# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/101 "2005-05-12T06:43:46Z")
> [@Rich Mann](#): > > There are many cases on Earth (the only biosystem we know of) of parallel evolution. Unrelated species from different locales which fill the same ecological niche often resemble each other to the degree that they are hard to tell apart (see toads and frogs). But similar animals tend to evolve in similar climates, yeah? So organisms from entirely different planets might not be so similar. Overall I question the nitpick, since it’s partly a result of the fact that TV and movies rely on human actors. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/102 "2005-05-12T07:23:26Z")
Good points, **Marley23**. However, my earlier comments should not be read as a defense of _Star Trek_ and other such shows for their unaccountable insistence in using only human actors. 😉 I was merely trying to debunk what I saw as bad science in the post I quoted. In reality most intelligent alien species would likely not look like us, but not because of some supposed ‘infinitesimal probability’ that we would develop the way we did. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/103 "2005-05-12T07:31:08Z")
I haven’t read this whole thread, so I hope I’m not doubling. A general annoyance with many, many SF movies is that whole planets are treated like they are the size of, I dunno, a neighbourhood. Two indendent groups travelling down to the surface will, if they wander around for a short while, run into one another. Any single group going down to the surface of the planet with no clue as to where whatever they are looking for is, will find it within a short period of wandering around. It’s taken us thousands of years to explore Earth. It’s quite, you know, _big_. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/104 "2005-05-12T07:32:57Z")
That’d be “independent”. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/105 "2005-05-12T07:39:24Z")
Oops…for the second time I forgot to include the blunder I opened the thread to post. My daughter is in love with these made-for-cable (possibly Disney) _Zenon_ movies. Besides the apparent misspelling of the title (it seems to be the main characters given name) it is just full of scientific errors. I know it’s just fluff entertainment, but my kid is watching and absorbing this crap. I don’t like the idea that she might simply not question some of this junk, and believe it for who-knows-how-long. I won’t bother with a list, but the one that sticks in my mind is when they are waiting for the Earth to set from the point-of-view of a Moon base. It’s gonna be a looooooooooooooooooong wait. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/106 "2005-05-12T08:47:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Watch **2001** Dave Bowman, recall, goes from his space pod to vacuum in getting back aboard the _Discovery_. Notice how his blood didn’t freeze or boil, and he didn’t even lose consciousness What I noticed about that scene is after the pod door is blasted off and the pod depressurizes so rapidly, the pod doesn’t actually move away from the ship. I was quite proud of finding that one myself 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/107 "2005-05-12T08:56:07Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > About sound in space: [the Bad Astronomer says that Star Trek originally had no sound in space](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/enterprise.html), but the producers thought it seemed too weird without sound in space, so they had it put in. I have never seen another cite for this, though. Star Trek had a rumble as the Enterprise went by on impulse power (and IIRC a _whooooooosh_ on warp) included for the first season, which was then taken out for the second and third season. That was only ships’ engines though, anything else, phasers, torpedoes etc made sound a-plenty whizzing through space 😃 I haven’t browsed Bad Astronomy for a while though, I forgot to check it for any Trek reference 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/108 "2005-05-12T10:19:53Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > In _this_ universe, we obey the laws of thermodynamics! But in Russian universe, the laws of thermodynamics obey _you_! 😃😃😃 ---
**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 12, 2005, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/109 "2005-05-12T10:43:10Z")
Aliens nearly always have a homologous planet-wide culture. Oh, I got another one! For goodness sake! There’s nothing _beyond_ infinity! What was Buzz _talking_ about. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/110 "2005-05-12T10:58:56Z")
> [@Rich Mann](#): > > Evolution is not some random crap-shoot. Although random mutations provide a mechanism for change, only relative successes are selected for. We are bipeds for reasons that relate to the environment that we evolved in. Duplicate (or near enough) these conditions on another planet and you by all rights should get similar results. Ah, but you’re not allowing for single ecosystem planets such as those which make up the Star Wars universe: you can have ice planets, desert planets, jungle planets or water planets, but never one which has a mixture: given those conditions, who knows _what_ might arise? Laser gun turrets that recoil, in any event. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/111 "2005-05-12T11:26:42Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > WHY wouldJabba the Hut find Princess leia so attractive? Even though (with that outfit she wore) I was having wet dreams about her! (SHe was HOT!). > Still, why would a grossly obese wormlike being like Jabba find this volumptuous gal to be interesting? I’d say that Jabba has, by Hutt standards, some kind of freaky sexual fetish or perversion. (If the internet has taught me anything, it’s that there’s NOTHING, no matter how bizarre, that someone, somewhere, isn’t turned on by.) ---
