Japanese Biological Attack on Los Angeles, WWII

Here's another interesting alternate timeline, courtesy of AH.com

How Silent Fall The Cherry Blossoms

The gist of it is that the Japanese I-400 submarine aircraft carriers (I kid you not, they were real) are completed in 1944, with a possible point of divergence being an earthquake not happening and/or less interference from Allied bombers. Faced with the American military-industrial freight train heading for the Home Islands, one of the Japanese leaders orders a biological attack on Los Angeles to be launched from these submarines. Aircraft launched from these submarines unleash the evil fruits of the infamous Unit 731, bombs loaded with fleas infested with the plague. The idea is that if the U.S. civilian population is made to suffer enough, people would put pressure on the government to end the war. In real life, the Japanese used biological weapons in China, causing thousands of deaths from the plague. Although the U.S. medical infrastructure is more advanced and the U.S. is not under constant military attack, our own advanced transportation infrastructure will work against us. See below...

As of the most recent update, small-scale outbreaks are occurring in Los Angeles, St. Louis, and now it looks like New York City as well. The ancient "from the plague, oh Lord, deliver us" prayer has been revived in L.A. churches, dark but cool moment. Although the discussion in most of the thread consists of just how screwed Japan is going to be after their inevitable defeat (the U.S. could use poison gas tactically in the Pacific as well as using rice blight as a biological weapon in the Home Islands), one board member points out that the plague could cause the American war effort serious trouble. Think mass absenteeism at war plants due to fear of catching the plague, or outbreaks crippling units slated for deployment. Already medical units intended for the Pacific are being diverted to care for plague victims in Los Angeles. And now it's looking like the Germans are looking into using biological weapons themselves, possibly against the British due to their lack of anything that could reach the U.S. mainland.

It's very interesting so far and has the potential to go into some very dark places. Check it out.

Another "Battle: Los Angeles" Trailer

This one is longer than the one I posted before.  It gives us more clues about how the alien invasion actually works--it seems like the rain of meteors are infantry drop-pods a la Starship Troopers rather than orbital bombardment weapons, although the trailer does depict ships and helicopters being destroyed by them.

Perhaps the "meteor shower" consists of rocks or projectiles of some kind as well as infantry drop-pods.  After all, using your infantry as bullets or artillery shells strikes me as a really bad strategy.

On my alternate-history forum, in which I found the trailer, someone theorized the aliens were semi-aquatic.  This could explain an invasion of Earth--which has an ocean--rather than worlds where there are resources but no population to fight (think Mars).  It's also more creative than a lot of invading aliens, which seem to be land animals if not humans-in-suits.

(However, the end of the trailer features something coming out of the ground, which seems to indicate the aliens had something on Earth before they invaded, something fairly big.)

I do like the helicopter with some of the Marines and the refugees getting smashed as soon as it takes off--in real life, death often comes suddenly and brutally rather than in a predictable fashion.

A Correction to My Skyline Review

I posted a link to my review of the film Skyline on my alternate history forum and it seems I misidentified one of the aircraft deployed in the initial attack on the alien mothership.

The user whose handle is Wanderlust identified the aircraft carrying the nuclear weapon as a drone, not a manned plane.  She even posted a link identifying what the specific drone is:

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/x47/

Given how (I assume) the military launched the initial attack using drones to avoid the possibility of pilots being hypnotized by the aliens' lights, including a manned aircraft like the B-2 Spirit amid a swarm of Predators and/or Global Hawks doesn't make a lot of sense.  The nuke-bearer being a drone would also explain why it was able to pull the high-G manuevers that it did to evade the alien fliers and gut the alien mothership with the tactical nuke.

Wanderlust also pointed out that since this is a naval project, that would explain the presence of the carrier battle group off the coast.  The user whose handle is The Red theorized that the reason the second attack on the alien swarm above Los Angeles included unarmed helicopters and infantry and a relatively small number of manned aircraft (we don't see masses of F-22s or naval F-14s) is that they assumed the nuke had taken out most of the aliens and were just mopping up.

