# Most annoying sci-fi TV/movie tropes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257 "2016-01-05T19:35:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/41 "2016-01-06T20:31:31Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I can not watch any space movie and not be bothered by the one big unexplained feature: Artifical Gravity. Did the Millennium Falcom have some advanced gravity creating system? Or any space ship. It’s never explained. It kind of goes with them doing high G maneuvers without splatting themselves on the bulkheads. Their space drives that allow them to do airplane like maneuvers in space bother me more. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/42 "2016-01-06T20:40:15Z")
Another point that bugs me: These ships fly around the universe and get put in life-and-death situations every other week. They literally cannot go two weeks, on average, without running into dangerous aliens, temporal anomalies, malfunctioning holodecks, warp core breaches, and God knows what else. I’m amazed any of them survive to middle age. There are many, many occasions where the Enterprise would have been destroyed except for that one genius crewmember with a specialized skill that saved the day. I get that conflict and dramatic tension are necessary ingredients for storytelling. Nonetheless, I can only assume that the crew of the Enterprise represents the extreme minority and that most members of Starfleet are able to go about their daily lives doing routine work… Because sometimes it seems like Starfleet Academy just grinds out ensigns so they can die in cruel and terrifying ways. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/43 "2016-01-06T20:42:40Z")
The two that piss me off the most are not tech-specific but story-specific: 1. Are you the nice, handsome black guy who’s the sidekick of the main character? Watch your back, dude, because nothing says Very Special Episode like killing off the black dude. Agents of SHIELD is at least a two-time offender on this count. 2. Are you the girlfriend of the male lead? Watch out for refrigerators: the male lead may just need some motivation. Black guys shouldn’t be immune from death, nor should girlfriends. Well, not in movies anyway. But once I’ve started watching for disposable black guys and disposable girlfriends, they’re popping up everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/44 "2016-01-06T20:45:03Z")
> [@Chihuahua](#): > > Another point that bugs me: These ships fly around the universe and get put in life-and-death situations every other week. This gives me a great idea for a show, which I’ll make especially for you: a spaceship that week after week flies around the galaxy and nothing happens. Seinfeld in Space. What, besides literally every other thing, could be better? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/45 "2016-01-06T20:53:37Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I can not watch any space movie and not be bothered by the one big unexplained feature: Artifical Gravity. Did the Millennium Falcom have some advanced gravity creating system? Or any space ship. It’s never explained. Except at least in Star Wars, antigravity is everywhere. Luke has a crappy beat up landspeeder that floats via antigravity. Droids float around via antigravity. Giant cities float in clouds via antigravity. Antigravity isn’t just the thing that makes people walk around on spaceships, things float all the time. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/46 "2016-01-06T20:57:40Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > Names with apostrophes. > . Ye’s, il’jit’sch, th’is is very ann’oying, I cant sta’nd it. :p:D ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/47 "2016-01-06T21:09:28Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I can not watch any space movie and not be bothered by the one big unexplained feature: Artifical Gravity. Did the Millennium Falcom have some advanced gravity creating system? Or any space ship. It’s never explained. I just assume its there, they have to be right? Star Trek has the inertial dampers in addition to artificial gravity, which does, among other things, prevent the splat of everything inside as the ship accelerates. Though technically, going into warp doesn’t create any inertia as the ship creates a warp bubble around the ship and the ship moves through space using that, but I forget how it works. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > This gives me a great idea for a show, which I’ll make especially for you: a spaceship that week after week flies around the galaxy and nothing happens. > > Seinfeld in Space. What, besides literally every other thing, could be better? If done right, it could be a thing. George: “Jerry! I had sex with a Tellerium last night! You gotta help me!” Jerry: “Nice, a Tellerium, good job, I thought the encounter with the Horlux would have put you off sex for at least a lightyear” \< cue laughter \> George: “No no, you don’t understand! Once you have sex with a Tellerium, you’re married, that’s their culture. Now I’m getting all these subspace emails on wedding destinations. She wants to go to Kronos! Help me Jerry, help me!” \< Kramer stumbles into the room, door closes automatically behind him and he acts surprised \> Kramer: “I can’t believe it, I thought we were friends. You get married and you don’t even invite me?” ---
**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 6, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/48 "2016-01-06T21:14:02Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, my pet theory is that the people on the _Enterprise_ and other vessels aren’t the best and brightest; they’re the attention deficit disorder troublemakers who can’t sit still and actually learn to develop and build the advanced technology underlying their existence. Rather than keep them around, they’re put on board ships with highly sentient computers and presented with the illusion of danger that they technobabble their way out of by having the computer “solve” all of their problems. So, is the new show ST:TMM (The Marching Morons) or Star Trek: Idiocracy? ---
**Author:** ![Dante\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@Dante\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_G)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/49 "2016-01-06T21:15:00Z")
I agree with **Airk** in regards to this thread. When you go to watch one of these sci-_FICTION_ films, you can’t go in there and expect reality. It’s entertainment and the film makers are aware of such. They aren’t trying to show real science in the same way that comic book writers aren’t trying to show real science. It’s all fantasy for fun. Don’t think too much, just enjoy it.