# Poorly conceived movie and/or SF inventions/technology **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916 "2006-10-25T23:45:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/41 "2006-10-26T15:43:39Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Darth Vader should remote-strangle the R&D team that came up with the imperial walkers in _The Empire Strikes Back._ They’re obviously designed for no purpose but to get knocked down. There’s a very good reason why real-life tanks run on treads and have the lowest center of gravity possible. [/QUOTE] I recall a short fanfic titled “The Real Ending Of ‘Return Of The Jedi’”. The admiral in charge of the biggest remaining Imperial fleet rants on a bit about this and other stupidities of Imperial military policy. When he winds down, his adjunct asks for orders. He thinks a moment, and says, “Get me a crown”. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/42 "2006-10-26T16:04:27Z")
The one thing about Star Wars that makes no sense to me. There is a wookie who’s name is Chewbacca. How do we know this? I always assumed that Chewie said to Han, " Hi, my name is Chewbacca." But, he has no way of pronouncing his own name. His real name would have to be something more like Ahhewweahhhhgrrr. Did Han just name him like a pet? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/43 "2006-10-26T16:04:49Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] If you fired a laser and hit a sheild, you (and possibly the sheildbearer, I can’t remember) would find youself at the epicenter of a subatomic explosion, which is presumed to be an impressive sight to behold from afar. ( **Ethilrist** has beaten me to this point, I see) [/QUOTE] Except that would render the shield as the worse defensive weapon in history. The problem with all sci-fi is that all battles take place within 30 feet. If I have a laser, I can shoot you from miles away. Even better for me if it makes you explode in a subatomic explosion, whatever that is, and takes out your entire army. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/44 "2006-10-26T16:15:48Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] Except that would render the shield as the worse defensive weapon in history. The problem with all sci-fi is that all battles take place within 30 feet. If I have a laser, I can shoot you from miles away. Even better for me if it makes you explode in a subatomic explosion, whatever that is, and takes out your entire army. [/QUOTE] Except IIRC, the explosion can just as easily originate from the lasgun as from the shield, or both. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/45 "2006-10-26T16:44:30Z")
Chebacca is named even in the 3rd movie, so it’s not Han who named him - maybe Yoda? Maybe it’s [whatever Yoda’s species is] for “Bear” - say no more… According to the \*Dune Encyclopedia \*(“approved” but _not_ canon, but a better read than any of those hack prequels, I can tell you) - under “Holtzman Effect” - > [@](#): > > …when coherent light impinges on a planar-effect field …there is an uncommonly violent reaction. […]instantaneous and total conversion of the pseudo-mass of the shield intop a degenerate lump of real matter[…]which matter then converts to pure energy. Fortunately, the actual mass of a planar field is is usually quite tiny, on the order of .005g for a personal shield. Thus, this typical field, if touched by a laser beam, would result in an atomic balst with a power of 4.5x10^18 ergs, or a little less than .1 kiloton of the atomic scale So it looks like it is the shield end that done blowed up good. As to the OP - for me, it’s the current mania for “organic” ships - If it’s anything like Earth organics (and it usually is presented as such) I’d take a chunk of steel over organics anyday. Yet you have Species 8472 from Trek, Moya from Farscape, Vorlons and Shadows from B5. the Yuuzhan Vong from SW EU. I’m sure there are more examples. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/46 "2006-10-26T16:49:45Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Except IIRC, the explosion can just as easily originate from the lasgun as from the shield, or both. [/QUOTE] Both the lazgun _and_ the shield are taken out – and it’s an effect comparable to an atomic explosion, since they’re apparently prohibited by the same pact that outlaws atomics. So it’s basically a good way to take out _your_ army along with _their_ army. Given how surprised the Saudarkar were when Paul used atomics to blow up the Shield Wall – a tactical obstacle, not an enemy unit – I’m thinking that military tactics in the Dune imperium were relatively primitive. I mean, who would think “There’s no _way_ he can get through our ginormous Shield Wall to attack us, when all he has are atom bombs that he can’t use on people!” I used to think that the Giant Pit of Dooom in the Emperor’s throne room on the second Death Star was incredibly stupid – but then I realized he probably _did_ have it put in just so he _could_ have people tossed to their deaths. Nonetheless, Star Wars architecture seems to have an extreme aversion to handrails over dangerous precipices, and in general lack other safety regulations. Allowed the architects and engineers to say “Oh, this would be a great place for a giant chasm spanned only by a narrow bridge that has no railing and which is retractable back into the wall!” ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/47 "2006-10-26T16:53:06Z")
All the holes in areas of the Death Stars where people walk, with no railings to prevent people from falling in/being thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/48 "2006-10-26T16:58:23Z")
Nitpicking _Star Wars_ technology is so easy as to be pointless, but as long as we’re doing it anyway, how about the cannons on the Millenium Falcon that have to be aimed **by hand**? Even our 21st century, pre-light-speed civilization has managed to crack computer-guided weapons systems. (I like the little display that tells you where you hit the target—presumably it helps you to get a higher score next time you play.) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/49 "2006-10-26T17:05:36Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] As to the OP - for me, it’s the current mania for “organic” ships - If it’s anything like Earth organics (and it usually is presented as such) I’d take a chunk of steel over organics anyday. [/QUOTE] Organic material can be pretty strong. Spider silk is much stronger than steel (for the same weight). Pretty close to Kevlar, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/50 "2006-10-26T17:08:04Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Good Kirk is also an idiot - send down a shuttle craft! [/QUOTE] Don’t think they had a shuttle yet. The shuttle didn’t appear till Galileo Seven. ---
