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

[Khuratokh]

I didn't get that far in the book but it was obvious that Hubbard had no idea of what a thousand years was like. I gave up when they were finding 1000 year old Thompson Submachine guns with working ammo, and millennium-old telephone directories that had been left lying out in the open and had 'almost gone to pieces'.

(That's 1000 years not 2000 BTW. The book is subtitled: Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000.)

Sorry for getting that wrong. I just filled in what I could remember of the top of my head.
This is also one of those movies where aliens want gold for some reason. But never got round to raiding Fort Knox

 

[J Riff]

If all the germs n' microorganisms were turfed along with the humans etc. - maybe stuff would last longer. That's the scienterrific logicality as put forth by Watsisname.

 

[JunkMonkey]

If all the germs n' microorganisms were turfed along with the humans etc. - maybe stuff would last longer. That's the scienterrific logicality as put forth by Watsisname.

Oh Yerrr.. makes sens. Im konvinssed.

 

[Khuratokh]

If all the germs n' microorganisms were turfed along with the humans etc. - maybe stuff would last longer. That's the scienterrific logicality as put forth by Watsisname.

He who should not be named? Feel a Voldermort vibe here.

 

[J Riff]

Never hearn of Voldy... oh.
It happened again last nite, in SpaceTruckers. Cabins are pressurized... but, if there's a window blown out, should all vents seal automatically? Wouldn't the air all leave the far corners and smash up to the window? What about the temperature change? I dunno, ask Spock and get back to us.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Martian is a great movie, and as far as I saw, there was only one major scientific flaw, that being the Mars storm

Haven't they filmed dust storms on Mars from orbit?

 

[Mirannan]

Haven't they filmed dust storms on Mars from orbit?

Indeed they have. However, given the extremely thin air of Mars they would exert very little force.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I recently watched a number of episodes of the TV series The 100. Two things kind of stick in my craw. There is a scene where Thelonius has to cross a distance of space through vacuum from one part of the space station to another. There is no way to really tell the distance but it looks ate least football field length, 500 yards (American football). So he is in a space suit, with a cracked helmet of course, and opens the outer airlock door, and the air blasts him into space. He then sails across the entire distance right into the other airlock without even hitting to edge of the door. Nothing but net, as they say in basketball. Of course we were not told why the other airlock was open unless I missed his remote activation.

Now what is the probability of such a perfect trajectory? And with a station that should be spinning? Why not have a jet pistol to correct?

Then he rides down to the surface in a compartment in a nuclear missile and gets out uninjured. But in a previous episode a woman engineer went down in an escape pod designed for passengers that she had to fix up that incorporated a parachute, but she gets banged around and knocked unconscious and has blood in her helmet while Thelonious does not even have a crash couch.

Some stuff is just too obviously ridiculous. This is why good SF is an art even when the writing isn't the best part of it.

And "metabolizing" radiation??? Is that like photosynthesis? LOL

psik

 

[psikeyhackr]

Haven't they filmed dust storms on Mars from orbit?

Yes there are dust storms, but though they can pick up and move dust would they be strong enough to push a man over? The Martian atmosphere has less than 1% of Earth's air pressure. In the movie it could supposedly push the ship over that had to have 20+ tons of mass but the weight would be less on Mars.

psik

 

[SilentRoamer]

Hey psik that's correct.

Wind force is a combination of factors: Atmospheric density and wind speed. The low density on Mars means that even a storm would exert only enough pressure to feel like a breeze - there are a couple of online articles by NASA martian meteorologists.

 

[Ray Pullar]

Then he rides down to the surface in a compartment in a nuclear missile and gets out uninjured. But in a previous episode a woman engineer went down in an escape pod designed for passengers that she had to fix up that incorporated a parachute, but she gets banged around and knocked unconscious and has blood in her helmet while Thelonious does not even have a crash couch.
psik

C'mon psik. Women are delicate creatures.

And Thelonius? Does he play piano?

 

[Mirannan]

Incidentally, the reverse applies in a thick atmosphere. Typical wind speeds at the surface of Venus are single digit kph, but given the fact that the atmosphere is something like 90 times as dense as Earth's even such feeble breezes would be powerful. However, I think that if you're on the surface of Venus then the fact that it's a bit windy is the least of your problems.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Incidentally, the reverse applies in a thick atmosphere. Typical wind speeds at the surface of Venus are single digit kph, but given the fact that the atmosphere is something like 90 times as dense as Earth's even such feeble breezes would be powerful. However, I think that if you're on the surface of Venus then the fact that it's a bit windy is the least of your problems.

That's it! We need to invent teleporters so we can teleport Venusian atmosphere to Mars. Big stargates just sucking up atmosphere in one place and blowing it out in another. LOL

psik

 

[Khuratokh]

Farscape has at least 5 instances where several of the main characters survive a stint in hard vacuum. Sometimes for several hours. Of course most of the cast have weird alien biology.
But on one occasion the human lead John Chrichton jumps out of a transportpod without a suit and uses his pulse pistol as a directional thruster to reach another pod. It takes about 30 seconds and his bloodvessels under the skin burst. He survives, but only barely.
Of course Farscape prides itself on not having accurate science.
John mentions at one point. "We break the laws of physics every time we go out for groceries".

 

[J Riff]

I don't buy it for a second. It's a movie ploy, nothing more. Hard vacuum equals instant death. There's probably some books that have it right, but people only notice when the science is wrong, not right.

 

[galanx]

I don't buy it for a second. It's a movie ploy, nothing more. Hard vacuum equals instant death.

You keep saying this despite numerous examples to the contrary. Can you bring something more than your opinion?

 

[SilentRoamer]

I don't buy it for a second. It's a movie ploy, nothing more. Hard vacuum equals instant death. There's probably some books that have it right, but people only notice when the science is wrong, not right.

I stated up thread why this is a fallacy. There have been numerous tests on animals with not dissimilar biology to our own along with humans who have survived vacuum.

Survival in Space Unprotected Is Possible--Briefly

 

[Khuratokh]

I don't buy it for a second. It's a movie ploy, nothing more. Hard vacuum equals instant death. There's probably some books that have it right, but people only notice when the science is wrong, not right.

It sseems to me to be a movie ploy that people die instantly when exposed to vacuum. It's so pervasive people assume it to be the truth.

 

[J Riff]

?? They would die.. but movies constantly show them swimming around in space, eyes bugging, the door shuts, they are fine. Never seen a believable one where they just explode like a party cracker.

 

[Khuratokh]

?? They would die.. but movies constantly show them swimming around in space, eyes bugging, the door shuts, they are fine. Never seen a believable one where they just explode like a party cracker.

Yeah the exploding thing is not exactly scientific either.