# Stupendous Stupidity in Science Fiction (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932 "2009-08-27T17:57:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**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:** [September 12, 2009, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/281 "2009-09-12T07:32:34Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > No. You’re reading too much into a simple statement. Quite simply, if you’re drifting without power and you’re _not_ drifting towards an inhabited planet fast enough to get there before you run out of supplies, you’re screwed. Pointing out that they were still going forwards at a snail’s pace or drifting towards nothing in particular would provide no useful information. I think you’re dead on. Heck, even a wet navy boat that’s “dead in the water” isn’t stationary, it just can’t move under its own momentum. Serenity was probably still moving at the same speed, but they couldn’t change course any more. And when the part blew, they were making a big arc off the regular space lanes and into empty space. With out the ability to change direction, they’d just sail on out of the solar system, forever. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/282 "2009-09-12T14:18:12Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > _Serenity_ has some sort of “inertialess space drive” (though not an FTL one). That big spinning thing in the engine room The “dead in the water” comment made me believe they had FTL, but if it were a large solar system, I could go with your idea. I did like the rockets shutting off upon leaving a planet’s atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/283 "2009-09-12T14:48:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Thanks for the backup Dar, that’s quite correct. There’s otherwise no point in the meteor breaking off the antenna. The incident is stupid on so many levels it’s ridiculous (The gravitational pull of the meteor is strong enough to tilt the liquid in the cup, but not to pull the cup off the table? Waitaminnit – shouldn’t _everything_ be feeling the same pull, so the liquid wouldn’t seem to be tilted – or the people would be pulled into the corners, or something – in any case, it’s grossly inconsistent, no matter how you try to fanwank it. And… oh, forget it.) But at least it’s a sorta consistent plot development. I always assumed that the gravity got all wonky as a side effect of the meteor re-entering normal space from whatever wormhole it used to reach our solar system from the other side of the galaxy. Pehaps I was over-thinking thigs. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/284 "2009-09-12T14:59:39Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > The McCoy with a failed marriage idea was in at least one of the Trek guides I have somewhere in my closets. (Perhaps by Larry Nemechek?) IIRC, it never made it to the final version of the ep, but one of the female guests of The Way To Eden (whoever it was that Chekov was enamoured of) was going to be Bones’ daughter from his failed marriage. Not canon, obviously, because that bit was never aired (or even filmed, I think.) > > And … I may be partly or completely misremembering the whole thing. I’m pretty sure that _The World of Star Trek_ by David Gerrold referenced it, so it makes sense that you are correctly remembering it from a Trek guide. (I have never seen a guide, nor did I even know that they were published until very recently.) The only other possible book is _Meaning in Star Trek_. _ **Can anybody provide a definite answer?** _ Now I’m wondering whether an early script may still exist. Or, if it never made it to script, a story outline. And I wonder, just what makes an element of Trek canonical? The romance was supposed to be with Kirk. Or Kirk at least showed some initial interest in her. (Big surprise, either way! :p) This would have left McCoy seeing Kirk in a very different light, as perhaps a future son-in-law. \* Hmmm…\* ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/285 "2009-09-12T20:55:23Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > If they were going to to strip mine it and send everything back home, why would they carry the entire civilization around with them? Home is the mothership, they have holodecks. ---
**Author:** ![Petey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@Petey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petey)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/286 "2009-09-12T22:15:01Z")
> [@True Blue Jack](#): > > I’m pretty sure that _The World of Star Trek_ by David Gerrold referenced it, so it makes sense that you are correctly remembering it from a Trek guide. (I have never seen a guide, nor did I even know that they were published until very recently.) The only other possible book is _Meaning in Star Trek_. _ **Can anybody provide a definite answer?** _ From a footnote in **The World of Star Trek** by David Gerrold: > [@](#): > > There was supposed to be an episode called “Joanna,” about Dr. McCoy’s daughter, but the third season producer felt that McCoy was Kirk’s peer, and therefore not old enough to have a grown daughter, so the episode was changed to “The Way of Eden,” and the focus because Chekov’s Russian girl friend. Dorothy Fontana had written the first version of “Joanna,” but quit when it became “The Way to Eden.” That episode was written by Michael Richards and Arthur Heinemann with teleplay by the latter. A daughter implies a divorced McCoy, but doesn’t require it. I wouldn’t call it canon since it was never filmed. ---
