Netflix original film The Midnight Sky dropped December 11th, 2021.
🪐💖#TheMidnightSky was directed by George Clooney.
rottentomatoes: 52%
metacritic: 58
imdb: 5.6
Dr. Tophouse
Dr. Augustine Tophouse navigates a post-apocalyptic scenario outside of 2049 Iceland.
“Like a race to see who’d die first. Nobody around to read it. If I was in a hurry to die, I’d go with you. Where is that? As good a place as any.” — Dr. Tophouse
“In our galaxy alone, there are billions of stars, each one a sun to its own solar system. And most of those suns have planets, so it stands to reason that of these hundred of billions of exoplanets that exist in our galaxy, at least one of them has the potential to support life. This is K-23, Jupiter’s previously undiscovered moon. Not quite an exoplanet. The moon’s atmosphere is governed not by the sun, but by it’s thermal volcanic activity. In simpler terms, when studying K-23’s lunar spectrum, its biomarkers and water vapors, it appears as though it’s being heated from the inside out. While further probing will need to test for atmospheric habitability, we can confidently say that based on its mass, radial velocity, and orbit, it could be just right.” — Dr. Tophouse
“I haven’t met him personally, but I gathered research for his partner years ago, read his papers. No, Michigan. Yeah. Have you been? Whiskey. What are you drinking? No. Yeah, I’m sure. I will.” — Dr. Tophouse
“List active missions. Show me Aether. How long till Aether’s in range for direct contact? Set an alarm for notification.” — Dr. Tophouse
“No. Hello, this is Barbeau Observatory. A family member has been left behind. Somebody needs to come back for her. Hello, this is Barbeau Observatory. An outpost child has been left. Sh– what’s your name? Your name– what’s your name? She’s a– she’s an unidentified child. She’s seven or eight. She’s alone. Somebody has to come back. Sh– is anyone out there?” — Dr. Tophouse
“Hey. Somebody’s gotta come back for you, because I can’t help you. You understand? I’m the wrong person. I’m the wrong person. Are you hungry? You have any brothers or sisters? You’re not deaf, right? You can hear me talking? Hey. Well, that’s clear. You just can’t talk? Or you won’t? You just want to piss me off. What is that? Is that an iris? Is it– Iris? Okay. Come in, Aether. This is Barbeau Observatory. Are you receiving this? Come in, Aether. This is Barbeau Observatory. Are you receiving this? Don’t– don’t touch anything. Come in, Aether. This is Barbeau Observatory. Are you receiving this? No touching. Come in, Aether. This is Barbeau Observatory. That’s Aether. It’s a spaceship, far away, coming back from a planet that we– we hoped would be our future, but… things didn’t quite turn out that way. That’s why I have to contact them. Now, before it’s too late. You understand?” — Dr. Tophouse
“No, no, no, no. This is my room. This is my room. Here. You sleep in here. No. Okay. Uh… the antenna’s our problem. It’s not strong enough. Doesn’t matter what direction we put it in. They’re not answering us because they can’t hear us. Well, that’s something.” — Dr. Tophouse
“I know. Doesn’t make much sense to me either. You know there’s no rule that says you have to touch everything. Polaris. You see it? It’s the most important star in the sky. If you ever get lost, it’ll help you find your way.” — Dr. Tophouse
“Sorry, I was working. I can. I just didn’t. It shouldn’t be up this far. There is an antenna that’s stronger than ours. It’s up north. There. Lake Hazen. It’s a weather station. It’s protected by this mountain range. So the air might still be good. At least for a while. We get to that antenna, somebody’ll hear us. It’s a long way. It’s okay. It’s all right. You have to. So do I. Just take a deep breath. That’s not so bad, right? Hmm? Okay. Never take it off, no matter what.” — Dr. Tophouse
“We’re okay for now. No need to keep checking it. The air is safe here. We’re safe. Yeah. We gotta get some sleep. You need to sleep. I need to sleep. Stay here. What? Get out of here. Go! Okay. Let’s go.” — Dr. Tophouse
“Mmm. I’m sorry. Did you tell her about me?” — Dr. Tophouse
“This’ll do. For now. Is that your mom? I knew a face like that once. Yeah. Her hair was a little different shade, but… she was as loud as you are quiet. When she’d laugh, everybody would turn and look. I think she’d laugh so much because she was that much smarter than everybody else, and she knew it. I wish you’d tell me something about your life, Iris. Anything would do. Hey, Iris. Ask me a question. Run! We shouldn’t have stopped. No, thank you. I like these better. When we get to Lake Hazen, there’s gonna every kind of food there. There’s gonna be pizza… and cheeseburgers. Anything you want. No peas. We keep going in that direction. Come on. It’s all right. We’re gonna be fine. We’ll be fine.” — Dr. Tophouse
Sully
“On my way. No! Wait! Ade! Wait! I’m here! You awake, Maya? Like a moose. I’m not speaking to you. I had a dream you left me on K-23, so I’m not talking to you. You started early. You still trying to beat your boys’ times? Nah, I do it for free. I’m trying. Good morning, Sully. Your decaf. Nothing yet.”
