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The R-101

The next blockbuster starts here ...
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Strangely, it appears that no feature length movie has eve been made telling the story of the R101, a large rigid airship built by the British government in the 1920's and which was totally destroyed in a crash on her maiden voyage.

There have been several documentaries, but never a movie.

So, the idea is, "Make A Movie Telling The Story Of The R-101".

It's got everything; arrogant aristocrats, political scheming, ambitious politicians, drama, tragedy, pathos ... and it's another Great British Failure, in the finest traditions of Isandlwhana, Robert Falcon Scott, and the Titanic.

With CGI, the vast, looming bulk of the airship would be easy to portray in crisp detail. Some of the original venues, like the giant airship hangar at Cardington, are still extant and would be available as sets.

The story of the R-101 needs no embroidery to make it a fascinating and compelling movie script.

8th of 7, Apr 07 2012

R101 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R101
It's all true ... [8th of 7, Apr 07 2012]

http://www.youtube....watch?v=PdUTJqGdqV4 Looks like someone else has a script. [jutta, Apr 07 2012]

List of airship accidents http://en.wikipedia...f_airship_accidents
Sombre reading [8th of 7, Apr 07 2012]

Low budget version http://www.youtube....watch?v=FEVAGVaEaVo
Fast forward to 2:00 [doctorremulac3, Apr 07 2012]

Hindenburg, but in space... The_20Hindenburg_2c_20but_20in_20space
[not_morrison_rm, Apr 09 2012]

Slide rule.. http://en.wikipedia...aphy_of_an_Engineer
..not much detail [not_morrison_rm, Apr 10 2012]

More alphanumeric-based artistic works. http://www.youtube....watch?v=CDlj0jBtYmQ
Not available in shops [AbsintheWithoutLeave, Apr 13 2012]

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       So many stories, so little time... But this is a good one.
Alterother, Apr 07 2012
  

       You lot simply wish to revel in our blimp misfortunes, don't you.
gnomethang, Apr 07 2012
  

       That's not fair - the US has had its fair share of LTA mishaps.   

       <link>
8th of 7, Apr 07 2012
  

       Oh! The inhumanity!
gnomethang, Apr 07 2012
  

       Yes, but none of ours would make for very good movies.
Alterother, Apr 07 2012
  

       8th June 1942. Last transcribed radio message: Sorry mate, didn't see you there.
Ling, Apr 08 2012
  

       //It's got everything//   

       Except a catchy name.
ldischler, Apr 08 2012
  

       OK, Mr Clever, you do better if you can ...
8th of 7, Apr 08 2012
  

       'U-571' had a fairly boring and unoriginal name (not to mention being a shitty movie) but it did pretty well in the box office.   

       I suggest 'Flying Heavy'. It's not a great title, but it would correspond to a line of dialogue spoken during the climax of the movie, and it's much better than "We're down, boys!"
Alterother, Apr 08 2012
  

       "Lighter Than Air - Until it Wasn't"
sqeaketh the wheel, Apr 08 2012
  

       I'm worried they'd tack on a love story to "get the women in the theater". That's not me talking, that's how Hollywood "thinks".   

       Granted, saying Hollywood thinks is a bit like saying a bear "engages in sanitation engineering" in the forest, but "thinks" is the only word that came to mind.   

       Bun 'cause I'm big into airships. I have a collection of airship memorabilia that I glance at about every 5 years or so.
doctorremulac3, Apr 08 2012
  

       As long as James Cameron can be conveniently relocated to a deserted island during its production and there is an absence of a love triangle subplot...
Cedar Park, Apr 09 2012
  

       Make it a comedy like Airplane and call it "Gas Bags". Use bad science to make the ship full of laughing gas... hilarity ensues.
marklar, Apr 09 2012
  

       Film rights for "The Hindenburg, but in space" inexplicably still available..   

       Wasn't "Slide Rule" ever dramatised, even for radio?
not_morrison_rm, Apr 09 2012
  

       //Make it a comedy like Airplane and call it "Gas Bags"// There is grist for comedy in at least one airship crash. When the Macon crashed here off the coast of California, the helium that was released as the ship ripped apart caused the crew to speak in high squeaky voices as they abandoned ship.   

