Post by Preston on Feb 8, 2005 12:52:05 GMT -8
This post could just as easily belong in the sci-fi film section because it includes discussion of the OUTER LIMITS episode "Behold Eck." But I post it here because it overLAPS into discussion of the DC hero, the ATOM. An Unlikely overlapping at first, but logical as you'll see.
The Outer Limits episode has to with an Alien from an extradimensional realm, an Alien named Eck. Basically the premise is that Eck, being TWO-dimensional, is Unable to SEE in our 3d realm. Eventually, he is helped by an optometrist who makes a suitable lens which the Alien can use to find his way back through the portal.
The FLAW in this episode is found in the whole basic premise, that of a creature which is Two-dimensional. Granted, I realize that when you draw a Square on a sheet of paper, it is considered to be 2d because the Square has only Length and Width...as compared with a Block of Wood which is 3d because it has the three dimensions of Length and Width and Depth. But think about the Square. It's called 2d but is actually THREE-dimensional because it's on a piece of paper. Because when you look at the sheet of paper at its EDGE, it has Depth, namely the third dimension.
Now we come to the comic book story of the ATOM. When compared to the Outer Limits story, the ATOM story makes much more sense. Here the ATOM meets Miles Adrian, a scientist who can also Shrink like the ATOM but in the opposite way! Instead of vertically, Adrian shrinks horizontally. The result is that Adrian in his shrunken form, is as thin as a sheet of paper. Therefore when he is put into jail, he can escape by becoming thin and stepping sideways between the jail-cell's bars.
Even though the Adrian story is entitled "Danger in Two Dimensions," it is actually figurative because the villain is NOT really 2d. He only appears that way. ATOM has a hard time fighting Adrian because Adrian keeps turning his body SIDE-WAYS which of course renders him seemingly invisible. But he is Not invisible....rather, just so thin that he cannot be seen.
Compare this with the Outer Limits episode where the optometrist tries to explain to a lady about the Alien's anatomical peculiarity. He says that the Alien is like a sheet of paper, that when Eck turns Sideways, he cannot be seen because he does not have a 3rd plane. But the optometrist's use of that sheet of paper is totally wrong and implausible because, as I showed you in the earlier paragraph, even a sheet of paper is 3d when looked at from its Edge.
And that's how the ATOM was able to defeat Adrian. That is, the ATOM shrank himself even smaller than usual, to MICROSCOPIC size. So that even when the villain turned Sideways, his apparently invisible body became as visible and huge as a redwood tree...as seen from the viewpoint of a now-microscopically-sized Ray Palmer (the ATOM).
Conclusion: Any creature or object can NEVER be Two-dimensional. So there is No way that the alien, Eck, from the OUTER LIMITS could ever exist. That was the Only time that Outer Limits had a stupid idea. On the other hand, the ATOM story is entirely acceptable and plausible, that is, what APPEARS to be 2d is actually extreme thinness, as exemplified by the Villain.
Edit: I re-wrote the part which said "circle" because it should have said "square."
The Outer Limits episode has to with an Alien from an extradimensional realm, an Alien named Eck. Basically the premise is that Eck, being TWO-dimensional, is Unable to SEE in our 3d realm. Eventually, he is helped by an optometrist who makes a suitable lens which the Alien can use to find his way back through the portal.
The FLAW in this episode is found in the whole basic premise, that of a creature which is Two-dimensional. Granted, I realize that when you draw a Square on a sheet of paper, it is considered to be 2d because the Square has only Length and Width...as compared with a Block of Wood which is 3d because it has the three dimensions of Length and Width and Depth. But think about the Square. It's called 2d but is actually THREE-dimensional because it's on a piece of paper. Because when you look at the sheet of paper at its EDGE, it has Depth, namely the third dimension.
Now we come to the comic book story of the ATOM. When compared to the Outer Limits story, the ATOM story makes much more sense. Here the ATOM meets Miles Adrian, a scientist who can also Shrink like the ATOM but in the opposite way! Instead of vertically, Adrian shrinks horizontally. The result is that Adrian in his shrunken form, is as thin as a sheet of paper. Therefore when he is put into jail, he can escape by becoming thin and stepping sideways between the jail-cell's bars.
Even though the Adrian story is entitled "Danger in Two Dimensions," it is actually figurative because the villain is NOT really 2d. He only appears that way. ATOM has a hard time fighting Adrian because Adrian keeps turning his body SIDE-WAYS which of course renders him seemingly invisible. But he is Not invisible....rather, just so thin that he cannot be seen.
Compare this with the Outer Limits episode where the optometrist tries to explain to a lady about the Alien's anatomical peculiarity. He says that the Alien is like a sheet of paper, that when Eck turns Sideways, he cannot be seen because he does not have a 3rd plane. But the optometrist's use of that sheet of paper is totally wrong and implausible because, as I showed you in the earlier paragraph, even a sheet of paper is 3d when looked at from its Edge.
And that's how the ATOM was able to defeat Adrian. That is, the ATOM shrank himself even smaller than usual, to MICROSCOPIC size. So that even when the villain turned Sideways, his apparently invisible body became as visible and huge as a redwood tree...as seen from the viewpoint of a now-microscopically-sized Ray Palmer (the ATOM).
Conclusion: Any creature or object can NEVER be Two-dimensional. So there is No way that the alien, Eck, from the OUTER LIMITS could ever exist. That was the Only time that Outer Limits had a stupid idea. On the other hand, the ATOM story is entirely acceptable and plausible, that is, what APPEARS to be 2d is actually extreme thinness, as exemplified by the Villain.
Edit: I re-wrote the part which said "circle" because it should have said "square."