**Author:** ![Zoot\_Sutra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/51bf81/32.png) [@Zoot\_Sutra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoot_Sutra)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/287 "2009-09-12T23:44:06Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > #1 The same way our stomach protects us from acid > #2 > #3 Profit I always thought of it as a super-effective digestive enzyme, not an actual acid per se. Think about it, in the first movie, the alien grows from a gleam in a facehuggers light-sensing organ to a 12-feet-tall toothy Freudian nightmare with no mention of how it acquired enough nutrition to gain all of that body mass. Obviously it must be capable of digesting anything and everything that crosses its path, animal, vegetable, or mineral base notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/288 "2009-09-13T01:29:27Z")
Re-watched a bit of \*Firefly \*tonight, which sent up an old cliché that is oh so common, yet oh so bloody stupid. I wonder how it got past its first audience, really. Scene : plane/helicopter/starship is being chased. Hotshot pilot figures a surefire way of losing his pursuers : flying like a maniac in a canyon ! Surely the mooks will crash into the walls instead of… following at even faster speed from high above the canyon. And dropping bombs on the canyon’s walls. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/289 "2009-09-13T12:51:03Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Re-watched a bit of \*Firefly \*tonight, which sent up an old cliché that is oh so common, yet oh so bloody stupid. I wonder how it got past its first audience, really Ah, I read the second part of your post first and thought you were referencing Independence Day. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/290 "2009-09-13T14:09:48Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Re-watched a bit of \*Firefly \*tonight, which sent up an old cliché that is oh so common, yet oh so bloody stupid. I wonder how it got past its first audience, really. > > Scene : plane/helicopter/starship is being chased. Hotshot pilot figures a surefire way of losing his pursuers : flying like a maniac in a canyon ! Surely the mooks will crash into the walls instead of… following at even faster speed from high above the canyon. And dropping bombs on the canyon’s walls. Duh. That scene was actually more of a smart thing than a stupid thing. Wash tried to outfly their persuers in the only way he could think of, but he just failed to consider that the other guys wouldn’t have to go into the canyon to chase him. Once he figured that out, then he changed his plan to something more effective. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/291 "2009-09-13T14:32:09Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > That scene was actually more of a smart thing than a stupid thing. Wash tried to outfly their persuers in the only way he could think of, but he just failed to consider that the other guys wouldn’t have to go into the canyon to chase him. Once he figured that out, then he changed his plan to something more effective. Yes, I know. What I mean is that, in every _other_ spi-fi/airplane flick out there, the pursuer will follow into the canyon, blindly and stupidly. And crash into the wall, when flying overhead is a really obvious, almost instinctive counter to the canyon “tactic”. I suppose diving into a canyon makes some sense when you’re trying to shake some kind of long range threat, like a radar, or even a missile. But not someone right on your six who can \*see \*you. ---
**Author:** ![santiago42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@santiago42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/santiago42)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/292 "2009-09-13T20:21:01Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Does **Starship Troopers** mention what the ratio of “citizens” to “civilians” is? Started re-reading the book this morning, planning to just read a couple of chapters but found myself half done before I realized it. Forgot how good Heilein is. In one section, it’s said that over 80% are citizens on the colony Iskander while only 3% are citizens on some Terran nations. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/293 "2009-09-14T14:46:32Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > What annoys me is that it creates an explanation for Kirk to call McCoy “Bones” that turns it from a term of affection for a friend using a common nickname for the profession to a deliberate dig about the worst event of the guy’s life. Here’s my question: did they reference the old Bones nickname, or did they reintroduce the nickname with the new explanation? I haven’t seen the movie since it was in the theater, but it’s my recollection that they just made the passing “Bones” reference–I don’t think Kirk or anyone else referred to McCoy as Bones after that. > [@Red\_Skeezix](#): > > They left, they couldn’t re-enlist and couldn’t vote (you couldn’t vote until your service was done). In fact for the infantry, the first half of basic was designed to encourage those who couldn’t take it to leave. There’s a difference between those who chose to leave and those who were otherwise disqualified through no lack of effort on their own part, however, so it depends what one means by “washed out.” The former would end up as you describe; the latter would be reassigned to something that better fits their talents and competencies, as long as they were willing to continue. