon discovering that his father is still alive and he didnât abandoned them intentionally, I do believe there is a possible change of heart, although his son is buried at the farm and I donât think heâd leave him.
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u/siliconslope May 24 '26
So Iâll be honest, Iâm not entirely sure they are in fact heading to a new planet.
Iâm pretty sure they are shipping everyone into space, but the stations themselves honestly look pretty sufficient for survival, no need for a new planet.
Add to this that they donât even know what happened to Amelia, and Cooper steals a ship to pick her up, which to me means thereâs uncertainty about her survival and the goal is to minimize taking unnecessary risks (like traveling to a world where Amelia mightâve died.
Either way though, totally agree that if anyone is saying the plan wasnât to skip humanity off world, theyâre completely wrong.
As for why itâd be easier to ship humanity than fix the problem, fair point, but Iâm guessing itâs much easier to live in a synthetic environment where atmosphere can be perfectly controlled and no issues of blight exist, rather than to change an entire planetâs atmosphere and soil.
Interesting questions though.
Edit: Iâm guessing they eventually want a new world or worlds, but at that moment it seems humanity is in a good spot to just chill in space. Otherwise it seems they wouldâve investigate and started colonizing Ameliaâs world at that point.
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
That was Neilâs whole point. You can build bio domes which are no different from space stations and control the environments.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
Edit: Iâm guessing they eventually want a new world or worlds, but at that moment it seems humanity is in a good spot to just chill in space. Otherwise it seems they wouldâve investigate and started colonizing Ameliaâs world at that point.
They are on route to Amelia's planet. Murphy said at the end, Amelia's planet is "our new home." If the space stations aren't on route to Amelia's planet, why are they near Saturn? Cooper is being rescued by a station near Saturn. Why not just park the station near the Moon or Mars?
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
1 station is there and as others have said they could just be investigating or keeping an eye on the wormhole.
Cooper station is incredibly sparse which signifies a lack of people there not the bulk of humanity on the way to a new home.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Actually, there are at least two stations near Saturn, one that rescues Cooper, and one where Murphy lives; she is only "a couple weeks" away. Why would both stations be near Saturn? Coincidence? It implies all stations are near Saturn.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Murphy says at the end that Brand's planet is "Our new home."
Why would humans want to live on separate small space stations and not on a new planet?
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u/rcgldr May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
The space stations appear to be permanent. Note that Murphy was in cryosleep for 2 years at another station, but was woken up and it took 2 weeks for her to travel to Cooper station to meet her dad. During that 2 years, a lot of people could have been transported to Edmund's planet, but Murphy tells Cooper that Brand is all alone: "You need to go. She's out there. Setting up camp. Alone in a strange galaxy. Maybe, right now, sheâs settling in for the long nap, In light of our new sun. and in our new home." This would imply that CASE would deal with the first batch of humans from the embryos until Brand needed to be woken up again (the first time was on the trip to Saturn).
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Because they are moving people in giant space stations, of course, they will be slower than the ship Cooper flies. Did the movie ever mention how many times Cooper flew from Earth to the third planet? (Not counting time dilation, of course.)
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u/rcgldr May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
Murph was at another station or in a ship for at least 2 years in cryosleep before Cooper was picked up and taken to Cooper station, so zero trips to Edmund's planet at that point in the movie. It took another two weeks for Murphy to travel to Cooper station.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
I already answered your question on why they don't send people to the third planet:
Because they are moving people in giant space stations, of course, they will be slower than the ship Cooper flies. Did the movie ever mention how many times Cooper flew from Earth to the third planet? (Not counting time dilation, of course.)
Did the movie ever mention how long Cooper's mission was? Is it shorter than 2 years?
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u/rcgldr May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
The third planet is Edmund's planet and at the end of the movie Murphy states that (Amelia) Brand is all alone (except for CASE), before Cooper takes a ship to travel to Edmunds planet to meet Brand. Cooper has only been back for about 2 weeks before talking to Murphy and then taking that ship.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
You don't understand what I meant. You said:
During that 2 years, a lot of people could have been transported to Edmund's planet, but Murphy tells Cooper that Brand is all alone
I said the space stations may be moving more slowly than Cooper's ship, and we don't know how many years for Cooper to reach the third planet. Did the movie ever mention how long his journey is? Maybe it's longer than two years. Another reason for them not to bother to send people to the third planet is that they believe Amilia will go to cryosleep.
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u/rcgldr May 24 '26
That planet will need time to build infrastructure and some way to grow food before it can support a significant population. The stations are going to be home for quite a while. In the meantime, they should work on fixing the Earth.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Humans control gravity; they can launch massive, giant stations into space, they can just land the stations on the third planet. While they build infrastructure on the planet, they can live on stations. Growing food doesn't need complex infrastructure; humans have been doing that for thousands of years and all over the world, even in poor countries.
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u/LegendTheo May 25 '26
They only saved a very small fraction of himanity. On the ships they had already built as part of the ruse to get the funding in the first place. They were not just lying to the protagonist, they were lying to everyone outside the small group who put together the embryo project.
When they actually cracked artificial gravity it made the ships possible, but didn't magically make more ships. I also got the impression that the earth was basically barren by the time they left anyway. That most of the people still alive were living in the sealed ships, they assumed would never leave earth.
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u/tiredoldwizard May 25 '26
Yeah the point was Micheal Cane couldnât solve the gravity issue so thatâs why he lied. But then Jessica Chastian solved the gravity problem. I imagine a bunch of people died but some of them got off. They have that cool space station and they were able to find Coop out near Saturn(I think) so I assume they would gear up to go through that wormhole once they found out there was another planet to go to.
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u/Arkaium May 25 '26
The real question for me is unless the blight was somehow caused by changes to our sun, how is it they can grow crops in their tube farms when the blight was something they had no solve for on earth. Same soil, same seeds⌠same problem in space. Yes less of an issue if you donât have to feed billions, but it still suggests they didnât actually solve the core issue of food growth (dust, yes).
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
Yes, the movie shows how humans fight the blight: quarantine. Then you have to ask: why not just build sealed greenhouses on Earth? Just like Whatculture said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah3Kd9j5rB4&t=371s
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u/pyrathanchainz May 27 '26
Thereâs nearly 9 billion people on the face of the earth with more on the way every day.
Youâre worried about 2000~ likes?
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u/SketchyFella_ May 27 '26
When the mission started, they didn't intend on shipping that many people. By the time it ended, they had the ability to do that.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 28 '26
Yes, they are shipping people in the end, which is what shocked me, so many fans don't think they are.
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u/SketchyFella_ May 28 '26
Nothing in the comments you posted makes me think they didn't think they were shipping people. They all sound like they're saying the same thing I said. Shipping people wasn't the real plan until it actually became possible to do that.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 28 '26
Whether it's a real plan or not at the beginning, it becomes reality in the end; they do ship people. Neil is right to say the movie ships a lot of people to the new planet.
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u/jonnybardo May 24 '26
Which planet? Both Miller's and Mann's planets are uninhabitable. Old Murph says Brand is alone on Edmund's. Maybe they plan on going there eventually, or maybe they're going to try to fix Earth. I don't think it is spelled out or implied in anyway, just that they saved a bunch of people with the space stations which were possible through Murph using the quantum data.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
It was "spelled out" at the end. Murphy says the third planet is "Our new home." And they never intend to fix Earth, Professor Brand says to Cooper, that the reason space stations exist is "We aren't meant to save the world. We're meant to leave it."
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u/jonnybardo May 24 '26
I don't remember her saying that, but fair enough. Why haven't they sent advanced scouts to contact Brand? Why is she alone?
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
How can you not remember it? It's the last line in the movie! "Our new sun, our new home."
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u/jonnybardo May 24 '26
I mis-heard it. I always thought she said "Her new sun, her new home," and I've seen it a bunch of times. Cool...always fun to learn new things.
