# Bad Science: Favourite SF Movie Blunders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2005, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201 "2005-05-10T11:06:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/1 "2005-05-10T11:06:05Z")
“We call him Neutron because he’s so positive.” As spoken by a beautiful lady physicist, allegedly one of the world’s greatest scientific minds, in _This Island Earth._ Unsurprisingly, the planet Metaluna, which she was called upon in an interstellar recruiting drive to help save, was doomed. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/2 "2005-05-10T12:22:40Z")
The space ship coming to a silent screeching halt in **Dark Star**. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2005, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/3 "2005-05-10T12:25:03Z")
> [@](#): > > * * * > > “We call him Neutron because he’s so positive.” As spoken by a beautiful lady physicist, allegedly one of the world’s greatest scientific minds, in This Island Earth. Unsurprisingly, the planet Metaluna, which she was called upon in an interstellar recruiting drive to help save, was doomed. **This Island Earth** is one of my pet peeves. The book, by Utah engineer Raymond F. Jones, is actually very good. (It’s finally back in print, after years of obscurity, and you can get a copy and read it.) Jones would _never_ have made that kind of error. The problem is that they took his book and threw virtually all of it out, except the first chapter or so, which they dumbed down considerably. The usual suspects: 1.) Ships in SF movies almost never move as if they’re really spaceships in a vacuum. They glide and swoop as if they’re in an atmosphere. **2001** and **2010** got this right, and just about nobody else. (Some people claim the new **Battlestar Galactica** series does it right, but nmot from what Ive seen) 2.) People don’t explode in vacuum ( **Outland** , **Total Recall** 3.) Putting lightrs in your space helmet lets the audience see the actor, but it would make it _really_ hard for the guy ion the helmet to see. **Outland** , again. **Alien** , too many others to mention. 4.) In space, no one can hear your exhaust. Again, too many cases. I’ll cut **2010** some slack on this – they were in special circmstances – but even the big guys – Star Trek and Star Wars – get this one wrong. 5.) Why is it that even in movies that profess to know better, robots and computers still try to Take Over the World? **Forbidden Planet, Bicentennial Man** and a few others get this OK. Even Star Trek, which gave us a reasonable Data and the plausibly hostile Borg, still gave us malevolent Holodeck Programs and “The Ultimate Computer” in TOS. 6.) More computer problems than you can shake a stick at — Mice always make noises, computer keyboards make too much noise, displays that are absurdly efficient, Scotty’s being able to use a keyboard so efficiently and programming a centuries-old Mac, Indeoendence Day’s compatible human and alien computers, Jurrassic Park’s “I know this, it’s Unix!”, the ten-ton poor speech vocoder evil computers of the 1950s, and on and on. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/4 "2005-05-10T12:41:42Z")
You guys need a trip to the Insulting Stupid Movie Physics page: [http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/](http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/) Apparently \*The Day After Tomorrow \* and \*The Core \* are running neck and neck for the title of Most Scientifically Ignorant Movie of All Time. About _The Core_, the authors of the website said (among other things): > [@](#): > > ## The Core is a marvel. It has everything: common physics misconceptions, blatant misrepresentations of physical laws, a complete range of stereotypes, ridiculous feats of engineering, and pure fabrication of scientific “facts”. The weighty or sad parts are so inane, they made us laugh out loud. The dialog, plot, and action are predictable, if not outright tedious. Yet, the bad physics provide nonstop surprises. It’s the worst physics movie we’ve ever viewed. It’s so bad, it’s almost entertaining. > > It’s the worst physics movie…ever… > > * * * Have fun. I sure did … ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/5 "2005-05-10T12:42:31Z")
In all fairness, after seeing This Island Earth many times via MST3K, I had come to think the lady scientist’s line about the cat was perhaps ironic. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/6 "2005-05-10T12:48:17Z")
In _Independence Day_, the ships were so damned huge that gravity should have flattened everything underneath them. That would’ve reduced the drama a little bit… ---
**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:** [May 10, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/7 "2005-05-10T13:04:06Z")
> [@](#): > > In Independence Day, the ships were so damned huge that gravity should have flattened everything underneath them. That would’ve reduced the drama a little bit… Actually, I like the idea of shooting down massive ships that completely overshadow entire cities. the logical consequence is a _huge_ pile of rubble – crushed city plus cashed spaeship – where your city ought to be. But somehow they never show that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/8 "2005-05-10T13:17:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Scotty’s being able to use a keyboard so efficiently and programming a centuries-old Mac And this after initially not knowing about the mouse (he tried to speak into it). Despite ‘up’ and ‘down’ only having any kind of meaning on a planet, spaceships in Star Trek always encounter each other moving in the same orientation and plane. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/9 "2005-05-10T13:45:54Z")
“She made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.” Of course, we can pretend this means something that might be plausible in the Star Wars universe, but we all know in our hearts that this is a screw up. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/10 "2005-05-10T13:53:00Z")
