Gravity

Audio problem: In several scenes, Sandra Bullock used radio equipment in efforts to call for assistance. There is a sound made by vintage, mechanically tuned radios called "heterodyning" that results in a squealing, variable frequency sound in the speaker. While heterodyning added a degree of drama to the scenes in "Gravity", contemporary radios operate on a different, highly stable technique for tuning, and do not produce heterodyne sounds. (00:13:15 - 00:41:00)

Audio problem: Ryan is on the International Space Station and looking through the window in an attempt to communicate with Matt. During this transmission, Ryan says "Please talk to me. Please." When she says "Please" the second time, her lips move before the word can be heard. Her lips are very visible through the reflection of the window. (00:42:15)

Casual Person

Factual error: The shuttle's original mission was to service Hubble, yet when the shuttle is wrecked, Kowalsky moves with Stone to the ISS, which just happens to be "a short hike away." Hubble orbits at an altitude of 350 miles/560km, while the ISS does so at an altitude of about 250 miles/410km. Furthermore, even if they had been able to see the ISS from Hubble's orbit, they would have only seen it speed ahead, as their orbital velocities are very different: 7.66km per second for the ISS and 7.5km per second for Hubble. (00:23:20)

The Nachoman

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Question: During the scene in which Matt detaches himself from Ryan so that he does not pull her away with him, why didn't he bounce back towards her when the rope snapped taut? Was there something that kept pushing/pulling him away that I missed?

Answer: If they had been tightly tethered to the space station, he would have bounced back toward her. But her foot was only tangled in parachute cords, so that when the tether snapped taught all it did was begin to pull her away from the station as the parachute cords gave more and more slack, slipping more and more loose as they drifted further away.

Phixius

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