Revised April 22, 2015

Interstellar
(2014, 167 minutes)

Before you watch

(answer key at end)

What kind of movie is this?

1. (unscramble the answer)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ( s n e e c c i / f o n c i t i)

2. (Choose a. or b.) This type of movie is usually:

a. based on impossible ideas.
b. based on possible ideas.

Important terms - Label the pictures with the best

matching term from the list below. The first one is done.

1. blight – terrible sickness of the land, like a cancer

2. gravity - makes the apple fall to the ground
3. NASA - managed the Apollo expeditions into space
4. binary code – language using only 1s and 0s
5. morse code – uses “dots” and “dashes”
6. wormhole – like a hole in the universe that cuts through space and time
7. galaxy – a group of planets. Ours is the Milky Way
8. magnetic – scientific attraction, with metals and energy

a. b.
blight

1
Characters

Cooper – WAS an astronaut. Now he is a farmer. Lives with two kids and father-in-law.

Murphy –

 Cooper’s daughter. Her mother died.

 Her name is similar to “Murphy’s Law” which says: anything that can happen, will happen. Some
people think it means that BAD things will happen.
 She thinks there is some kind of ghost or poltergeist in their house.

Story

 There is blight everywhere.

 The farmers are trying everything, but all the crops are dying.
 Cooper is a farmer, but he used to be a pilot with NASA. He doesn’t like farming. NASA was cancelled
and the government tells people it never existed
 Strange things happen at the Cooper farm and house, especially with Murph. They call it a “ghost”
 Cooper and his daughter discover that NASA is still running, but in secret.
 He is chosen for a special mission to find a new home for earth’s humans
 Special detail - On one of the planets, one hour is equal to 23 years on earth!
2
During the film
(If you want to clarify something, just ask. I will stop the movie a few times to check the important parts)

A. What is the difference between Plan A and Plan B?

B. The robots are special characters. What are some of their settings? (e.g., How humorous are they?
How honest are they? Discretion?)

C. MAIN EVENTS - Organize the main events of the first 45 minutes. (Which comes 1, 2, 3, etc.) (Alternate
activities: focus on one or two events. When it happens, make a “check,” or take a candy, or take off a
shoe) 

“We are not meant to save the world, we are meant to leave it.”
A teacher says that moon travel is is FAKE, PROPAGANDA
Cooper argues with a robot
Cooper goes to the meeting at school
Coopers says good bye
The crew takes off
The family finds an Indian Drone.
The family gets a flat tire
They find BINARY CODE written in the dust.
They reach the wormhole
They see a terrible dust storm.

D. CHARACTERS These 3 people travelled out many years earlier. Describe them, their planets, and what
happened to each of them.

1. Miller …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Mann: …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

3. Edmunds: …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

3
After you Watch Part 1
Review and Discuss

1. Describe Cooper’s personality.

2. Why do you think he decided to leave?
3. Do you think Cooper will regret his decision?
4. Describe Murph and her brother. Compare and Contrast.

Extension - Find out who wrote this poem, and complete it.

Do not go gentle into that good ………,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the …………………… of the ……………………….

Though wise men at their end know dark is ……………………,

Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go …………… into that good night.

By __________________________________________________________

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Vocabulary A
minut
e
1. The BLIGHT came and we had to burn it. ... sickness of the land - ‫آفة زراعية‬
2. SHAKE A LEG! Murph, GET A MOVE ON! (idiom) hurry up!
3. I looked it up. It's called a POLTERGEIST. type of ghost ‫روح شريرة‬
4. You said science was about ADMITTING what we don't accepting ‫اعترف‬
know.
5. That's not a dust storm. - Nelson's TORCHING his whole burning ‫حرق‬
crop.
6. They're saying it's the last harvest for OKRA. Ever. type of vegetable ‫بامية‬
7. Repopulating the earth. Start PULLING YOUR WEIGHT, doing your share ‫المساهمة‬
young man.
8. PATCH the tire! fix
9. MURPHY'S LAW doesn't mean that something bad will expression that means unplanned
happen. It means is whatever can happen, will happen. events always happen.
10. It's an Indian Air Force DRONE. unmanned airplane
11. Want to GIVE IT A WHIRL? try it?
12. Delhi Mission Control went down, same as ours indian air traffic controller
13. What? - Give me a large FLATBLADE. knife
14. I'm gonna give it something socially responsible to do, large farm machine ‫جرارة‬
like drive a COMBINE.
15. No, actually, sir, that's a SURVEILLANCE drone. inspection ‫مراقبة‬

