Advanced Sci-fi Civilisations Too Stupid To Really Exist Ep.15 - London

[@MediaZealot]

Who is next? 1. The Thermians (Galaxy Quest 1999) 2. The Pakleds (Star Trek) 3. Bregna (Aeon Flux 2005) 4. The Machines (The Matrix series) 5. Panem (The Hunger Games series) If you'd like to support Media Zealot and gain access to content voting + other perks, please consider signing up on Patreon, or joining as a KZbin member: www.patreon.com/mediazealot kzbin.infojoin

[@zerovalon6243]

I say go for the Matrix

[@BlackCover95]

Didn’t you already do Panem? Just searched. Apparently not. I’d say do it. Thermians and Pakleds seem like low-hanging fruit.

[@neotromboneis6716]

I too support going for The Machines and might as well try to hit the Humans of the Matrix universe as well

[@johnivanoplimo5172]

Go for the Machines from The Matrix.

[@kimarous]

I vote Panem. Sure, others have covered its flaws before, but it would be oh so delicious in your style.

[@matteste]

The thing is, the books thought it was too stupid to exist as well. In fact, they focus on the fact that the system is on the verge of collapse. The moving cities was originally just something meant as a temporary solution that ended up becoming permanent. And by the time the book takes place, most are stubbornly holding on to the failing system just cause that is the way it has always been for them.

[@ingold1470]

Don't the books also say that it persisted for 1000 years?

[@matteste]

@@ingold1470 I believe so, and like I said, the system can no longer be sustained at that point despite how much some of the characters want to deny it.

[@EvanOfTheDarkness]

@@matteste It should've crumbled in a week at most, due to running out of fuel. And food. And probably water too, because outside a spaceship, you cannot recycle a 100% of it.

[@spinosaurusstriker]

@@matteste bruh it shouldn't have been lasting more than a year, much of a failing system doesn’t seem like it.

[@skanvak]

The problem of the movie is that this point is never explain. Though seing only London makes some sense. I was really sad that the movie was not more focus on the moving cities.

[@17091ira0072]

in the books i thought they made a point of how the system was already collapsing in on itself and that they were becoming increasingly destructive and mad to try and keep their way of life, because when any tried to stop they were savagely destroyed by those that refused to stop.

[@angrydragonslayer]

I thought so as well

[@andrewnik8316]

The books show very clearly that the system did not work. In the first book, London needs to attack the wall because they can find any prey and know that if they don’t find anything soon they will have to stop moving. In the second book mayors are paying and arm and a leg just to know where other cities are. By the third book many city have stop moving because they have no more fuel. Nowhere in the series does it ever say that traction cities are a good thing that should exist.

[@goddepersonno3782]

@Kaan Özkuscu the books are childish, but written intentionally to be so. And underneath the childish exterior is a layer of mature subtext and social commentary - some of which was referenced in this video. To call such a book series shit is just a demonstration of poor comprehension on your part

[@kazutama3902]

@@goddepersonno3782 exactly

[@newperve]

@@goddepersonno3782 Here's the thing, subtext only makes sense if there is a credible alternative explanation. If the thing in the book can only be a metaphor for something else, not just the thing it supposedly is, it doesn't work.

[@benneel5396]

"The nerve of those people." How dare they prosper and thrive while we suffer and die.

[@TheNefastor]

Make London Great Again :-D

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

Kill everyone better off than yourself. We’re operating under Mad Max rules now. Just walk away from the guzzleline.

[@jimmy_james0007]

@ilove bigbrother Yes and now we know where to turn if we ever have an invading force of motorized cities.

[@TheNefastor]

@@jimmy_james0007 indeed ! Build the Wall, and make London pay for it !

[@YourPetSnake]

@@ChineduOpara imagine being a MAGA hat

[@HereticalKitsune]

"Like a confused Roomba that can't find its charing port" Your comments are the main reason I come back to you again and again. xD

[@matheoss5259]

It would have been better is he showed a photoshopped version of that.

[@phalanx3803]

the charging port " i cant believe i got put in the same box as that stupid piece of shit"

[@raven4k998]

@@phalanx3803 well it happens here have a cookie dear

[@milokojjones]

Literally died of laughter when I heard that.

[@JustaGuy_Gaming]

Can we take a moment to realize how doomed a society is if it has to destroy other cities to gain resources, but it also takes their people? Even if you down grade their life style to slaves your increasing the collective population while adding a fraction of the resources due to how much was lost in the attack/harvesting process. I honestly wouldn't give this type of society a decade to live, let alone centuries.

[@gyphryphobia]

The imperium of man begs to differ

[@creed8712]

@@gyphryphobia imperium of man can lose a couple trillion a day though

[@Wertsir]

It’s a pretty transparent metaphor for British colonialism, which did exactly that in the real world.

[@dr.velious5411]

Iirc even in the books the traction city system was stated to be far, far, past the point of sustainability or even sanity, they just keep doing it because they always have, the anti-traction league's mo is to put down the cities because even they can see how stupid it is.

[@marrvynswillames4975]

@@Wertsir no, its a metaphor for the expansion of London's urban area, which took another small cities around in real life

[@midori_the_eldritch]

In the books they were actually at the end of the system, and everything was baren, and why they had to attack the wall, as nothing else could let it keep going

[@neonzombi9928]

I think this concept is just dumb no matter how you slice it. It might be more suitable for an animated film or cartoon

[@seekingabsolution1907]

Sounds about right. Time has shown that powerful people will go to irrationally stupid lengths to keep up an unsustainable inefficient system if it benefits them no matter how destructive it is.

[@ColinTherac117]

@@neonzombi9928 Actually, I think the idea of a mobile fortress fits very well if you think of it as an evolution from zombie survival tropes applied to a different apocalypse. In zombie survival, the humans usually have to travel from location to location in order to scavenge resources until they can hopefully find a safe zone, which is usually some kind of stationary fortress that can protect them from harm until something happens which forces them to go back on the move. So instead of leaving the safety of the fortress every time to go scavenge, the mobile fortress (a similar idea to wagon forts in eastern Europe in real life) allows survivors to continuously scavenge or steal from other parties from the safety of a strong position. Now over time, if this scavenging in force was the only form of survival done for generations, it might be possible for this idea to expand into larger and more complex moving fortresses and a near religious ideology. The only difference is that in real life, scavenging from the wreckage of destroyed civilization could never supply enough resources to maintain thousands of people, especially not for thousands of years. Unless you are the Mongols, who are always the exception.