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/50 "2016-01-06T21:18:42Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > If done right, it could be a thing. > > George: “Jerry! I had sex with a Tellerium last night! You gotta help me!” > Jerry: “Nice, a Tellerium, good job, I thought the encounter with the Horlux would have put you off sex for at least a lightyear” > \< cue laughter \> > George: “No no, you don’t understand! Once you have sex with a Tellerium, you’re married, that’s their culture. Now I’m getting all these subspace emails on wedding destinations. She wants to go to Kronos! Help me Jerry, help me!” > \< Kramer stumbles into the room, door closes automatically behind him and he acts surprised \> > Kramer: “I can’t believe it, I thought we were friends. You get married and you don’t even invite me?” Vaporize me now. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/51 "2016-01-06T21:19:39Z")
As a solar physicist, I should probably be happy to see “solar flares” being mentioned in sci-fi. But I’m getting tired of all the spaceships breaking down because of flares. First of all, a flare is just an energy release event, the thing that can cause damage is a CME (coronal mass ejection.) But more importantly, we _already_ know how to build radiation-hardened electronics. It’s very rare for a satellite to be damaged by a CME. CMEs are a real threat to _humans_ in space. So if an astronaut failed to take shelter in the spacecraft during a CME, or if a spacecraft is inadequately shielded, this could cause a dangerous dose of radiation. But that doesn’t seem to happen in sci-fi (except in _[Planetes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes)_), it’s always the electronics that gets fried, or some other mechanical/electrical failure. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/52 "2016-01-06T21:20:58Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > I guess you could have technology-based telepathy, but that never happens. It happened in a TNG episode, where Picard and Beverly were equipped with some sort of device which enabled her to read his mind and discover he loved her… Yeah, not one of the best. ---
**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 6, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/53 "2016-01-06T21:26:22Z")
Quote: Originally Posted by iljitsch View Post I guess you could have technology-based telepathy, but that never happens. It happened in a TNG episode, where Picard and Beverly were equipped with some sort of device which enabled her to read his mind and discover he loved her… Yeah, not one of the best. Reply With Quote Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle used tech-based telepathy in their novel _oath of Fealty_, but that’s the only case I’m personally aware of. I didn’t see the ST:TNG episode that **Brother Cadfael** refers to. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/54 "2016-01-06T22:04:54Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > This gives me a great idea for a show, which I’ll make especially for you: a spaceship that week after week flies around the galaxy and nothing happens. > > Seinfeld in Space. What, besides literally every other thing, could be better? Not my point. I get that conflict is a necessary ingredient for storytelling. My point is about perspective: If the Enterprise’s experience is typical, Starfleet must be the most dangerous and terrifying job of all time. If not, why does this one ship keep bumbling into the craziest stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/55 "2016-01-06T22:11:39Z")
I hand-wave, mentally-rewrite, and forgive a lot. I like a fun story. And nitpicking always makes me think of Spock modifying the universal translator to communicate with the energy creature in “Metamorphosis”. [sub]Oh, should I spoiler that in case someone hasn’t seen the episode? :p[/sub] Spock slides a screwdriver around the inside of a cylinder - to reprogram an incredibly complex computer - to translate the mind of an energy creature. At least a Sonic Screwdriver has a light and makes some noise. “Please try a little harder to make it even mildly believable”. Okay, maybe he had already finished the hard part and was just scraping off some rust. > [@Lemur866](#): > > …Endor is 34 quatloos from Bespin… Nitpick: A Quatloo is a unit of currency. … And a parsec is a … never mind ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/56 "2016-01-06T22:33:47Z")
Space-fantasy I don’t necessarily mean Psionics, or The Force, or laser swords, or whatever. I mean when in the show they’ve suddenly decided they want to make a story about Werewolves/Zombies/Vampires, but those aren’t sci-fi, so there’s an alien race/parasite/disease that just so happens to act **exactly** like popular conceptions of fantasy monsters. Doctor Who is a big offender here. Buffy offends from the opposite direction (aliens = demons). Like, really, Doctor Who, I would not care if you had an episode about ghosts or werewolves, you don’t need the one line you dedicated to explaining the thing’s home planet. You can have ghosts without them needing to be people out of sync with the timestream or whatever. Sometimes it works, but only when they go full-on insanity with the alien/robot part because it’s obvious the writers knew it was a stupid excuse to make a Robin Hood episode. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/57 "2016-01-06T22:36:05Z")
Son, I knew what a quatloo was 40 light years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/58 "2016-01-06T22:44:25Z")
The ‘deep space rumble’. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/59 "2016-01-06T22:45:26Z")
Your Agonizer, please… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257/60 "2016-01-06T22:50:03Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > The ‘deep space rumble’. If you mean the low noise on the TV surround sound during TNG eps, notice that it isn’t present except when the ship is at warp. Out of warp, no rumble. I thought it was pretty cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-sci-fi-tv-movie-tropes/742257.md?page=4)