An unmanned first wave followed by a manned mop-up actually makes strategic sense when dealing with an enemy that can potentially hypnotize and disable human soldiers.  The flaw in the strategy is a lack of intelligence (the mothership was temporarily crippled, not destroyed), which is often a reason military operations fail.  The follow-up attack fails, the carrier fleet is destroyed, and it seems the swarm is triumphant over Southern California.

Movie Review: "Skyline" (SPOILERS)

My friend David and I saw the movie Skylineyesterday, undeterred by the thoroughly awful reviews it's got on RottenTomatoes.com.

I really enjoyed it.  Here's my review...

The Good

The alien invaders, both in terms of concept and execution, are really cool.  They're basically a biomechanical predatory swarm, using their hypnotic blue lights to lure human prey like an anglerfish in the deep oceans would.  Their amazing ability to repair damage suffered using local materials--the remains of buildings and convenient humans--is exposited early on and done consistently.

The scene where the military goes up against one of the alien motherships with a swarm of Predator drones and at least one B-2 Spirit armed with a nuclear bomb was really cool, both the visuals and the music.  The image of the crippled alien mothership, gutted by the nuclear missile, plowing through the city as it falls was just awesome.

The second fight scene when Jarrod (Eric Balfour) and Elaine (Scottie Thompson) flee their penthouse refuge and watch F-22s duke it out with even more alien flyers while a group of soldiers with big .50 caliber rifles snipe at a large alien ground creatures was fun too.

Although the characterization is not one of the film's strongest points, Jarrod does get a character arc.  He starts out as kind of hapless, reacting to stuff that happens to him (his best friend's employee suddenly announcing he's taken a job in California without asking him, Elaine's unexpected pregnancy) and being a bit obnoxious.  After nearly being snatched by the alien light, something that affects him physiologically and psychologically, he "mans up" significantly, overpowering building concierge Oliver (David Zayas) who thinks he's turning into an alien and whaling on an alien flyer threatening him and Elaine using both a brick and a fire axe.  He even flat-out tells Oliver that nobody is going to stop him from protecting "my family," indicating that despite his earlier response to learning of Elaine's pregnancy, he is taking responsibility.

UBER-SPOILER BELOW

Even after being captured and having his brain transplanted into an alien body, Jarrod manages to retain his free will and whups up other aliens intent on dissecting the Elaine after discovering she is pregnant (this continues on into the credits--be sure to stay).  This also serves as a big sequel hook--although the aliens appear triumphant in a montage depicting them floating over Earth's major cities, Jarrod could easily be the inspiration for a revolt among the prisoners aboard one of the aliens' bigger ships.

Oliver gets some awesome moments too, including a part where he fills the penthouse with gas to turn it into a suicide bomb against a large alien ground creature climbing up the building to get him.  Although it takes awhile for Jarrod to "man up," Oliver does so from the beginning--he demands Jarrod wake up and realize the gravity of the situation, favors a cautious approach after some other characters are killed, and is smart to be suspicious of Jarrod's appearance and demeanor.  Oliver's pained reaction to seeing the nuclear flash while looking through the telescope was realistic too.

Also, the film begins with the initial alien invasion and then flashes back to "15 hours before," which is a good way to hook the viewer.  Given the film's weaker characterization, starting with the hijinks of these people and THEN seeing the fit hit the shan a la Cloverfield might not be a good idea.

The movie also foreshadows Elaine's pregnancy by depicting her as being nauseous and even throwing up in the morning and Jarrod assisting a woman with a baby when they leave their airplane.  The second part could also foreshadow Jarrod's growing paternal attitude.  I liked that, even though I knew about Elaine's pregnancy from the reviews.

