# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/141 "2023-10-29T18:53:32Z")
How about aliens usually being super-humanoid in some way, e.g. physically stronger, more intelligent, or both? Although, TNG did have the Pakleds. “We look for things. Things that make us go.”. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/142 "2023-10-29T19:53:25Z")
One thing that I can’t abide is when there is no sense of a society beyond the bare minimum needed for the story. Jack Vance created some wonderful and strange worlds and the reader was left with a real sense of an actual culture underpinning the worlds his characters inhabited. ---
**Author:** ![frogmouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ea924/32.png) [@frogmouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frogmouth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/143 "2023-10-29T21:03:01Z")
To quote Lucy Lawless: “Whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it.” Also: Anyone who says aliens are always humanoid in size and appearance has never seen the movie Aliens. ---
**Author:** ![frogmouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ea924/32.png) [@frogmouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frogmouth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/144 "2023-10-29T21:05:48Z")
And where the heck is that John Williams music coming from? A full orchestra? In outer space? REALLY?!? ---
**Author:** ![kwintenstraler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kwintenstraler/32/10698_2.png) [@kwintenstraler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwintenstraler)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/145 "2023-10-29T21:08:00Z")
Musica universalis ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/146 "2023-10-29T22:19:01Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > > > Why did no one ever follow the Batmobile? > > The in-universe explanation was that the Batmobile was too fast for anyone to catch up with. Can’t outrun a radio signal. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/147 "2023-10-29T22:27:46Z")
Speaking of iron Man, it must be really make those muscles ache, when he flies to Europe or father, when he has to hold the flying position, he can’t sit, stretch, relax, or go to the bathroom, for hours! Even supersonic it’s a long flight to trouble. And boring. I assume he has “in-flight entertainment.” This also applies to the Shield jets. The film shows them taking off, and arriving, but the 6 hours of cruising just never makes the final film. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/148 "2023-10-29T22:39:20Z")
The Batmobile has its own secret identity, as shown in the 1943 matinee serial _Batman_ and the 1949 serial _Batman and Robin_. It’s a convertible. When the top is down, it’s Bruce Wayne’s car. When the top is up, it’s the Batmobile. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/149 "2023-10-29T22:47:41Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Or did he just kill them after they were done installing the Batphone? I’ve seen some pretty elaborate depictions of the Batcave. There’s no way he fights crime all night, and then toils away in a guano filled caved laying concrete. The labor comes from the crooks he captures. Now that I think about it, how did he get that giant penny and dinosaur into the cave? Does he have a Batflatbed? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/150 "2023-10-29T23:11:57Z")
Alfred. The answer is always Alfred. The poor man never sleeps and is a jack (and master) of all trades. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/151 "2023-10-30T02:09:29Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > and surprisingly racist … …huh? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/152 "2023-10-30T03:37:11Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > My bug bears… > > - Persistence of gravity. I know there will sometimes be some “deus ex machina”, like gravity generators, to explain this. But often there is not even that fig leaf, it’s just assumed that you have gravity inside your spaceship. I get that historically there are some practical reasons for this, namely that sci-fi movies are not generally filmed in space. But in these CGI infused days it seems much more doable to make sci-fi films set in zero-G. If you have an interstellar spacefaring civilization where people spend long periods living and working on city-sized spacecraft, you’re probably going to want to give them some sort of artificial gravity. > [@griffin1977](#): > > - Stupid evil mega corporations. Not entirely a sci-fi only trope, but the worst examples are in sci-fi (I’m looking at you Umbrella Corporation.) I don’t have.a problem with big corporations being evil, they can be plenty evil, but it’s just a lazy trope to setup a powerful antagonist, if you don’t explain what the evil corporation hopes to gain from being evil, how they got so powerful, and how they hope to get away with it. Umbrella, Wayland-Yutani, OCP, Cyberdyne, so on and so forth. I mean who in product development is sitting thinking the future is in developing uncontrollable bio/cyberweaponry? “We’ve made trillions in planetary engineering, robotics, and aerospace tech. But this new program to weaponize giant space cockroaches is really going to push us into the future!” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/153 "2023-10-30T03:59:51Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Umbrella, Wayland-Yutani, OCP, Cyberdyne, so on and so forth. I mean who in product development is sitting thinking the future is in developing uncontrollable bio/cyberweaponry? Weyland-Yutani makes some sense in the first two alien movies. In _Alien,_ I’m working on the assumption that the Company doesn’t know exactly whats on LV-426 but, for whatever reason, felt it was necessary to divert the crew of a tow truck to land and check it out. I do think it’s likely they knew the “distress” beacon was actually a warning. In _Aliens,_ Burke is the one pulling strings without authorization from above. He doesn’t quite believe Ripley’s story, but why not check the site out? Worst case scenario, nothing is there and he doesn’t profit. Obviously it was a bad call. mssmith537. It was a bad call. But yeah, continued efforts to contain the xenomorphy are just plain silly. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/154 "2023-10-30T04:26:36Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > But yeah, continued efforts to contain the xenomorphy are just plain silly. It’s like in superhero film where some super is bulletproof, but yet they send in guys with guns to take it out. The Hulk is a great example. They KNOW it doesnt work, but they try and get smashed anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/155 "2023-10-30T05:13:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It’s like in superhero film where some super is bulletproof, but yet they send in guys with guns to take it out. The Hulk is a great example. They KNOW it doesnt work, but they try and get smashed anyway. There was an episode of the Superman animated series from the 1990s where a crook pulls otu a gun and shoorts Superman. A perplexed Superman asks, “Do you know who I am?” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/156 "2023-10-30T06:19:56Z")
So, like Clark Kent’s glasses. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2023, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/157 "2023-10-30T06:55:09Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > If you have an interstellar spacefaring civilization where people spend long periods living and working on city-sized spacecraft, you’re probably going to want to give them some sort of artificial gravity. Or modify them so that gravity is unnecessary. The toileting arrangements on a microgravity ship can be challenging, though. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/158 "2023-10-30T07:10:13Z")
“…What bothers me even more is that they don’t portray the moon, Mars, and other such locales as lower-gravity environments. Not even 2001 or The Martian” Cosmic Voyage (1936) makes an honest effort to portray the Moon’s lower gravity. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/159 "2023-10-30T12:01:53Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > Cosmic Voyage (1936) makes an honest effort to portray the Moon’s lower gravity. Wasn’t familiar with that one. Interesting. I note that when films like **First Men in the Moon** (1964) show people cavorting on the surface of the moon, they show some low gravity. But once they’re underground everything is earth-normal gravity. **John Carter** shows Carter getting used to Mars’ lower gravity, even though they really overdo it. But they had to – John Carter’s leaping ability is a Plot Point. But most of the time gravity is still Earth gravity. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/160 "2023-10-30T12:32:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > But most of the time gravity is still Earth gravity. It’s not a movie, but the new game Starfield has lots of planets with different gravities, so your ability to jump is different on each one. The thing that bothers me, though, is they don’t apply that to the weight of stuff you can carry. 0.1G, 1.2G, doesn’t matter, a pound is a pound, all the 'verse round. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001.md?page=9)