**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:** [October 26, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/51 "2006-10-26T17:16:29Z")
[QUOTE=SenorBeef] If the purpose is to prevent the ship from falling into enemy hands, this does make sense. You don’t want them to easily hit a Big Red Stop Button after they board the ship… [/QUOTE] True. How about allowing the commanding officer to activate self-destruct without any approval or interaction with any her senior officers? How many times did we see Janeway become mentaly unstable, possesed, or impersonated? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/52 "2006-10-26T17:18:43Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] Except that would render the shield as the worse defensive weapon in history. [/QUOTE] Kinda my point… ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/53 "2006-10-26T17:27:33Z")
[QUOTE=Lightray] I used to think that the Giant Pit of Dooom in the Emperor’s throne room on the second Death Star was incredibly stupid – but then I realized he probably _did_ have it put in just so he _could_ have people tossed to their deaths. [/QUOTE] You’d think he’d want some sort of cover over it, though, so that people didn’t wander into it accidentally, or so someone didn’t throw him into it. A cover with a lever by his throne would have worked well, or a cover with a release mechanism with a passcode would have worked even better. In the first case, you would need two people to throw someone to their doom. That shouldn’t be a problem for the Emperor (the Empire doesn’t seem to have a shortage of manpower or a problem getting lackeys to obey), but it makes things harder if someone wants to come in and throw the Emperor to his doom. The second is even better- if only the Emperor knows the passcode, only the Emperor can have someone thrown to their doom. > [@Der Trihs](#): > > From Independence Day : > Computer security so bad that primitive humans can hack them What’s more, it was a primitive human who probably didn’t have much experience writing computer viruses, writing on a machine whose operating system and software were presumably completely different than that of the alien ship’s computer. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/54 "2006-10-26T18:43:39Z")
[QUOTE=Shoeless] Well, they did have the “battle bridge” which was down in the lower section somewhere and was used after the saucer section separated. But yeah, why not just make that the primary bridge in the first place? [/QUOTE] I recall in the original ST:TOS pilot, [“The Cage,”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cage_%28TOS_episode%29) there’s an opening shot of the Enterprise, and the dome over the bridge is completely transparent – from an outside POV, you could look down into the bridge; and the bridge crew (it is implied – no clear shot, IIRC) can see the stars overhead. I guess that was Roddenberry’s original concept, for esthetic reasons (it **is** quite an effect), and then for some reason he decided to make the dome opaque, but keep the original design – which requires the bridge to be located in a domed blister at the top of the saucer section. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/55 "2006-10-26T18:45:42Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] But once you need to drag out “the villian makes fundamental mistakes because he is so arrogant” you have lost me. [/QUOTE] RL history is full of villains who made fundamental mistakes because they were so arrogant. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/56 "2006-10-26T18:48:45Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Imperial Stormtrooper armour. One blaster hit and you’re dead. What’s the point? [/QUOTE] And making it glaring white, too! They never heard of camouflage color schemes? Or did they think most of their fighting would be on Arctic planets? (And even then, the joints on that armor look like they’d freeze solid real fast in -40º weather!) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/57 "2006-10-26T18:52:19Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] You’d think he’d want some sort of cover over it, though, so that people didn’t wander into it accidentally, or so someone didn’t throw him into it. A cover with a lever by his throne would have worked well, or a cover with a release mechanism with a passcode would have worked even better. [/QUOTE] So, Jabba the Hut had more on the ball than the Emperor? Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/58 "2006-10-26T19:10:56Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] All the holes in areas of the Death Stars where people walk, with no railings to prevent people from falling in/being thrown in. [/QUOTE] Well, the DeathStar was still under construction, so I suppose they could claim that the safety railings were one of the low priority items, to be put in later. (After a bunch of construction workers had fallen to their death, maybe? In current construction projects, the safety features are one of the first things the workers install; they’re no dummies!) But it certainly looked to me like those areas were pretty well finished. I don’t recall any partially-built stuff sticking out around them. And how hard would it have been to just put a rope across there, after all? But the whole idea of ‘big empty spaces’ on a spaceship is even more questionable. The holes in the Death Star, the empty corridors in Star Trek ships, the vast hanger spaces in Star War ships, etc. Every bit of space on a spaceship is that much more area where you have to provide heat, light, air, etc. And requires more material to build, more energy to maintain, and more mass to carry every time the ship moves. So spaceships are built tightly, with as little unused space as possible. That’s true even on ships or airplanes. Look at our current Space Station – that place looks positively claustrophobic. And compare the hanger spaces in Star Wars to photos of aircraft carrier hangers – the real hangers are much more crowded. And compare the corridors in Star Trek to the corridors in real submarines. Compare the passenger accommodations to any modern airliner! Movies & TV vastly inflate the space available on ships. Presumably to make for better looks, and just to make it easier to film. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/59 "2006-10-26T20:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] Guns vs. magic = magic wins. I’m sorry, but that’s how it works. I don’t care how many rounds per millisecond your gun fires. [/QUOTE] What if the other guys have _magic_ guns? Hah? What about that, then? Face it, there’s one major SF-themed franchise that prominently features magic swordsmen, and about a zillion SF and action movies featuring magic gunplay. I’m sorry, but there’s about as much call for magic swordsmanship in SF as there is for real swordsmanship in modern combat. Anyway, \*\*Star Wars \*\* wasn’t really “guns vs. magic” so much as “thunderous incompetence vs. magic.” ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916/60 "2006-10-26T20:36:11Z")
How do folks who have invisibility see (_The Fantastic Four, Hollow Mna_)? Think about it, to see our eyes collect the light, well if you are invisible it seems either the light is going through or around you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-conceived-movie-and-or-sf-inventions-technology/377916.md?page=4)