Ultimate "The Abyss", Part One Quiz

Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche

It's a pretty deep quote (no pun intended!). I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to mean, but it IS a good quote for a movie named "The Abyss." This quote was removed from the theatrical version because the same quote had been used in the movie "Criminal Law" just a few months before "The Abyss" opened in theaters.

Answer: USS Montana

The power systems on the sub fail when the mysterious unidentified vehicle comes near, but by the time power is restored it's too late to reverse course. The sub crashes into the wall of the trench and sinks.

Answer: "Launch the buoy"

He orders a buoy launched that gives the sub's position to rescuers. It is shown on the surface with a blinking white light after it has been launched. In reality, the position of nuclear subs, and the cargo and information they carry, is so secret that they do not carry such buoys. It often takes months, or even years, to locate such a wreck.

Answer: "It's starting to look like my apartment."

Bud issues this order as he is heading to the tool pusher's office to take a phone call from the surface. The phone call is from a Benthic Petroleum supervisor who is calling to tell him about the sub sinking, and to recruit the Deep Core team for the rescue operation. If it looked like his apartment, then I wonder why he wanted it cleaned up?

Answer: New York Yankees

He wears it in all the scenes in the first third or so of the film, then doesn't wear it anymore for the duration of the film. I think he got separated from it in the chaos of the rig being dragged, although you never actually see this.

Answer: Operation Salvor

This codename is only mentioned once, when the Navy commander is briefing Brigman about the situation via a video conference. Brigman is less than enthusiastic about the offer to participate in the operation.

Answer: Frederick

The movie was set in 1994 (which shows on monitors when the crew enters the submarine), yet the name "Frederic" (slightly different spelling) was retired as a hurricane name in 1979, when a hurricane with that name slammed into coastal Alabama. Of course, this is fiction, so they can get away with that! On a similar note, US/USSR tensions play heavily in the plot of the Special Edition, but we all know the USSR no longer existed in 1994!

Answer: orange

It's an orange jumpsuit. As the submersible is released from the Benthic Explorer and splashes into the water, Lindsey announces "Touchdown! Crowd goes wild." Her military passengers do not seem amused.

Answer: Navy SEALs

They are led by Lt. Coffey (played by Michael Biehn), a dead-serious and brash man, who rubs the Deep Core crew the wrong way almost immediately. Catfish says "They don't look so tough. I've fought plenty tougher guys than them."

Answer: High Pressure Nervous Syndrome

Referred to as "HPNS," the symptoms include tremors and psychosis. Lt. Coffey adds "a partridge in a pear tree" as a symptom, in an attempt to downplay the risk of the team falling victim to the disorder. He says they've all "checked out" fine. Ironically, Lt. Coffey himself is the only member of the team who actually becomes afflicted by this syndrome.

Answer: pressurizing

Deep Core is an ambient pressure environment, meaning the pressure inside Deep Core is the same as the pressure outside at that depth. They must slowly adjust the pressure from the surface level to the level for Deep Core's depth. This allows divers to exit Deep Core for dives, and re-enter afterwards, without having to go through pressurization adjustments.

In the real world, however, ambient diving requires much longer compression/decompression times. To compress to the estimated 87 atmospheres felt at Deep Core's depths, they would probably have needed to spend a few weeks compressing.

But of course this would have killed the plot line, so the writers fudged a little bit!

Answer: Cayman Trough

It actually sinks right on the edge of the trough, not all the way into it. This trench lies in the western Caribbean, between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. It is the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea. In the film, it is referred to as a "trough," but either term, "trench" or "trough", is acceptable.

Answer: The Hammer

When telling Hippy that the Navy SEALs don't look so tough, Catfish balls up his fist and says, "See this? They used to call this The Hammer." The term "hands of stone" was a nickname given to 70's/80's era boxer Roberto Duran!

Answer: Neutron counter

As they initially approach the sub, Coffey asks Lindsey for radiation readings. She replies, "Neutron counter's not showing much." When first issued the devices, Hippy says that although they're getting paid triple-time for the mission, the money wouldn't be worth much in six months when certain body parts fall off because of radiation.

Answer: Crypto

All of the other answers I gave describe the contents of the notebook. It also says "US Navy" and "USS Montana" in smaller letters underneath "Crypto." A key part of Coffey's mission is to remove such classified information from the wreck.