[@umu-san4414]

@@ColinTherac117 that sounds like the setting of the trains with zombies anime. Also, Mongols at least had other systems of self sustainability such as horse raising, hunting, trading both raw and processed items and many left their old nomadic lives once they settled in lands with heavy agriculture.

[@secuter]

@@neonzombi9928 It's a movie and a book, essentially set in a sci-fi universe. I mean, you could also criticize Star Wars in the same vein. So instead of criticizing it for being dumb, then try to criticize it on its own merits. For instance - does the universe obey its own rules. Arguing from a "it must be realistic" point of view will always lead to disappointment in non-realistic universes.

[@magnumhadmama]

I'm sorry, "it's a Death Star level Achilles heel"... Going in my notes to be used later, ty

[@S1deshowRob]

Hey at least the Death Star weakness was retconned to be sabotage

[@magnumhadmama]

@@S1deshowRob good point

[@Slender_Man_186]

Even in the old canon the Death Star weakness was always misrepresented and misinterpreted. Here’s a good video on it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3SxdpWwnL6AjtU

[@beastwarsFTW]

@@S1deshowRob In the original it would require a wizard or a highly intelligent missile to go down that hole.

[@iamsinistar8971]

Movie: *Huge moving city preys on smaller cities* Reality: *Huge city runs out of gas after the 1st mile*

[@beastwarsFTW]

Cities made of tents would swarm the huge city.

[@LadyDeirdre]

After?

[@jypsridic]

Reality: Huge stationary cities prey on smaller cities to survive.

[@siluda9255]

reality is boring

[@luffycj]

if they run on steel, then they could run for a long time. You can burn iron, recapture it as Ironoxide and turn it back into iron, granting you a powersource on the magnitude of E=MC^2 with very little loss. It would explain how these things can move for so long on just scrap.

[@andrewrainey4192]

I forgot this movie existed and thought you were talking about the actual city 😆

[@juhaniheinonen6132]

London is such a hellscape it could really work here.

[@pedrolmlkzk]

IT would fit as well

[@charlesmaddison212]

Lol

[@jmlane88]

@@juhaniheinonen6132 Indeed it would.. Sadly

[@damianstarks3338]

😂🤣 yeah I forgot this movie existed too.

[@Ifrit8054]

I wonder if anyone ever thought about the fact that a literal city would take exponentially larger engines to be faster than anything as small as that small town. And once you factor in the support needed to keep it intact would mean even larger engines. Which would add more weight. Meaning even more engine.

[@MrOrgeston]

Right. Obviously they know that planes are useful, for greater mobility. Well you know what else would be useful? Small vehicles that can more easily and efficiently overtake prey.

[@zachkh]

What you’re describing is more of a problem for planes and rockets which are mostly weighed down by fuel. Adding fuel to a rocket means you just added weight which means you might need more fuel and so on.

[@Ifrit8054]

@@zachkh yes. Mostly. But we aren’t talking about 4-5 gallons. We would be talking about hundreds if not thousands of tons of machinery to power the engines. Once you scale things up that far the returns wouldn’t be enough to make it so much faster than the cities 1/4 it’s size that they can just up and snatch the entire world up one at a time. Legitimately they should have multiple follow tanks that catch other cities for them. And then they creep up at 3 miles an hour and eat them.

[@MrOrgeston]

@@zachkh It's a problem for every vehicle that uses fuel and has to continuously accelerate itself. Gas mileage in an automobile is reduced when the automobile weighs more, and fuel still has weight when you're using it on an automobile instead of a rocket.

[@zachkh]

@@MrOrgeston yeah but rockets are mostly fuel. Gasoline doesn’t make up much weight in a a car.

[@mennoltvanalten7260]

I'd like to note that in the books this comes from, some predator cities did reproduce in the past when resources were more plentiful, since making suburbs that can scout an area around you is useful and making higher cities is hard. Also there is a prequel series which goes a bit into the development of the first traction cities. It has mostly cultural reasons which imo is the best way to do it because as you say it is economically stupid.

[@alexgorski1806]

Also the cities didnt move extremely fast... in the books londons normal crusing speed was 5 mph.

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

@@alexgorski1806 Londons cruising speed is never specified in the books, but it is travelling at least 80mph in the opening chapter (because it keeps pace with a town doing 80). 100mph is regarded as *extremely* fast, but is achieved by a scavenger town.

[@ShadowLibrarian]

Mortal engines seems like something Japan would make but surprisingly came from England. You know the two great islands.

[@localegoist4079]

The Bri ish isle

[@Lewd-Tenant_Isan]

Honestly the movie probably would have been better had it been adapted into an Animation.

[@jammygamer8961]

@@Lewd-Tenant_Isan it still would of been the same movie.

[@waifupatter4193]

>britain >great Sure...

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

I don't think being tied for "responsible for the highest number of genocides" is "greatness"

[@22freedom33]

Considering how much they advertised Peter Jackson's name, I was surprise to find out he didn't direct this movie.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

Was it just his production house? That kinda thing?

[@22freedom33]

@@fuzzydunlop7928 yeah, pretty much, the director was the art director for LOTR

[@emberpowertcg7692]

@@22freedom33 first time directing...it shows....

[@goddepersonno3782]

@@22freedom33 that makes so much sense now. Peter Jackson has a reputation for understanding the source material of what he adapts really well, so seeing all the dumb changes that were made in this movie made me really confused. It just fails on every level.

[@SpottedHares]

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change" Leon C. Megginson, normally attributed to Charles Darwin.

[@coreym162]

Dumbest quote ever when everything that's allowed us to adapt to change is our brute strength in numbers and intellect. I don't think he paid much attention in English and Literature...

