Journey to the Center of the Earth

Jumping back to new, theatrical releases, let us Journey to the Center of the Earth.

PLEASE NOTE - SPOILERS BELOW:

1. It’s been a while since I've seen a film in which the opening sequence was so wrought with scientific inaccuracies. We start our adventure with a cute little trilobite (the cute critter that looks like a brown pill bug on steroids). Portrayed fairly accurately, I was pleased for about 5 seconds until a large Tyrannosaurus rex entered the frame. Problem is, the last of the trilobites died out at the end of the Permian, (about 250 million years ago) and T. rex didn’t appear in until the end of the Cretaceous (68-65 million years ago). So we are looking at approximately 180 million years between when the two existed. As I know many of the readers of this blog are not scientists or mathematicians, I will enlighten you. . . 180 million years is a really long time! Now, I do realize that this was a dream sequence but Trevor Anderson (Fraser) should have known this simple fact being the scientist/professor that he was.

2. As our three travelers begin repelling down what we later learn is a supposed volcanic conduit (the pipe that facilitates the lava flow from the magma chamber out the vent at the top of the volcano) Fraser makes a reference to schist as the material covering the walls around them. Schist is a metamorphic rock (an igneous [volcanic origins] or sedimentary rock [originating from biological remains] which over time has been changed from its original state. What would later be the basis of several jokes, this material could not possibly be schist as schist transforms not from volcanic, igneous rock, but rather from sedimentary rock, the remains of deceased plant and animal life.

3. Continuing in their travels, Fraser lights a flare and after a brief pyrotechnic show, realizes that the walls of their underground chamber are now made of magnesium. Magnesium is highly flammable but while it is easy to ignite when powdered or in small shaved quantities, it is difficult to ignite in mass or in this case imbedded in walls of rock. Additionally, when lit, it gives off a brilliant white light, not the orangish tinge we are offered.

4. After an Indiana Jones-esque ride through the mines, our faithful friends land in a gem pocket. Gem pockets are cavities in the earth previously filled with gasses or water in which minerals’ growth is made possible. Basically they are larger versions of Geodes (those ugly rocks you broke open when you were a kid with all the pretty gems inside). Pockets are fairly common and occur all over the world but usually contain like minerals made up of the same or similar occurring elements. Diamonds (a carbon based gem usually embedded in the mineral kimberlite), emeralds (a variety of the mineral beryl), smoky quartz and amethyst (varieties of the mineral quartz), and rubies (a variety of the mineral corundum) would not all be found in the same pocket as they are derived from very different minerals and basal elements, which lend them their exquisite colors.

5. As our fearless trio progresses, we meet up with another lovely mineral - Muscovite, the thin fragile ground which begins to crack as they move. Also known as mica and occurring among granites, schists, and other rocks, this was a fairly accurate depiction of the thin laminate sheets usually colored gray, yellow or brown (as in this motion picture).

6. We meet another creature as we enter the “center of the earth,” a small, glowing bird that Fraser states has been extinct for 150 million years. This small bird is crammed with mistakes:

a. First, lets start with bioluminescence, the production and emission of light by a living organism. No living bird exhibits bioluminescence. Most animals that do light up do so for a variety of reasons including attraction (prey or mates), communication, camouflage and illumination (for animals that live in dark locations such as deep in the ocean where sunlight does not exist). Birds have many adaptations, and are highly evolved animals with elaborate attraction displays, advanced communication skills, and coloration, which keep them well camouflaged.
b. This adorable little bird is clearly a passerine (or perching bird for the non-scientists among us). Passerines are the most common of all birds accounting for more than one-half of all bird species. But scientists believe that passerines didn’t evolve until the late Paleocene, some 55-60 million years ago, which means this bird couldn’t have gone extinct 150 million years ago.
c. Finally, birds, like other animals, typically have a built-in instinct that other animals, which are not familiar, are potential predators and seen as threats. This is why when you venture out into nature, it is not the best plan to try to grab an animal out of its natural environment as you will probably get bit. This is a defense mechanism, as most animals that have tried to grab it in the past were likely predators, trying to capture it for a meal. That being said, it is highly unlikely that our diminutive glowing friend would have followed Fraser and company throughout the rest of their adventure.

7. The giant dandelion clocks (the big poofy tops of the dandelion that Fraser blows the seed parachutes off of) are a bit large for any dandelion described by modern science (as opposed to science fiction). And dandelions did not arrive on the floral scene until about 30 million years ago, making these dandelions at least 20 million years ahead of their time (based on the other plants and animals portrayed in the “center of the earth”).

8. And while we are on the topic of things being out of place, the ginormous fossilized mushrooms didn’t belong either, especially since the word ‘fossil’ comes from the Latin, literally meaning “having been dug up.” Unless Fraser’s long lost brother did some excavating while he was hanging out in the center of the earth, it’s impossible that the mushrooms would have just fossilized intact, as that is not how fossilization works. The most common way for a plant or animal to turn into a fossil is after burial, when the (sometimes very tiny) empty spaces within an organism fill with mineral rich groundwater. As the minerals or sediments separate from the groundwater they, in essence, replace the once biotic (living) material with abiotic (nonliving) material; such as when a bone turns into a rock. The other problem with the idea that these gargantuan mushrooms are fossils, is that mushrooms rarely fossilize. Why? Because they are very soft and have no rigid fibers in them so they are usually smashed or disintegrate before they have the time to fossilize.

9. Coming back to the trilobites, there is a funny exchange between Fraser and the boy in which he instructs him to “eat your trilobite to keep up your strength”. The trilobite Max is consuming has innards that look surprisingly similar to the insides of a cockroach: whitish and pussy. Now, although scientists do not know what the insides of trilobites actually looked like (as these parts do not fossilize), it would be accurate to assume that they would very much resemble those of a roach, which has a comparable body shape and structure. So a point goes to the filmmakers on this one.

10. Score another point for the filmmakers as our adventurers hit the high seas. Here we meet some small, jumpy fish, which one would assume was an Enchondus fish. These fish were present in the late cretaceous (100-65 million years ago) and were fairly formidable predators. We also meet the large, but fairly slow moving Plesiosaurs - the long necked reptiles meandering through the water, one of which seizes an Enchondus. Plesiosaurs were also know to have existed in the late cretaceous and although slow moving, it is widely believed that they used their long, flexible neck to move their head into position to snap up unwary fish. This is further supported by the fossilized stomach contents of Plesiosaurs in which remains of the Enchondus fish were found.

11. Moving from fauna to flora, and back to the land of the giants, our fearless friends meet some very large carnivorous plants.

a. First off, venus flytraps, or any carnivorous plant for that matter, do not grow that big. The largest of the carnivorous plants is the pitcher plant, and it is the vines, not the pitcher itself (the carnivorous part) that actually reaches up to 10 meters in length.
b. Secondly, because of their real, more diminutive size, they do not consume large prey. Most flytraps “eat” flies, beetles, and sometimes small frogs or lizards. Furthermore they do not have teeth, so they cannot chew or break their prey down into smaller sizes. The largest prey they can consume is what fits in their modified leaves (the part that opens and shuts like a bear trap). Because they cannot break off parts of the animal and therefore have to eat it whole, the largest animal the plant Fraser and friends encounter could consume would be a medium size rat or pigeon, definitely not a full grown human.
c. Flytraps are also non-aggressive. They eat what comes to them, they don’t seek out prey and do not have any sort of viney structure for prey capture, which we see grabbing the Icelandic heroine.

12. One of my favorite scenes, though completely inaccurate, was the scene with the floating rocks. I was first impressed with the thought that these rocks were floating due to magnetic forces. Each magnet has 2 poles, a north pole and a south pole. Since opposite poles (north and south) attract whereas like poles (north and north, or south and south) repel, we assume that the repelling of poles is what is at play here . . . until the rock Max is on flips over. Now although the Earth's magnetic field occasionally reverses itself, it is highly unlikely that this just so happened at this precise moment in time and then instantaneously reverted back to its original state of polarity for him to escape.

13. We started with a T. rex and will end with a T. rex as Fraser and nephew try to outrun the large beast. While many scientists still argue whether T. rex was a fast runner (fueling the debate that he was a scavenger rather than a hunter), it is agreed by most that he was not good at turning or weaving. Due to his horizontal stance causing the bulk of his mass to be far from his center of gravity, it would take up to 2 seconds for the animal to rotate 45 degrees: a slight right or left turn. Our T. rex is turning and weaving all over the place. Secondly, whether you believe T. rex was a fast runner or slow runner, either way, our friends would have been lunch. Scientists have produced a wide range of maximum speed estimates from 12-25 miles per hour for the large Therapod dinosaur. Problem is, humans can’t run that fast. Maurice Green achieved the fastest sprinting speed of 26.7 mph but this is not sustained running. The highest sustained speed is just over 15 miles an hour - i.e. a 4-minute mile, which I’m sure neither or our contenders could have accomplished.

Grade: C+