Post by ironhold on Mar 10, 2019 2:15:40 GMT
Because even fantasy movies can sometimes have things testable by the scientific method...
The Beastmaster
At about the 1:40:00 mark (that is, one hour and forty minutes), we have the characters preparing for the final showdown. The evil high priest is dead, but not before one of his witches summoned the Juns (not Huns, Juns) to storm the city and try to sweep those who opposed him.
The heroes are able to see the Jun well in the distance, and so have several hours to rally the civilians they've just liberated to help defend their city.
The evil priest was smart enough to fill the city's moat with a type of tar instead of the usual water or other such substance. As The Beastmaster himself notes, that kind of tar is so infamous that it's a test of manhood in his home village; if you want to be seen as an adult, you have to be strong enough to break through it in case you hit a naturally-occurring batch of it.
The heroes and denizens pull the bridges up and cover the tar with sand and straw. Sure enough, it's dark by the time the Jun arrive, and so in the dim light they don't realize that anything's wrong; it doesn't say if they didn't stop to think about what they were seeing or if they just thought the moat was shallow to begin with and finally went dry. Sure enough, the Jun charge right ahead after confirming that the heroes are there, and most of their number go right into the tar.
Once inside, all the heroes have to do is take a lit torch, ignite a Jun who's covered in it, and the fire *instantly* spreads throughout the entire moat, leading to a literal explosion. Most of the Jun force is killed outright because of this, meaning that The Beastmaster and his allies simply have to hold off the small group of survivors until allied reinforcements arrive.
To test -
1. Just how flammable is tar? If it is flammable, how quickly would fire spread across it?
2. Under what circumstances would ignited tar actually explode, if any?
3. Under comparable lighting conditions, could an average person be able to tell they were about to blunder into a tar pit even with the minimal efforts to conceal it?
4. If a person does blunder into a tar pit, how much strength is necessary to get oneself back out?
edit - Watching it a little more closely, the tar is somewhat thin compared to other tars I've seen. A petroleum-based tar?
The Beastmaster
At about the 1:40:00 mark (that is, one hour and forty minutes), we have the characters preparing for the final showdown. The evil high priest is dead, but not before one of his witches summoned the Juns (not Huns, Juns) to storm the city and try to sweep those who opposed him.
The heroes are able to see the Jun well in the distance, and so have several hours to rally the civilians they've just liberated to help defend their city.
The evil priest was smart enough to fill the city's moat with a type of tar instead of the usual water or other such substance. As The Beastmaster himself notes, that kind of tar is so infamous that it's a test of manhood in his home village; if you want to be seen as an adult, you have to be strong enough to break through it in case you hit a naturally-occurring batch of it.
The heroes and denizens pull the bridges up and cover the tar with sand and straw. Sure enough, it's dark by the time the Jun arrive, and so in the dim light they don't realize that anything's wrong; it doesn't say if they didn't stop to think about what they were seeing or if they just thought the moat was shallow to begin with and finally went dry. Sure enough, the Jun charge right ahead after confirming that the heroes are there, and most of their number go right into the tar.
Once inside, all the heroes have to do is take a lit torch, ignite a Jun who's covered in it, and the fire *instantly* spreads throughout the entire moat, leading to a literal explosion. Most of the Jun force is killed outright because of this, meaning that The Beastmaster and his allies simply have to hold off the small group of survivors until allied reinforcements arrive.
To test -
1. Just how flammable is tar? If it is flammable, how quickly would fire spread across it?
2. Under what circumstances would ignited tar actually explode, if any?
3. Under comparable lighting conditions, could an average person be able to tell they were about to blunder into a tar pit even with the minimal efforts to conceal it?
4. If a person does blunder into a tar pit, how much strength is necessary to get oneself back out?
edit - Watching it a little more closely, the tar is somewhat thin compared to other tars I've seen. A petroleum-based tar?