[@pablopereyra7126]

@@coreym162 Ok so if dinosaurs were so strong, why did they lose the evolutionary race to a bunch of hairy rats? And don't try to tell me the rats were any smarter than the dinosaurs.

[@thomasford2032]

I feel like the whole underlying point in the film was that they refused to adapt to change whilst being oblivious to the repercussions of having this mindset.

[@SpottedHares]

@@pablopereyra7126 research on modern dinosaurs (Crows) and modern rodents is so far inclusive.

[@Сайтамен]

Strongest usually implies - able to sustain the hardest aspects of this particular environment, so in other words, adaptable.

[@johnbauer8907]

I also would like to point out that these moving cities would have limited lifepans. The engines/ transmission and wheels/tracks would wear out and need replacing, especially with the massive weight. It wouldn't be long before it would break down and be stranded

[@Predator20357]

It’s not that it’s impossible to repair something even if it’s as big as this, the problem is that you need the tools to repair it and with how it looks, it seems it can only repair tiny cracks in itself and one strong strike to anything driving it would bring it to a stop.

[@GeorgeMonet]

@@Predator20357 It's not impossible to repair if you have the MASSIVE amount of infrastructure. But a moving city obviously does not have the infrastructure needed to build replacements.

[@filanfyretracker]

@@GeorgeMonet also massive leaps in many technologies, The largest vehicles in the world are the NASA Crawler-Transporters and they go very slow. And I strongly suspect those are what inspired the idea of tracked cities. *Technically there are bigger vehicles in the form of bucket wheel excavators, but those require constant attachment to the power grid to move. the crawler-transporters are actual vehicles that can move using their own internal power source.

[@alexgorski1806]

@@filanfyretracker In the books they are slow... like 5mph slow and in a chase they move at like 12-15... you dont need a massive boost in tech for massive moving machines. theres just no reason to build them.

[@artembentsionov]

I guess they felt bad for Valentine’s daughter. In the book, she throws herself in front of her half-sister as Valentine is swinging is sword, taking the blow and bleeding out all over the controls that shorts them out and blows up the weapon and most of London as well. Also, in the book this happens before they can fire at the shield wall. They do fire the weapon once, at a much larger city, which they call a conurbation, chasing London to eat it. And it shocks everyone because it goes totally against municipal darwinism by wiping out a city instead of consuming it

[@emancoy]

In a world of limited resources, a mobile city that burns unlimited resources

[@macportner6501]

As a kid, you have no clue how often I daydreamed about my house being a giant vehicle rolling through the countryside or flying high above the clouds

[@warmasterdorn]

I would love to see an alternate version where highly mobile mining towns trade their raw materials for the manufacturing products of the much slower mobile industrial cities... It might even make sense for a minority of medium pirate cities to prey on either the miners (and refine materials from there) or industry hubs (but like wolves hunting, rather than fish swallowing smaller fish), with a question of "how successful can piracy be, before there's no more loot to pillage?" In that world, food would be one of the big problems for the mobile cities, and even more so for the pirate cities.

[@BTAL1ama]

Sounds like a great idea for a video game actually

[@deeznoots6241]

But the point of the book series is as an allegory about destructive greed, an alternate version would have to change the story quite a lot to the point where it would be an entirely new book with just a similar setting

[@fivehundrediq5212]

Good to See Hugo Weaving play the same character in an entirely different movie

[@adamgray1753]

If Hugo Weaving had screamed or yelled, "You see that bright light, Mr. Anderson?! It's inevitability!" when he was firing that Medusa weapon at The Wall alot of "confused" people would be like "Ohhhh!". lol

[@doublep1980]

Even more ironic, he said in an interview that he didn't want to return to the MCU as ''Red Skull'' or do again the voice-over for Megatron in the Bayformers movies, because, I quote: ''He's sick & tired playing these stereotypical vilains in blockbusters'' and wants to do different type of roles. Yeah.....

[@adamgray1753]

Yeah really, @@doublep1980. Him playing Red Skull... wow... that performance was just so effin' fantastic though. I did not know Hugo Weaving originally did the voice of Megatron too.

[@davidlewis5312]

@@doublep1980 some people just refuse their calling in life

[@CollegeDroputPowerpoints]

He could be replaced by Jacksfilms when the time comes.

[@Cuteness_overload-g3g]

New Zealand survives all the apocalyptic events because everyone forgets we exist

[@goddepersonno3782]

0 covid cases... seriously what kind of superdrugs are you guys taking?

[@Cuteness_overload-g3g]

@@goddepersonno3782 haha it's being a kiwi we decided even though covid may not kill everyone we would all quarantine for four weeks regardless. Low and behold we got rid of covid and continued to crow whole the world's economy slowed

[@BritishTeaFGC]

@@Cuteness_overload-g3g After seeing how you guys delt with Sauron, I'd believe anything you say. I might just move there myself!

[@Cuteness_overload-g3g]

@@BritishTeaFGC you should! We have hobbits!!

[@L.Pondera]

Not everyone. A lot of rich elites have homes there explicitly to "survive Armageddon". Armed with this knowledge, I shall be sending raiding parties to NZ to explicitly pillage these people. Won't bother the locals though. Just some chill people, I mean listen to IH. NZ is a treasure to protect.

[@kalobhunt9001]

yeah I don’t understand why the moving cities are a thing cause the world looks fine it’s lush and green maybe it wasn’t like that when they first started it wasn’t like that but it is now why not find a place to settle your city??

[@Raximus3000]

Let me explain, people are stupid, Tom the MC likes living in a moving city and the whole ideology is more of a religion rather than a scientific fact. Think of them as masochists or junkies. Hell the mayor might have been worse in the book his dreams(delussions) for the future were, have you watched Shadow Raiders? The bad guys. If not think planet that eats other planets.

[@kalobhunt9001]

@@Raximus3000 like unicron?

[@Raximus3000]

@@kalobhunt9001 Minus the robot and plus little people inside. How insane can you be to have that as your ideal future for your planet?