“This is Aether Mission K-23, open on all channels. Does anyone copy? Does anyone copy? I’m running S,X, and Ka. Including the control blackout? Three weeks. If Mojave goes offline, then Spain or Australia immediately grabs the signal. No gaps. We’re not receiving anything. I’ve taken everything apart, rebooted it a dozen times, and nothing works. I also couldn’t make contact with the K-23 colony flight, which should’ve been in the air a week ago. I mean, it could be atmospheric, RF pollution, or maybe a geomagnetic storm. RF pollution, or maybe geomagnetic storm. But none of that could last this long or disrupt both hemispheres.”
“Do you want to change games? I’m on about a two-month winning streak. Yeah, I read your bio. You also broke the family dog’s leg when you strapped it to a wooden rocket. Not to the dog. A streak that’s lasted from one side of the universe to the other. Hmm. And that is what you’re doing now? Overpowering me with math? Oh! A simpleton!”
“So we’re off course. How far? Okay, we’ll need to figure that out. Non-existent without comms. Jupiter probes, the beacon we left behind at K-23, the supply probe on its way there now, some dying satellites–“
“That sounds about right. Absolutely not.
“We’re having a girl. Nervous? I just didn’t see this coming. Are you saying I couldn’t help myself? So, what are we gonna name her? Trudy? Roxy? Penelope? Margot? Maggie? Henrietta?”
Captain Adewole
“Morning, Sully. Why is that? What frequency is this? That puts our last contact– post-blackout.”
“Given all the variables, the fact that we can’t contact the K-23 colony flight and can’t raise Mojave on any frequency, our obvious conclusion must be… that the fault lies with us. But we have exhausted every possible trouble area on our side and simply cannot find it. If this were a less experienced crew, this ship would be in a full-blown panic. Mission Specialist Sullivan is now breaking every protocol as she attempts to make any kind of contact, including China, India… and Russia. This action is under my direction. Mitchell is… simply the best flier there is, but he’s anxious to get home. Maya and Sanchez are on 12-hour shifts as they boot and reboot the comms system, again on my order. Overall, the crew’s spirit remains high as we near the end of our journey. Our two-year mission to K-23 has us returning with more answers than questions. Can it sustain life? Yes. Can it expand? Yes. Could it be home? Yes, it could. Every question we set out to answer, we did… except the one that lingers in the air. ‘Why is it so quiet?'”
“I’m pacing myself. I got into NASA ’cause I was damn good at mathematics. Now, I don’t like to use the word ‘prodigy,’ but– that’s irrelevant. Did you know there are over 60 billion possible combinations of rummy hands at the start of the game? So this little streak you’re on… …is nothing more than a miniscule blip of luck among 60 billion possible combinations. But when you apply… genius-level math skills to the equation, you can shift those combinations to your favor. You, my friend, are what my fellow mathematicians refer to as… a simpleton.”
“How far? Shut us down. Kill the engines before we get completely sideways. Plus coast speed after engine kill. Sanchez, shut off the alarm. Start building. Sully, get him exact numbers on the beacon and pulse. Maya, help Sanchez with the course design. And move fast. We’re drifting while we work. Any risks you’re aware of? Anyone else have a better idea of how to get home? Okay, then. That’s our course. I sure don’t either.”
“A girl? Are you? Well, you’re only human. I didn’t see it coming either.”
Maya
“I’m awake. How are you feeling?”
“It’s okay. You can come in. Come in! So, this is my sister. And that is my very, very best friend from high school. Wait for it. Here it comes. The world’s smartest cat, Einstein. He still likes me best.”
