# Things That Bother Me in Science Fiction Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 24, 2023, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001 "2023-10-24T08:55:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**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:** [November 6, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/241 "2023-11-06T16:03:25Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > We need to talk about the bonus situation! Right. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/242 "2023-11-06T16:14:30Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Like we’d be suspicious of a coffin that’s chained shut. I have 65% in Locksmith, plenty of Luck points, and a single digit SAN score. Lem, stand by with the tommygun, and Vicky, hold that lantern up high over that gas-soaked hay bale so we can see what’s inside when I open it up. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/243 "2023-11-06T17:08:19Z")
sure … and we must do this at night … b/c that 300 year old coffin cant wait another 5 or so hours … ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/244 "2023-11-06T19:50:11Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Right. Well played! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/245 "2023-11-06T20:30:42Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > One of the eggs starts opening up like a flower, and he notices something wriggling around in there. > > What’s he think is a good idea? In science we dod the terrible scientific thing of “poke it with a stick”. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/246 "2023-11-06T21:58:49Z")
In fairness to Kane, he was wearing an environmentally sealed industrial-grade space suit. He had a pretty reasonable expectation of safety from whatever was in that egg. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/247 "2023-11-06T22:16:45Z")
Kane—who, after all, is really just a Space Teamster—isn’t nearly as inept as these purported ‘scientists’: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/P2Kkp0ufTiI/maxresdefault.jpg "Prometheus - Hammerpeed scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Kkp0ufTiI) Stranger ---
**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:** [November 6, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/248 "2023-11-06T22:18:50Z")
My head canon for that movie is that Weyland ruined his reputation building the spaceship, and the only “experts” he could convince to join his crew were the equivalent of that “I don’t want to say it’s aliens…” guy from the History Channel. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/249 "2023-11-06T23:02:38Z")
**Human exceptionalism** - You know how no matter how advanced alien an species is, they always find something deeply special about the human race. **The universe is run by a supernatural / extradimensional organization** that appears to our eyes as an anachronistic bureaucracy - The Good Place, The Adjustment Bureau, Defending Your Life, Good Omens, the TVA from Loki. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/250 "2023-11-06T23:37:48Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Or I guess another option is bioengineered humans that can live in zero G indefinitely. That would work too (you could even have humans with weird limbs better suited to floating around in all directions). But it would need to be critical to the story otherwise it’s too much effort and expense. As you might expect, someone’s already gotten there first, albeit in print, rather than on film: _Falling Free_, by Lois McMaster Bujold, is about a race of humans genetically engineered to live and work in zero-gee. Rather than legs, their lower limbs are a second pair of arms. Created by a giant corporation, but not evil, _per se_; the conflict comes when the project is deemed a failure, and the “quaddies” are considered “biological waste” by a company official, who wants to simply eliminate them all. The novel tells the way they rescue themselves, and establish their own society. They periodically pop up in later novels in Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. > [@griffin1977](#): > > There is actually a closely related scifi trope that also bugs me its the “the evil megacorporation in charge of defense research somehow thinks that what a high tech military really needs to get ahead on the modern battlefield is a great big slobbering monster”. Yup that’s the ticket, on the modern battlefield dominated by high speed communication and incredibly powerful long range weapons, a big scary looking monster with big teeth will carry the day! Bujold’s got that trope covered, as well - in the short story “Labyrinth”, her main character Miles Vorkosigan is tasked with rescuing a super soldier who’s eight feet tall, has enormous strength, endurance, and can see into the infrared and ultraviolet. And claws. Miles is aghast to find that someone tried to design a supersoldier by committee; the geneticist who created her says “I thought the fangs were a little over the top, myself.” She does turn out to be a good soldier, though, but that’s due more to her intelligence than her size or strength. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/251 "2023-11-06T23:46:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The BEM of the week has to hide somewhere! There actually was an alien called Bem in the animated Trek series (a nice guy, tho something of a PITA, but not something that will snack on your head). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/252 "2023-11-07T14:33:10Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > In science we dod the terrible scientific thing of “poke it with a stick”. Actually, considering that nature’s favorite trick is to be able to grab or sting you from further away than you thought, a good long stick should be a primary tool of xenobiologists. