Hollywood’s deep-space science -- how warped is it?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

“Out of This World: The Science of Space Movies,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday , Samuel Goldwyn Theater

There’s science and there’s fiction and then there’s science fiction. The space in between them -- or, more precisely, the outer space between them -- will be the topic this Thursday at “Out of This World: The Science of Space Movies,” the latest program from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The presentation will be made by Adam Weiner, the author of “Don’t Try This At Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies,” who plans to cover a lot of stellar territory.

“We are starting with the original 1902 Georges Melies ‘A Trip to the Moon,’ which is quite fantastic,” Weiner said. “We will be doing factually true-to-life movies like ‘Apollo 13’ and ‘October Sky’ and then more fictional ones like ‘Mission to Mars,’ ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Star Trek.’ There are movies like ‘Armageddon,’ which is famous for sounding scientific, but really makes a lot of mistakes along the way. We will also be showing a couple of clips from the movies.”

Weiner, who hosted a similar program last year on superheroes and superhero cinema, teaches physics at the Bishop’s School, a private high school in La Jolla.

“I discovered in my classes that using clips from movies was an excellent way of keeping them engaged and learning science,” Weiner said. “We take scenes from movies and deconstruct them according to real principles of science. Obviously, you are showing how something can’t be true, but you are also showing how some things might be possible.”

Weiner will join a panel discussion with Oscar-winning visual effects artist Richard Edlund of “Star Wars”; Philip Eisner, a screenwriter whose credits include “Event Horizon”; former NASA flight director Gerry Griffin, who was technical advisor on “Apollo 13” and “Contact”; former NASA astronaut Jeffrey A. Hoffman, who has logged more than 1,200 hours in space; and visual effects supervisor Hoyt Yeatman, whose credits include “Mission to Mars.”

Also, on Friday, Weiner will host a screening of Fritz Lang’s 1929 sci-fi silent film “Frau im Mond,” a.k.a. “Woman in the Moon,” at the academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater.

On Saturday, the academy and Cinefamily will be screening 1968’s “Project Apollo” and the Oscar-nominated 1989 documentary “For All Mankind” at the Silent Movie Theatre.

-- Susan King

RECENT AND RELATED:

“Bride of Frankenstein,” an electric moment in horror

EXCLUSIVE: “Lost” treasures from 1954’s “20,000 Leagues”

Harrison Ford returns to ‘Star Wars’ universe ... for one night

“Jaws” took a bite out of film history 35 years ago

Dick Zanuck ‘intrigued’ by idea of re-releasing ‘Jaws’ in 3D

“Galaxy Terror,” James Cameron and libidinous maggots

VINTAGE VIDEO: Ford and Hamill on ‘Today’ show in 1980

50 years later: ‘Sleeping Beauty’ star dazzles D23 audience

The curious Hollywood history of “Alice in Wonderland”

PHOTO: At top, the USS Enterprise of “Star Trek” (Paramount Pictures)

Clicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites.