Bad Space Science...

I know it's supposed to be fiction but a few things completely break my viewing pleasure.

I'm not a scientist but it's pretty obvious what an explosion in space looks like. things fly apart in straight lines. If there is oxidizer around there will be an explosion -- a flash but no bang please. None of those weird shock waves. No billowing clouds. Just crap flying in different directions from the center after a flash. Obviously you don't get thrown, unless something hits you or you are attached to the exploding structure...

And what's up with the idiotic idea that as soon as one's surroundings are depressurized, everything floats because you know, out in space things float and there is no air? Surely no one is that stupid except writers, producers and often hundreds of people spending ungodly amounts of other peole's money making films?

Orbital mechanics get generally botched, but I am more willing to let it slide as it's not straightforward. Neither is special relativity or quantum mechanics that usually somehow are worked into the story. You know, to add some magic.

I don't mind on-purpose fantastic devices -- FTL travel, time machines, etc. But it bothers me when people in charge can't be bothered to understand simple things, or insist on perpetuating clumsy errors, for no practical reason.

Am I so on the spectrum that I am alone here? I know it's just for fun, but stupidity just makes it so much less enjoyable, and breaks the mood. And god help those sitting next to me...

Nov 22 · 4 weeks ago · 👍 tenno-seremel, curry

4 Comments ↓

It is not only you; I agree with you too.

I've been rewatching Deep Space 9 and, being a scientist, the biomedical stuff has nearly given me an aneurysm. I can mostly forgive bad physics and sound effects in space. But oh my goodness the writers would have done well to pay attention in high school biology.

and I haven't even mentioned lasers. I suppose movies would not be that impressive if all of a sudden you overheat and experience a failure. Those silly glowing tracer rounds are more tension provoking especially when the hero dodges them. Of course you cannot dodge an (invisible) beam, if your opponent has a targeting computer.

Space battles will be very boring. Maybe it will take hours for your craft to overheat from a stealth particle beam. Maybe it's bam, there is a hole in your ship from a kinetic weapon. Maneuverability is limited by orbital mech and max g-force, and if you are running it's probably too late

I think the lasers in space was inspired by the tracer rounds used from the guns in WWII. But why the VISIBLE laser weapons and glowing orbs aren't steered has always been a personal pet peeve of mine.

I'm at the episode in DS9 where the cast is sent back in time to the year 2024 and the computers in use are hilarious. Touch screen CRTs that need a wireless light pen for some reason, no keyboard and instead pointless random objects glued in their place including what looks an awful lot like a white Radioshack Slimline Push Button landline telephone as viewed from above. The UI has a kind of low resolution 16 color aesthetic that one might program in QBasic to have a "Graphical Environment."