Flatland: The Movie
Encyclopedia
Flatland: The Movie is a short animated film which was released to video in 2007. The cast includes the voices of actors Martin Sheen
, Kristen Bell
and Tony Hale
. The story is based on the 1884 science fiction novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
written by Edwin A. Abbott.
It is currently being remastered for IMAX 3D to be released in the winter of 2012.
Arthur arrives at his Ministry of Regularity job only to be harassed by his circular superior, Miss Helios. He is about to confide his dream of the symbols to his brother Abbott Square when the employees are called to a meeting. The head circle ruler of Flatland, Pantocyclus, ushers a new edict that bans discussion of heretical topics such as a third dimension or the ruins at Area 33H. When Arthur sees an image of the ruins, he recognizes them from his dream.
At dinner, Hex asks Arthur about the Circles' proclamation and to define 'dimension.' Arthur gives her a geometry lesson showing how powers in arithmetic can be translated to geometrical dimensions. When Hex speculates on a third dimension, Arthur becomes infuriated and sends her to her room. She is only calmed when Arlene talks to her and gives her a gift of some of her mother's belongings – a box containing books and a model of the symbols at Area 33H.
That night, Arthur Square is plucked from his bedroom and taken to a strange, alien landscape. He encounters the inane, babbling King of Pointland, a being of zero dimensions. Then he encounters Lineland, a universe of one dimension that is populated by an arrogant line segment King who cannot imagine a new dimension that he cannot see. Finally, Arthur is whisked back to his living room. Suddenly he hears a voice booming out and sees a point grow to a circle and then back to a point. The being identifies himself as Spherius, a three-dimensional solid from Spaceland. After failed attempts to explain the third dimension, Arthur is popped into Spaceland and taken on a journey by Spherius. They stop at Area 33H and Arthur realizes that the symbols show a progression from point to line to square to cube, and that the constantly changing shape in the center is actually a cube, halfway though the plane of Flatland and spinning along all three axes. Hex was right! Arthur excitedly asks Spherius to show him the fourth dimension and the fifth dimension. Spherius laughs, saying there couldn't possibly be a higher dimension. He tells Arthur to spread the word of the third dimension and drops Arthur back into bed. Meanwhile, at the Ministry, Pantocyclus is ordering the triangle guards and circles, including Miss Helios, to beware any employees who mention the third dimension and to guard Area 33H.
When Arthur awakes, he rushes to Hex's room to tell her the news. He finds her missing and Arlene tells him that she left very early. Meanwhile, Hex is entering Area 33H and discovering the symbols for herself. However, a triangle guard spots Hex. At the Ministry, Arthur arrives and begins talking to his brother when an alarm goes off. Over the intercom Miss Helios orders all guards to catch an intruder at Area 33H. Arthur realizes it might be Hex at the ruins and persuades Abbott to help him steal a Ministry car.
Abbott and Arthur arrive at the ruins moments before the triangle guards. With Abbott distracting the guards, Arthur goes to the symbols and finds Hex terrified. She apologizes but Arthur finally admits to her that he had been protecting her from the knowledge that her parents were arrested and killed for their theories on the third dimension. With the guards closing in, Arthur pushes Hex into the cube symbol, which pops her up into the third dimension. Arthur is arrested by Miss Helios.
Arthur is hastily brought into a courtroom with Pantocyclus proceeding over his trial for heresy. Arlene arrives, asking where Hex is. In his cell, Arthur assures her that Hex escaped 'upward' into the third dimension and is safe. A nearby pentagon begins broadcasting the trial. Pantocyclus challenges Arthur to show everyone the third dimension, or as he calls it “upwards, not northwards.” Arthur admits that he can't and pleads with his fellow Flatlanders that reason dictates a third dimension. He challenges them to aspire to be greater than their shapes, angering the Circles immensely. The crowd is growing unruly as Arthur's words take hold. In a fit of rage, Pantocyclus sentences Arthur to death and the crowd gasps. Just as Arthur loses hope, Spherius interrupts the proceedings and pops Arthur out of Flatland.
Arthur thanks Spherius but feels he has failed to persuade people of the third dimension. Spherius surprises Arthur with the solution: he intended Hex, not Arthur to be the prophet of the Third Dimension. Hex embraces Arthur and they fly back down to the courtroom, surprising everyone as they materialize out of nowhere. The Circles are speechless and lose control of the courtroom, evading the reporter's questions about the third dimension. Arthur, Arlene, Hex, and Abbott are reunited. The reporter asks Hex if she has also visited the fourth dimension. Spherius angrily comes down to Flatland to scoff at the idea and flies off. But off on the horizon, a light is shining. The symbols at Area 33H are glowing and as the camera dips below Flatland we see that the spinning cube is actually part of a larger installation: eight cubes spinning and orbiting a 4D cube – a tesseract
– which, in turn, is rotating around its fourth axis.
revealed that Flatland was more profitable than other projects he'd worked on, despite the fact that it was self-distributed online through digital sales and DVD.
