The scientists wife and daughter (who look too much alike and are often interchangeable) are trying to get to the base as that is the safest place. But instead they spend most of the movie driving poorly, wrecking cars, retracing their steps or running across the desert. Silly women!
While the movie has many ridiculous moments, there are two that stand out. The first is when the mother and daughter are driving one of their many cars down the road. The daughter screams "Look out!" and the mother swerves off the road, risking their lives and wrecking another car. The ridiculous part is that if they'd just kept driving straight, everything would have been fine.
The other one is during the fight in the secret computer room, when the mystery masked intruder makes an exclamation and the voice is obviously female. Yet Kelvin is apparently only book smart as he can't figure out the masked fiends identity - even though there is only one woman in the entire base. Oh silly scientist, should you really be in charge of saving the earth from destruction?