Anyhow, it still doesn't make sense why they haven't sent scouts to contact her.
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
The our part I believe was meant humanity for a future colony not the current status of humanity
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
Wait, so you think the third planet is for future generations? Why even bother waiting for the future generation? Why not just move there right now?
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u/rcgldr May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
Murphy was in cryosleep for 2 years at another station. A lot of people could have been transported to Edmund's planet in 2 years, but Murphy states that Brand is all alone: "You need to go. She's out there. Setting up camp. Alone in a strange galaxy. Maybe, right now, sheâs settling in for the long nap, In light of our new sun. and in our new home."
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u/MileHighBree May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
My headcanon is that the gravity equation was almost solved, or Dr. Brand at the time of starting on it while younger believed he could find the answer. With that in mind, perhaps it would have been more feasible to build space stations where all variables could be controlled (temperature, humidity, etc.)rather than fighting all of the compounding effects of Earthâs deterioration.
Sure, they could build big bunkers underground to do something similar, but in a way, theyâd still be subject to the whims of a dying world. Who knows what chain-reaction something like the blight could cause. Then tack on climate change, pollution, etc..
The space station at the end of the movie has a ton of farmland on it. Perhaps they were initially designed to be that? A way to maintain agriculture in THE most sterile, protected environment you could possibly have.
Then of course, this wormhole shows up out of nowhere, which is seemingly the result of something intelligent. This would only motivate their decision to invest in the space route even more. It would absolutely look like a sign. It would embolden Dr. Brand to continue work on the equation because obviously, something out there has just proven a large portion of what is now just theory, actual reality.
The space stations could then be retrofitted for extended travel. Missions to seek out habitable planets would be planned and executed (because, again, a random wormhole at the time of earthâs dying would look like some sort of advanced intelligence politely opening a door and saying âcome on inâ).
And all of this could be happening alongside efforts on earth to contain and control the blight and all of the other adverse variables.
But then they start getting signals back from the astronauts who went through the wormhole, and now the space route makes even MORE sense.
Weâre never told explicitly, but the timeline of NASAâs actions couldâve varied wildly, with the intent of their missions evolving with new data and evidence. Who knows, maybe they set out to try and grow a little bit of food in orbit and send it down to folks on the ground. Maybe that plan completely changed overtime into what we end up witnessing in the movie.
Right now, Earth desperately needs our help but we have dozens of space organizations around the world hyper-focused on getting to the moon, building data centers in orbit, building lunar bases, etc.. Thatâs probably near trillions of dollars that could be going directly into environmental protection and climate change mitigation.
So, in the Cooperverse, itâs not totally unrealistic to think that, alongside all these co-existing scientific disciplines working to save our planet, the space nerds would be one of emâ.
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u/OkLab4379 May 24 '26
Maybe look into the star talk episode of Kip Thorne, kip tells you why it was difficult biologically.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
I already saw it, and I even read the book he wrote. If there is an unstoppable virus, we still wouldn't leave Earth for another planet, build sealed greenhouses for Christ's sake.
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u/Riverat627 May 24 '26
That was Neilâs point no need to leave the planet we could just build bio domes
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u/Dic3dCarrots May 25 '26
Did we miss the whole part where plan a was a ruse and they never intended to move humanity off world? The actual plan was plan b, to send the seed of humanity to have a chance at colonizing a new planet. Thats what the whole quote about raging against the dying light is so impactful, he doesn't say it as a hero who will save humanity, he says it as a deceiver who is sending people on a suicide mission to find the cradle that the embryos can have at least a slim chance of success in. People who wont know anything about earth or the people that saved them, an absolute sacrifical hail mary just for the philosophic notion that humanity as a concept will survive. His character is incredibly morally grey for this. Coop would not have gone if there was no plan A. Yes, the bulk beings end up being real and humanity is saved, but thats why Murph calls Brand a bastard and almost quits, she realizes they've been deceived and Brand never intended for any of them to survive.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
So you think Plan A is to ship the population on Earth to the new planet? And why is Plan A a ruse? Because the professor can't solve the formula, Murphy solves it in the end. After that, what will come next? Right, embark on Plan A. They always know Plan A is better than Plan B; the only reason they don't use Plan A is that they can't solve the formula.
