Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

Transformers Movie Series

Our family is late to watching any of the movies in the Transformers movie, so we are playing a bit of a catch-up. Thus far we've watched the first three movies and I've written on this blog about the first two. I actually checked out the fourth movie from the library, but the disk was damaged and we were deeply disappointed we couldn't watch it. I know that some will think I'm crazy, but I am really into these movies, as is my wife and kids. Yes, it is action porn and the story line is pretty repetitive, but the action is cool I'm a fan of pretty much anything in the super hero genre.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

The Autobots are back trying to save the world once again with a few key humans assisting. The movie starts out with a crash landing on the Moon that is crucial to the story line. And that is where the bad science begins.

Bad Science

Like any superhero type of movie, you have to suspend reality to enjoy the movie. Obviously machines turning from cars into large robots is bad science, but without it, you have no movie. The bad science that annoyed me in this movie was the continued references to the dark side of the Moon and the spread of misinformation.

Ful Moon by Frode Steen

We see the Moon in different phases due to the Moon's revolution around the Earth relative to the position of the Sun. The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, which means we always see the same side of the Moon. We can't see the back side of the Moon from Earth. This is where the misconception of the dark side of the Moon comes from. At any given time, half of the Moon is lit by sunlight and the other half is in darkness. The same is true for Earth. Half of Earth experiences day while half of Earth experiences night. The portions of the Moon receiving day and night change throughout the Moon's path around the Sun. Thus there is NO permanent dark side to the Moon! 

Not only was the presenting of a dark side of the Moon annoying, but when scenes of the supposed dark side of the Moon were shown in the movie, the Moon's surface was lit up! In other words, the supposed dark side of the Moon in the movie wasn't dark! It was light! ARG!!!!

Conclusion

Of the first three Transformers movies, I enjoyed this one as much as the others and my kids loved it as well. It was, however, the one that thus far has annoyed me the most in regards to clearly bad science.