“Problem with navigation. No idea. Plus coast speed after engine kill. Guidance and telemetry are– we can use that. Ten models, ten matching results. Yes. Nobody’s mapped it.”
“You know, this machine was actually designed to detect alien life-forms that might invade our system. You wanna know if it’s a girl or a boy?”
Mitchell
“Champions never rest. Nah, I do it for free. You hear anything from home? No. Almost done.”
“We’ve deviated off course. Can’t tell yet. Auto-deavtivated at some point. 0.4 degrees. It’s behind us. And the hits keep coming. You sure about the numbers? Okay, boss, but I sure don’t like passing through zones that haven’t been cleared.”
Sanchez
“Morning, Sully. Whoa! Thank you, thank you. Anything yet? What’s she hearing?”
“No. Okay. Oh. What is the variance for the alarm? And it sounded for what? 80 seconds? Sully? What do you hear? We can reference the K-23 beacon as our starting point. We can still build a course from there to the satellite. Yeah, but it puts us in zones that haven’t been cleared for passage. Well, we know there was meteor activity here, and we can avoid that, but… this area… we haven’t mapped.”
Jean
“Was that Oxford? Oh, Michigan. Very cold. What are you drinking? Same as you. There’s a place called Portobello beach. Have you heard of this? It’s so beautiful. You should go there. Just off the coast near Edinburgh. In the height of summer, it’s probably gonna be raining. It’s a tourist trap. You should go to the beach. It’s beautiful. But, um, while I have you, can I ask you a very serious question about your very serious book? How much of what you’re searching for is reality, and how much of your planet is just bullshit?”
“I called you. You didn’t answer. Can’t answer your phone when you’re working? I called to tell you I’m not pregnant. You’re safe. It was just a… possible sighting of a life-form that ultimately proved false. You want to be an explorer, Augustine. To discover new worlds, to… give life some hope. But while you’re doing all that, your own life is just slipping away. And that breaks my heart. But, you know… I’m sure it’s for the best.”
“Take care of yourself. Goodbye! Come on, then. Let’s get you in the car. Come on. In you go. Okay, sweetheart, buckle up. We were on the island. My, uh… my father had a stroke, so we want to spend time with him. Well, you know, life. If you want her to know about you, you can introduce yourself. Take care of yourself, Augustine.”
Doctor
“Still time to change your mind. Terminal patient outlives the rest of humanity. Someone should put you in a medical journal. If you stop the transfusions, you won’t last a week. We all want to be home. Well, for you, I guess that’s here. Are you checking off names? He’s staying.”
Woman
“Ana? Ana! Ana! Ana? Ana! My little girl is missing! I can’t find my daughter. She isn’t here. I can’t find her! Ana! What? What? She was alone?”
Woman 2
“Katherine? She already left. The put her on a helicopter. I saw her. No, with Doctor Rogg. He said to tell you he will meet you on the ground.”
Soldier
“Leave everything behind! Leave all belongings behind. What? What’s the problem? Nobody gave me a list. I just put people on the chopper. What about him? Let’s go!”
Mitchell’s wife (hologram)
“Slow down.”
Woman 1 (hologram)
“Right? And I hear this, like… sniffing. Then I heard this voice that was like, ‘oh, damn, you smell good.’ And it was the guy! Why would I lie? Yeah, he did. ‘Cause I smell good! He was right behind me. He came down onto my neck. If you’re late, you’re not hot. So you don’t mind if someone’s– so he turns up. He turns up. Oh, no! What?”
Woman 2 (hologram)
“What? What? No way, you’re lying. He did that? Oh, my God. He did that? But why? So, what? He was behind you? Is he hot? Yeah, but… okay. no, I wanted to know if he was hot. Hey, baby! Hey, honeybun. I need to hear what happened. I don’t know.”
Woman 3 (hologram)
“No, he didn’t. I told you, the guy with… is it the sniffer?”
Aether
“Your breakfast has timed out. Would you like another?”
Radiation survivor 1
“You… gotta help me, please. Please…”
Barbeau Observatory
“Neowise, active. Voyager 3, inactive. International Space Station, evacuated. Orion 2, inactive. Aether, active. Geofen 3, inactive. Jason 4– Aether will be in range in 11 hours and 54 minutes. Alarm is set.”
“Aether is within direct contact range. There are no incoming messages.”
Iris
“Did you love her?”