[@kalobhunt9001]

@@Raximus3000 sounds fucked.

[@Raximus3000]

@@kalobhunt9001 It is. Hell the whole idiology of cities eating cities is. Then again we are open minded and not brainwahed from birth to belive this ideal. Though there are real life examples. The author might be smarter than i thought.

[@gamebawesome]

Plot twist: instead of a City becoming a traction city, the Entire continent of New Zealand is on tracts now

[@danielm.595]

Oh God

[@mapleflag6518]

On the back of a giant Bob Semple.

[@Benjinator12]

I read the books when I was younger and was so excited to hear that the long-rumored movie was finally getting made. But then I heard it was a mess, and never went to see it in theaters. I kind of regret it, because if nothing else it's really quite pretty.

[@Someone-lg6di]

Saw movie read book regretted watching movie

[@siriusa4404]

"He leaves London to zoom around like a lost roomba that can't find it's charging port." This has to be the best description of Mortal Engines in a nutshell :). (- the roomba fueling itself with the cleaned up waste, but still good :) )

[@efe_aydal]

I said "Oh yes" outloud when I saw u have a new vid.

[@ComicalCheese]

I did the same thing!

[@yasintufekci1843]

Reis seni de hep yorumlarda görüyorum

[@xzardas541]

London be like: You will add to our perfection.

[@Zenocius]

@WhomItMayConcern Britain is just a shell of its former self, even before factoring in Brexit.

[@hjonk9858]

Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. You’re culture will be adapted to service ours. Resistance is futile

[@Genevasplaytime]

@@Zenocius Yet London is the powerhouse of europe.

[@mirroredrealities1639]

This just in! Internet decides London is too stupid to exist in real life, and will be rectifying that later this week.

[@zerovalon6243]

Really like that joke about Peter Jackson and the map. Truly if there was anyone that has the right to be upset, it's definitely someone from New Zealand.

[@josiaharaki7310]

You'd think that if they were able to access super-weapons and had all that bizarre tech and artifacts that at least a few documents regarding nuclear reactors and weapons would remain, or at least a few scientists would remember how to make them....

[@Predator20357]

@@HelghastStalker Now you just make me want Mortal Engines, The Boat Edition where you got the equivalent of a mountain moving along the water. It sounds retarded if you want it done realistically, but so is moving cities going faster than 1-5mph.

[@LineOfThy]

it's been a millennia

[@gabrielragsdale180]

I remember when my friend told me about this movie. I said moving cities? Do you realize how much energy it would take to move a city even a mile?

[@danielm.595]

A mile? Try anything at all

[@russman3787]

To be fair, they're much smaller than real cities. No suburbs or greater metropolitan area at all.

[@zatoth13]

Especially when large machines do not move fast. London’s size should have made it slower, making it fair game for an alliance of smaller cities or miners to attack it en masse, but then that defeats the anti-imperialism metaphor. I saw the trailers for this movie and said “this will kill Peter Jackson’s career. Hugo Weaving seems impervious to such bad casting decisions it seems.

[@jebise1126]

@@russman3787 well germany in WW2 had this idea about huge tanks. guess what. it didnt work. google p1000 ratte

[@GenericProtagonist118]

more weight=more engine=more weight=more engine=more weight=more engine=More Weight=More Engine=MorE WeighT=MoRe EnGiNe=MORE WEIGHT=M O R E E N G I N E= MORE-

[@nchatz6411]

It's as if these movies want to ruin all my favorite books as a child. Butchering Mortal Engines, then Artemis Fowl. Might be interesting to take a look at the Fairies from that movie too.

[@CBRN-115]

Good thing I never read those, so my memories wouldn't be sullied

[@dudepool7530]

This is what adaptations do. They dilute the source material so much, that the original fan base hates it.

[@playererror4044]

@@dudepool7530 I mean... not all the time; sometimes the planets aline across the entire universe and you get a lord of the rings which do justice to what they're based on.

[@derdenni6780]

The book must be stupid to

[@waleuska]

@@dudepool7530 nah they refuse to get people who love the source material to do the adaptations. Like why get someone who love Dragon ball to make a dragon ball movie, when we can wiki it?

[@SchazmenRassir]

It's been years since I read any of the books, and I haven't seen the movie, but based on this video... it almost seems like even in-lore, they were living in an unviable manner, and they knew it by the time it was too late to change that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that pretty rare?

[@DarkReaper12]

Pretty rare? *looks outside window at the hellscape our global systems have left us in* looks pretty common to me

[@SchazmenRassir]

@@DarkReaper12 I'm talking about the bad guys in a story. No need to bring in the depression-inducing situation of our real lives here.

[@ProjectEkerTest33]

I agree with Dark Reaper. I think that was kinda the point the story was trying to make as an analogue for the real world.

[@SchazmenRassir]

@@ProjectEkerTest33 And I was talking about the bad guys actually realizing what they were doing couldn't be sustained. The real life bad guys either don't realize it or don't care.

[@doublem1354]

@@SchazmenRassir Judging by the fact that we have proof an oil company made a detailed report about global warming ~20 years earlier than the scientific community (a study that is considered ludacriously optimistic by todays standards, yet is preety simmilar to independent studies) AND THE INVESTORS STILL CONTINUED I would say that people on this little forsaken rock just don't care.

[@thesandwich5321]

Saw the title before the thumbnail. As an Englishwoman I can confirm- I avoid that place like the plague! Mainly because it's so cramped it actually helped the plague!

[@Krawurxus]

You're actually wrong about the reproduction thing. In the books it's explained that large successful cities with a resource surplus did in fact build "Suburbs" in the past, but they have since stopped doing so because of how scarce prey has become. As well, there's still new, small prey cities being build but they just aren't worth chasing after for the large predators. I think the author has done a good job making Municipal Darwinism work in the context of the books. It's just that the movie is absolutely terrible.

[@theshinygoldenemperor2422]

Surely that would mean you’d want more, more economical suburbs to chase down all of this prey rather than a single city that can’t find anything worth eating due to its size.

