Contact, and the Universe's Greatest Secret 

I've decided to make a new book-club for these sci-fi videos. You can vote on the next books and add your voice: www.patreon.com/EckhartsLadder

First 1984, now Contact. I like the branching out into other sci fi universes

I absolutely love this movie, I showed it to my dad a few weeks ago. A professor showed it in class in college and it rocked my world. The third act of this movie and Jodie Foster’s acting makes me cry my eyes out, I lose it when she sees the celestial event and the alien civilization. “They should have sent a poet”. The novel is wonderful and certainly more complete and smarter but I adore the film too

This book contains my favorite quote: "See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other."

Love seeing you branch out Eck. You guys are killing it lately and I've been subbed for like 6-7 years now. Back when everyone was doing something "who is Rey? Who is Snoke?" videos.

"For Carl" Without fail, absolute gut punch that gets me crying every time. He passed in the midst of filming. A gentle soul and tragic loss for contemporary Humanity.

Contact was the most influential book in my life. I credit it for my desire to become an astrophysicist & astronomer. It's a very special, optimistic story.

Raw-dogged this one with no script, I liked the book so much. I'm going to try to do one of these sci-fi videos a month. Most recently, we had 1984: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bcwemPHuDRo.html The rest of the playlist is here: ru-vid.com/group/PLPcRSJDFb1llVkzIEjDp_mVhP2DveoW2- What should I do next?

I remember this movie. Didn't know it was based on a Sagan Novel, but I remember enjoying it. And I especially liked the shoutout Blizzard gave it in Starcraft. "They should have sent a poet".

Star Wars led me into astronomy and astronomy led me into Sagan's work. I first saw the movie a few years ago and didn't even knew that this movie was an adaptation of his book! Keep the sci-fi videos going! You're doing a great job!

I remember the 1st Cosmos series where Dr Sagan explained that evolution was real. I had been raised in rural Baptist Indiana and that was the first time I felt like maybe i hadnt been told the whole truth by the people I had been trusting.

Contact was a very underrated movie, and one of my top 10 favorites of all time. From the sounds of it the book was more rooted in thought, while the movie was more rooted in feeling. I get the feeling I would still like the movie better than the book (especially since I, in opposite fashion as most, prefer my books non-fiction and my videos fiction), but I appreciate your explaining many of the differences. :)

Kinda neat seeing you branch out into other sci-fi franchises. You should do The Area X trilogy.

The timing of the video is interesting. My parents decided to watch Contact for the first time in years, maybe decades, just a few hours before you uploaded this Eck.

Contact is one of my favorite movies. It is one of those movies I can sit down and watch again and again or one of my favorite movies to put on to fall asleep.

Love when you do the "MORE" of Si-Fi, not just Star Wars.

I really loved this movie, it's one of the few memories I have with my mom that was pretty happy. The ending was so good, and it has stuck with me ever since.

This should really be adapted into a series, or mini-series even. A film can rarely do justice to a book, as a film needs to be around 2 hours long and can only fit so much information into the finished product. A series could do a deeper dive into the story and characters, and ultimately it would be fascinating to see what the scientists were up to after the book left off.

I was fortunate to work on the movie VFX, and was on the Pod launch gantry set. I remember listening while they filmed the scenes of Ellie inside the pod before launch, and Jodie Foster's voice shaking from the vibration.

Love to see you going back to other sci-fi universes again like you did back in the earlier days! Are you familiar with Alastair Reynolds’ work? Those are packed with interesting concepts to cover.

FantaZtic! I saw the movie when it came out in the 90s. The endi g was way over my head I have to say. I had not a clue who Carl Sagan was until I'd lived on RU-vid for 10 years. Thanks so much! I'd forgotten how incredible this movie was.

I am so glad that you started doing videos on other Sci-Fi stories/universes. I had heard people talk about Contact and knew it was a legendary film, but this video made me go watch contact before I even finished this video and I gotta say, WOW it was amazing. Please keep doing these!