C’mon. Han just meant that he found a shortcut! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/11 "2005-05-10T14:17:48Z")
I always enjoy “When Giant Animals Attack” movies. You know, the ones with 50 foot tall ants, 50 ton rabbits, etc. “Them!” is a classic example. They conveniently ignore the Square/Cube Law of animal proportions, which basically says that those ants would be immobile lumps of tissue, unable to lift their own bodies on those spindly legs. Oh, one more thing… Han shot first!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/12 "2005-05-10T15:30:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > [6.) More computer problems than you can shake a stick at… Jurrassic Park’s “I know this, it’s Unix!” No joke, I went to see this movie with a major computer geek friend of mine, and when they showed the computer screen he said “that’s Unix.” Two seconds later, the girl says “I know this, it’s Unix.” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/13 "2005-05-10T15:51:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 2.) People don’t explode in vacuum ( **Outland** , **Total Recall** This is slightly off-topic, but what would happen to a person in a vacuum? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/14 "2005-05-10T15:54:39Z")
I’ve always wondered what the reaction to the “I know this, it’s Unix” line would’ve been had it come from a 10 year old boy with plastic frame glasses. Something tells me it would’ve been ignored and not brought up as “ONE OF THE WORST SCIENCE MOMENTS OF ALL TIME!!!11!!1” ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/15 "2005-05-10T16:00:30Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > No joke, I went to see this movie with a major computer geek friend of mine, and when they showed the computer screen he said “that’s Unix.” I can’t let this lie. WTF? It was a bunch of blocky graphics. (As a lot of folks here know) A Unix “screen” typically looks like this: ```auto **$** ``` If they wanted something more graphic they could’ve had _Xeyes_ running. And no computer system in the history of the world has ever put **ACCESS DENIED** in big flashing letters in the middle of the freaking screen when you get a login wrong - but every movie-land computer does this. (Not science but someone has to say it). Passing shot: A lot of future spaceships appear to be steam powered. What gives with all the gushing steam in space exploration? (This excludes Trek where all access and control panels don’t vent steam, they are wired to explosives). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/16 "2005-05-10T16:11:39Z")
> [@Sam Lowry](#): > > This is slightly off-topic, but what would happen to a person in a vacuum? They die, but seriously I know your blood would boil and possibly freeze at the same time. Can anyone else be more specfic? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/17 "2005-05-10T16:13:46Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > I can’t let this lie. > > WTF? It was a bunch of blocky graphics. He explained to me later how he recognized it. The whole swoopy, graphical interface was completely bogus, but the folders had classic Unix names, /bin, /etc, /home, something like that. He saw those and knew it had to be Unix. I swear it happened just the way I described. I’m sticking up for the kid in that scene. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/18 "2005-05-10T16:20:21Z")
How about the misuse of labeling various weapons ‘laser’ weapons? As in ‘laser’ rifles/cannons/beams, etc. Generally these fire some glowing pulse of energy that travels surprisingly slow for something that is supposed to be moving at the speed of light. Wouldn’t a laser weapon carry an invisible beam in space, since there isn’t anything in a vacuum to reflect the beam of light (aside from the thing you are zapping) ? Wish they would just make up a name for it or something, rather than incorrectly calling it a ‘laser’. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/19 "2005-05-10T16:26:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 1.) Ships in SF movies almost never move as if they’re really spaceships in a vacuum. They glide and swoop as if they’re in an atmosphere. **2001** and **2010** got this right, and just about nobody else. (Some people claim the new **Battlestar Galactica** series does it right, but nmot from what Ive seen) _Firefly_ got this right, as near as I can tell, plus no sound in space and not all ships appearing on the same elliptical plane. > [@](#): > > 2.) People don’t explode in vacuum ( **Outland** , **Total Recall** ) Nor do they instantly freeze solid. I forget if it was _Mission to Mars_ or _Space Cowboys_ that got that wrong. > [@](#): > > 5.) Why is it that even in movies that profess to know better, robots and computers still try to Take Over the World? **Forbidden Planet, Bicentennial Man** and a few others get this OK. Even Star Trek, which gave us a reasonable Data and the plausibly hostile Borg, still gave us malevolent Holodeck Programs and “The Ultimate Computer” in TOS. This did lead to an excellent and rather subtle joke in, of all things, _Spiderman 2_, when Dr. Octavius is describing his cybernetic arms (which he invented using his degree in “Advanced Science”) and a reporter asks if he’s worried about the arm’s AI taking over his body. Because, naturally, that’s just what AIs _do._ They always want to kill all humans. Kinda like cats, really. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/20 "2005-05-10T16:26:57Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > He explained to me later how he recognized it. The whole swoopy, graphical interface was completely bogus, but the folders had classic Unix names, /bin, /etc, /home, something like that. He saw those and knew it had to be Unix. > > I swear it happened just the way I described. I’m sticking up for the kid in that scene. The swoopy, graphical interface was an actual 3D graphical filesystem navigator for IRIX called FSN. SGI still provides it for download from [their website](http://www.sgi.com/fun/freeware/3d_navigator.html). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201.md?page=2)