The Bad

The characters need work.  Jarrod has a character arc and Oliver has a brain and initiative, but it's not clear why Terry (Donald Faison) is cheating on Candice (Brittany Daniel) with Denise (Crystal Reed), a woman whose position is not entirely clear but whom Wikipedia describes as his secretary who for some reason hangs around his penthouse.  Earlier we get the impression Candice is jealous and high-maintenance and Denise is besotted with Terry, but it needs to be elaborated on more.  Another character, the one who assumes Jarrod is coming to LA to work for Terry's company, could have been elaborated on a bit more but is killed off pretty early on.

Oliver's back story could be expanded too.  Although his use of "vaya con Dios" identifies him as being Hispanic, I initially thought he was an Arab.  If he was from, say, Lebanon and has seen war before, that could explain why he has the knowledge and attitude he has.

Plus, he stays in the penthouse and waits for the monster to come to him so he can kill both it and himself rather than fleeing into the interior hallways or the stairwell where it would be hard for the aliens to get him.  It's not clear why.  Earlier in the film, Candice behaves somewhat flirtatiously toward him and she was taken by the aliens just before the ground critter spots him, but if the filmmakers' intent was that Oliver loved her and was so distraught by her death that he decided to become a suicide bomber, it didn't work.

Some of the military tactics need work too.  In a modern air battle, the missiles would be launched from miles away.  The cast would see alien flyers and the mothership being hit out of nowhere before seeing the planes coming.  Granted, the attacking force largely consists of Predator drones, but still.

Also, given the fact nuclear weapons were used in the first counterattack, I would imagine there'd be more available when it turned out the aliens were able to immediately start repairing the fallen mothership--surely whoever commanded the attack would be aware the nuke-carrier could be shot down.  A second nuke at that moment would have killed off the alien critters repairing it by the thousands and possibly even completely destroyed its superstructure.  Granted, there might have been more than one B-2 and the one that got the nuke off could have been the last to be destroyed, but making that clearer would have been helpful.  Perhaps another B-2 approaches the crippled mothership to finish it off and it gets swarmed and killed and its missile intercepted by a suicidal alien flyer?

Considering how Southern California is very defense-heavy, it would have been nice to see a larger variety of human units involved in the counterattack.  In one scene, an F-22 strafes an alien ground beast attacking Jarrod and Elaine, a role best suited for a helicopter or A-10.  Seeing a bunch of Apaches doing a "ride of the Valkyries" through the streets of Los Angeles hosing alien ground critters on top of everything else would have been awesome.

Also, we see a carrier battle group offshore during the second counterattack, but the only fixed-wing planes we actually see are F-22 Raptors.  A carrier would be launching F-14s, a la Top Gun.

Finally, when Jarrod beats a fallen alien flyer, we see a lengthy sped-up montage of him hammering the critter.  That could have been cut in half time-wise and we'd have still gotten the point.

The Verdict

A fun but flawed movie with a surprising defense of traditional masculine virtues like taking responsibility and defense of women and kids against threats.  I will definitely see the sequel.  7/10.

New Film Trailer: "Battle: Los Angeles"

Now this looks like of cool.  Another alien-invasion film, in the vein of Skyline.  Kudos to Blackwave from my alternate-history forum for finding this.

This time the alien invaders show some strategic sense.  Rather than bringing down their ships from orbit immediately where they can be attacked by human planes and ground fire, they attack human aircraft and ships (from what we can see in the trailer) via orbital bombardment before actually landing on Earth.

(That'd be a major advantage in any scenario featuring an enemy with orbital supremacy.  The novel Footfall, the "hardest" SF novel I know of featuring an alien invasion where the humans actually win, depicts the aliens smashing elements of the Kansas National Guard and later entire armored divisions with "rods from God.")

I think I'm going to see Skyline with my friend David this weekend.  A pity this one won't come out until March, but that gives time for anticipatory buzz to build.  If Skyline does well, this one, which looks a lot bigger-budgeted, might do even better.