# 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:** 7
**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, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/121 "2005-05-12T16:43:53Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > As a programmer myself, I was quite impressed with the fact that the guy from **Swordfish** was able to break into a government computer in 30 seconds on a laptop with what appeared to be a DOS prompt. Using one hand. With a gun to his head. While getting a blowjob. And, you know, there just aren’t that many times in a man’s life when he’s going to be getting **both** a gun pointed at his head **and** fellatio. The two are usually applied under wildly different circumstances. > [@](#): > > I was disappointed by one scene in **Galaxy Quest** , where the shuttle is on autopilot and flies away with those creatures falling off of it. Falling off of it straight down even though the ship was moving forward. Count D., if **that’s** the biggest physics blunder that caught your attention in _Galaxy Quest_, you weren’t paying attention. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/122 "2005-05-12T17:46:48Z")
> [@Rich Mann](#): > > Do you have a cite for that last statement? > > Allow me to retort. 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). Allow me to nitpick your retort: unrelated species converging in morphology as a result of occupying similar ecological niches is _convergent evolution_. _Parallel evolution_ occurs when two species evolve along similar lines, at the same general time, in the same general ecospace (a classic example being the contemporaneous evolution of early browsing horses and paleotheres). Thus, alien species evolving along similar lines would be an example of convergent, rather than parallel, evolution. Unless those species evolved on Earth, at the same time humans were evolving… ---
**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 12, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/123 "2005-05-12T18:10:07Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > And, you know, there just aren’t that many times in a man’s life when he’s going to be getting **both** a gun pointed at his head **and** fellatio. You know, you’d _think_ that was true… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/124 "2005-05-12T18:45:19Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > Count D., if **that’s** the biggest physics blunder that caught your attention in _Galaxy Quest_, you weren’t paying attention. 😉 I know, I know. But it still bothered me just the same. (The fact that “berrilium spheres” - a fictional invention of the writer of the cheesy show - actually existed and actually did what they were supposed to do, I had no problem with. ;)) ---
**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, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/125 "2005-05-12T18:51:50Z")
> [@](#): > > (The fact that “berrilium spheres” - a fictional invention of the writer of the cheesy show - actually existed and actually did what they were supposed to do, I had no problem with. ) There’s no reason you couldn’t have spheres of Beryllium. It’s a perfectly respectable metal. People have even used it (at least theoretically) in space propulsion systems. But wouldn’t want to be around a rolling sphere of it. The dust is _mucho_ poisonous. ---
**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, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/126 "2005-05-12T18:53:15Z")
Link: [http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts4.html](http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts4.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/127 "2005-05-12T19:30:29Z")
What about in _Starship Troopers_, where Buenos Aires was hit by a meteor apparently thrown by the aliens at Earth from their planet clear on the other side of the galaxy? (Or am I foolhardy for even bringing up a Paul Verhoeven movie; wasn’t there someone here who was convinced of his greatness and who went on at length about it?) ---
**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, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/128 "2005-05-12T19:40:38Z")
> [@](#): > > What about in Starship Troopers, where Buenos Aires was hit by a meteor apparently thrown by the aliens at Earth from their planet clear on the other side of the galaxy? (Or am I foolhardy for even bringing up a Paul Verhoeven movie; wasn’t there someone here who was convinced of his greatness and who went on at length about it?) Boy, have you opened a can of worms. This is one of those topics listed in the SDMB “Hot Button” thread. But I think no one disputes that _lots_ of stuff in the Veerhoeven film is ludicrous. Don’t get me started. In the Heinlein book, of course, the Bugs are highly advanced. But Neumeier and Veerhoeven liked the idea of humans fighting “instinctual” Bugs with built-in technology. Of course, if Bugs on the other side of the Galaxy tosed rocks at us, our great-great-great to the nth grandkids wouldn’t have to worry about them. Heinlein must be doing 500 RPM in his grave o account of that movie. With his name on it. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/129 "2005-05-12T19:41:01Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Oh, I got another one! For goodness sake! There’s nothing _beyond_ infinity! What was Buzz _talking_ about. Somehow, I doubt Buzz’s _forte_ is mathematics or astronomy, especially considering he’s a frikkin’ **toy.** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/130 "2005-05-12T19:54:25Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Somehow, I doubt Buzz’s _forte_ is mathematics or astronomy, especially considering he’s a frikkin’ **toy.** 😃 I believe the word you are looking for is “Space Ranger” (Of course that’s a grammatical error too) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/131 "2005-05-12T19:57:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Link: > > [http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts4.html](http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts4.html) Huh. I stand corrected. Good thing I wasn’t the fictional writer! ---