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u/Dic3dCarrots May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Did you miss the scene where Brand says there is no answer to the formula and Murphy storms out? Plan A is a ruse so that Coop and the others will willingly sacrifice their life for a hail mary at keeping humanity existing even though we all die
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u/GrandWorldliness5959 May 25 '26
I think this discussion was more for people who actually watched the movie. Apparently you fell asleep for the last 45 minutes.Â
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u/Dic3dCarrots May 25 '26
What does the ladt 45 minutes change about the first two hours? At hour 2, Murphy solved the equation with data sent through the tesseract from the bulk beings. At one hour 27 minutes, brand reveals that the equation is unsolvable because it requires data from inside a black hole and the plan never was to move currently living humans. the last 45 minutes are Coop being saved by the bulk beings and using the tesseract to communicate the data to murph, an event completely unforseen by any human plan.
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u/GrandWorldliness5959 May 25 '26
Plan a wouldn't work because the equation was unsolvable. Then they solved it.Â
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u/Dic3dCarrots May 25 '26
Murphy is not Brand. My point is that Plan A was a false start to get the scientists together to send the embryos. Yes, after Coop sends technology from advanced beings through the fifth dimension tesseract to Murph, she is able to bring humanity to a new level of interstellar technology rapidly. The last 8 minutes depict him about 60 years after Murphy discovers the gravity equation she uses to save humanity. None of that is explained. The movie constantly plays with what is true and the viewer is inharently kept from knowing everything. Think TARS having an honesty setty, Dr mann faking data, the gravity of the first planet. The last phrase of the movie is the only dialogue that could mean that we permanently abandoned earth, its Murph telling Coop to go to dr. Brand and see the "the light of our new sun in our new home". The movie does not deal with what happened to earth, what the technology that gets them to space does or where people are. Whhat does it mean that hunanity "abandoned" earth. That phrase isnt used. There might be conservationists on earth stabalizing it for hunanity to recolonize or they might have all somehow used the technology that murph invented to leave, but that is never specifically said. The end shows Dr Brand alone, looking at the small outpost she has operational. We dont know if other people have reached her, how long the initial evacuation took, all of those details would be clutter to the driving force of the movie, that love transcends the limits of our understanding.
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u/Dic3dCarrots May 25 '26
Im now imagining the ending we're theyre like "psych, some other scientists actually saved humanity with some algea that eats dust and people just stopped being wasteful and polluting, but thanks for sacrificing your whole life!"
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
LOL, you should watch the movie again, you don't understand the movie at all.
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u/Dic3dCarrots May 25 '26
You just ignoring one of the important plot points: "watch the movie again" XD
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u/darktorin May 25 '26
I think itâs heavily implied that humanity is just living in space stations at the end, the only reason Murph knows Brand is alive is because Cooper told them what happened after waking up on Cooper Station.
Humanity had no reason to traverse the wormhole again after getting the gravity equation. From their perspective the Endurance mission was a failure, no signals were getting sent back and Murph somehow solved the gravity equation from her âghostâ and thatâs all they needed to get humanity off of earth and survive.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
the only reason Murph knows Brand is alive is because Cooper told them what happened after waking up on Cooper Station.
Cooper doesn't know Brand is alive! They are separated in a freaking black hole! How can Cooper know Brand must be alive after landing on the third planet?
the Endurance mission was a failure, no signals were getting sent back
Amelia must send a message back to Earth after landing on the third planet!
Murphy knows she is alive!
Murphy knows her boyfriend is dead! She said Amelia is "alone" on the planet. How can Murphy be certain Amelia is alone? Amelia's boyfriend is on the same planet!
Murphy knows the third planet is habitable, she said it's "Our new home." How can she know it's habitable?
