# Another bad science fiction trope **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532 "2021-01-26T15:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/41 "2021-01-27T01:11:56Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > One TNG scene had the Enterprise warp to a different location during a battle to surprise the enemy, or such. Just popped in out of nowhere and blasted away, iirc. The Picard Maneuver, named after it’s inventor, Jean-Luc Maneuver. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/42 "2021-01-27T01:47:41Z")
Is that anything like the Klink Dipsy-Doodle? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/43 "2021-01-27T02:06:20Z")
Firefly quite sensibly took the approach that if you never explain how the science works, you can’t get it wrong. I mean, I like well-explained science fiction as much as anyone, but very few authors can pull it off. If you can’t pull it off, much better to be self-aware enough to realize that, and not try. Besides, none of the characters in Firefly are the sort to launch into an explanation of the science of what they’re doing, and in most cases don’t even know themselves. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/44 "2021-01-27T02:20:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Besides, none of the characters in Firefly are the sort to launch into an explanation of the science of what they’re doing… THAT’S the “bad science fiction trope” that I hate: **Nobody in real life explains technology as they use it** … “C’mon, get in my internal-combustion automobile and I’ll give you a ride. I’ll just start it with this key that’s matched to this cylinder so that no one else can use this “auto”. Hear that noise? That’s a series of explosions rhythmically pushing pistons. Man, I’ll never get over that, or how lucky we are that Étienne Lenoir, a Belgian, started igniting coal gas with an arc of electricity…” ---
**Author:** ![TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiberiusNeroClaudius)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/45 "2021-01-27T03:08:10Z")
people complaining about scientific impossibilities in a movie about comic book super heroes; the mind boggles ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/46 "2021-01-27T04:04:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Besides, none of the characters in Firefly are the sort to launch into an explanation of the science of what they’re doing, and in most cases don’t even know themselves. > **Kaylee** : Catalyzer on the port compression coil blew. It’s where the trouble started. > > **Mal** : Okay, I need that in captain dummy-talk, Kaylee. > > **Kaylee** : We’re dead in the water. It really is the smart way to write space opera. When you send an email or start your car, you don’t turn to the person next to you and explain the entire process to a granular functional level; you just assume they have the same practical understanding of what is happening, and anyway for most people that extends to essentially, “I pushed a button and then a miracle occurred.” Contrast that to the constant stream of screenwriter-generated meaningless technobabble and it is refreshing to hear characters just talk like real people. On occasion there is an actual plot need in hard science fiction to explain the mechanics of how something works, but the problem in doing so is that unless the author is exceptionally well versed in the applicable domain of science or technology they’ll just make a hash of it which is readily apparent to anyone who is actually knowledgable. If you want to put characters in hibernation, just say, “Jujuflocher climbed into the cryotube and it frosted over, chilling him into somnolence,” rather than trying to explain the process of cryogenic preservation because there is no way any biologist or physician is not going to immediately poke holes in any attempt to explain how it might work. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/47 "2021-01-27T04:30:21Z")
[http://web.archive.org/web/20040929041451/http://www.shrovetuesdayobserved.com/flight.html](http://web.archive.org/web/20040929041451/http://www.shrovetuesdayobserved.com/flight.html) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/48 "2021-01-27T04:30:47Z")
> **[Raymond Chandler on Science Fiction — G. S. Jennsen](https://www.gsjennsen.com/supermassive-black-holes/2020/1/10/raymond-chandler)** > > I give you the inestimable master Raymond Chandler on Science Fiction: 🤨😂🤣 #itsfunnybecauseitsalmostsortoftrue #sometimes Note: This is absolutely NOT an excerpt from CONTINUUM, I promise. ... ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/49 "2021-01-27T04:57:31Z")
That reads like Mickey Spillane trying to ape Philip Francis Nowlan. Bad writing is bad writing in any genre. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/50 "2021-01-27T06:47:34Z")
If they only had one of those “A” ration stickers on the spaceship. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/51 "2021-01-27T11:12:19Z")
