| Author |
 Topic  |
|
zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
 Posted - 02/19/2007 : 6:49:11 PM
|
Not just the usual "spaceships don't go WHOOSH in outer space" or "Godzilla would be too big to move" type observations, but also the kind of blunders that are grounded in the here and now, like a character in a movie calling a tomato a vegetable when it's really a fruit... that kind of thing.
Ex.:
The Wizard of Oz
When Scarecrow exclaims: "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining sides."
As every geek in the universe probably knows by now, Scarecrow is actually citing a right triangle.
Krakatoa, East of Java
The title says it all.
The Matrix
Agent Smith: "It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not."
Wrong. What keeps lower mammals in check is the food chain. Take almost any mammal out of its natural environment and place it in new environs where it faces no competition for food and no fear of predation and over time its numbers will likely skyrocket.
|
Edited by - zombiewhacker on 02/19/2007 6:54:17 PM
|
|
|
Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2007 : 7:55:34 PM
|
Well, speaking of The Matrix, the whole "humans as batteries" concept is completely inefficient and ridiculous, but the filmmakers already admitted that.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
 |
|
|
Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2007 : 8:22:15 PM
|
A bad Fifties sci-fi movie called:
The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues
First, the water didn't look any deeper that thirty feet.
Second, a "league" is THREE MILES. I don't think the Earth is that wide!
My favorite movie line comes from Flash Gordon Conqures Then Universe
DALE ARDEN upon seeing that Flash's raygun has no effect on some robots: "They're invisable!"
No Dale, we can SEE them. Did you mean "INVINCABLE"?
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
|
|
|
BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2007 : 9:49:16 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
Not just the usual "spaceships don't go WHOOSH in outer space" or "Godzilla would be too big to move" type observations, but also the kind of blunders that are grounded in the here and now, like a character in a movie calling a tomato a vegetable when it's really a fruit... that kind of thing.
Ex.:
The Wizard of Oz
When Scarecrow exclaims: "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining sides."
As every geek in the universe probably knows by now, Scarecrow is actually citing a right triangle.
Krakatoa, East of Java
The title says it all.
The Matrix
Agent Smith: "It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not."
Wrong. What keeps lower mammals in check is the food chain. Take almost any mammal out of its natural environment and place it in new environs where it faces no competition for food and no fear of predation and over time its numbers will likely skyrocket.
Zombie, I think the Scarecrow's declaration in Wizard was intentional. It was a subtle joke on the writer's part: even after given his "diploma", Scarecrow messes up an elementary rule of geometry. |
|
|
|
RossM
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
427 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 12:57:09 AM
|
The beams and other eminations from ray guns in science fiction movies move so slowly that anyone can simply step out of the way. They would, in reality move at the speed of light.
Some basics:
Everybody, at least by now, knows that a parsec is a measure of distance not time. Where on space ships do they get all that gravety? In space explosions would make no noise at all as there is no medium to carry the wave.
rossM |
|
|
|
Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 01:19:29 AM
|
Well, in the case of the gravity in things like Trek and Star Wars it's better just to assume that they have cracked that nut and not go into it. It's not beyond the realm of possibility AFAIK to think that eventually a method of controlling that force cold be found. (Maybe they just build small bits of ultra dense matter into the ships lowest hull. Of course then the Enterprise would have the effective mass and inertia of a planet, but whatever. *lol*) The Trek transporters are far more dubious from what I understand. The idea of mapping every particle in your body and reassembling them somewhere else might not be entirely theoretically impossible but it's pretty dang farfetched.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
Edited by - Sardu on 02/20/2007 01:20:09 AM |
|
|
|
Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 01:23:19 AM
|
Actually, I guess we should probably be ignoring things that are there to make good dramatic or production sense (gravity makes the show affordable to shoot on planet Earth, transporters move the action along, sound in space makes the show more exciting) and concentrate on just flat out stupid mistakes.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
Edited by - Sardu on 02/20/2007 01:24:14 AM |
|
|
|
Asta Kask
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Sweden
263 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 02:03:30 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Sardu
Actually, I guess we should probably be ignoring things that are there to make good dramatic or production sense (gravity makes the show affordable to shoot on planet Earth, transporters move the action along, sound in space makes the show more exciting) and concentrate on just flat out stupid mistakes.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo
http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/
- Who is John Galt? - |
|
|
|
Max Torque
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
61 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 11:01:26 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by BradH812
Zombie, I think the Scarecrow's declaration in Wizard was intentional. It was a subtle joke on the writer's part: even after given his "diploma", Scarecrow messes up an elementary rule of geometry.
