Wanderers (2014 film)

The film begins with a group of nomads around 10,000 BC, travelling through the Middle East on Earth. Shining clearly above them in the darkening twilight sky are the five naked eye "wandering stars" in the Solar System which might be visited some day by descendants of the human wanderers.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_the_open_road.html | title = Gallery / 'The Open Road - (Earth)' {1st scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 3, 2016}} The film then cuts to the future and shows a large interplanetary spacecraft leaving Earth's orbit, carrying space colonists on their way to another planet or moon.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_leaving_home.html | title = Gallery / 'Leaving Home - (Earth)' {2nd scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 3, 2016}}

File:MarsSunset.jpg on Mars to create the "Blue Sunset" scene in Wanderers.]]

Other than Earth's Moon,{{cite web | url = http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/index.html | title = The Apollo Missions | website = NASA website | date = 16 March 2015 | access-date = November 17, 2016}}{{cite interview | last = Wörner | first = Johann-Dietrich | interviewer = Olaf Stampf | title = New ESA Head Wörner: 'We Could Build All Kinds of Things with Moon Concrete' | url = http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-1038694.html | publisher = Spiegel Online International | location = Hamburg, Germany | date = June 19, 2015 | access-date = November 9, 2016}}{{cite news | last = Jaggard | first = Victoria | title = Haunting Pictures Show Earth Rising Over the Moon: Japan just released high-resolution pictures from its Kaguya orbiter, including some that have never been seen before by the public. | work = National Geographic | date = October 11, 2016 | url = http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/moon-earth-pictures-japan-kaguya-hdtv-space-science/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161012153359/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/moon-earth-pictures-japan-kaguya-hdtv-space-science/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 12, 2016 | access-date = November 18, 2016}} no other body in the Solar System has been explored{{cite news |last1 = Ram |first1 = Arun |last2 = Kumar |first2 = Chethan | title = Isro's Mars mission successful, India makes history | newspaper = The Times of India | location = Mumbai, India | date = September 24, 2014 | url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Isros-Mars-mission-successful-India-makes-history/articleshow/43296484.cms | access-date = November 12, 2016}} and examined for possible future human colonization more intently than Mars.{{cite news | last = Obama | first = Barack | title = Barack Obama: America will take the giant leap to Mars | newspaper = CNN | date = October 11, 2016 | url = http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/opinions/america-will-take-giant-leap-to-mars-barack-obama/index.html | access-date = November 8, 2016}}{{cite news | last = Aldrin | first = Buzz | title = The Call of Mars | newspaper = The New York Times | date = June 13, 2013 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/opinion/global/buzz-aldrin-the-call-of-mars.html | access-date = November 8, 2016}}{{cite news |last=Chang |first=Kenneth |title=Elon Musk's Plan: Get Humans to Mars, and Beyond |date=September 27, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/science/elon-musk-spacex-mars-exploration.html |newspaper=New York Times |accessdate=November 18, 2016}} In Wanderers, Wernquist starts with NASA photographs and crafts three scenes showing the possible Martian future: in the first, the cabin of a theorized space elevator descends down its cable, transporting supplies to a Mars colony below,{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_mars_elevator.html | title = Gallery / 'Mars Elevator - (Mars)' {6th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 8, 2016}} in the second, workers in space suits wait near the edge of Victoria Crater for approaching dirigibles,{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_cape_verde.html | title = Gallery / 'Cape Verde - (Mars)' {7th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 8, 2016}} and in the third, a group of hikers (who are presumably accustomed to watching red sunsets on Earth) enjoy the sight of the Martian sky glowing blue around the setting Sun.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_blue_sunset.html | title = Gallery / 'Blue Sunset - (Mars)' {8th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 10, 2016}}

File:Ligeia Mare in false color (PIA17031).jpg flying over the liquid methane lake Ligeia Mare on Saturn's moon Titan.]]

Wanderers makes good use of the wealth of information and images returned by the NASA / ESA Cassini–Huygens mission:{{cite web | url = http://sci.esa.int/cassini-huygens/ | title = Cassini-Huygens | website = European Space Agency web portal | access-date = November 17, 2016}} one third of its scenes depict either Saturn or one of its moons. One scene gives an extreme close-up view of Saturn's rings - the perspective is from inside the plane of the rings, looking up from within the jumble of water ice chunks that compose the rings to a person floating just above the plane.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_ringsurf.html | title = Gallery / 'Ringsurf - (rings of Saturn)' {5th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 12, 2016}} The final scene (discussed in more detail below) shows the rings at a distance, lit up by the Sun behind them, casting a luminous glow on Saturn's nighttime cloud tops that Wernquist refers to as "ringshine."{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_ringshine.html | title = Gallery / 'Ringshine - (Saturn)' {15th scene images and description, 1st, 3rd and 4th images} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 12, 2016}}

