True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Aliens of the Deep
Who knew that James Cameron, the director of the Alien films and
Titanic, was a hopeless science nerd and submarine groupie? Cameron
uses his extensive resources to hire four cute mini-submersibles, staffs
them with good looking astronauts and exo-biologists, and then sets
off to explore the bottom of the ocean as if it were another planet. And
it is! There is a weird world down there, entirely separate from the solar
powered ecosystems on the rest of the planet. In the oceanic deep, this
alien world is chemically- and heat-powered, which makes for very bizarre
creatures, seen up close and personal. Cameron makes the controversial
case that archaic life may have begun in this non-solar environment first
and then later migrated to the lighted world. The drama of surviving
bone-crushing deep dives is just a rehearsal for future expeditions to the
other moons in our solar system that may have water and underwater
alien life. The science is well done, very engaging, and very imaginative.
It’s presented with such impeccable Hollywood filmwork that it feels like
a science fiction film. Be sure to watch the extended, and not the short
IMAX, version.
10
By James Cameron
2005, 47 min.
Available form Amazon
Rent from Netflix
A gossamer jelly
never before seen
(left). Smokers
emit noxious
fumes, boiling
water, and alien
life. The console
of Cameron’s
submersible
(above) is a
cockpit of instruments
and video
monitors. In view
is a companion
vehicle.