# 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:** 24
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/461 "2023-11-26T10:46:45Z")
Of course that doesn’t explain (for instance) the extreme increase in mass when Bruce Banner turns into the Hulk, or Billy Batson turns into Shazam. Alan Moore examined this problem in his Miracleman comic series, which is a retelling of the Shazam/Captain Marvel conceit; the relatively small teenagers in Miracleman swap into much larger bodies which are stored in an inactive state in a pocket dimension nearby. Of course, in these stories Moore examines the moral and ethical consequences of this arrangement, as did Gaiman who continued the series. ---
**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 26, 2023, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/462 "2023-11-26T12:09:27Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > their infantry fight Shaka Zulu style with no body armor, hand shields and pew-pew spears Two things - they _have_ body armour - the Dora Milaje uniforms are vibranium-weave fabric, as are the _force field_-equipped blanket-cloaks we see the Border Tribe deploy. We see other hyper-advanced tech incorporated into their everyday items, like their necklaces, so who’s to say their otherwise advanced laser-spears aren’t smart-aiming? But more importantly - people retain things for cultural reasons that from strict calculations alone, don’t always make sense. Most of the Wakandan “military” we see are tribal forces, seemingly more involved in _internal_ conflict. They may not _want_ the deadliest possible outcomes then. The Dora and the Panther himself seem to be the main external ground force, and they seem to have no problem dealing with modern forces when they do engage them. > [@msmith537](#): > > And their armor are basically endangered rhinos with some armor. Modern armour would seem to be pretty useless against their tech, so what would be the _point_ of them fielding tanks or APCs? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/463 "2023-11-26T18:02:10Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Except that we know that things can change shape, and change colour, and even mimic other organisms or objects; but we don’t know that telepathy exists, and it almost certainly doesn’t (except for largely hypothetical and low bandwidth brain-computer interfaces). > > So things like telepathy, illusion-casting and super-hypnosis are things that bother me in science fiction The chameleon effect is found in reality, but not with great shape changing ability. Regular hypnosis does exist, as does other mind control methods along with hallucinogens that can cause people to see things that do not exist or are greatly different than reality. So the general concept doesn’t bother me as much as the effect of changing mass and volume of people, aliens, and things. Those are things that exist mainly in the realm of fantasy and sci-fi as opposed to serious science fiction. ---
**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 26, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/464 "2023-11-26T18:50:41Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Modern armour would seem to be pretty useless against their tech, so what would be the _point_ of them fielding tanks or APCs? That could justify them not having any armored units _at all_, but its hard to think of a situation where a vibranium-enhanced APC is less useful than an vibranium-enhanced rhinoceros. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/465 "2023-11-26T18:55:00Z")
If for no other reason than you can use an APC to get out of the rain. ---
**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 26, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/466 "2023-11-26T19:11:46Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > In fact, virtually all superhero powers and technologies are essentially impossible given even a cursory knowledge of physics, and trying to rationalize them will just make your head hurt, or send you on a psychedelic mind trip. > Stranger IIRC, there was a Fantastic Four story that hung a lampshade on this by having a villain somehow (illusion/hallucination?) force the FF’s powers to conform to real physics- Invisible Woman can’t see with transparent retinas, etc. ---
**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 26, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/467 "2023-11-26T19:23:46Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > its hard to think of a situation where a vibranium-enhanced APC is less useful than an vibranium-enhanced rhinoceros Same situation where the NYPD uses horses, when it also has APCs? ---
**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 26, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/468 "2023-11-26T19:26:17Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > ; but we don’t know that telepathy exists, and it almost certainly doesn’t (except for largely hypothetical and low bandwidth brain-computer interfaces). > > So things like telepathy, illusion-casting and super-hypnosis are things that bother me in science fiction People had enjoyed stories about spiritualism and “mystical” powers (The Shadow, et al) for some time, but it was the parapsychology research at Duke University by J. B. Rhine and others that elevated investigation of claims of paranormal abilities into the quasi-scientific study of “Psi”. For decades thereafter one could scarcely find a work of science fiction that did not shoehorn in psi-related themes, despite the original research being long since discredited as the result of faulty methodology. I argued in another thread that telepathy and such should properly be considered fantasy not science fiction anymore. ---
**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 26, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/469 "2023-11-26T19:48:27Z")
My take on time machines: The first time machine is about to be tested. The researchers push the go button- and the time machine dissolves into a pile of monatomic powder. On top of the pile is a piece of notebook paper with the following message written on it: “Irreparable paradoxes threatened continued existence of humanity. Only possible solution was undoing invention of time travel.” This happens **every** time someone builds a time machine. ---