I loved this movie as a kid

I had no idea this was a book, I'd only seen the film a few months ago. That was a very well spoken review, I enjoyed it a lot. I've found the structure of alien messages to be very interesting reading, how you would structure a message such that a civilisation with no knowledge whatsoever of earthly traditions of notation, and number structure could understand it. I would love to hear more about science fiction content like this, and I'm going to look into getting the book after watching that review. Have a good [timezone]!!

I really like these reviews you do of deeper sci-fi novels. A lot of these are on my tbr, but I have a similar problem with my love of reading being somewhat stifled from undergrad and graduate school. These types of videos are awesome and I really like your perspective you give.

Love to see you branching out. More of this please

I remember renting this on VHS and going in blind. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Even with that ending

Kind of reminds me how Stargate universe would go down a similar route, the microwave background radiation has a artificial singled embedded within it.

Will always be my #1 favorite movie, and I've seen a LOT of movies. Certainly not the BEST film out there. There are films with better production design, score, editing, etc. but THIS movie will always hold a special place in my heart. It is just so... hopeful We need more of that these days EDIT: okay, I've never read the book but HOLY SHIT that is an awesome revelation. I did always feel that the film ended on an uncertain note, not really saying one way or another whether they'd ever prove that the journey truly happened. I should go read that book

Maybe the aliens we find is the friends we made along the way

I'd love to see your take on The Mote in God's Eye by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. it's another first contact novel. If you haven't read it, you really should.

I've loved Contact ever since I was 7 years old. Eck, this video is so good!! I've never heard about the differences from the book.

"With a hundred billion stars in our galaxy alone, what would make us think we are the only life form?" Wernher von Braun. I've studied the alien phenomenon. The Greys are not here to help us. In the Revelations our angelic overlords basically burn us off the earth through multiple drops from the sky. We may be better off alone.

I read this book for a class and college and loved it, thanks for bringing it all back :)

Really liked that movie when younger, never got to read the novel, guess it's time!

I have very fond memories of this movie from my childhood. Very under appreciated. Thank you so much for this

This is why I love you Eck. You cover things that intrest me and speak your mind.

I really enjoyed this video I love the fact that you cover a lot of Star wars content however a alternate space topic is always good every now and then and this one was very interesting thank you

This just popped up and hell yeah you should make more sci-fi vids like this

I love the more varied sci fi content

Absolutely loving these branch-out vids!

Thanks for making this! I saw this again recently and it's still brilliant.

Well done. This is an amazing analysis. Very much an enjoyable topic. Thanks

You outta do a video on the Three Body Problem. It's a crazy interesting series!

Thank you for talking about one of my favorite movies!! And getting into new areas of content.

Heh, I've never heard of this movie but 3mins into this video and I've already decided to watch it and return after a viewing, Thanks Ecks! Actually real excited to check out both the movie and book

This movie was terribly underrated. When it came out I remember people were disappointed that there were no “aliens” in it.. this movie can capture your imagination..

love different content like this!

I got really excited seeing just the thumbnail and title, thanks, matey.

Great video, really like videos like this, keep up the good work.

Would love more videos like these!

I maybe alone but I think its one of the greatest films ever made. Great story and the 'do you believe her' makes you question yourself.

This type of video is not what EckhartsLadder normally makes but I'm so glad he did. I knew of this movie but just hearing it again while I do my own thing so refreshing from the Star Wars and Halo and other fictional work he does (not to say that this movie fiction) I really enjoyed this video and hope there's more like in the works.

19:06 "Why are aliens so silent?" *cough* Dark Forest theory *cough*

Excellent work Sir. One of the finest works of science fiction ever written. One thing often overlooked by those that have read the book, and watched the movie is.... "time'. More specifically, time travel, and the flawed human understanding of it. Time travel as we understand it is flawed. The moment the "machine" is activated, the signal that initiated its creation stopped being received. Meaning that it's transmission was terminated in the past, once its continued transmission was no longer deemed necessary. Why waste time. Statement, not question.

I would love to see more non-Star Wars sci fi videos from you, really enjoyed this one!

Everyone wishes there was really a God, even Carl Sagan. But our desperate, childlike desire for some cosmic parent to take care of us is perhaps the surest sign that such a thing does not exist.

that was great, loved the experience i had with your video, about contact.