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/253 "2023-11-07T14:57:11Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > [@Mijin](#): > > > > Or I guess another option is bioengineered humans that can live in zero G indefinitely. That would work too (you could even have humans with weird limbs better suited to floating around in all directions). But it would need to be critical to the story otherwise it’s too much effort and expense. > > As you might expect, someone’s already gotten there first, albeit in print, rather than on film: _Falling Free_, by Lois McMaster Bujold, is about a race of humans genetically engineered to live and work in zero-gee. Rather than legs, their lower limbs are a second pair of arms. Created by a giant corporation, but not evil, _per se_; the conflict comes when the project is deemed a failure, and the “quaddies” are considered “biological waste” by a company official, who wants to simply eliminate them all. The novel tells the way they rescue themselves, and establish their own society. They periodically pop up in later novels in Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. The backstory of the webcomic _Quantum Vibe_ includes the creation of multi-armed “Spiders” and handfooted “Beltapes” to live in micro or reduced gravity. And then a genius created synthetic gravity and mainstream humans dominated the solar system. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/254 "2023-11-07T18:10:05Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > The backstory of the webcomic _Quantum Vibe_ includes the creation of multi-armed “Spiders” and handfooted “Beltapes” to live in micro or reduced gravity. And then a genius created synthetic gravity and mainstream humans dominated the solar system. That’s exactly why the Quaddies in _Falling Free_ were deemed a “failure”: someone invented artificial gravity, and the need for zero-g adaptable humans disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/255 "2023-11-07T19:57:07Z")
Which is why any proposal to create genetically specialized humans should be postponed _at least_ another 500 years, to see what technological alternatives might be devised. Otherwise we might be like the novel _Brave New World_ which depicted the creation of idiots who wouldn’t be bored operating [manual elevators](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87pgmmHSXpw) all day long. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/256 "2023-11-08T04:43:22Z")
Would ten feet do? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/257 "2023-11-08T14:11:01Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > **Human exceptionalism** - You know how no matter how advanced alien an species is, they always find something deeply special about the human race. We did not at first understand these…_ **emotions** _…that you humans possess. We thought they were a weakness, but now we understand that they are your best quality. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/258 "2023-11-08T15:56:25Z")
One trope that’s always bothered me is _Aliens so in love with one Period in Human History/Human Fantasy World That They Copy It In Real Life_ Really? Can you imagine humans falling so much in love with the Zagorthian Age of Chivalry that they have an entire city where they dress up like Zagorthians, construct robotic Zagorthian animals (that have no Terran counterparts) to re-create Zagorthian jousting or whatever, speak ancient Zagorthian languages, and construct Zagorthian Age-of-Chivalry architecture? More likely they’'d expend all that effort on human historical reconstruction. But this is the logic behind things like the Star Trek TOS episode “A Piece of the Action” (and others). or behind Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson’s _Hoka_ stories or plenty of other examples. I can understand the attraction. For TV, you can re-use your Old West Props or REnaissance costumes of whatever. The Hoka stories immediately drop the reader into a somewhat familiar milieu. But it’s unlikely as heck. TV Tropes has a page for Hoka, but no overall page for this particular trope. “Planet of Hats” or “Cargo Cult” come closest, but isn’t really the same thing. > **[Hoka](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Hoka)** > > Humorous science-fiction series by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson. The Hoka are an alien race who are notable for two reasons: First, they look remarkably like living teddy bears. Second, they are entranced by fiction. Give them a story and … ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/259 "2023-11-08T18:49:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One trope that’s always bothered me is _Aliens so in love with one Period in Human History/Human Fantasy World That They Copy It In Real Life_ > > Really? > > Can you imagine humans falling so much in love with the Zagorthian Age of Chivalry that they have an entire city where they dress up like Zagorthians, construct robotic Zagorthian animals (that have no Terran counterparts) to re-create Zagorthian jousting or whatever, speak ancient Zagorthian languages, and construct Zagorthian Age-of-Chivalry architecture? More likely they’'d expend all that effort on human historical reconstruction. Have you seen a Comic-Con? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/260 "2023-11-08T19:00:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One trope that’s always bothered me is _Aliens so in love with one Period in Human History/Human Fantasy World That They Copy It In Real Life_ > > Really? - That’s what happens when historical documents are broadcast into space. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001.md?page=14)