**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 26, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/470 "2023-11-26T19:51:47Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Same situation where the NYPD uses horses, when it also has APCs? Crowd control during parades, and patrolling Central Park? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/471 "2023-11-26T20:01:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > “Irreparable paradoxes threatened continued existence of humanity. Only possible solution was undoing invention of time travel.” > > This happens **every** time someone builds a time machine. Larry Niven did a couple of versions of this. In “Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility of Global Causality Violation”, he posits that the universe protects causality. If need be, by destroying a solar system where a time machine is about to be built. In the Svetz series, the title character lives in a time when many species have gone extinct. He is sent back to the past to retrieve specimens for a zoo. But time travel is fantasy, not science fiction. So, when sent to get a horse, he comes back with a unicorn. When sent to get a gila monster, he comes back with a dragon. ---
**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 26, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/472 "2023-11-26T20:04:00Z")
Crowd control, yes. And parades. i.e. _cultural_ or non-lethal encounters. ---
**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 26, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/473 "2023-11-26T20:21:26Z")
But we didn’t see them in a cultural, non-lethal encounter, we saw them deployed as armored cavalry during a pitched battle. ---
**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 26, 2023, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/474 "2023-11-26T20:33:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > we saw them deployed as armored cavalry during a pitched battle. An internal civil war deal, not a full-on military engagement. So they used what was around. And of cultural significance to the combatants. And I think they were intended to be less lethal than, say, strafing the rebels from the planes, which they were perfectly capable of doing. Note that they didn’t use them during the battle with Thanos’ troops. So they’re not in _general_ use as armour. ---
**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 26, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/475 "2023-11-26T20:35:08Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > An internal civil war deal, not a full-on military engagement. So they used what was around. Yeah, that works. Fanwank accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/476 "2023-11-27T00:06:49Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > IIRC, there was a Fantastic Four story that hung a lampshade on this by having a villain somehow (illusion/hallucination?) force the FF’s powers to conform to real physics- Invisible Woman can’t see with transparent retinas, etc. It’s funny though that so often when there is a science fiction debunk they go too far. It smacks of the “I know a thing” fallacy (that I myself coined here at the Dope 🧐) : that when a person knows one fact about something, they may believe that fact must be of central and critical importance. Yes, if the retina were as clear/refractive as air, it would not be capable of detecting light. However; making every tissue in your body be as clear as air is just _one_ way of making an object invisible. e.g. We created a way to make objects invisible to microwaves almost a decade ago. There’s nothing physically impossible, in principle, in deflecting light around you while separately receiving a signal that enables you to see. (I know this is a bit of a serious take on a comicbook story, but I was just using the story as a jump off for a general rant about science fiction debunks) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/477 "2023-11-27T04:49:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > And that reminds me of the Spider Robinson tale where the time traveler wanted everybody’s pennies. He was going to bury them, then dig them up in the future with impeccable provenance. > > It took me quite a while to read that story when it first came out, because I kept hurling the magazine across the room. I don’t get it. Why were you hurling the magazine across the room? Just because of how unambitious the plan is? Or is there some gaping hole in the logic of travelling to the past, acquiring something that is cheap but will eventually be valuable, burying it, then returning to dig it up in the present? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/478 "2023-11-27T17:10:11Z")
The story was titled “Did You Hear the One About?” It was set during Punday Night at Callahan’s, where all the regulars try to out-pun each other, with the winner getting their bar tab refunded. Lately, a comely young woman named Josie Bauer had started sleeping with each weeks winner, which as Jake put it, “caused the competition to stiffen considerably.” The story is filled with the most horrendous puns. Especially the capper. Spoiler: A time-traveling con artist poses as an “intergalactic **travelling salesman** ”, until his scam is revealed by time cop Josie Bauer. Josie mentions that her father is a noted science-fiction author, and at the end of the story lets it slip that he’s writing a new Riverworld novel. So she is indeed a **Farmer’s Daughter**. Philip Jose Farmer to be precise. ---
**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 27, 2023, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/479 "2023-11-27T17:15:30Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > “Irreparable paradoxes threatened continued existence of humanity. Only possible solution was undoing invention of time travel.” Who is destroying the machines and writing the notes? The Universe? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/480 "2023-11-27T17:20:03Z")
I would have loved to drink at Callahan’s. I’d never win the contests but I would love the bits of trivia I’d pick up. And I am a huge fan of puns, so in that I’d fit in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001.md?page=25)