July 11, 1997 –
The under-rated Robert Zemeckis Sci-Fi film (based on a Carl Sagan novel,) Contact, starring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Angela Bassett, Rob Lowe, and David Morse, opened on this date.
The remark made throughout the movie by different characters, that if humans were the only life in the universe, it would “be a terrible waste of space“, is a famous quote by author Carl Sagan. It references a statement by the Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle, considering the potential worlds of other stars; “A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly. If they be not inhabited, what a waste of space.“
The Haus of Dcaligari 