Regarding _Firefly_ — > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The setting is more gritty than something like _Star Trek_ but aside from the very occasional nods to the hazards of space you could pretty much move it onto a boat and cast off into the ocean. There’s a scene in the pilot that demonstrates pretty clearly the creatives were thinking of spaceflight almost literally as an analog to oceanbound naval travel. Our Heroes detect a nearby vessel, and realize, by observing high levels of radiation, that it is a Reaver ship, on a near-intercept course. They look out their viewports nervously as the two ships very slowly pass one another. The pace of the scene is stately, quiet, and very tense. Finally, our heroes breathe a sigh of relief when the Reavers continue on their way, ignoring them. Except that we clearly see the two vessels are on opposing vectors. Essentially, one is northbound, and the other is southbound, flying almost directly at each other, on near-miss trajectories. By passing each other very slowly, the scene indicates that each ship’s independent forward velocity is absurdly slow. In a “real” SF context, the two ships would have flashed past each other in an eyeblink. Yes, this is obviously a storytelling convention for the benefit of the audience, but it would have been pretty easy to adjust things for realism. (Well, _more_ realism, at least.) Just establish that the two ships are traveling the same direction, on not-quite-parallel trajectories. The Reaver ship is ahead, and Our Heroes are catching up with them. They then have to decide what to do: Adjust heading before they pass, and hope the Reavers don’t notice and turn around? Or go ahead and pass, and then spend the next hour watching the Reavers falling behind them, hoping they don’t decide to give chase? It would have been marginally more complicated to explain and show, but not _that_ much harder. And it would have fixed the scene so it doesn’t bug the shit out of me every time I watch it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/52 "2021-01-27T13:18:26Z")
> [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](#): > > people complaining about scientific impossibilities in a movie about comic book super heroes; the mind boggles While it’s legit to compare genres, and point out that it makes sense to hold some genres to higher standards than others, this post is unnecessarily personal. Try to stick to the topic and not criticize other posters. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/53 "2021-01-27T13:48:34Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Simple! In movies, space is not empty. It’s filled with the luminiferous ether. 🙂 > > That’s why spacecraft need wings, slow to a stop without thrust, and you can hear noises in space. …and it’s why spaceships swoop around in space like fighter planes, instead of moving i straight lines. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/54 "2021-01-27T13:50:55Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > That reads like Mickey Spillane trying to ape Philip Francis Nowlan. Bad writing is bad writing in any genre. Still not as bad as vintage Lionel Fanthorpe (AKA Pel Torro, and plenty of other pseudonyms): [http://sff180.com/reviews/t/torro/galaxy\_666.html](http://sff180.com/reviews/t/torro/galaxy_666.html) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/55 "2021-01-27T14:05:29Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > That’s why spacecraft need wings, slow to a stop without thrust, and you can hear noises in space. Except one of the unusual properties of luminiferous ether is that the music of the spheres is at the exact frequency that counteracts the sound of a human voice above a certain volume and pitch. That’s why in space, no one can hear you scream. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/56 "2021-01-27T16:26:57Z")
> [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](#): > > people complaining about scientific impossibilities in a movie about comic book super heroes; the mind boggles Well, of course. But out of the many scenes I have watched of space ships blasting away through the ether this time they did explain it. Incorrectly. I mean it’s Tony Stark. He can shoot fire out of his hands generated by some endless power supply the size of an apple and go careening around the planet. You would think he might have noticed that he didn’t stop as soon as he quit thrusting. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/57 "2021-01-27T17:52:05Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > and in which the characters smuggle cattle from one planet to another for profit. OK, a) There are no cows in space. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/58 "2021-01-27T17:58:01Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > For some reason writers seem to think a spaceship needs to have the engines on all the time to move in space Do they though? Or does the art department think flames (or lights) radiating from the back of a spaceship just looks cool? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/59 "2021-01-27T18:01:43Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > > > and in which the characters smuggle cattle from one planet to another for profit. > > OK, a) There are no cows in space. - But there are pigs. > **[Pigs in Space](https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Pigs_in_Space)** > > Pigs in Space is a recurring sketch from The Muppet Show, featuring the exploits of Captain Link Hogthrob, First Mate Piggy, and Dr. Julius Strangepork leading a crew of pigs aboard the Swinetrek. The sketch, in concept, is essentially a parody of... ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532/60 "2021-01-27T18:02:41Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > That’s why spacecraft need wings, slow to a stop without thrust, and you can hear noises in space. On the other hand, if you’re outside your ship doing vital emergency repairs and let go of your pliers for a moment, they immediately fly off into the inky void until they get three galaxies away and are consumed by an alien sun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bad-science-fiction-trope/931532.md?page=4)