re: Overanalyzing Independence Day - Russell Kay

quote:

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but I would think blowing the mother ship up would accomplish both?

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Blowing up the mother ship wouldn't necessarily disable the shields without the virus. Somehow managing to upload the virus without blowing up the mother-ship would result in several issues:
1. They would still have a massive foot soldier army to deal with which was preparing for a land invasion
2. Communication between crafts and the mother ship would likely have been restored in time to get the shields back up and counter the working human strategy before all alien capital ships are destroyed.

The virus got rid of the shields
The bomb made shield loss permanent, severed command/control structure, and destroyed all reinforcements and ground forces.