Winner of Berlin Special Jury Award, MathFilm Festival 2008
Runner Up for Best Independent Short Ages 5–12, Kids First! Film Festival 2008
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, Kristen Bell
Kristen Bell
Kristen Anne Bell is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...
and Tony Hale
Tony Hale
Tony Hale is an American actor, best known for his role in the Fox comedy series Arrested Development as the neurotic Byron "Buster" Bluth.-Early life:...
. The story is based on the 1884 science fiction novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Flatland
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. Writing pseudonymously as "A Square", Abbott used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to offer pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture...
written by Edwin A. Abbott.
It is currently being remastered for IMAX 3D to be released in the winter of 2012.
Plot
Flatland: The Movie begins with the 2-dimensional Arthur Square awaking from a dream of strange, glowing symbols. He lives with his wife, Arlene Square, and his curious granddaughter Hex, a hexagon. He rushes Hex to school and along the way they discuss the laws of inheritance: how each new generation of Flatlanders, beginning with triangles, gains a new side until the shapes become indistinguishable from circles. They also discuss how a citizen's shape affects their job, with triangles performing menial labor and circles ruling Flatland in the priest class. They witness a cruel incident where a Circle Priest arrests a slightly irregular octagon child, prompting Hex to yet again wonder about what happened to her pentagonal parents. Arthur tells her that he will tell her someday, and rushes her off to school.Arthur arrives at his Ministry of Regularity job only to be harassed by his circular superior, Miss Helios. He is about to confide his dream of the symbols to his brother Abbott Square when the employees are called to a meeting. The head circle ruler of Flatland, Pantocyclus, ushers a new edict that bans discussion of heretical topics such as a third dimension or the ruins at Area 33H. When Arthur sees an image of the ruins, he recognizes them from his dream.
At dinner, Hex asks Arthur about the Circles' proclamation and to define 'dimension.' Arthur gives her a geometry lesson showing how powers in arithmetic can be translated to geometrical dimensions. When Hex speculates on a third dimension, Arthur becomes infuriated and sends her to her room. She is only calmed when Arlene talks to her and gives her a gift of some of her mother's belongings – a box containing books and a model of the symbols at Area 33H.
That night, Arthur Square is plucked from his bedroom and taken to a strange, alien landscape. He encounters the inane, babbling King of Pointland, a being of zero dimensions. Then he encounters Lineland, a universe of one dimension that is populated by an arrogant line segment King who cannot imagine a new dimension that he cannot see. Finally, Arthur is whisked back to his living room. Suddenly he hears a voice booming out and sees a point grow to a circle and then back to a point. The being identifies himself as Spherius, a three-dimensional solid from Spaceland. After failed attempts to explain the third dimension, Arthur is popped into Spaceland and taken on a journey by Spherius. They stop at Area 33H and Arthur realizes that the symbols show a progression from point to line to square to cube, and that the constantly changing shape in the center is actually a cube, halfway though the plane of Flatland and spinning along all three axes. Hex was right! Arthur excitedly asks Spherius to show him the fourth dimension and the fifth dimension. Spherius laughs, saying there couldn't possibly be a higher dimension. He tells Arthur to spread the word of the third dimension and drops Arthur back into bed. Meanwhile, at the Ministry, Pantocyclus is ordering the triangle guards and circles, including Miss Helios, to beware any employees who mention the third dimension and to guard Area 33H.
When Arthur awakes, he rushes to Hex's room to tell her the news. He finds her missing and Arlene tells him that she left very early. Meanwhile, Hex is entering Area 33H and discovering the symbols for herself. However, a triangle guard spots Hex. At the Ministry, Arthur arrives and begins talking to his brother when an alarm goes off. Over the intercom Miss Helios orders all guards to catch an intruder at Area 33H. Arthur realizes it might be Hex at the ruins and persuades Abbott to help him steal a Ministry car.
Abbott and Arthur arrive at the ruins moments before the triangle guards. With Abbott distracting the guards, Arthur goes to the symbols and finds Hex terrified. She apologizes but Arthur finally admits to her that he had been protecting her from the knowledge that her parents were arrested and killed for their theories on the third dimension. With the guards closing in, Arthur pushes Hex into the cube symbol, which pops her up into the third dimension. Arthur is arrested by Miss Helios.
