Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Bad Movie Physics Report Card

Tags: science fiction
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  • 9 comments
dakiwiboid

There's a great line in the old SF comedy "Galaxina"

dakiwiboid

March 18 2008, 01:41:43 UTC 13 years ago Edited:  March 18 2008, 01:42:08 UTC

A space police cruiser is hiding behind an asteroid, and a speeder goes by. The young rookie asks his sergeant if he can turn on the lights and siren as they begin pursuit. The sergeant cuffs him and says, "Kid, don't you know that in space nobody can hear your siren?"
morningdove3202

yup, I kill catgirls all the time...

morningdove3202

March 18 2008, 01:55:13 UTC 13 years ago

http://gallery.micze.net/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=512&g2_serialNumber=2

Very cool article, I do much the same thing with biology.... I've been known to say "That bird you hear chirping in the back ground lives in NORTH AMERICA, not ENGLAND!" during Robin Hood movies.

Dove


ysabetwordsmith

Re: yup, I kill catgirls all the time...

ysabetwordsmith

March 18 2008, 02:04:26 UTC 13 years ago

*laugh* Sometimes I do it with birds. Other times it's plants or geologic formations.
morningdove3202

Re: yup, I kill catgirls all the time...

morningdove3202

March 24 2008, 01:03:58 UTC 13 years ago

Oh, right!! Like the "Jersey Devil" X files episode with caves near Atlantic City, NJ. rrriiiiggghhhttt caves, near Atlantic City, NJ ha!
christinaathena

christinaathena

March 18 2008, 02:08:42 UTC 13 years ago

Sound in space doesn't bother me. It's a dramatic necessity. Space battles would be rather BORING if done realistically, which would probably involve huge distances, to where the ships are invisible to the naked eye, and, at most, occasional flashes of light. :-)

Same with FTL travel. It's a dramatic necessity. Those kind of science errors I don't mind. Without FTL travel, all you can have is single planets (well, unless you happen to be in a globular cluster where stars are mere light-weeks apart, then near-light-speed travel would suffice)
ysabetwordsmith

ysabetwordsmith

March 18 2008, 02:20:50 UTC 13 years ago

I've seen soundless space scenes that are far more dramatic because of the eerie silence. It depends on the director's skill.

FTL travel I don't consider a flaw; it's an extrapolation that we'll figure out a new technology, the way we figured out heavier-than-air travel. It isn't a necessity, but it sure is convenient. There have been some great stories told of generation ships.
christinaathena

christinaathena

March 18 2008, 02:26:45 UTC 13 years ago

Oh, sure, it's possible to write good STL sci-fi. Rendezvous with Rama is a great example. Larry Niven's _Protector_ is another decent example. There's an interesting battle that takes literally weeks, due to the distance between the opposing forces. But if you're writing in a scenario with multi-system governments, you need some kind of FTL travel. It all depends on which subgenre of sci-fi you're dealing with.

Oh, I don't know

Anonymous

March 18 2008, 17:39:49 UTC 13 years ago

I once read a series (books admittedly, but still), where ships could only travel at near light-speed, but communication was instant due to a technology that took advantage of a phenomenon similar to entanglement. It was a multi-planet system, complete with an interstellar government, where people who captained, crewed, or frequently traveled on starships could sometimes live for millenia from society's perspective. Admittedly, when the society finally cracked the secret of FTL, travel became MUCH easier, but still. The society worked.
padparadscha

padparadscha

March 18 2008, 07:54:54 UTC 13 years ago

Haven't had time to read it, but I did read the BA Blog's response. If you like to pick at movie science, you'll love reading his movie reviews.