Space cadets taken for a ride英电视炮制史上最大骗局 狂涮“太空学员”
nature 的报道，斑竹怎么把同名中文报道删除了？Space cadets taken for a ride
Television show hopes to convince participants they are in orbit.
Michael Hopkin
It is all set to be the thrill of a lifetime. A group of intrepid adventurers, having fought off dozens of other hopefuls, will head into space for a five-day voyage, to be watched and envied by millions. Except they won't.
Space Cadets, which hits British television screens next month, is the latest ambitious experiment in 'reality TV'. The show's organizers have rigged a Hollywood space-shuttle set with all the sights, sounds and shakes of a genuine space flight. But, unbeknownst to the participants, the craft will never leave the ground.
In attempting this mother of all practical jokes, the production team has equipped its 'spacecraft' with surround-sound speakers that play a soundtrack of whooshing and humming engine noises, and a hydraulic platform providing realistic jolts and shudders.
The craft's interior, modified from the set used by Clint Eastwood in Space Cowboys, will feature windows that give super-high-resolution images of Earth, including a simulated hurricane over Mexico. (Hopefully none of the adventurers will remember that the Atlantic hurricane season usually ends in November.)
If all goes smoothly, the crew will complete a five-day mission in early December without realizing that they are still on terra firma in Britain.
"Fingers crossed, it'll be believable," says the show's executive producer, Shirley Jones of Dutch production company Endemol.
Massive deception
The one thing the programme-makers will not be able to simulate, of course, is microgravity. Instead, the crew will be told that they will be soaring to an altitude of some 100 kilometres, which is enough to qualify for astronaut status, but not to induce weightlessness.
This is not entirely true. SpaceShipOne, the first commercial craft to touch space, rocketed up to 100 kilometres and gave its pilot a brief feeling of free fall.
The craft's soundtrack will also not be completely realistic. Real astronauts have described the eerie silence of drifting through orbit as being as still as death. On board the fake vehicle, the super-noisy launch will give way to a constant, reassuringly mechanical hum.
The pretend crew will receive a series of lectures described as "80% truth, 20% fiction" (see 'What every budding astronaut should know').
You are going to space...
The show's success will depend in part on finding volunteers with the right psychological make-up. From a hundred hopefuls, the final handful of candidates were picked for their 'suggestibility', as well as teamwork skills, fitness and sense of calm under pressure. Behind closed doors, the cameras will film this group being whittled down to just three who will 'fly' on the shuttle, together with an actor to smooth over any cracks in the illusion.
Psychologists agree that suggestibility relies on the subject having a creative and easily harnessed sense of imagination. "It's certainly not about people being weak or gullible," says Jones.
Psychologist Colin Gill of the University of Leeds, UK, suspects that the people selected will be "imaginative but also badly informed. They will be people who, in terms of life experience, are fairly naive... whose knowledge of space goes only as far as Star Wars."
Big reveal
If all goes to plan, the producers may tell the crew that they are going on a space walk, before throwing open the shuttle door to reveal the volunteers' waiting families. "We want to make sure that everybody who goes is mentally and physically strong enough to do it, and to cope with the aftermath," Jones says.
But Gill fears the emotional fall-out of being the butt of such a colossal joke. "Being revealed to millions of people as an absolute chump could have a big effect on someone. Your friends, your closest support network, may be tempted to laugh at you for the rest of your life."
If anyone does suspect a hoax, the herd mentality may keep them quiet anyway, says the show's commissioning editor, Angela Jain. "People are more likely to believe something if the rest of the group goes along with it."
From Russia with laughs
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In the meantime, the candidates will have plenty to occupy them. Besides the rigors of their training, they are being told that they will travel to Russia's Star City space base... another hoax. Instead, they will be flown in circles over the sea before landing at a British military base kitted out with all the accoutrements of Russian life, right down to the brand of toothpaste.
Onboard, the space cadets will be occupied by a range of fake science experiments. And perhaps the producers could simulate an emergency to spice things up, suggests Jeffrey Jones, a NASA surgeon who monitors astronauts' health aboard the International Space Station. This would rob them of time to contemplate things, and "would provide a very realistic stimulus", he says.
Other television programmes have been proposed that would really send people into space, but none has entered production... yet.