Everytime I see the running towards the mirror scene, even though I know it's coming and how it was made, I'm in awe... It's just sooo good!

You did an unbelievable job Eck, thank you.

Rare case of when both the book and the movie are phenomenal.

This was a fabulous movie. Unfortunately, I never read the book. Maybe I'll look into it more. Thanks for the awesome video!

First time post, and this transition is great!

I eagerly await you to cover the Expanse. Ty for covering one of my favourite films, Eck!

We need more of this eck

I am not a great mathematician, but I always appreciated the idea of it being a universal language, that is true, that we might use to communicate with aliens species.

You should do more videos like this

I still think this movie is not about life in other planets or aliens, but the 4th dimension. We live in a 3D dimension, so we are not able to see or feel the 4th dimension. She went to the 4th dimension through the machine and recorded everything with the camera. But we are not able to see anything that has been recorded because we can't see the 4th dimension. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UnURElCzGc0.html&pp=ygUNNHRoIGRpbWVuc2lvbg%3D%3D

I liked the movie ending, because it shows Ellie teaching kids. Science has become top-heavy, with too much talent devoted to finding the ultimate theory and not enough to making science literacy available to all people, not just the few who are identified early as STEM students.

Thank you. This was great. Please do more.

Really enjoyed this breakdown!

This is one of your best videos!

I love this book/movie! Such an amazing story written by a supremely scientifically literate person

Contact the movie is the most accurate movie about extraterrestrials. I say this as an astronomy geek and movie lover.

Fellow maritimer, and star wars fan. Been watching you in the begining Ek. Love your content and the direction your heading in. Keeping it real east coast stule.

Never heard of this but wow, I wish I had. This was so amazing!

It’s been years since I’ve watched this movie … forgot about it there for a good minute. Going to rewatch it as soon as I’m done with this video. Forgot how much it brings about the feelgoods.

I liked the book and the movie, but I've forgotten too much of the former. This video has encouraged me to go find my copy and read it again. Awesome!

This was awesome, love to see you branch out from star wars.

Contact is one of my favorite movies; however, i've never read the book. Thanks for showing it, as now I have another book to add to the collection!

one of my favorite channels and one of my favorite books! what an epic crossover

Thanks for the video, brother. I liked this movie because it opens so much of human imagination and gives an interpretation that there may be someone/something out there. Though we cannot see it. And humanity would guard it from coming out that we are not alone in the universe. I hope that, one day, we might be able to answer that and we can take our first steps into a broader place that is exciting to see.

Loving the non-standard content. Brought me back to the channel

Star Wars is awesome, but hearing you dig into other sci-fis is really fun and I dig it a lot

Hello There

Enjoyed! Thank you!

I love the book and movie! Some of the best Sci-Fi there is

This was so refreshing! I like.

Love vids like this

This is crazy I just started reading the novel today

Great video

Underated movie

I usually come here for Star Wars content, but this was actually a good watch, or I guess listen, I've not heard of either the novel or film of Contact but it sounds like it's right up my alley, I love almost anything to do with Space and something like this where it talks about a potential coalition between different Alien races in the universe all helping each other. Kind of reminds me of Mass Effect, which I guess Mass Effect was probably created because of this. It also allows me to think, "Hmm, what if there is something like that out there and maybe they've seen us but have seen that we're not ready yet, despite our advancements or are we really alone or will we be the first civilization that goes into Space and I guess become the Aliens to other worlds." Edit: I'd actually like to see more stuff like this that isn't about Star Wars but what you're interested in and think we'd might like too.

Thanks man. Love you ecky

Dude amazing video. Can’t believe you raw dogged this without a script

love the video!!!

The movie does a good job condensing the book. But a lot had to be trimmed, and I highly recommend the book to everyone who enjoyed the movie. Or even to anyone who likes these sorts of novels.

Contact was the first novel I read. That and Red Mars trilogy by KSR great books

I have been watching your videos for years! I just realized I was not subscribed (sorry). Though some see it annoying; and since you are so close to 1 million, I would recommend on your next video reminding everyone to subscribe! 1 Million right around the corner baby!

Great video! such a great movie sounds like a better book too