In a scene on Saturn's moon Titan which is only made imaginable by Titan's relatively low levels of gravity,{{cite web | url = http://www.space.com/28788-living-on-titan-saturn-explained-infographic.html | title = How Humans Could Live on Saturn's Moon Titan (Infographic) | last = Tate | first = Karl | date = March 12, 2015 | website = Space.com | access-date = November 17, 2016}} its thick, hazy atmosphere,{{cite news | last = Owens | first = Brendan | title = Starwatch: Titanic weather | newspaper = The Guardian | location = London | date = May 10, 2015 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/10/starwatch-saturn-moon-titan-cassini | access-date = November 18, 2016}} and a not-yet-discovered hyper-efficient thermal insulating material, humans fly above the moon's liquid methane sea Ligeia Mare using wings that are approximately the same size - relative to their bodies - as bird wings.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_ligeia_mare.html | title = Gallery / 'Ligeia Mare - (Titan, moon of Saturn)' {13th scene image and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 15, 2016}} The view of a spacecraft moving through the salt water crystals ejected from geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_enceladus_limb.html | title = Gallery / 'Enceladus Limb - (Enceladus, moon of Saturn)' {4th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 8, 2016}} is a reminder that a liquid ocean beneath its icy surface could potentially provide an environment capable of sustaining some form of life.{{cite news | last = Sneed | first = Annie | title = Excitement Builds for the Possibility of Life on Enceladus | newspaper = Scientific American | date = June 28, 2016 | url = https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/excitement-builds-for-the-possibility-of-life-on-enceladus/ | access-date = November 16, 2016}} A chain of human settlements on Saturn's moon Iapetus are portrayed on the peaks of its equatorial ridge, each covered with an enormous and (apparently) transparent dome that does not obstruct the view of Saturn and its rings. (Since the orbit of Iapetus is more inclined relative to the rings than any of Saturn's other major moons, Wernquist helpfully adds that the beautiful view "would make for some highly valuable real estate."){{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_iapetus_ridge.html | title = Gallery / 'Iapetus Ridge - (Iapetus, moon of Saturn)' {9th scene image and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 13, 2016}}

File:Jupiter, Earth size comparison.jpg, Jupiter's massive bulk creates such suffocating surface gravity that Wanderers could only show space adventurers near the Great Red Spot by depicting them in weightless orbit above it.]]

Wanderers does not specify whether any of the space explorers it depicts are governmentally-sponsored astronauts, cosmonauts, or taikonauts, if they are alternately commercial astronauts, space flight participants, or solely space tourists.{{cite news | last = Marinova | first = Polina | title = What Billionaire Richard Branson Thinks of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk | newspaper = Fortune magazine | date = November 15, 2016 | url = http://fortune.com/2016/11/15/richard-branson-elon-musk-jeff-bezos/ | access-date = November 27, 2016}} Wernquist calls them simply "passengers", "people," and "hikers," and none of the spacecraft transporting them carry the insignia of a space agency or a privately funded space enterprise.{{cite news | last = Chang | first = Kenneth | title = A Business Plan for Space | newspaper = New York Times | date = February 9, 2015 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/science/a-business-plan-for-space.html?_r=0 | access-date = November 27, 2016}}{{cite news | last = Pasztor | first = Andy | title = Space-Exploration Startup Scores U.S. Regulatory Coup: Moon Express approved to send a tiny, unmanned scientific spacecraft to the moon in the second half of 2017 | newspaper = The Wall Street Journal | date = August 4, 2016 | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/space-exploration-startup-scores-u-s-regulatory-coup-1470225604 | access-date = November 27, 2016}} Regardless of their official designation, the people shown in the two Jupiter scenes and the one scene showcasing Uranus and its moon Miranda must be referred to as "adventurers."

In a scene shown from orbit above Jupiter, a spacecraft's cargo bay doors open to reveal a tethered adventurer beginning a spacewalk, with the Great Red Spot visible below.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_the_great_red_spot.html | title = Gallery / 'The Great Red Spot - (Jupiter)' {3rd scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 3, 2016}} We also see adventurers walking across the surface ice on Jupiter's moon Europa,{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_europa_view.html | title = Gallery / 'Europa View - (Europa, moon of Jupiter)' {12th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 3, 2016}} and who, in so doing, might also be walking above extraterrestrial microbes. (Like Saturn's moon Enceladus, astrobiologists are very focused on the possibility that Europa could harbor life.{{cite news | last = Strauss | first = Gary | title = If Europa Has Life, This Scientist Will Help Find It: Astrobiologist Kevin Hand's search for life on other planets is centered on one of Jupiter's ice moons. | work = National Geographic | date = October 24, 2016 | url = http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/kevin-hand-explorer-moments-jupiter-moon/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161027144522/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/kevin-hand-explorer-moments-jupiter-moon/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 27, 2016 | access-date = November 23, 2016}}) Another group of adventurers BASE jump off of a cliff on Miranda, the smallest gravitationally-rounded moon orbiting the planet Uranus.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_verona_rupes.html | title = Gallery / 'Verona Rupes - (Miranda, moon of Uranus)' {14th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 15, 2016}} The cliff in question, Verona Rupes, may be 5 - 10 kilometers tall. Combined with Miranda's low gravity, Wernquist estimates the jumpers could enjoy a free fall of perhaps 12 minutes before engaging a small rocket to brake their fall.

