Good Science and Bad Science And Lack Thereof In Science Fiction Films and TV Series

[JunkMonkey]

Ive seen a few episodes of Rocky Jones. It did make attempts at being as scientifically as accurate as the tv executive would allow. Though It is marginally better then most other science fiction tv offerings in that era, it is still a very painful tv show to watch.

Patsy Parson as the scheming Cleolanta was fun to watch:

 

[Vladd67]

Any remember that series from the late 70s about a guy who builds a spacecraft from gear in his junk yard to collect the debris left behind by the American space programmes still in orbit and on the moon?

 

[BAYLOR]

Any remember that series from the late 70s about a guy who builds a spacecraft from gear in his junk yard to collect the debris left behind by the American space programmes still in orbit and on the moon?

Salvage 1 starring Andy Griffith

 

[JunkMonkey]

Again! The number of times this gets asked about is amazing.

 

[Dennis E. Taylor]

Then there's the problem of what to do about potential asteroid and meteorite collisions on the ring.

Ringworld had an automated asteroid defense system. That's why they crashed in the first place-- they got zapped on approach.

 

[BAYLOR]

When Worlds Collide 1951 I love this films but it has a few issues. first off the two planets(Bellos and Zyra ) on a collision course with earth would take many thousands years to reach the inner solar system from deep space. not one year in the movie ? Also the planets would likely never get to the inner solar system because of the of Jupiter , Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, one them would likely be in an orbital position pull (Bellos and Zyra) away from Earth. Or The to planets would be captured by the Sun Gravity and into orbit in the solar system.

 

[Vertigo]

Not seen the film so I don't know how they played it, but I guess there's no particular reason they couldn't have been coming in from well out of the ecliptic, in which case much less chance of the gas giants effecting them.

 

[BAYLOR]

What does a 400 foot monster like Godzilla eat to sustain himself? Plankton maybe?

 

[JunkMonkey]

Not seen the film so I don't know how they played it, but I guess there's no particular reason they couldn't have been coming in from well out of the ecliptic, in which case much less chance of the gas giants effecting them.

That works for me.

What does a 400 foot monster like Godzilla eat to sustain himself? Plankton maybe?

Smaller monsters.

 

[BAYLOR]

That works for me.



Smaller monsters.

Yes but Godzilla rivals are all about the same size as him.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Well yeah. Duh! Who would want to watch a film about Godzilla having his lunch? Of course they only made films about the times it fought back.

 

[BAYLOR]

Well yeah. Duh! Who would want to watch a film about Godzilla having his lunch? Of course they only made films about the times it fought back.

They could at least have been scientifically accurate

And then theres the implausibility of King Kong vs Godzilla . How could a 400 foot Monster lose to a 22 foot ape .

 

[JunkMonkey]

They could at least have been scientifically accurate

And then theres the implausibility of King Kong vs Godzilla . How could a 400 foot Monster lose to a 22 foot ape .

Steroids?

 

[BAYLOR]

Steroids?

That fits.

 

[BAYLOR]

Then there are the light sabers in Star Wars. Wouldn't two light beams pass through one another and how do you limit the length of a beam of light to swords length?

 

[SilentRoamer]

I am not sure if this was mentioned but the Orbital mechanics of a Ringworld type structure don't add up - it just would not be stable and would crash into the planet.

A couple of friends were adamant about the science in Interstellar - I found it pretty funny. Attaching Kip Thorne to something doesn't mean 5 dimensional tesseracts buried beyond the Event Horizon of an artificial Black Hole are any more "scientific".

 

[Ray McCarthy]

would crash into the planet.

The sun.
He "fixed" it in the next book in the series, by mentioning the thrusters mounted around top and bottom edge.

 

[SilentRoamer]

Thanks Ray - I meant the sun my, fingers must have been in autotype mode.

Time travel always bothers me in SF even when well done. Like I try and imagine the power needed to rewind the entire Universe by however long is needed. I can't accept it as some local phenomenon although I suppose you could limit it to Solar System size, maybe.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Time travel always bothers me in SF even when well done.

I didn't mind it when a teenager, though even then the paradoxes detracted. Now I can't be bothered with the effort to suspend disbelief. It's IMO pure magical fantasy, not SF at all. The exceptions being relativistic difference for fast travellers and planet bound and travel to future via coma / hibernation / deep sleep. There is no going back, causality. No Ground Hog Day etc.

I can't really even think of the "well done" example, off hand.

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: SilentRoamer
An interesting take on time travel are the series of stories in "The Flight Of The Horse" by Larry Niven.
The main part of the machine stays anchored in it's present while an extension cage is projected into the past.
However things are not quite as they seem, as the cage travels backwards it slips sidewise across into alternate realities.
So you are not travelling into your own past and thus avoid paradoxes, shooting your own grandfather before he meets your grandmother ect.
This explains the strange things that happen in the stories, I wont spoil it for you by saying what, you'll have to read them for yourselves.
It's also mentioned in one of the stories that independent machines that are not anchored get lost and can never get back to there own reality.