[@MannoMax]

Where are these cities being built ? Youd need something like a gigantic shipyard to build them, plus a huge primary industry of mines and mills, as well as mechanical shops the size of a city on their own

[@Krawurxus]

@@MannoMax They can basically be built anywhere as long as it's safe, usually by some large, established city with a resource surplus. That does actually make sense since they'd have the infrastructure to get something much smaller built. Cities grow over time, it's all a big obvious wink to nature anyways.

[@zahylon5993]

ME.London : *exists* Any Artillery Piece from WW1 onwards: "so, anyway, i started blasting"

[@M--001]

Any artillery piece mounted on london: Anyways, I started blasting back. In the early days, artillery was used to destroy prey cities. (Thats even how this whole idiotic concept of municipal darwinism started). But after time, it became clear that people in captured towns are more likely to have a better fate when not shooting back, and that chasing cities would get more resources when not shooting them to bits before capturing them. The only ones who use artillery against cities are the static anti-tractionists, and the cities on the frontline during the war in book 4 (against anti-tractionists). Btw, you want to aim at the wheels/tracks, not the bridge. If you break enough tracks, you can stop the city, and thereby stop the largest threat it poses. You'd have bad luck hitting the bridge in a war city anyways since its not exposed. Mines are a very viable option.

[@zahylon5993]

@@M--001 It's an incredibly bad take on the use of artillery. A huge moving city which hosts so many buildings would be the party day of any real artillery division, as they could hide the artillery pieces in the woods, and spread them out. Landmines and spread artillery using hit and run tactics would stop these behemots in no time. even hitting the bridge and buildings would spread fires all around the city. They wouldn't be able to see their enemy until they already fired hell at them. Also, as the movie shows: Planes. A bomber or attack aircraft would have the time of it's life dealing with such huge target. these Moving Cities would need so many flak guns and reinforced domes that the energy and mainteinance would make them unusable in days. A Division of smaller and agile vehicles compromised of Main Battle Tanks, Tracked Artillery and AFVs with missiles would rip them apart

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

@@zahylon5993 In the Books the ground on the earth is a complete mess where you can't move vehicles around easily unless their massive the ground is one massive no man's land, Look the idea of real military tactics died in that universe generations ago, they are all extremists latching onto to these ideas. The Cities are also in the book packing tons of guns, and AA batteries. they are also more fortress like as well so less exposed to gunfire. No one has smart missiles anymore in the universe there all dumb fire rockets. Look the book and film would be better off if they existed in a world of fantasy and magic rather than post WW3 diesel punk.

[@mapleflag6518]

@@M--001 The Schwer Gustavs probably mounted on the ME version of Berlin:So anyways, I started blasting back.

[@M--001]

@@mapleflag6518 True. You don't mess with german cities unless you have some 60 minute war tech.

[@Sheevlord]

Sounds like this movie thinks it's a lot smarter than it actually is.

[@shamdonnosnikta9570]

The book is a whole lot better.

[@Sheevlord]

@@shamdonnosnikta9570 Wouldn't surprise me. Movies often dumb down the source material

[@chillhour6155]

The only interesting part was that Terminator and whatever his backstory could've been

[@harrystockdale6400]

@@chillhour6155 it's back story in the books is super cool and explains why London exists really well

[@chillhour6155]

@@harrystockdale6400 yeah it really seems they cut so much of the characters story in favor of just more CGI effects

[@EvilGrin]

Thank you so much. I missed out on this movie due to it's abysmal performance when it was released, and I had so much fun watching this very entertaining and stupid movie right after I saw this video. The movie actually deserved success in the theaters, it's pacing is awesome for a movie that long, the acting is pretty good, and the visuals are fun to watch, and the stupidity actually helps make the story flow smoothly. This movie has the potential to become a guilty pleasure movie like Battlefield Earth or Battle Beyond the Stars (Also, please do the Malmori in a future video)

[@fluets5658]

I've always wanted to see this concept as a post-zombie apocalypse. The idea being that zombie hordes are so vast that towns must migrate to avoid them, and most survivors are on ships and airships, only going continental to gather rare resources and trade with the mobile land settlements that still exist. It would be very silly of course, but I think it would be cool.

[@concept5631]

If done right, it can.

[@MovieGasm]

Media Zealot is a genius.

[@Bestnightcoreofalltime]

Meep meep

[@mattslater2603]

@Terrance Smith Its certainly debatable - there is genius in his content

[@arumba7345]

hes an intellectual of course.

[@amymeadows9834]

He is... Ulysses

[@louisduarte8763]

I think the movie's flopping at the BO not only killed any possible chance of sequels, but the whole "lone teenage girl leads a rebellion in a post-apocalyptic dystopia" sub-genre. Which I think was passé by the time this hit theaters.

[@sveintheberserk]

I love Tuvoks interjections.

[@blane2472]

"You were meant to correct them" made me subscribe.

[@kayseek1248]

4:57 by the time of a Darkling Plain (the last book chronologically) Municipal Darwinism has only been widespread for about 550 years.

[@mrviking2mcall212]

Idea for the next episode - Snowpiercer. Because putting the last of humanity on a speeding train over constantly eroding tracks was a great idea. Yes I know Wilford’s supposed to be eccentric and crazy.

[@MrRjh63]

Dont forget having machinery so delicate/hard to reach only children can work on repairs and maintenance.

[@mirceazaharia2094]

I second that. It's an apocalypse movie so idiotic, not even I have watched it.

[@louisduarte8763]

That movie's on-the-nose symbolism and metaphors, as well as the set-up-to-fail premise, kept me from watching it, because it's nothing we haven't seen before. Same for the TV show.

[@skatersirian]

@@mirceazaharia2094 and you're so smart, aren't you?

[@Craxin01]

How about mentioning that all the energy going into forward momentum could be better utilized for anything from food production, water reclamation, heating, almost anything would be better than constant forward momentum.

[@thorshammer7883]

Is the Terran civilization from the Starcraft series a society to dumb to exist? I think having the bulk of the military made out of prisoners instead of trained specialized soldiers was a bad idea to start with.

