Though I don’t intend to see the film and am turned off by the “twist” presented within (and, based on the reviews, the very lame way its dealt with), I’m nonetheless fascinated with the Chris Pratt/Jennifer Lawrence film Passengers.

In part it is because of similarities to a portion of my novel Ghost of the Argus, which, because it was a big element of said novel, clearly is an interesting topic for me…or else I never would have included it in my novel.

Having said that, a clarification: The idea of someone trapped alone on a spacecraft with a long time to go before it reaches its destination is not some blazingly new or original concept.  Indeed, if you peel off the sci-fi element, the person living all alone goes back at least to Robinson Crusoe.  In sci-fi, there’s what is arguably Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, which featured two astronauts alone on a big starship heading to a distant location while the other crew members were in some kind of cryogenic sleep.

As for the Passengers twist, check this out, the cover to Weird Science #20, originally published in 1951.  I vaguely remembered that particular issue (I’m a fan of the EC line of comics but shamefully admit the cover of this book and its similarity to the movie was pointed out elsewhere):

Pretty much the plot of Passengers, no?

Anyway, that’s about all I have to say about this film…unless of course something else occurs to me! 😉