英国没有能力送人上天，只能恶搞
据英国《泰晤士报》、《每日快报》、《太阳报》17日报道，英国第四频道电视台正在耗资500万英镑制作一档堪称世界电视史上最大骗局的真人秀节目：9名节目参与者被告知，他们将到俄罗斯星城接受太空训练，然后选出4人乘坐航天飞机飞入太空，成为地球上首批免费的太空游客。然而事实上，所谓的星城只不过是一个废弃的英国空军基地，而那架航天飞机则是一架仿真版的好莱坞电影道具。废弃基地改头换面伪造俄罗斯“星城”
据报道，英国第四频道电视台目前正在制作一档堪称“世界电视史上最大骗局”的电视真人秀节目。据悉，这一真人秀节目名叫《太空学员》，由“老大哥”真人秀的制作者负责制作。
该真人秀节目共有9名英国参与者，他们目前都处于“与世隔绝”状态。节目一开始，9名参与者被告知，他们将到俄罗斯著名的太空训练基地“星城”接受为期两周的太空训练，节目制片人对他们称，他们将在夜间乘坐一架直升机飞往俄罗斯。然而事实真相是，直升机将在黑暗中带着他们沿英国海岸和北海飞行4小时，兜上好几个圈，以便让“太空学员”们误以为自己正在飞往俄罗斯途中。
最后直升机会在一处荒废多年的建筑群旁降落下来，“太空学员”们将被告知，他们已经抵达了俄罗斯的“星城”，然而事实上，那儿只不过是一个废弃的英国空军基地。为了不致于露出马脚，这个英国前空军基地内的许多东西都重新进行了改造，里面每一个电线插头、每一个下水道井盖、每一个电灯泡都换成了俄罗斯生产的，“太空学员”们吃的食物———包括炒卷心菜也全都是“俄罗斯地方风味”。
此外，基地内的所有道路标志都用俄语书写，“太空学员”们桌上摆放的报纸也将全是俄语报纸。更为搞笑的是，一个垃圾筒内还将丢上一只俄罗斯牌子香烟的空盒子。
赢家乘“航天飞机”为好莱坞电影道具
当“星城”的“太空训练”结束后，将有4名“太空学员”成为最后优胜者，可以乘坐一架“航天飞机”围绕地球轨道进行为期5天的“太空之旅”。“太空学员”们被告知，他们将在太空中进行一些科学实验，并且会像英雄一样返回地球。然而事实真相是，他们乘坐的“航天飞机”只不过是一个仿真版的好莱坞电影道具而已，该“航天飞机”上次使用是在好莱坞电影《太空牛仔》拍摄时，在另一部好莱坞科幻电影《世界末日》中，著名演员布鲁斯·威利斯也曾“乘坐”它到太空去炸毁撞地小行星。
前宇航员受邀出镜特技师模拟发射音
很显然，这架道具“航天飞机”永远也不可能离开地面，但为了增强真实性，美国前宇航员里克·西福罗斯特将受邀来到“发射现场”，对火箭进行最后的检查，里克道：“这架道具和真的航天飞机简直太相像了。”同时，为了愚弄坐进太空舱内的节目参与者，当道具航天飞机“发射”时，一名好莱坞特技师将被请到现场，制造出以假乱真的发射声音；并且“航天飞机”还会倾斜和振动，让里面的“乘客”误以为真的在进行太空飞行。
看见他们恶搞，就越发觉得我们送人上天觉得骄傲
学员最终“上太空”将“看到”中国长城接着，节目制作组将在“航天飞机”的舷窗外竖立一面超大型的定制屏幕，大屏幕上将模拟从太空看到的地球景象，包括模拟飞过墨西哥上空的一个飓风，模拟“航天飞机”飞过英国上空时应该看到的景色，甚至还包括一个从太空看中国长城的镜头。节目制作组相信，大屏幕上的景象足以以假乱真，让“航天飞机”内的“太空学员”们真以为自己在“从太空看地球”。
据悉，坐上“航天飞机”的节目参与者都将是经过心理学家的测试后被挑选而出的，心理测试的目的主要是为了发现他们是否容易上当，而一些过于精明的“太空学员”将被淘汰。
摄制组安插“卧底”以防参与者起疑心
也许《太空学员》真人秀惟一的漏洞，就是“失重问题”无法解决，因为众所周知，当宇航员抵达太空后，将会失重并且漂浮起来。为了蒙骗住几位“太空学员”，制片人只好对他们谎称，他们将只在“接近太空的地方”绕地球飞行，因此不会出现失重现象。“太空学员”还被告知，他们在“航天飞机”中的每一个行动都将被34架摄像机监控着，并在每晚的黄金时段转播给电视观众。
《太空学员》真人秀节目已经秘密准备了8个月之久，为了防止节目参与者对“太空之旅”的真实性产生怀疑，摄制组还安排3名演员秘密混入其中，既充当“间谍角色”，汇报他们是否有人产生了怀疑；同时也引导“太空学员”们专心接受训练，不要乱生“杂念”。
学员目前被“隔离”节目播完才知真相
真人秀节目最后，当“太空学员”们怀着英雄般的心情“返回地球”时，节目主持人琼尼·沃根将向“太空学员”们披露他们被该真人秀节目愚弄的真相，彻底打碎他们当了一回“宇航员”的骄傲和梦想。
据报道，《太空学员》真人秀被英国媒体称为“世界电视史上最大的骗局和恶作剧”。为了防止9名“太空学员”在节目播出前就获知自己被骗的真相，他们目前全都处于“隔离状态”，暂时和外界断绝了联系。英国第四频道老板朱利安·贝拉米道：“我们相信，这个节目一定是电视史上最大的恶作剧。”
当然，假如真的有“太空学员”在节目播出时预感到受了欺骗，导致节目出现“变故”，那么电视台也有一个“救急招数”，那就是重复播放英国“帅哥”名厨贾米·奥利弗的“烹饪秀”节目。
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