[@juliovictormanuelschaeffer8370]

It worked for Daenerys...

[@Vermbraunt]

@@juliovictormanuelschaeffer8370 But Daenery's army was a professional army, and they were ex-slaves not prisoners

[@jesusmora9379]

most of the population are said to be criminals, it's a chaotic space capitalism. the marines are put into battlesuits that prevent them from running away and have built in fail safes that can kill the person with the press of a button. most of the work is done by the AI and the suit, like targeting. they also talked about failed insurrections like the miners of kel-morian. it feels like everyone is forced to do as they are told, the confederacy might had started as a criminal organization, when it was dethroned it was replaced by the dominion which used propaganda to make themselves look like the heroes and tried to instil some sense of patriotism on the population. during the zerg invasion, the dominion focused on the inner systems which rallied people from the outer systems to join Jim Rainor. only the main infantry was made out of convicts, some worlds had militias wearing marine armor, while Rainor's raiders appear to be volunteers, and he employs many mercenaries as well. the dominion doesn't seem to have convicts at higher ranks, people like general warfield was shown as honourable, while Jim Rainor acted as sheriff for the confederacy. others like the ghosts are brainwashed or enjoy what they do (firebats, reapers). so basically they chose people with violent tendencies to fight in the first line and be fodder, while they use better equipment and war machines in the back.

[@juliovictormanuelschaeffer8370]

Yeah, but it's still kinda concerning that most of them were or are criminals.

[@thorshammer7883]

@@jesusmora9379 Not much loyalty and stability then.

[@GenghisVern]

"like a lost rumba that can't find its charging port" lol

[@StateBlaze1989]

I know this may not fit and it isn't a movie civilization, but I'd love to see this guy cover the pokemon world. A society that considers you an adult at 10 years old. A world populated by creatures with fantastical magical powers that could shape the environment and control the weather. Thousands of children just wandering the wilderness in search of pokemon to catch who are only a single lost battle away with a wild pokemon from certain death. Technologically advanced in spotted areas, yet no signs of any higher education centers outside of pokemon trainer schools.

[@Mediados]

Realistically speaking, there are several creatures is the Pokemon universe that would cause a planetary doomsday event every week or so. Literal Gods are at the fingertips of children to use at their will.

[@sataneatcheese6243]

The first book makes a point of saying how unsustainable the moving cities are and how prey is very short and that only larger cities will exist after a certain point. Also, in the second book, Anchorage is a good example of why it is a bad idea to have so many people living close together on a moving city.

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

Yes! Another video from my favorite *Aussie.* LMAO, gotcha! I just wanted to trigger my favorite *Kiwi.*

[@Human-hs8sp]

quiet from the western islands.

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

@@Human-hs8sp You mean the Western Australian Islands?

[@Human-hs8sp]

@@Eidolon1andOnly Among many others

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

@@Human-hs8sp Everyone knows that New Zealand is merely a colony of Australia and not a sovereign country. Even my blatant sarcasm knows this. Are you trying to say New Zealand is a sovereign country?

[@Human-hs8sp]

@@Eidolon1andOnly I'm so sorry to hear that you think Australia is a sovereign nation. what century do you live in? my condolences.

[@Nixx0912]

Now I feel sorry for Robert Sheehan, he doesn't really have luck with movie roles. Adleast we have Klaus and Nathan.

[@red_cosplay]

Yes. London is too stupid to exist. ...oh, you mean in that movie

[@Craxin01]

LOL! Brexit anyone?

[@django4013]

@@Craxin01 London voted against Brexit, don't you dare

[@Craxin01]

@@django4013 At best, you can say the majority of London voters voted against Brexit. Correct me if I'm wrong (I will freely admit I could be), but didn't a London rep put the referendum up for a public vote in the first place?

[@Sorain1]

@@Craxin01 They did that because they assumed the entire country reflected their own constituency, then tried to take it back when it turned out they were disconnected from reality and living in an echo chamber. This did not end as they intended.

[@Craxin01]

@@Sorain1 LOL! Ready, fire, aim! Only a fool acts without thinking, researching, and planning first. And I thought electoral politics were particularly broken my side of the pond.

[@Richard-ok6jy]

As far as I can tell you only do movie civilizations but I think you would have a ton of fun tearing apart the Imperium of man from the Warhammer 40K universe

[@doublep1980]

To paraphrase Cousin Avi from Guy Ritchie's ''Snatch'': ''Pack your bags, we're going to London.'' ''London, Avi?'' ''Yeah, shitty weather, fish & chips, Mary f*ckin' Poppins,London!''

[@lorentzcoffin4957]

Municipal Darwinism, the tyranid strategy but somehow even dumber.

[@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts]

The tyranids have the defence of quite possibly being an engineered bio-weapon that wasn't meant to be sustainable.

[@Versace_sheets]

Tyranids dont have human ingenuity so they get a pass lol

[@juliovictormanuelschaeffer8370]

1:26: Marvel and DC forgot that simple truth, and now they're going together down the shitter.

[@hosemigeru6557]

the entire premise of Moving Cities reminds me of the Nomad Cities of Arknigths, wich as the name implies where entire citties made like tanks that could move in any direction, the reason those will actually work is because the world they are in requires it (multiple hyper Storms destroys every peace of land they pass by) and because the power source is so easy to find that it could even be harvasted from people

[@THINKMACHINE]

What I actually want to know is how the hell that monster could ever catch anything (that didn't subscribe to the prometheus school of running away from things), ignoring all the other physical impossibilities for a moment; inertia isn't just a bitch for getting moving, it's a double-bitch for _turning_ .

[@Daremo6969]

I just could not get into this movie. Monty Python did it better ;P One thing I noted is all the "Prometheus school of running away" from things graduates. Smaller usually means faster and more maneuverable but I guess not in this "universe"

[@edge_ucation]

In the book they actually test MEDUSA on a pursuing predator city many times London's size. I wanted to read the book because I knew the movie would ruin it. Also I hate that they called it a Bevarian mining town. The town they took in the book was called Salthook. That's why it had all that salt. It sucks that there probably won't be a Predators Gold movie, because the books just get better and better. The city in that book is called Anchorage.

