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There's something that keeps bothering me since I've watched Tomorrowland. When Frank Walker

arrives in Tomorrowland with Cassie Newton, David Nix says to him something like "Age goes well on you" (sorry I'm French and I didn't get the exact phrase), and Frank replies "You should try"

 

Since Nix didn't age since 1964's World Fair, I first assumed that he is a robot (an audio-animaronic).

But this can't be, as he "has ideas" (robots can't have ideas, or at least that's what we are told until the end of the movie), he feels pain, and death seems to bother him (when the Monitor falls, he don't look like he's thinking "Nevermind, I'm a robot, I can't die!")

So I assumed that as long as you stay in Tomorrowland, you're immortal. But this doesn't seem to be true either, as Frank arrives as a kid, and in the scene where he is put to exile, that's not a kid that we see leaving the place, therefore, Frank aged in Tomorrowland. Moreover, if you don't age in Tomorrowland, everyone that was there in the first place (Eiffel, Tesla, Edison, and everyone else, not just famous inventors) should still be there. Although they might hide during the entire movie, why not, but that's not my point.

 

So we know that Nix is not a robot (therefore I assume he's human), but he doesn't age, but Tomorrowland isn't the reason why.

So what makes him "immortal" (or so special)? He is obviously not an optmist, he can't fix things, so why isn't he aging? Does being in Tomorrowland still have effect on the way you age? Is he another kind of robot or something?

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    Note: I edited the title to "ageing" rather than "aging", but "aging" is apparently correct in American-English. The British woman strikes again!
    – Mikasa
    Jun 12, 2015 at 15:09
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    As you wish, I'm not very familiar to all those little differences
    – Tloz
    Jun 12, 2015 at 16:50

2 Answers 2

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This must be a translation issue.

When Nix and Frank are talking initially, which you partially quote in your question, Nix says he drinks a shake each morning to stay young. He mentions the shake now being available in chocolate. That's why he doesn't age, and how Frank aged as a kid. As a child, Frank didn't drink the immortality shakes, when he became an adult, he would have started, if not for the exile.

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    Wow. Nix needs to advertise that stuff - his milkshake would bring everybody to the yard.
    – Omegacron
    May 29, 2015 at 14:22
  • I thought that was just a joke about Earth having terrible milkshakes. Would the answer to immortality be so down to earth, and without any technology or machine involved, like the rest of the movie? Moreover, this can't be a translation issue, I watched it in English
    – Tloz
    May 29, 2015 at 14:29
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    @Tloz All the hard work for the super-science of Tomorrowland happens off screen. The closest we get is seeing the test flight of the jetpack, and the portals being in the background of a few scenes. The movie isn't really about how this stuff came to be, it's just taking the premise of 'what if it did exist?' and running with it.
    – user1027
    May 29, 2015 at 15:08
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    Frank already knew about the shakes. There was no need for them to discuss it further beyond the "new flavor" nod to it.
    – BBlake
    May 29, 2015 at 15:26
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    @ThePopMachine Why do you think that? The two of them have a back and forth that clearly indicates it's a thing, and there's no other explanation in the film for Nix's longevity.
    – user1027
    May 29, 2015 at 20:07
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The original quote reads:

David Nix: You look good, Frank. Age becomes you.

Frank Walker: Thanks, you should try it some time.

David Nix: No thanks. I'll just keep drinking my shake each morning. They come in chocolate now, you know.

He hasn't aged because those talented folks in Tomorrowland had developed technology/medicine/milkshake that could prevent them from ageing.

As to how the science of this works, it is possible that drinking the shake introduces tiny metal robots (called nanobots) into the subject's body, which then set to work renewing the proteins within the subject's cells, which would not be capable of reverting the ageing process- so by drinking the shake one could not, for example, become young again.

However, it has been speculated by scientists that it is entirely possible to keep someone at the same age they are by using nanobots, as they can work on a molecular level. They could prevent ageing in human cells, thus allowing someone to live forever- providing, of course, a large falling object does not kill you, prompting the last words:

David Nix: Bollocks!

Or maybe the milkshake is imbued with water from the fountain of youth.

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    That's an interesting point (close as the one brought by Keen), but you're bringing nanobots into this, which is more. But un this case, isn't it weird to talk about milkshake instead of nanobots?
    – Tloz
    Jun 3, 2015 at 16:11
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    Well, considering it was a one-liner that was meant to be a joke and explain Nix's lack of ageing, I think it had to be short and snappy to fit with the plot. If Nix had said "I'll just keep nanobotting myself younger!", if wouldn't have had the same ring to it...
    – Mikasa
    Jun 3, 2015 at 16:24
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    You have a point here
    – Tloz
    Jun 3, 2015 at 16:25

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