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The “dead in the water” comment made me believe they had FTL, but if it were a large solar system, I could go with your idea. There is no FTL in the \*Firefly \*universe. The premise is that it’s all one big solar system, with a variety of planets and moons that have been terraformed into habitability. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/294 "2009-09-14T18:05:04Z")
McCoy’s nickname “Bones” a play on SawBones, an old sailing ship’s doctor who could only treat wounds by cutting off the limb was used in a TOS episode. In Piece of the Action when Kirk is really hamming up the gangster talk and waving the tommy gun around he says to McCoy something like “knock it off Sawbones” verifing the true nature of the nickname. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/295 "2009-09-14T18:37:05Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > McCoy’s nickname “Bones” a play on SawBones, an old sailing ship’s doctor who could only treat wounds by cutting off the limb It’s not how they treated the wound, it was the only way to cure gangrene without antibiotics. Admittedly, wounds from huge splinters broken by cannon fire often necessitated amputation. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/296 "2009-09-14T18:54:49Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > This is incorrect. The service does not have to be risky at all, and there are a number of jobs that exist pretty much solely to give someone a chance to earn their franchise even if they’re unsuitable for hazardous duty. IIRC, Heinlein gives, “Counting fuzzy caterpillars by touch,” as an example of this sort of franchise-earning busy work. The hazardous duty is more glamorous, and probably pays better or gives more opportunities for advancement, but the purpose of the service requirement is to demonstrate a willingness to work for the good of society, not a willingness to risk your life. No, all service jobs are dangerous, or at least potentially dangerous. Maybe not equally dangerous, but they’re not just luck of the draw whether you get a safe desk job or field testing survival equipment on Titan. From Fleet Sergeant Ho, the legless recruiter: “So for those who insist on serving their term - but haven’t got what we want and must have - we’ve had to think up a whole list of dirty, nasty, dangerous jobs that will either run 'em home with their tails between their legs and their terms uncompleted…or at least make them remember for the rest of their lives that their citizenship is valuable to them because they’ve paid a high price for it.” “A term of service isn’t a kiddie camp; it’s either real military service, rough and dangerous even in peacetime…or a most unreasonable facsimile thereof. Not a vacation. Not a romantic adventure. Well?” From Major Reid, the OCS H&MP instructor: (my bolding) “And you have forgotten that in peacetime most veterans come from non-combatant auxiliary services and have not been subject to the full rigors of military discipline; they have merely been harried, overworked, **and endangered** - yet their votes count.” And remember, the “counting fuzz on a caterpillar by touch” was an example given by a civilian doctor who wasn’t in the service - he’s shocked & offended when Johnny even suggests it. > [@Red\_Skeezix](#): > > The book implies its on the low-end but I don’t remember any exact figures. Also, citizenship granted some franchises, but not all, specifically the “Sky Marshal”, which required you to serve both in the infantry, and in the fleet. Sky Marshal was a military position - I assumed it was a position you got while you were still in the military, not something you retired then applied for. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/297 "2009-09-14T19:46:05Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > McCoy’s nickname “Bones” a play on SawBones I don’t think anyone was confused about this. The debate is over the “Bones” reference in the 2009 relaunch movie. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/298 "2009-09-14T20:12:37Z")
Yes I know, I just wondered if JJ knew the true meaning of the nickname or did he just pull an explanation out of thin air. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/299 "2009-09-14T21:04:40Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I would actually like to see some sort of change making it a requirement to actually have some form of education in the issues instead of voting by soundbite, or as some people do randomly voting straight party … not every democrat, republican or independant ticket is the whole solution. > > Heck, I am registered republican but rarely vote republican just because i am registered republican, I try to actually research issues before voting [and I am pretty unusual in my small town. Though I do get into some great debates at town meetings now and then =)] I agree! Those that can demonstrate their ability to tune engines, weld metal, wire houses for electricity etc. should get to vote. Office drones and over-educated PH.D. dumbasses? No way. they don’t know the real world so they should be excluded from voting. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932/300 "2009-09-14T21:20:05Z")
Where does an office drone with a B.A. who can build you a computer or do minor toilet repairs fall? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupendous-stupidity-in-science-fiction-open-spoilers/507932.md?page=16)