Vocabulary B
16. Yeah, he's GOT A KNACK FOR farming. What about ability - ‫القدرة‬
college?
17. You're RULING MY SON OUT for college now? excluding ‫استبعد‬
18. We are a caretaker GENERATION, Coop. group of people in the same age
range ‫جيل‬
19. Your daughter has been telling the students that scientist moon travel ‫الهبوط على سطح القمر‬
have made LUNAR LANDINGS.
20. The Apollo missions were FAKED. not real ‫زيف‬
21. I believe it was a brilliant piece of PROPAGANDA. fake information ‫دعاية‬
22. The Soviets BANKRUPTED themselves buying rockets and spend all their money - ‫مفلس‬
other useless machines.
23. APOLLO is nonsense the space missions

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 24. I got you SUSPENDED Murph! kicked out of school for some time
25. Had to reset every compass clock and GPS to offset the unusual event ‫شذوذ‬
ANOMALY.
26. We are explorers, PIONEERS, not caretakers. first settlers in a place ‫رواد‬
;16 27. When I was a kid, they made a new GADGET every day. tool
28. It’s a DOOZY. big one
29. Where did you get these COORDINATES for your map? locational points.
30. Nobody STUMBLES in here, and nobody stumbles out. finds by accident ‫تعثر‬

Vocabulary C
31. Explain how you found this FACILITY ___location - ‫موقع‬
32. Please COOPERATE with these people. work together with ‫اتفاق تعاون‬
33. You're not getting any answers from us until I get protection/insurance ‫تأكيدات‬
ASSURANCES.
:28 34. We’re NASA. national aeronautics and space
administration (astronauts)
35. You are driven by the UNSHAKABLE FAITH the Earth is strong belief ‫اإليمان الذي ال‬
ours. ‫يتزعزع‬
36. Your daughter’s generation will be the last to SURVIVE live
:32 37. There may be HABITABLE worlds within our reach livable ‫صالح للسكن‬
38. Our final EXPEDITION. mission ‫حملة‬
39. But they could use HIBERNATION to stretch the time for going into a deep sleep and
survival. not needing to eat (like a bear)
40. We may succeed, but it is a LONG SHOT. low possibility ‫الالاحتمالية‬

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ANSWERS
Before you watch
What kind of movie is this?

(unscramble the answer) This movie is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . ( s n e e c c i / f o n c i t)

Answer: science fiction

3. (Choose a. or b.) This type of movie is usually:

c. based on impossible ideas.
d. based on possible ideas.

Answer: a. It is based on real science, so it seems like it is POSSIBLE

Important ideas/TERMS

Label the pictures with the corresponding term.

b. sickness of the land - ‫آفة زراعية‬

B GRAVITY

blight

C BINARY MORSE

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 WORMHOLE

GALAXY

MAGNETIC
NASA

During the film

What are Plan A and Plan B?

Answers
Plan A – find a new planet and send the people to Earth there
Plan B – Find a new planet but send a few people only, with fertilized eggs.

The robots are Special characters are. What are some of their settings? (How humorous are they? How honest
are they?)

Answers. Humor was 75% at beginning. Honesty was 90%

8
These are the main events of the first 45 minutes. Put them in order. (optional activity. Take one or two to
focus on. When it happens, make a “check” or optional, take a candy, or take off your shoe)

1 The family gets a flat tire

2 The family finds an Indian Drone.
3 Cooper goes to the meeting at school
4 A teacher says that moon travel is is FAKE, PROPAGANDA
5 They see a terrible dust storm.
6 They find BINARY CODE written in the dust.
7 Cooper argues with a robot
8 “We are not meant to save the world, we are meant to leave it.”
9 Coopers says good bye
10 The crew takes off
11 They reach the wormhole

E. These 3 men travelled out many years earlier. Describe them, their planets, and what happened to
each of them.

Answer: Miller was a woman. She died. Mann was sending signals, but they were lies. Edmund is beloved
by Dr. Brand, but they did not choose his planet, so they left him there.

After you Watch Part 1

Answer:

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Though wise men at their end know dark is right
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

By Dylan Thomas