File:Spacecolony3edit.jpeg is somewhat similar to the hollow "Terrarium" asteroid in Wanderers: both are large hypothetical space habitats which rotate to create artificial gravity.]]

The film includes a dramatic illustration of possible in situ resource utilization: it depicts a hollowed-out Main Belt asteroid which could serve as a habitat for colonists and a space station for travelers who venture beyond the orbit of Mars.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_excavation.html | title = Gallery / 'Excavation - (unnamed asteroid, Main Asteroid Belt)' {10th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 15, 2016}} The interior cavity of the asteroid / habitat / station consists of a human-constructed, self-contained ecosystem, complete with pressurized, breathable air, land and soil, bodies of water, and clouds rotating around a periodic source of artificial sunlight.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_terrarium.html | title = Gallery / 'Terrarium - (unnamed asteroid, Main Asteroid Belt)' {11th scene image and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 15, 2016}}

Wernquist concedes that his depiction of a terraformed asteroid "is by far the most speculative part of this short film," but also says that he included it "to visualize the possibilities of human engineering and construction."{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_excavation.html | title = Gallery / 'Excavation - (unnamed asteroid, Main Asteroid Belt)' {10th scene description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = March 18, 2017}} He calls the asteroid a "terrarium," applying the name used by Kim Stanley Robinson in his hard science fiction novel 2312.

File:Saturn eclipse exaggerated.jpg (a mosaic of actual photographs with exaggerated color) inspired the final scene, "Ringshine - (Saturn)."]]

On Saturn, human-made airships are shown in the distant clouds, somewhat similar to the HAVOC crewed airships contemplated by NASA for a possible mission to Venus. The airships are framed by the planet's colossal rings. On one of the ships, a female explorer gazes out into the distance, wearing an insulated jacket, a fur hood, and a protective mask. As the clouds of Saturn cast reflections on her helmet, which conceals her mouth, she smiles in wonder.{{cite web | url = http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/gallery_ringshine.html | title = Gallery / 'Ringshine - (Saturn)' {15th scene images and description} | website = "Wanderers" film official website | access-date = November 15, 2016}} Carl Sagan's narration concludes as he states:

Maybe it’s a little early. Maybe the time is not quite yet. But those other worlds — promising untold opportunities — beckon. Silently, they orbit the Sun, waiting.{{cite web|url=http://erikwernquist.com/wanderers/what.htmlhttp://erikwernquist.com/wanderers/film.html|title=Film|publisher=WANDERERS - short film|access-date=10 February 2016}}

Wanderers is based on the visions of its director, Erik Wernquist, regarding humanity's future explorations of outer space. The film's visuals, animated by Wernquist, are digital recreations of real places in the Solar System; though speculative, the human technology depicted in the film derives from pre-existing scientific concepts and ideas.{{cite web|url=http://erikwernquist.com/wanderers/what.html|title=What Is This?|publisher=WANDERERS - short film|access-date=18 February 2016}} The film's backgrounds are built from map data and/or from photographs taken by NASA.{{cite web|url=http://twistedsifter.com/2014/12/wanderers-short-film-about-space-exploration-narrated-by-carl-sagan/|title=Wanderers – Short Film About Space Exploration Narrated by Carl Sagan|date=December 2014 |publisher=Twisted Sifter|access-date=21 February 2016}} The visuals are inspired by the works of science fiction writers Arthur C. Clarke and Kim Stanley Robinson, as well as illustrator Chesley Bonestell.

With the permission of Ann Druyan, the wife of astronomer Carl Sagan, Wernquist added excerpts of Sagan's narration of his book Pale Blue Dot throughout the film.

The film was released on the video-sharing website Vimeo on October 11, 2014, and was officially uploaded to YouTube on August 4, 2015.

The short film has received extremely positive reviews since its release. Leonard David, a columnist on Space.com, called it a "marvelous production". Amy Shira Teitel of the website Nerdist said the film was "brilliantly realistic" and that it "might even be better than Interstellar." Dante D'Orazio of The Verge wrote that the film was a "stunningly beautiful journey across our solar system", and that while it "doesn't have a traditional story, the visuals and score (paired with Sagan's words) will make you, too, dream of the day when we become a multi-planetary species."

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://erikwernquist.com/wanderers/film.html Official film release and website]

{{Planetary exploration}}

{{Spaceflight}}

{{Spacecraft by destination}}

{{science fiction}}

{{Animation}}

{{Carl Sagan}}

Category:2014 films

Category:2014 science fiction films

Category:2014 short films

Category:Swedish short films

Category:Films set in the future

Category:2010s English-language films

Category:English-language science fiction films

Category:English-language short films