No, I'm not talking about making Yoda an entirely CGI character. I'm talking about Peter Jackson's newest project, Mortal Engines. Now if you're not familiar with the movie then here's a trailer for you:
Now I'm going to go ahead and completely ignore the plot, characters and even most of the setting to focus on one detail. The fact that cities are built into vehicles that can travel across the land.
While I'm certain the characters and storylines that Peter Jackson has created are going to be top tier (this is Peter Jackson we're talking about. The man is a creative genius) the fact that they are set on moving cities is something that I think needs to be addressed. The reason being is that I'm certain a lot of people are looking at those and thinking: "Is that possible? Can we actually do that?" And the answer, shockingly is yes. I'm more than certain we could create a mobile city that moves itself across the landscape. In effect we kind of already have. Aircraft carriers are some of the largest vessels in the world and they can house 5,000 people, in a effect a very small but mobile city. Moving that kind of vehicle onto the land wouldn't be difficult at all in terms of engineering. Sure it would take a lot of resources and some brand new tricks we've never tried before but I have no doubt that with enough time and resolve we could solve the inherent problems with making a vehicle that weighs 150,000 tons drive across land. However, I don't want anyone reading this blog to think: "Oh okay then, problem solved. Thanks Bromopar" because there is a MUCH more important question to ask.
"Why would we want to?"
While I certainly can't deny the overwhelming "cool" factor a steampunk city that can drive itself across the country provides I'm forced to remember that old adage: "Necessity is the mother of invention." I just can't imagine any kind of need that would make such a monstrosity a necessity for survival. Anyone who's been to Burning Man knows that we already have the capability to move 60,000 people and their very own city across the country.
Okay, tens of thousands of pickups, SUVs and Jeeps with trailers isn't as glamorous as an entire city on tank treads but it's far more efficient and there's no reason those people couldn't communicate with one another or keep track of one another using off the shelf tech. Tents can be packed up in minutes to a couple of hours depending on complexity and if you need to fight off raiders about 40,000 vehicles and tents are much tougher targets to hit to say nothing about how much easier they would be to repair/replace. And that's just the external problems that could arise. As someone who used to work on a 3 story tall engine that created 35,000 shaft horsepower on a Navy warship I can tell you just how difficult it is to supply the parts needed to keep that monster running. Not only that but people get motion sickness on huge warships that just float. Imagine if your house was constantly bumping up and down and swaying this way and that as your entire city drove at 45 mph across uneven ground. If you're the kind of person that hates driving off road because the ride is too rough you might not want to feel that 24/7.
Mortal Engines looks like an amazing movie and I am interested in seeing it. I'm just not going to walk out of the theater wishing for giant moving cities. I for one, am perfectly happy with the stationary one I live in now.