Talk:Magma: Volcanic Disaster

Wheelchair term change
"Wheelchair-bound" is considered derogatory usage and should not be reintroduced into the article. Please see List of disability-related terms with negative connotations before reverting this change again. I am not a sockpuppet; a project to remove terms on the list was suggested on a blog site and I believe many of these changes were made by relatively inactive users as a result. ---Lizey87 (talk) 16:42, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Cast/Character List
I tried to get the character names right, as IMDB has almost all of them wrong. The spellings may be off, however, so if someone with the DVD could check them, that would be great. AnmaFinotera 23:07, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Storyline (moved here from article)
A USGS survey team is studying the Trollsvatn volcano, dormant for 700 years, when it suddenly erupts and kills the entire team before an evacuation team can retrieve them. During a school break, volcanology professor Peter Shepherd takes four of his graduate students to study Grímsvötn, another Iceland volcano near the first one. This dormant volcano also erupts suddenly, but the group is able to escape. Shepherd is convinced it is not a coincidence and goes to visit Oscar Vallian, a wheelchair-bound fellow volcanologist who recently quit working for the USGS. He explains that many dormant volcanoes have started to erupt around the world. In the past, Dr. Vallian had formulated a theory known as Exodus, in which all 1,500 of the Earth's volcanoes erupt within a short period of time.

Dr. Vallian leaves for Honshu, Japan, to be on the front lines when Mount Fuji erupts, while Shepherd goes to Washington to explain the Exodus theory and the need to stop it. Dr. William Kincaid, the head of the USGS who hates O'Neil and Shepherd, is given the task of reviewing their data. He promises Stephen Daugherty, the president's representative, to disprove the theory and Shepherd leaves knowing nothing will happen.

Natalie Shepherd, Dr. Shepherd's soon to be ex-wife, arrives at work at Yellowstone National Park to be told that Old Faithful hasn't done anything for the last day. Dr. Shepherd returns to his students to explain the government doesn't believe them and that they need to get proof.

In Honshū, Vallian sends away his house attendant, but his companion Melanie refuses to leave him. Together, they wait for Fuji's expected eruption to come, while Dr. Shepherd plans to go to South America with his students to check out another volcano that should be next in the list. That night, Dr. Shepherd calls his estranged wife. During the call, she mentions fire season has started in the middle of winter, but Dr. Shepherd does not mention the volcano issues.

The next day, Fuji erupts, destroying much of the island of Honshū and triggering large tsunamis. Dr. Valeen quickly calls Shepherd to leave one final good bye before he and Melanie are swallowed up by the pyroclastic surge and incinerated. Dr. Shepherd spends the night in a bar, mourning his friend. His student Brianna offers comfort and advice while listening to him explain how his marriage ended.

In the morning, news arrives that Mount Kilimanjaro has also erupted. The group heads to Pasto, Colombia to do some investigating in a mine. A man explains that earlier in the week some men working in the mine were killed when it began to "bleed fire." While exploring the caverns of the mine, the group finds massive amounts of heat. What they don't know is that they are no longer within the mine shafts, but in lava tubes. Not realizing that magma is flowing overhead and leaking through cracks in the roof, they push on. As they go further in, they realize the temperatures are rising incredibly fast and that there are extremely high levels of radiation filling the tubes.

Jacques and CJ quickly move to take rock and vapor samples, while Dr. Shepherd and Brianna head back. Jacques starts to suspect that they are in a lava tube, right as magma falls from the ceiling and burns CJ's shoulder. As they flee, the ceiling collapses and spills lava into the tunnel, killing Jacques. At the hospital, CJ has superficial burns except on his leg, which will require a skin graft. The news reports that Mount Etna and Mount Vesuvius have erupted and destroyed Rome. Kai tells Dr. Shepherd that the samples from the mine were of the same composition, and that someone from the USGS had hacked into their server.

Kincaid admits to the hacking and stealing the data, and that he plans to present his findings to Washington in the morning. During Kincaid's presentation to the President and Daugherty, Dr. Shepherd and his group interrupt and explain that they have new evidence that Kincaid didn't get from their servers. The President gives them the go ahead, and Dr. Shepherd explains the full Exodus theory, and that that human pollution has caused the Earth's core to heat up and expand causing all of the eruptions. He also notes which volcanoes have already erupted, and which ones will be next. Using a projection of the eruptions and resulting ash clouds, he claims that the Earth will head into another Ice Age within 2 weeks.

Dr. Shepherd then explains his plan, to release the Earth's pressure in a controlled manner under the ocean rather than letting the Earth choose. He plans to do this by using a series of nuclear warheads at strategic points within ocean faults. Kincaid continues offering objections until Brianna finally smacks him down.

Dr. Shepherd calls his ex-wife again and begs her to leave Yellowstone because it is the largest fault line in North America. She refuses, even after he tells her about the deaths of Dr. Valeen and Jacques and while the news explains that all of Hawaii's volcanoes erupted simultaneously. While he's on the phone, Daugherty calls to let him know that the President has approved their plan and they know have all of the resources of the CIA at their disposal to map the ocean and figure out the plan.

With the coordinates set, Daugherty let's Dr. Shepherd know that he and one of the students will work hand in hand with the naval fleets from two of its flagships, the Hyperion and the Reprisal. Brianna is left at the USGS as the go between. Dr. Shepherd leaves his wedding ring with her and asks her to give it to his wife and let her know he was sorry.

Dr. Shepherd boards the Hyperion, in the Pacific Rim, by jumping from a helicopter and diving down to the sub. Kai boards the Reprisal in the Atlantic. Dr. Shepherd shows the Hyperion captain where the explosions must go, in the middle of the Mariana Trench.

In the morning, Mrs. Shepherd starts evacuating the campground, while another Park Ranger and some scientists examine Old Faithful. Kai contacts Brianna to confirm the coordinates for his sub, which will also be passed on to Russian and British sub who will aid in the attack. Meanwhile, the Hyperion gets bounced around by volcanic activity in the trench which pummels them with debris.

Mrs. Shepherd arrives at the next set of campgrounds only to find an eruption already taking place. She quickly turns around and heads back out. The Hyperion continues to take heavy damage, but is able to reach its coordinates and launch the warheads. It fires its first round of torpedoes, but torpedo goes off track and hits the trench wall. Two more are fired and hit successfully. The plan appears to be working, as they move on to their next targets.

At the same time, the Reprisal has also fired its first four torpedoes, however it takes heavy damage from the resulting debris. Dr. Shepherd loses contact with Kai, while the Hyperion continues trying to avoid debris and hit its remaining targets. Mrs. Shepherd continues fleeing Yellowstone, as eruptions continue and multiple park visitors are killed, while a voice over from the President explains that a total of 44 nuclear tipped torpedoes are being fired to try and heal the Earth. As Dr. Shepherd prays for his wife, the lava flow at Yellowstone stops just before reaching her and a large group of visitors. The Reprisal sinks, killing its crew and Kai.

With the last of the torpedoes fired, the plan succeeds and the Hyperion is able to stabilize. The volcanoes of the world return to normal. Dr. Shepherd turns down a position as head of the USGS and reconciles with his wife.


 * Moved this overly long retelling of the film to the talk page.  Schmidt,  MICHAEL Q. 09:29, 16 December 2009 (UTC)