Tuesday, May 5, 2009

EPILOGUE


Is there such a word as "evacipate"? No. However, it has become accepted as having the definition: "to undo the past." What is ‘the eight’? The elevator goes to the 8th floor.There are up to 8 persons, one of each original Abe and Aaron and two of each time traveler (or 5 of Aaron and 3 of Abe). For example: Abe(2) is an observer. He travels back in the fail-safe. Until the former Abe(2) enters the box, there are three versions of Abe. (Shane has mentioned a few things in interviews such as this point. But it was first written here, before Shane made some admissions such as this and that Abe got the call from a future Aaron.)

Where did the name of Thomas Granger come from? Thomas Granger was named after Nobel winner Clive Granger who wrote an economic theory, "Granger Causality". It basically states that one event leads to another subsequent event which is therefore predictable. Here, chaos is predictable. But also, the reactions and actions of each character is predictable, even the copies. Abe is always thinking, slow to action. Aaron is always rash, bold, ready to over-write any errors.

Did it really take three or four days or only 1/1300th of that time? If that was the case, then why would Abe or Aaron need to bring food and water and oxygen for four days worth? Time travel in Primer is definitely a one-to-one ratio.

Was Primer based on "The Door into Summer" by Robert Heinlein? No, but Heinlein was probably the first writer to deal with multiple versions of oneself. Try reading it as well as "By His Bootstraps" for some deep thoughts.

There was another audio clue that Aaron was a time traveler at 24:31. At this point you can hear Abe saying,"We thought we were degrading gravity.." in a somewhat muffled voice. It wasn't poor sound editing. It is the sound playing on Aaron(3)'s recording. ( Yes, there were a number of sound errors in the film itself. In fact, Shane's brother John dubbed in his voice due to a poor recording in the basketball sequence.)

Andrew Lipson’s website, which shows a 3-D model of an endless staircase, is http://www.andrewlipson.com/
The Penrose stairs was the original cover from M.C. Escher on the book "The Primer Universe".

Thanks to every Primer fan: past, present, and future.