**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 12, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/112 "2005-05-12T12:15:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Sexual Attraction to Alien Species! > > * * * > > WHY wouldJabba the Hut find Princess leia so attractive? Even though (with that outfit she wore) I was having wet dreams about her! (SHe was HOT!). > Still, why would a grossly obese wormlike being like Jabba find this volumptuous gal to be interesting? Sexual attraction between alien species in bad SF films always bothers me. Star Trek is pretty bad about it – they’ve got lots of couplings between alien races, with offspring, no less. And the idea of alien conquerors needing women for breeding purposes was a staple for bad 1950s and 1960s SF films ( **Mars Needs Women, The Mysterians** ). There haven’t been as many where they need \*men[/i for breeding purposes, probably because there wouldn’t be a lot of conflict there (“Aliens want me for stud service? Let me get my toothbrush! No, wait – I don’t really need one.Let’s go!”) A notable exception is the British film **Devil Girl from Mars** , where the guys _don’t_ want to go(!) (Your joke about British men and sex goes here \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.) Larry Niven’s statement about Superman (a Kryptonian) being attracted to Earth Woman LL (Lois or Lana or whoever) sums it up best: “On the face of it, Superman could as easily mate with an ear of corn.” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/113 "2005-05-12T12:24:57Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > Well, let’s see. It takes about 8 and a half minutes for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth, and since a light-minute is the distance light travels in one minute … just a hunch, but I’d have to guess that the Earth is, oh I don’t know, eight light-minutes away from the sun. But, as I said, the people who made the missile in question have faster than light drives on their ships, so why can’t they have a faster than light drive on the missile too? Sure looked like it was taking off on chemical rockets, at chemical-rocket speeds; and even then, your view of the sun is also lightspeed-delayed by eight minutes. _Still_ doesn’t explain where all of the stored energy in the sun goes, though; to restate, white dwarfs take bloody ages to go out. On the other hand, having nothing happen for at least eight minutes while Picard and Soran call each other names would have been less than dramatic. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/114 "2005-05-12T13:22:37Z")
Regarding parallel /convergent evolution > [@](#): > > The dolphin has a shark-like dorsal fin because it swims for a living, not because they look so cool. But of course, the dolphin’s tail is horizontal, while the shark’s is vertical. So it’s not just the environment/ ecological niche that determines form, it’s also the genetic material available in the predecessor species, and some random chance as well. ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/115 "2005-05-12T14:19:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Regarding parallel /convergent evolution I was astounded when watching Star Trek Voyager the other day to discover that through parallel evolution, WWF’s _The Rock_ had turned up in an alien race (complete with eyebrow thing). He did have a weird ridge thing on his head, though. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/116 "2005-05-12T14:59:07Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Wow, I’m fatally embarassed to discover that I’d used that thread to advertise my lame now-defunct student website. > > Anyhoo, if Superman can fly faster than the speed of light, why _can’t_ he stop both missiles? Zip to Hackensack to save Valerie Perrine’s mom, then zip to California in a fifty-billionth of a second to stop the second nuke. Easy. Or go back in time and intercept both missles the minute they launch. Which reminds me, why the hell does the military insist on doing missle tests from the middle of the US with live nuclear warheads? In fact, why does the military use real nuclear warheads for routine stuff when it only gives terrorists a chance to hijack them(Broken Arrow, Thunderball)? If you need to test the delivery system, wouldn’t it be just as easy(and cheper) to create a mock warhead with the aproximate size and mass of the real one? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/117 "2005-05-12T15:30:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Sexual attraction between alien species in bad SF films always bothers me. Star Trek is pretty bad about it – they’ve got lots of couplings between alien races, with offspring, no less. > . > . > . > Larry Niven’s statement about Superman (a Kryptonian) being attracted to Earth Woman LL (Lois or Lana or whoever) sums it up best: “On the face of it, Superman could as easily mate with an ear of corn.” Hey, you want to see a freaky inter-species attraction? Go watch the old Disney cartoon Gargoyles. That borders on freakin’ bestiality! And it was on Disney! ---
**Author:** ![Try\_As\_I\_Might](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Try\_As\_I\_Might](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try_As_I_Might)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/118 "2005-05-12T15:40:51Z")
> [@Fromage A Trois](#): > > I was astounded when watching Star Trek Voyager the other day to discover that through parallel evolution, WWF’s _The Rock_ had turned up in an alien race (complete with eyebrow thing). > > He did have a weird ridge thing on his head, though. Ah yes, the “how to make 25 alien species for under $5 a peice by changing the shape of the forehead.” I always wondered why Voyager had such a “thing” for foreheads. ---
**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 12, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/119 "2005-05-12T16:32:25Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Anyhoo, if Superman can fly faster than the speed of light, why _can’t_ he stop both missiles? Zip to Hackensack to save Valerie Perrine’s mom, then zip to California in a fifty-billionth of a second to stop the second nuke. Easy. Well, he can’t exceed c within Earth’s atmosphere. It’d devastate the planet. Yeah, I know, why pay attention to that part of physics when you’re ignoring another? Forget it, Jake, it’s Metropolis. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/120 "2005-05-12T16:35:39Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > I’m pretty sure the Sun is four light-minutes from the Earth. Average distance from Sun to Earth: 150,000,000 km Speed of light: 300,000 km per second Number of seconds in one minute: 60 Resulting length of one light-minute: 300,000 km \* 60 = 18,000,000 km Resulting average distance from Sun to Earth in light-minutes: 150,000,000 km / 18,000,000 km per light-minute = **8.333 light-minutes** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201.md?page=7)