But the funny thing is, every time they get into trouble in the movie, it's always the "brainless" Scarecrow who comes up with the plan to get them out of it. Even subtler, methinks. |
|
|
|
brandywine
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
56 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 12:24:14 PM
|
I'm gonna go out on a limb here a proclaim the entire basis 90% of Science Fiction, that is, space ships zooming around to different stars and planets is... how can I put this... gay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri
"Alpha Centauri is the closest star system outside our own solar system, being 4.39 light-years distant (about 25.8 trillion miles or 277,600 AU)"
That means even if a space ship moved at the speed of light (which is totally impossible!) It would take more than FOUR YEARS to reach it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale
I remember a Twilight Zone episode where an astronaut going to another planet is put into deep freeze because the trip will take fifty years. That's a lot more plausible. |
Edited by - brandywine on 02/20/2007 12:35:13 PM |
|
|
|
BrainFromArous
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
102 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 2:58:40 PM
|
I recall a physicist somewhere mentioning that an explosion in space could in fact make noise if the listener was in some vicinity to the "sphere" of expanding energy, because the outer fringes of the sphere might conduct sound.
In absolute black, cold space this wouldn't be the case, of course.
**********************
Boards don't hit back.
(Bruce Lee) |
|
|
|
AnnGora
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
252 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 3:14:48 PM
|
quote:
But the funny thing is, every time they get into trouble in the movie, it's always the "brainless" Scarecrow who comes up with the plan to get them out of it. Even subtler, methinks.
The most obvious subtlety is the Wizard granting our three needy friends their desires by giving them cheap manifestations that represent the worldly concept of their wishes. Actually, they had already demonstrated possession of these wanted needs that they thought they lacked (smarts, feelings, noive…) but it took a diploma and recitation of some geometric principle, a cheap watch in the shape of a heart for a testimonial, and a shoddy medal of merit to convince these innocent characters that they at last had been granted their requests for a brain, a heart, and courage. Perhaps the writers were trying to tell us that the outer trappings of life do not necessarily embody what is really on the inside…that we are more than just the sum of our possessions…that if you ever go looking for your heart’s desire, don’t look any further than your own backyard…
It’s very understated, but it’s there…
She was bred in old Kentucky, but she's just a crumb up here. |
|
|
|
Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 3:25:46 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by brandywine
I'm gonna go out on a limb here a proclaim the entire basis 90% of Science Fiction, that is, space ships zooming around to different stars and planets is... how can I put this... gay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri
"Alpha Centauri is the closest star system outside our own solar system, being 4.39 light-years distant (about 25.8 trillion miles or 277,600 AU)"
That means even if a space ship moved at the speed of light (which is totally impossible!) It would take more than FOUR YEARS to reach it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale
I remember a Twilight Zone episode where an astronaut going to another planet is put into deep freeze because the trip will take fifty years. That's a lot more plausible.
Well yeah, that's why they all postulate some form of faster-than-light drive, be it Hyperspace Jumping, Warp Drives or Wormholes... AFAIK "folding space" to get around the lightspeed barrier from point to point is perfectly acceptable in Einstein's universe.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
Edited by - Sardu on 02/20/2007 3:26:13 PM |
|
|
|
brandywine
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
56 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 4:40:23 PM
|
quote:
Well yeah, that's why they all postulate some form of faster-than-light drive, be it Hyperspace Jumping, Warp Drives or Wormholes...
Yeah, but if you subtract the sciency-sounding terms most of it isn't anymore probable than saying magical elves did it. |
|
|
|
Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 5:28:24 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by brandywine
quote:
Well yeah, that's why they all postulate some form of faster-than-light drive, be it Hyperspace Jumping, Warp Drives or Wormholes...
Yeah, but if you subtract the sciency-sounding terms most of it isn't anymore probable than saying magical elves did it.
If you had someone write a sci-fi story in the 1850's about a communications system that allowed you to talk to someone else across the world almost instantaneously while walking down the street, most people would have said what you just said. The science would probably be wrong in a lot of aspects but the concepts are valid. Sci-fi either proposes things that seem utterly fantastic or stick to somewhat more advanced current technologies that actually end up dated in a few years or decades. For instance, I remember reading a story from the early 70's that had communications about a person of interest occur via what was basically a souped up fax. Sci-fi from the 50's and 60's always has huge computers used in the far future.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the concepts of FTL drive are possible even if we aren't close to understanding the science.
- While science has societal benefits, science is not a social virtue. - |
|
|
|
Mark Hawley
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
Canada
48 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2007 : 9:39:23 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhackerEx.:
The Wizard of Oz
When Scarecrow exclaims: "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining sides."
As every geek in the universe probably knows by now, Scarecrow is actually citing a [i]right triangle.
Thanks for explaining an old Simpsons joke/reference that went right over my head all these years.
Homer finds a pair of glasses in a toilet at the power plant (turns out they're Henry Kissinger's) and puts them on. He suddenly recites the Scarecrow's exact dialog and someone yells offcreen: "That's a right triangle you idiot!" D'oh! |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
Forum Locked
Topic Locked