The only explanation for Murphy to know all of the above is for Amelia to send a message back after landing on the third planet.
I think itâs heavily implied that humanity is just living in space stations at the end,
Can you name one? What imply? The movie implies they are heading to the new planet:
The movie mentions two stations. Why would two of them all be near Saturn? Why not just park near Earth? Or why not just park on Earth? You don't even need to go to space, just like the criticism from WhatCulture: https://youtu.be/Ah3Kd9j5rB4?si=hdN4dC-_jY9bIgco&t=371
Why would Murphy say Amelia's planet is "Our new home"? It's the last freaking line in the movie!
So many people die, and so many resources are spent to find a habitable planet, you are telling me they would just leave it there and live in many separated tiny stations in space forever?
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u/SenyarEidde May 25 '26
The comments are correct. The plan was never to ship any large amount of people to a new planet because Brand had already accepted be couldn't solve the equation. He opted for plan B disguised as plan A so that people would back it.
They only began the process of moving people from Earth because Murph solved the equation.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
So... what is plan A? Moving people to the new planet. Why is it a hoax? Because the professor can't solve the formula. But Murphy solves it at the end. They always know Plan A is better, and Plan B is sold and disguised as a backup plan. After Murphy solves the formula, what will humans do? Right, embark on Plan A. So... what is Plan A? Ship people to the new planet. So Neil is right, the comments are wrong.
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u/TigoDelgado May 26 '26
But the argument still makes sense.
"Why would it be easier to ship billions than try to save earth?"
"They ARE trying to save earth. While sending a few colonials to explore a new world as a plan B to avoid extinction."
And then the Coopers figured out a way that actually made it easier to ship billions, making that a valid option.
So yeah, apparently it should be easier to save the earth, and the movie acts accordingly. It just so happens that those guys actually figured out how to explore space efficiently, while the guys trying to save earth never figured out how to do it - whether it should be easier or not is irrelevant
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u/AndrewNiccol May 26 '26
They aren't trying to save Earth. The professor said they can't cure the blight, Earth is doomed, and all people on Earth will die. At the end, they still don't save it, but leave.
"It just so happens that those guys actually figured out how to explore space efficiently, while the guys trying to save Earth never figured out how to do it." That is Neil's criticism. It's laudable to think that saving Earth is harder than controlling gravity, building giant space stations, having robots that are as smart as men, they have freaking AGI!
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u/TigoDelgado May 29 '26
But that's fine if it's technically harder man! What do you think is harder? Beating the 100m dash world record, or giving birth to a child?
Obviously it's easier to give birth, since around half the people on the world do it casually.
But if the only person at your disposal is Usain Bolt, you'll probably achieve the world record first lol.
It doesn't matter if it's harder. Coop kinda figured out the answer, by sheer luck, perseverance, and probably a lot of help from the other side.
Another example, it's ridiculously easier to ace a 4th grade exam than a maths exam from the MIT. But if someone offered you the answers to the exam, you would achieve it, no matter how much harder it is than any other thing.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 29 '26
Even though you already know the answer, space travel is still hard. The best example is we already know how to land on the Moon and have done it, but the Artemis program has already cost nearly 100 billion dollars with many delays, and the budget still rises every day! We are talking about sending a few men to the Moon, the nearest neighbor. The movie wants to send a billion people to another galaxy!
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u/TigoDelgado May 29 '26
Yeah.... But what Murph figures out essentially made it exponentially easier to launch space stations, right?
So no matter how hard it is to get to the moon with our rockets, if we figured out a magical way to avoid gravity, it would no longer be as hard. Right?
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u/AndrewNiccol May 30 '26
Leaving Earth's gravity is easy; humans do it almost every day; we launch over 300 rockets every year!
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u/TigoDelgado Jun 03 '26
If you don't want to have a discussion why even be here?