       The upside is, when you yell "Oh my God! We're all going to die!" sounding like MIckey Mouse it gives a necessary light moment to an otherwise tragic situation.   

       I think most of the crew survived to laugh about it.
doctorremulac3, Apr 09 2012
  

       I for a long time imagined a comic book chronicling the race between the R-100 and the R-101. Ayn Rand would have been proud... but then I got high.
afinehowdoyoudo, Apr 10 2012
  

       Bun, so long as you don't get some French Canadian warbler to do the theme tune.
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Apr 10 2012
  

       //... but then I got high.//   

       How many stories of great human endeavors have ended with that sentence?
doctorremulac3, Apr 10 2012
  

       // Ayn Rand would have been proud... //   

       Only if you framed it as a thinly-veiled 1000+ page manifesto against the evils of Bolschevism.
Alterother, Apr 10 2012
  

       Nevil Shute wrote a book called "Slide Rule", covering the development of the R100 and R101. It's very good.
MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 10 2012
  

       "Lost Over France"
UnaBubba, Apr 10 2012
  

       Holy shit. Welcome back.
Alterother, Apr 10 2012
  

       Another deficiency in the story of the R-101 is that it simply flew into the ground at low speed. It failed to burst into flames in the spectacular fashion of the Hindenburg in spite of the addition of a smoking room big enough to hold half the people on board.
ldischler, Apr 11 2012
  

       //Wasn't "Slide Rule" ever dramatised, even for radio? nmrm Apr 09//   

       //Nevil Shute wrote a book called "Slide Rule", covering the development of the R100 and R101. mb Apr 10//   

       The main deficiency of the R101 was that they never bothered to actually calculate the likely stresses on the airframe, nor did they calculate the strength of the airframe itself. Shute, on the R100 team, wrote that they spent an almost interminable amount of time doing this with slide rules, which how the book got the title..and why their one actually worked.
not_morrison_rm, Apr 12 2012
  

       R-101 went down because it had a very fast following wind (70 knots or so) that made it almost impossible to control, didn't it?   

       (Dredging up memories from almost 30 years ago, so I may be thinking of a different disaster).
UnaBubba, Apr 12 2012
  

       // I may be thinking of a different disaster //   

       Yes, that was the time Oz lost the Ashes ...   

       The consensus now seems to be that it was a multimode failure. Factors include:   

       - The extra bay that was inserted for more lift without a full recalculation of stresses.
- The cover becoming waterlogged.
- The over-heavy, underpowered diesel engines.
- Prevailing weather.
- Lack of testing.
- Political interference.
- Chafing gasbags.
  

       Notably, the C of A was handwritten and given to the Commander just at the point of departure ...   

       There's plenty of stuff for a scriptwriter to get their teeth into.   

       We suggest that the music should either be by Sir Edward Elgar, or John Williams.
8th of 7, Apr 12 2012
  

       Perhaps the Germans could be persuaded to play the Americans, for the ashes of the Hindenburg?
UnaBubba, Apr 12 2012
  

       //- Political interference. - Chafing gasbags.//
Aren't those the same things?
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Apr 12 2012
  

       That depends upon whether you derive more pleasure from scratching the left, or the right.
UnaBubba, Apr 12 2012
  

       Pretty much ... substitute "hot air" for "gas" and they're indistinguishable.
8th of 7, Apr 12 2012
  

       Ahem. "Hot air" is merely a mixture of gases and a few pollutants and vapours.
UnaBubba, Apr 12 2012
  

       Fair point; there's useful oxygen even in hot air, whereas the vaporous effusions of politicians are uniformly toxic ...
8th of 7, Apr 12 2012
  

       Much as it pains me to admit, we agree entirely on something, [8th].
UnaBubba, Apr 12 2012
  

       If we're talking alphanumeric-based film ideas, can we also do a spinoff based on the ED-209?
zen_tom, Apr 12 2012
  

       ...or the RS-232?
not_morrison_rm, Apr 13 2012
  

       //or the RS-232//
Linky
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Apr 13 2012
  

       Right it's time to get that RS-232 film on the road! I suggest all the actors speak in machine code (subtitled in binary).
not_morrison_rm, Apr 14 2012
  


 

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