One for the Bad Astronomer

Yesterday I saw most of the Disney animal flick "Eight Below", one of those "Incredible Journey"-ish things about sled dogs surviving after being abandoned in Antarctica. It was very well done for what it was (your basic treacly family film, though some scenes might be too intense for little kids, and the human-interest material about the people who decide to go back and find them dragged a bit), and I liked the dogs' acting. But my suspension of disbelief was severely damaged by the apparently normal day/night cycle they depicted happening in Antarctica in the winter. I can understand why this was done--they didn't want to have most of the movie happening at night--but it's still pretty jarring to see a scene labeled "July 21" and then show these dogs strolling along in broad daylight below the Antarctic Circle! There's also a scene in which the aurora australis seems to be zipping around on the ground like a will-of-the-wisp.

Oh, well. I tend to praise "Apollo 13" for accuracy, and that one had the phases of the earth and moon varying randomly throughout the movie according to the dictates of dramatic effect.