Seatec Astronomy?

April 25, 2008 7:05 AM

In the movie Sneakers (1992), there is a mysterious corporation the protagonists are investigating called Seatec Astronomy...(tiny spoiler inside)

There is a pivotal scene where Redford et al. put down Scrabble tiles and spell out the name 'Seatec Astronomy', and then start rearranging the letters to discover that the name is an anagram of 'No More Secrets', and the company is in the business of cracking codes.

Except here's the rub: Seatec Astronomy is not an anagram of No More Secrets. It is an anagram of "Anatomy-o-Secrets" and "O, a so many a Secrets", but not "No More Secrets".

Am I remembering this movie incorrectly, or did the movie makers just not care enough to have a working anagram?

posted by mcstayinskool to media & arts (23 comments total)

IIRC

Setec Astronomy was an anagram of "too many secrets"
posted by Oktober at 7:09 AM on April 25, 2008

I think you might be misremembering..the tiles are rearranged to spell "Too Many Secrets", not "No More Secrets".
posted by chos at 7:09 AM on April 25, 2008

It was TOO MANY SECRETS.
posted by MarkAnd at 7:09 AM on April 25, 2008

Damn, I even hit preview.
posted by MarkAnd at 7:09 AM on April 25, 2008

Yeah, you're misremembering 2 things: 1, it was SETEC, not SEATEC, and 2, it was TOO MANY SECRETS.
I love that movie.
posted by jozxyqk at 7:12 AM on April 25, 2008

For next time, Wikipedia would have had the answer to this question.
posted by grouse at 7:29 AM on April 25, 2008

yeah everybody's got it. man I miss River Phoenix.
posted by matteo at 7:31 AM on April 25, 2008

thanks all. Seriously, I spent an embarassing time googling for an answer. Smacking forehead for not thinking of Wikipedia first.
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:43 AM on April 25, 2008

It's too many secrets, and the reason I know that is because there's an article in Mother Jones this issue about patches for secret projects on military uniforms. One has "Seatec astronomy" on it.
posted by sugarfish at 7:56 AM on April 25, 2008

still the best cyberpunk movie.
posted by cowbellemoo at 9:03 AM on April 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

WHY IS IT SO HOT IN HERE!!???? MAHHHRRRRTYYYY!!!!!!!!

what a great movie
posted by Salvatorparadise at 9:16 AM on April 25, 2008

"Cootys Rat Semen!"

Seriously, that moment was an in joke with my brother and me for ever. Actually it still is.
posted by The Bellman at 9:19 AM on April 25, 2008

"Cattle mutilations are up."

Yeah, I loved that movie too.
posted by shiny blue object at 9:35 AM on April 25, 2008

Still one of my favorite soundtracks, too.
posted by jamaro at 9:43 AM on April 25, 2008

"The young lady with the Uzi. Is she... single?"
posted by asuprenant at 9:58 AM on April 25, 2008

“My name is Werner Brandis. My voice is my password. Verify me.”

Good movie.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 10:05 AM on April 25, 2008

I leave message on your service, but you do not call!!!
posted by Salvatorparadise at 11:33 AM on April 25, 2008

"Oh, yeah, that's where NASA faked the moon landings." Love that movie - excellent cast & writing.
posted by theora55 at 11:55 AM on April 25, 2008

My mother no longer asks me what I want for my birthday or christmas because I always answer "peace on earth, and goodwill towards men."

While I am sad to not be able to deliver the joke anymore (not that she got the reference...) it IS the desired effect....
posted by phearlez at 12:13 PM on April 25, 2008

The Holy Trinity: WarGames, Hackers and Sneakers.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:55 PM on April 25, 2008

The Holy Trinity: WarGames, Hackers and Sneakers.

Prime Risk beats them all, hands down.
posted by scalefree at 3:01 PM on April 25, 2008

CWRU film society, weirdos that we are, spent several months after the Sneakers showing last year coming up with new anagrams for that phrase. We somewhat recently switched to "the cake is a lie", which, so far, has been fairly disappointing as far as entertaining anagrams go.
posted by mismatched at 11:41 AM on April 26, 2008

"Don't forget to go real slow!"

"I cannot kill my friend. [to henchman:] Kill my friend."
posted by kirkaracha at 10:10 AM on May 5, 2008