Arthur is hastily brought into a courtroom with Pantocyclus proceeding over his trial for heresy. Arlene arrives, asking where Hex is. In his cell, Arthur assures her that Hex escaped 'upward' into the third dimension and is safe. A nearby pentagon begins broadcasting the trial. Pantocyclus challenges Arthur to show everyone the third dimension, or as he calls it “upwards, not northwards.” Arthur admits that he can't and pleads with his fellow Flatlanders that reason dictates a third dimension. He challenges them to aspire to be greater than their shapes, angering the Circles immensely. The crowd is growing unruly as Arthur's words take hold. In a fit of rage, Pantocyclus sentences Arthur to death and the crowd gasps. Just as Arthur loses hope, Spherius interrupts the proceedings and pops Arthur out of Flatland.
Arthur thanks Spherius but feels he has failed to persuade people of the third dimension. Spherius surprises Arthur with the solution: he intended Hex, not Arthur to be the prophet of the Third Dimension. Hex embraces Arthur and they fly back down to the courtroom, surprising everyone as they materialize out of nowhere. The Circles are speechless and lose control of the courtroom, evading the reporter's questions about the third dimension. Arthur, Arlene, Hex, and Abbott are reunited. The reporter asks Hex if she has also visited the fourth dimension. Spherius angrily comes down to Flatland to scoff at the idea and flies off. But off on the horizon, a light is shining. The symbols at Area 33H are glowing and as the camera dips below Flatland we see that the spinning cube is actually part of a larger installation: eight cubes spinning and orbiting a 4D cube – a tesseract
Tesseract
In geometry, the tesseract, also called an 8-cell or regular octachoron or cubic prism, is the four-dimensional analog of the cube. The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8...
– which, in turn, is rotating around its fourth axis.
Cast
(in alphabetical order)- Kristen BellKristen BellKristen Anne Bell is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...
... Hex - Lee EddyLee EddyLee Eddy is an American stage actress, comedian and writer. She was born in Shreveport, Louisiana where as a child she was a member of The Peter Pan Players. Eddy has appeared in the one-woman show LadeeLeroy. Eddy regularly performs in Austin, Texas with the Salvage Vanguard Theater. She was...
... Helios - Joe EstevezJoe EstevezJoseph "Joe" Estevez is an American actor, director, and producer.He is the younger brother of actor Martin Sheen and the uncle of Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Renée Estevez, and Ramon Estevez.-Early life:...
... Abbott Square - Tony HaleTony HaleTony Hale is an American actor, best known for his role in the Fox comedy series Arrested Development as the neurotic Byron "Buster" Bluth.-Early life:...
... King of Pointland - Curtis Luciani ... King of Lineland
- Shannon McCormick ... Triangle Guard
- T. Lynn Mikeska ... Heptagon Mother
- Robert Murphy ... Pentagon Reporter
- Garry Peters ... Pantocyclus
- Martin SheenMartin SheenRamón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
... Arthur Square - Danu Uribe ... Arlene Square
- Michael YorkMichael York (actor)Michael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
... Spherius
Business
Producer Seth CaplanSeth Caplan
Seth Caplan is an award-winning American film producer who lives in Los Angeles, CA. His works include, "In Search of a Midnight Kiss", "Flatland: The Movie", and "Teenage Dirtbag". Seth grew up in Chicago, Illinois where he attended the Francis W. Parker School...
revealed that Flatland was more profitable than other projects he'd worked on, despite the fact that it was self-distributed online through digital sales and DVD.
Awards
Winner of Best Animated Film, EcoVision Film Festival, Italy 2009Winner of Berlin Special Jury Award, MathFilm Festival 2008
Runner Up for Best Independent Short Ages 5–12, Kids First! Film Festival 2008
See also
- Flatland (2007 film)Flatland (2007 film)Flatland , is a 2007 computer animated film based on the 1884 novella, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. The film was directed and animated by Ladd Ehlinger Jr. in Lightwave 3D. The screenplay was written by author Tom Whalen...
another film based on the book, released in the same year by Ladd Ehlinger Jr.
External links
- Review of Flatland: The Movie by The American Mathematical Society
- Flatland: The Movie on MSNBC's Cosmic Log
- Flatland: The Movie review at Skeptical Inquiry Online
- Flatland: The Movie review at Homeschool Math Blog
- Flatland: The Movie review at Plus Magazine
- Flatland: The Movie review at Scientific American
- Flatland: The Movie in New Scientist