dr wogz
Fly caster
I had the same confusion from a Star trek next episode. Gordie & Roe 'phase out' and save teh ship from a [phased] Romulan..
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Next_Phase_(episode)
Science fiction movies that know NOTHING about science
- Thread starter cvanc
- Start date
Help Support The Rocketry Forum:
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Next_Phase_(episode)
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2016
- Messages
- 8,996
- Reaction score
- 3,524
Horror, fantasy, and scifi often ask the same "What if?" questions in different ways. I'm not particularly bothered by not all SciFi being Hard SciFi, whether in print or in film.
It's mostly only when they Seriously Pretend to be scientific that I get irritated -- so for instance anything where the writers can't tell the difference between physics and metaphysics.
It's mostly only when they Seriously Pretend to be scientific that I get irritated -- so for instance anything where the writers can't tell the difference between physics and metaphysics.
Or the many, many time that Star Trek has tried to talk about evolution, a real thing with well (not perfectly) understood mechanisms and results, and then uses it to justify total BS.
rharshberger
Well-Known Member
LOTR....Directors Cut...12hrs been there done that...multiple times
mh9162013
Well-Known Member
The Wandering Earth. I just watched it this evening. OMFG!
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2022
- Messages
- 1,751
- Reaction score
- 1,764
That's *precisely* what they were referencing. Brilliantly shredding Star Trek TNG's lack of understanding of science.
It's not lack of understanding. It's deliberate, considered lack of concern when science gets in the way of a good story. If they wanted to "get the science right" there'd be no warp drive, no devastating directed energy weapons with energy sources that fit in one's hand, and Good God no transporters; no Star Trek. And don't try to tell me that SG-1 doesn't do exactly the same thing.
This is what I was talking about a bunch of posts upthread; the ones that openly choose to put story above science don't bother me (much). It's the ones that try to (or seem to try to) take the science seriously and then get it horribly wrong that bother me. And there are so many episodes of Star Trek, what with so many series and movies, that sometimes they land on the cringe-inducing try but fail side, even though they are usually firmly on the "It's just a show, [you] should really just relax" side.
This is what I was talking about a bunch of posts upthread; the ones that openly choose to put story above science don't bother me (much). It's the ones that try to (or seem to try to) take the science seriously and then get it horribly wrong that bother me. And there are so many episodes of Star Trek, what with so many series and movies, that sometimes they land on the cringe-inducing try but fail side, even though they are usually firmly on the "It's just a show, [you] should really just relax" side.
Last edited:
dr wogz
Fly caster
gldknght
Well-Known Member
NTP2
Well-Known Member
One of my favorite things to do is to try and find inaccurate stuff in Andy’s books a I have found a total of three issues. In 3 books…
The movies s**ked like a Hoover, but the "Mouse" books were outstanding entertainment. And hilarious, right up there with Terry Pratchett. From "The Mouse That Roared" in which Grand Fenwick, a 3x5 mile country, declares war on the US, traveling to NY on a chartered brig to initiate hostilities because they have no navy. The army used the superweapons we know as longbows:
"No, I don't. It's more like as if there had been a plague."
Will blanched. He was a brave man; none braver. But he had a mortal fear of germs, which it had been explained to him in his youth would certainly devour him if he did not wash behind his ears. "The air smells bad here," he said.
"It always does," replied Tully.
"You don't suppose these blobs of black stuff on the ground are some kind of germ warfare, do you?"
"No. Well, in a way they are. They're old pieces of chewing gum, tons of it. Probably filthy with microbes, but they never bothered New Yorkers before."
[Okay, now I gotta read it agin.]
Those were great books. My father was a great fan so I was fortunate to have them around the house growing up.
Besides bad Sci-Fi there are other movies that get things wrong. In Castaway the opening scenes were bunk. Jet engines still running as they slowly sink into the water. Burning fuel on the water, yes. Running engines in the water, no. The movie didn't make any sense to me. Movies that show weapons effects are mostly comical. Like an RPG rocket hitting something and a giant explosion and fire ball happen. It makes me laugh.
dr wogz
Fly caster
I saw it on TV when I was about 10. thought it cute & funny, especially the castle turret being the rocket..The movies s**ked like a Hoover, but the "Mouse" books were outstanding entertainment. And hilarious, right up there with Terry Pratchett. From "The Mouse That Roared" in which Grand Fenwick, a 3x5 mile country, declares war on the US, traveling to NY on a chartered brig to initiate hostilities because they have no navy. The army used the superweapons we know as longbows:
"No, I don't. It's more like as if there had been a plague."
Will blanched. He was a brave man; none braver. But he had a mortal fear of germs, which it had been explained to him in his youth would certainly devour him if he did not wash behind his ears. "The air smells bad here," he said.
"It always does," replied Tully.
"You don't suppose these blobs of black stuff on the ground are some kind of germ warfare, do you?"
"No. Well, in a way they are. They're old pieces of chewing gum, tons of it. Probably filthy with microbes, but they never bothered New Yorkers before."
[Okay, now I gotta read it agin.]
Zeus-cat
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2009
- Messages
- 4,994
- Reaction score
- 1,460
Actually, that describes all of Irwin Allen's shows; The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants and Lost in Space. Season 1 of his shows were usually decent. I'm not saying they were scientifically accurate, but at least the stories were somewhat intelligently written for the 1960's. But they all devolved into crap during season 2 or even late season 1.
IMHO, "Land of the Giants" was Irwin Allen's worst. It was absolutely craptatacular. I remember channel surfing and stumbling across Land of the Giants on SciFi. The guest star was Johnathan Harris as the Pied Piper of Hamblin. Yes, it was Dr. Smith, in tights. Absolutely putrid.
RPGs don't explode? Mythbusters had slow mo footage of an RPG exploding, was that fake?
I saw that episode. It was a long time ago and my memory isn't that good anymore. As I recall when the RPG hit the pickup the grill was destroyed and the hood buckled up. It didn't disappear in a 50' fireball, get flipped over or thrown 20' in the air and come down as metal confetti like is seen in the movies.
Last edited:
I was partly kidding. Mythbusters also had slowmo video of an RPG going through a camping trailer and I think it exploded inside with the jet of molten copper going out the back side. I agree that what you see in movies is very much different from reality. I think movie explosions are more petroleum and black powder vs. a smokeless explosive.
Yes, as I know thanks to another Myth Busters episode. They showed a pyro effects guy demonstrating how they do it. It's a lifting change - might be BP, might be high explosive, I don't remember - under a gallon can of gasoline.
Similar threads