**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, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/132 "2005-05-12T19:59:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Heinlein must be doing 500 RPM in his grave o account of that movie. With his name on it. “Two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning Heinlein … all alone in the night.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/133 "2005-05-12T20:10:04Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > (Or am I foolhardy for even bringing up a Paul Verhoeven movie; wasn’t there someone here who was convinced of his greatness and who went on at length about it?) Well, we can all breathe a little easier in this post- **lissener** epoch. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/134 "2005-05-12T20:10:55Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _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. > . But on one episode, they thought they had to go through a workaround so that their (apparently smokeless powder) guns would work in a vaccum. A normal modern day round would ignite and propel it’s bullet quite well in a vaccum. Now, the lack of air to act on the spinning might cause an odd trajectory sure, I am not sure about that, I admit. But the writers seemed to think they needed air for the round to fire. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/135 "2005-05-12T21:09:37Z")
Actually, AIUI, the spinning of rifled munitions is a way to even out uneven thrusts from frictional contact with the atmosphere. As such, as long as the bullet was going straight upon exit from the barrel, there wouldn’t be anything else (but gravity) to work upon it in a vacuum, so it would go straight on towards some final orbit… A comment about parrallel and convergent evolution: There are a great number of species from vastly different evolutionary families that show a great deal of similarity. I find the link between shark form and dolphin forms less intriguing than the fact that while the Saber-Toothed tiger was prowling in Eurasia, there were similarly constructed predadors in Austrailia, too. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/136 "2005-05-12T23:13:01Z")
Not in any way to defend _Starship Troopers_, but having watched it again recently (by way of excuse, alcohol was involved), IIRC the meteor was a local rock shot out of orbit and into BA by “bug plasma”. So, since both bugs and humans used wormholes to get across large distances, the bugs just aimed their super-duper plasma cannon through a wormhole _there_, the beam came out _here_, knocking a smallish asteroid into our intrepid heros’ home town. Still plenty stupid, but not as bad as a lonely meteor wandering along through interstellar space for millennia before cratering into Argentina. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/137 "2005-05-13T00:19:12Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > Most sentient beings in the Start Trek universe, with a few notable expections, pretty much all resemble each other, exept for the odd facial ridge here and there. With the twists and turns that human evolution has taken over the eons, the probability that we would look the way we do is pretty infintesimal. Even if another planet had exactly the same climate and history as ours, the chances that a sentient organism that looks pretty much like us would evolve is just about nil. Evolution doesn’t work that way. > > Granted, there was one episode where they tried to explain this away, and I have to give them that: the old “panspermia” theory, that life on multiple planets was “seeded” by a common DNA source. But again, over several billion years of evolution, it just wouldn’t happen, even IF all god’s chillun started with the same DNA structure. In that TNG episode, it turned out that the “panspermia” was created deliberately by an ancient humanoid species (the first such) who wanted to leave some legacy that would outlast even their own extinction. They seeded the galaxy with probes that would plant life – and the DNA was subtly programmed so that each ecosystem so created would, after a long, long time, produce a humanoid species, regardless of differences in environmental conditions. Which explains not only why Spock has ten fingers, but why it’s possible for him to be the product of a human-Vulcan marriage. OK, it’s lame, but it **is** an explanation. The real explanation – aside from the necessity of using human actors (unless you want to spend extra money on puppets or CGI) – is the necessity of having characters with whom the audience can form an emotional bond. How can you do that if the character doesn’t have a recognizable head with two eyes above and a mouth below? It might work in a novel, where the reader invests more effort into imagining the fictive universe, but not on a TV show. _Babylon 5_ had a minor character in, I believe, the first season that was a giant insect, resembling a praying mantis. It didn’t last. (Kosh the Vorlon lasted five seasons but we could always imagine a human inside that humanoid-shaped encounter suit). ---
**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 13, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/138 "2005-05-13T00:29:22Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But on one episode, they thought they had to go through a workaround so that their (apparently smokeless powder) guns would work in a vaccum. A normal modern day round would ignite and propel it’s bullet quite well in a vaccum. Now, the lack of air to act on the spinning might cause an odd trajectory sure, I am not sure about that, I admit. But the writers seemed to think they needed air for the round to fire. :eek: Funny enough, that was a direct result of them trying to get the science on the show right. The firearms guy they hired to consult said that guns wouldn’t fire without an atmosphere, and they wanted the physics of the show to be as accurate as possible, so… They talk about this in the commentary on the DVDs. Sometimes, you can’t win for losing. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/139 "2005-05-13T00:35:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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!”) Check out this link: [http://sir.real.50megs.com/comix/catalog/screen/BizarreSex10.htm](http://sir.real.50megs.com/comix/catalog/screen/BizarreSex10.htm)😃 The caption is too small to read – but it says, “Earthling, give me your SEED!” ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201/140 "2005-05-13T00:40:08Z")
I never cared about the whole “:sound in space” thing. I mean, you might be able to get away with one or two mvie with it, but it will simply get annoying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-science-favourite-sf-movie-blunders/303201.md?page=8)