[@concept5631]

Like, the *_actual_* Anchorage?

[@spooder1568]

@@concept5631yes! The people of Anchorage escaped across the High Ice during the Dark Centuries and eventually built the traction city of Anchorage

[@concept5631]

@@spooder1568 That's pretty nuts.

[@dumbproto3749]

The books where a mixture of a fun and unique world but also a good commentary on how we as people will stick with a solution to a problem, even if the solution was temporary and keeping old ideas of class. Near the end of the books the world is clearly changing too fast to keep the way of life that people stubbornly cling too, which ultimately leads to the end of tractionism and those ideas. By the very end however we get the idea humanity finally learnt how to not be self destructive and stubborn (the end of the books that is, not the crappy movie)

[@jimtaylor294]

Yup. Municipal Darwinism does kind of have a second wind though, albeit in smaller form as demonstrated by New-London in *A Darkling Plain* . The film also cut out all mention of the Germans for some reason, while overplaying the Chinese element in the Anti-Traction League and changing the ending 🤦‍♂️

[@jameswilliamson7876]

You where listing off all of these flaws and I was like, 'is he talking about modern day London?'

[@irishspartanstudios]

"My mum used to say the traction cities had a purpose once [...] but now all they do is roll around and eat each other because everyone is too stupid to stop them." _- Hester Shaw_ I am so sick and tired of people online constantly bitching about how this concept makes no sense. It isn't meant to! The whole premise is a giant metaphor for exploitation and overconsumption. But many people are also forgetting one thing: internally consistency is the lifeblood of any setting, and to the author's credit, Mortal Engines has that in spades. Pretty much everything (referring to the book here) perfectly lines up with the philosophy of the setting. To be unnecessarily poetic... you can taste this world's air! And all this pale's in comparison to one big detail everyone misses out on: I am not here to experience our own world, I am here to witness four Berlins on a flat bed chase down a bunch of snobby Londoners driving a giant tractor. Only for said tractor to shoot a FUCKING LAS-!!! Imma leave it there because people really need to read the book, it's fantastic.

[@gong63]

I always thought this would make for a great tabletop miniature wargame. Speaking of which, I'd love to see your breakdown of the Warhammer 40K Imperium.

[@concept5631]

We would all love that.

[@hbtonline9537]

The video of London "devouring" the bavarian city popped up in my feed, for whatever reason, and the entire video made my head hurt. Thank god this video exists.

[@nightghost4174]

I see the Traction Cities as a fun what-if type of environment to dive into too. I believe if they made Moral Engines into an anime style series it would of worked. Studio P.A. will be a good choice to start from if they're up to the challenge

[@ekosh6266]

Would have

[@nightghost4174]

​@@ekosh6266 even to this day I am an advocate for the Mortal Engines anime. Hell see if AI art can make it work out for a visual purpose

[@optopesi2156]

counterpoint: moving cities that eat each other is fucking badass

[@jimtaylor294]

Especially in the books. Panzerstadt Beyruth for instance 🤔

[@hildemel]

I thought they were in Eurasia...where the hell did they get Twinkies? 🤔

[@SterileNeutrino]

Star Wars: Big ship are ponderously slower than small ships, which can do mosquito runs on them. Here: Mysteriously the contrary.

[@barbyonabike]

I quite like seeing the minions in this. "Hey, remember Minions? We made them! They made us loads of money!" Yeah, and you pissed it all away on this ridiculous film that nobody watched.

[@SteezNutce]

I got about 5 minutes in to this movie and noped tf out, because it looked so dumb. I'm glad you made this to show that I was right

[@thickcutcod5115]

I remember watching this movie thinking this was such a dumb plot to a movie and that the bad guy motivations made little sense. I was unaware it was a book.

[@nobodyimportant2470]

I remember seeing the commercials and thinking this was the dumbest concept I had ever heard of. How this movie got the green light and how the book got published are a mystery.

[@tobbsdasock]

@@nobodyimportant2470 In their defence the books are considerably better than the movie,

[@jarreldoomis3502]

@@tobbsdasock for some reason I highly doubt that.

[@mirceazaharia2094]

I saw the book in my high-school's library. I thought it was silly back then, and I still think it's silly now.

[@Craxin01]

A victim of the Harry Potter franchise. Just like a LOT of "young adult" fiction. Harry Potter did SUPREMELY well at the box office, making billions, and Hollywood being Hollywood naturally learned the wrong lesson and cranked out a bunch of cheaper to buy YA properties. I mean, only other really successful YA fiction books turned to movies are probably Hunger Games and Twilight. The rest crash and burn HARD.

[@adenanthony5257]

I'm a couple vids in on your channel and usually random clips thrown in usually annoy me but Christ man they've fit and added perfectly every time you've used one . Gotta love tuvok

[@thorshammer7883]

Was the Prophet of Truth from the Halo series a villain too stupid to win?

[@julbot1]

Truth did almost everything right, but his biggest misstep was turning on the Elites after Regret was killed. Betraying his most skilled and well equipped soldiers was a massive blunder. If the Schism didn't happen, I doubt Chief would've been able to stop the Ring from firing, even with the Gravemind's assistance. Of course, trying the fire the Ring is in and of itself a stupid move of omnicidal proportions; so he still would've lost even if he succeeded.

[@thorshammer7883]

@@julbot1 Seriously betraying the Elites was the dumbest decision anybody could of made. The Elites make up the bulk of the military and the majority of which were loyal to the Phophets and had the most diverse special forces out of any race like Silent Shadow and the Zealots. Throwing them out for incompetent Brutes was so dumb it's low IQ strategically.

[@marrvynswillames4975]

He could Just wait a few weeks for every elite die when the rings fire

[@thorshammer7883]

@@marrvynswillames4975 Better yet don't make any changes to the military keep the Elites right where they were.