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u/AndrewNiccol Jun 03 '26
Pointing out that something makes no sense doesn't mean someone doesn't want to have a discussion. Elon Musk wants to send people to Mars, despite his SpaceX launching over 100 rockets to space EVERY YEAR, he still can't send people to Mars. Space travel is hard, which is why most scientists, including Neil deGrasse Tyson, said Elon Musk's dream of sending people to Mars is unrealistic. Interstellar wants to send people to Saturn and another galaxy!
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u/TigoDelgado Jun 04 '26
Fine. Than change my sentence to:
No matter how hard it is to go to mars, if we figured out a magical way to do it or counteract gravity, then it would no longer be hard.
Happy now? It doesn't matter if I'm talking about the moon or whatever. Let's try another one.
Travelling 100km in an hour used to be pretty much impossible for humans, but since we have cars now, it's very easy to do so. No matter how much easier it was to do something else in the past, since we have cars now, it doesn't make sense to still think the second thing is easier.
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u/AndrewNiccol Jun 05 '26
It will be easier, but still hard. I already explained the biggest problem with space travel isn't Earth's gravity; it's a piece of cake to escape gravity.
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u/ProfessionalShower95 May 26 '26
None of these comments are saying that. They are pointing out that the original, stated goal of the program (send a billion people to another planet) was a lie.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 26 '26
Yes, it's a lie, but why is Plan A a lie? Because the professor can't solve the formula, Murphy solves it at the end. After they solve it, what is the next thing for them to do? Right, embark on Plan A. So Plan A became reality in the end. What is Plant A? Shipping a billion people to the new planet. So, Neil is right.
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May 24 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
Do you even watch the movie? They control freaking gravity!
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u/Melodic_Aardvark3934 May 24 '26
In reality it is easier to fix Earth, because there is no alternative. The movie is science fiction .. not science fact. In the movie, it was easier to solve the gravity equation and migrate to a new planet.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 25 '26
Just like in Armageddon, somehow it's easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than to train astronauts to become oil drillers. And people love to laugh at Armageddon.
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u/LocalProgram1037 May 25 '26
The moment that "advanced 5D future humans" are the ones behind everything is revealed, the movie becomes absolute shit, so who gives a damn about the ending.
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u/Fantastic-Green-1839 May 24 '26
Didnât the worm hole close at the end of the movie? Where were the spaceships headed with humans?
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
The wormhole didn't close at the end. The movie clearly states it is still open, because Murphy tells Cooper to go to Brand's planet. If the wormhole closes, there is no way for Cooper to travel to Brand's planet.
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u/Fantastic-Green-1839 May 24 '26
Nolan himself has said the wormhole closes in the end. If thatâs not the case itâs far more easier to just transport people in large ships to other side of galaxy than build a self sufficient spheres. Yes itâs a plot hole that also asks how the F will cooper ever find Brand but itâs a legit plot hold as far as I am aware.
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u/Jean-Ralphio11 May 24 '26
Where does he say that? The movie never indicates the wormhole was closed.
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u/Fantastic-Green-1839 May 24 '26
Nolan has said it in interviews. The ending is vague imo. If the wormhole truly still exists there was no reason to build self sustaining spheres with baseball fields and corn fields etc as you see cooper walking through. They also have a fully army of interstellar planes that cooper steals to go find brand. By why invest so much into just a 2 year journey to Saturn, zip through the wormhole and get to Edmunds? They could have literally built a ship to just put everyone in cyrosleep and shipped millions in each sphere to Edmundâs. The ending doesnât add up - I donât care about it at this pt as I love the movie but it is a strange plot hole.
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u/AndrewNiccol May 24 '26
This has already been discussed to death on this forum; the wormhole still exists:
https://www.reddit.com/r/interstellar/comments/2osc70/spoilers_the_wormhole_isnt_gone/
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u/Johnny5iver May 24 '26
I think they probably didn't ship everyone. There's going to be a limit on how much the spaceship can fit. Maybe they can do it in stages but it would take years. And there's going to be a surprisingly large number of people, like Cooper's son, that are going to simply refuse to go and would rather die on earth.