The Ten Commandments of Science Fiction Films

Cafe Society
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I’m trying to codify the Ten Commandments of Science Fiction films. I’m talking about science fiction of the ‘future worlds’ variety. We’re not talking about Fantasy or Action movies here - please go make your own Commandments for those if you want.

This is a speculative list and I’d encourage suggestions for modifying, merging, or replacing some of these Commandments.

  1. Thou shalt feature an extended exterior shot of the space ship gliding the length of the screen, just so we know we are in Space.

  2. Thou shalt portray how different and cool the future is by showing characters doing mundane chores in innovative and unexpected ways, even though this makes as much sense as a lingering shot of someone switching on a light by flicking a switch in a present-day film.

  3. Thou shalt cast a pig-headed character who insists that everyone do things by the book even though this will obviously lead to disaster.

  4. Thou shalt include a narrative explanation of some vital plot point, told by a wise man/computer/disembodied voice, so the uninitiated can follow the story.

  5. Thou shalt use burning fiery sounds for ships engines and explosions, even though we know that sound does not travel in a vacuum.

  6. Thou shalt write clipped, pacy dialogue because in the future everybody talks like a soldier.

  7. Thou shalt fill every piece of equipment with only just enough fuel/ammunition/power to get the job done.

  8. Thou shalt include a character, situation or location that is Not What It Seems.

  9. Thou shalt hire a costume designer who understands that in the future everybody will want to look ridiculous.

  10. And finally, the most important of all, thou shalt ensure there is an opening in the plot for a sequel.

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  1. Somebody will have a bad feeling about this.
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  1. In space explosions are always extreamly loud because there is no air to get in the way.
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  1. Thou shalt encounter alien beings whose motives are ambiguous.

(You could write another ten commandments at least on alien encounters.)

thi6

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  1. Aliens never reproduce on their own - either they clone themselves or they choose to have sex with the (human) main character.
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I’d argue 2001: A Space Odyssey really doesn’t meet any (or very few) of those. However, overall, I totally concur with the points the OP made.

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  1. If thou art cribbing from another genre (detective, western, etc.) for the basic plot premise, thou shalt come to a resolution that requires futuristic technology unavailable to those source genres.

  2. Thou shalt have a ready explanation for female spacefarers needing less- or tighter fitting- space suits than their male counterparts.

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15/A. Said tight uniform must be suggestively ripped at some point, without causing more then a scratch to the female in question.

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  1. Ethnics may survive long enough to sacrifice themselves in order to save the white crew members (or be killed off just when everything seems safe, giving the remaining characters enough time to kill the evil).

  2. At least one person needs to be exposed to the vaccuum of space for a brief amount of time (or thrown out an airlock).

  3. Shuttlecraft never have enough fuel to “make it home.”

  4. No matter how advanced, AI will always never understand “What is love?” (lady, don’t hurt me).

  5. No one ever goes to Pluto…people just don’t give a damn about it.

  6. No matter how fast your ship goes, there’s never a need for seat belts.

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  1. Thou shalt not use centrifugal force to simulate gravity, even though any other magical gravity generating devide would rip a spacehip apart.
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device… device…

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Thou shalt use fancy, awkward words to refer to future versions of common objects. (turbo-lift, identicard, Jeffries tube, isoliniar chip…)

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I hereby designate the last Commandment as 23, and am glad to see that I’m not the only one who’s read Tekwar.

So, to continue:

  1. Thou shalt ensure that light fired from laser weapons travels only just fast enough for the eye to follow.

25.Thou shalt not permit alien species with greater mental or physical abilites, millenia of experience, and/or godlike telepathic abilities, to outcompete humans at anything important.

  1. Thou shalt always design futuristic battleships and planet-killing asteroids to have one tiny “weak spot.”

  2. Thou shalt keep robots in their place, by depicting them as either humorously ineffective or manaically dangerous.

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  1. Thous shalt include a “Self-Destruct” button on each and every spaceship. The “off” switch for this shall be a real bitch to find.
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how about this:

Most aliens look remarkably like humans except for a few eyebrow or nose ridges, speak english…and are roughly on the same technological level as you. Oh…and if they’re bad…they can’t hit the broadside of a barn with a handheld weapon.

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  1. Thou shalt find no creature in the heavens with which thou canst not speak English, and yea verily thou shalt speak English unto the end of the age.
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  1. The Armor worn by the Bad Guy’s minions shall serve no observable purpose.
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  1. No matter how advanced the tech or the social mores of a future society, thou shalt resolve major differences with fistfights.

  2. Thou shalt create future societies that either avoid sex entirely or treat it with a fakey “openness” in which women are readily available for sex with almost anyone, in a manner characteristic of a 12-year-old’s daydreams.

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  1. Thou shalt not use naturalistic dialogue. People in technical professions say things like “I’ve replaced the tachyon polarizers on the subspace tau-field generator, now reinitialize the antimatter reactor and activate the synchron pulse on the warp generator,” they absolutely don’t say “OK, I think I fixed it, try it again now.”
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  1. Thy characters shall give utterance unto every movement of their hands to proclaim their deeds, saying “Increasing power to the shields,” and “Firing phasers.”