[@MazTheOriginalGod]

Honestly, the whole Covenant is too stupid to be alive. Grunts? Easy to manipulate by bigger people than them and suicidal, barely an annoyance. Elites? Most of the troops with overconfidence in themselves and a very restrictive ordinance that allows a lot of betrayal. Brutes? They are called brutes. Barely strategists, tend to kill other troops as much as enemies. Jackals? Extraordinary marksmen. Not very good at close range, weak even with a shield, tend to be in conflict with elites. Drones? Stupidly relegated from scouts and shock troops when they can freaking fly into mechanics. Hunters? Usually used alone or in pairs in places where the enemies can easily hide. The covenant races have so many differences that the schism was inevitable and stupid.

[@AJxxxxxxxx]

13:12 that one cowboy from zombie land would start crying tears of joy

[@Nebulellie]

i wish the film was more like the book, which is incredible and explains so much more than the movie itself. it's just a shame that such an amazing series was dumbed down so much

[@alexgorski1806]

dumbed down. completely changed... oh and washed of what made it good lol

[@sanflash853]

Interesting point brought from an italian critique is London is too damn big to not be spotted from thousand of kilometers away by the other smaller cities. Thus giving them plenty of time to escape

[@brauliogomes2138]

Mr Media Zealot, I hope you're having a fantastic day!

[@judeevans8303]

I seriously get so pumped when you out a new "too stupid to exist" video

[@magnumhadmama]

Never stop doing these

[@moogleprotip]

So, the black guy that helped stabilized the minions is Dr. Moon from Dr. Who's Silence in the Library arc with David Tennant. Random thing to notice.

[@lewisrubery5863]

The books are really good tho, I loved them as a kid

[@Сайтамен]

Read them now, they are stupid.

[@markusmuller560]

Just found this channel and oh god it’s everything I’ve wanted. Such good videos

[@TT-md7mm]

GD I love this series of vids. Those Tuvak edits always crack me up. lol

[@alphasalsa1989]

The question of why they don't settle was explained in the book. If I remember correctly, it's true that it would be more practical to settle down because much less fuel was consumed, but it's nearly impossible because there will allways be leaders and governments that will enforce the idea of moving cities. And as such, the cities that do settle down will eventually get crushed for their ressources.

[@GeorgeMonet]

THen how come the token resistance of the wall was able to easily destroy the moving city? Seems like simple defensive structures., artillery and aircraft are more than enough to destroy any hostile forces.

[@alexgorski1806]

@@GeorgeMonet alot of guns, like literally the wall was made of guns. plus the airships where alot bigger carrying hundreds of tons of bombs.

[@LineOfThy]

More accurately, stationary settlements are much easier to be picked off by smaller hunter cities so no one wants to be the first to settle down

[@mattdarrock666]

I never even heard of this movie until now. Was it even released in North America?

[@nobodyimportant2470]

Yes it was. They advertised it heavily in the US but that actually worked against the film as they were showing how much of a dumpster fire it was going to be. Only people who went to see it are the ones who like dumpster fires.

[@toomanyaccounts]

@@nobodyimportant2470 basically the trailer showed the engine cities which caused people to wonder why a film studio would make such a shitty movie

[@aralornwolf3140]

@@toomanyaccounts , Yep. Reason I never went to see it... the entire premise was stupid, or as Tuvock said "this defies laws of physics". :/

[@nottelling6598]

3:36 To be fair, there are plenty of fighting robot designs that are iterations of successful designs, and in turn inspire more. Spinny weighted domes, hydraulic flipper wedges, circular saws... all are iteratively improved upon, while less successful designs fade away.

[@johnroscoe2406]

Nice to know this is another "Asian Savior" movie. Must have been financially backed by a lot of Chinese interests, like the majority of Western cinema these days. I like how China thinks if they invest in enough movies with enough money to influence the the writing and themes people will forget what they are doing to Uyghurs.

[@ajclan3232]

Keep bringing the great material Media Zealot...

[@morganedwards9451]

You know 100k subs is low because man I love this dam Channel haha

[@mudcrab3420]

Also it warms my cold dead little heart that Media Zealot has not only clearly read the source material, but also deeply enjoyed them.

[@stuglife5514]

Little does London know, Philadelphia is sailing it’s way across the Atlantic to show it what we did to hitchbot

[@st4ne4rmthevill63]

You are one of the few channels I get excited about and update for

[@mammon_is_god]

On the day the wall came down, the ship of fools had finally run a ground.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

you make a valid criticism about the inherant problem of a kleptocratic instead of meritocratic military, but historically that's actually been the norm for humanity, those with the means being granted superior rank and privilage, but usually within bounds

[@hblaub]

London is even weirder after Brexit

[@danilovonsquawk572]

I have seen several shows involving the idea of messed up earths and mobile cities. In those though the planet has usually been reduced to a desert like state. What supposedly makes the mobile cities viable in those stories is the need to move to find resources and some kind of dangerous biological threat, giant monsters, aliens, or demons. The idea that staying in one spot makes it easier to be swarmed and over run by the creatures.

[@bradwolf07]

The first time I heard of Mortal Engines was when the trailer came out. I was excited. It looked interesting. And when I heard that it was a book, I went and picked it up. The movie was alright, one I liked well enough but not one I would go out to see again. The book was alright (intended in my opinion to a younger audience). The book was definitely better than the movie.

[@Lewd-Tenant_Isan]

I agree, the book was definitely more fit for Younger Audiences but it still wasn't horrendously bad.

[@bradwolf07]

@@Lewd-Tenant_Isan oh agreed

[@mikerodrigues9822]

It is targeted to younger audiences because they don't know laws of physics and how society works, right?

[@sub_bacchus]

@@mikerodrigues9822 fictional universes don't have to follow the same rules as our own. The books have interesting social commentary and are pretty solid for YA fiction honestly; sacrificing realism for a good story and allegory can be a good shout imo

[@Сайтамен]

@@sub_bacchus Em no, if rules are different, they need to be established. You need to completely rewrite laws of physics to make this work.

[@markbrandon5408]

‘“London as a lost Roomba, wandering around trying to find its charging port” - beautiful. Nice critique of ‘Brexit Engines’.