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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 06:32:15
Message: <4adaeeaf$1@news.povray.org>
somebody wrote:

> Reading up a little bit more about the movie, manking will apparently have
> artificial gravity (!?) in a couple of decades, on top of the other
> nonsense. Even if we can ignore all the bad physics, it makes absolutely
> zero sense to me to be sending a *manned* craft for such a mission. What do
> you need astronauts for, to steer the ship in the right direction so it
> doesn't miss (!) the sun? Maybe it's explained somewhere in ironclad logic,
> but I highly doubt it. All in all, it sounds like a really bad rehash of
> last-minute-space-heroics-to-save-the-world genre.
> 
> 
A couple of things.

One of the tenets of Science Fiction is that you are allowed to change 
one or two science facts and develop your world as if they were true.


human based story. As you will know, this is the suspension of disbelief


attack craft behave as if they were aeroplanes. Accelerating forward to 
go faster when they are in orbit and banking when they turn.



-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: Doctor John
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 09:06:29
Message: <4adb12d5@news.povray.org>
Stephen wrote:
> Almost 20 years ago. I must reread it.



 (Dr
> John note the spelling ;-)).
> 

Duly noted
<muttering accent=Glaswegian>Feersum Endjinn, Feersum Endjinn</mutterin
g>

John
-- 
"Eppur si muove" - Galileo Galilei


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From: Neeum Zawan
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 11:46:42
Message: <4adb3862@news.povray.org>
On 10/18/09 03:50, Chambers wrote:
> Warp wrote:
>> Btw, can anyone recommend *good* sci-fi movies? Preferrably hard science
>> fiction. "Hard" in this context means physically plausible technology and
>> physics, which imples, among other things:
>
> One based on biology rather than physics: 28 Days Later.
>
> It's not a movie about zombies. It's a movie about rabies on crack - and
> it's one of the best movies of the decade :)

	Didn't like the whole last third of the movie when they enter the 
military complex. It was a sudden change of pace, mood, everything. If 
not for that, it'd been a great movie.

-- 
Be independent! No, not that way! This way!


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From: somebody
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 11:52:12
Message: <4adb39ac$1@news.povray.org>
"Stephen" <mca### [at] aolDOTcom> wrote in message
news:4adaeeaf$1@news.povray.org...
> somebody wrote:

> > Reading up a little bit more about the movie, manking will apparently
have
> > artificial gravity (!?) in a couple of decades, on top of the other
> > nonsense. Even if we can ignore all the bad physics, it makes absolutely
> > zero sense to me to be sending a *manned* craft for such a mission. What
do
> > you need astronauts for, to steer the ship in the right direction so it
> > doesn't miss (!) the sun? Maybe it's explained somewhere in ironclad
logic,
> > but I highly doubt it. All in all, it sounds like a really bad rehash of
> > last-minute-space-heroics-to-save-the-world genre.

> A couple of things.
>
> One of the tenets of Science Fiction is that you are allowed to change
> one or two science facts and develop your world as if they were true.
>

> human based story. As you will know, this is the suspension of disbelief

I can suspend disbelief easier regarding matters like presence of FTL or
artificial gravity. But decision of manned vs unmanned is not even a high
tech / advanced sci issue, it's about common sense. I find it very hard to
suspend my disbelief about the brightest minds of the world making such a
blunder and sending a survivor/big-brother crew (from the reviews, it looks
like we have the stereotypical young, maverick, ethnically diverse and
politically correct, emotionally pre-teen, and sequentially eliminated
bunch) on a mission that undeniably calls for an unmanned spacecraft. And
yes, of course there wouldn't be a story or a movie without astronauts on
that mission, but then again, did all the other sci-fi avenues run dry that
this movie about an implausible scenario has to be absolutely produced?


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From: nemesis
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 12:52:01
Message: <4adb47b1$1@news.povray.org>
Chambers wrote:
> nemesis wrote:
>> Neeum Zawan <m.n### [at] ieeeorg> wrote:
>>> - Deep Impact is nice in some ways. It suffered from the fact that
>>> Armageddon came out the same year. It's *much* better than its rival,
>>> though.
>>
>> Much, much better.
> 
> I'd only partially agree.  Deep Impact had much better emotional 
> development, but was overall poorly written.

How poorly written?  Any plot holes I'm unaware of?  I liked how the 
story kickstarts with a supposedly love affair of a high politician... I 
find the plot quite tight.

> twist endings, etc).  I guess something in Deep Impact must have 
> resonated with you more than Armageddon did.

Certainly the emotional involvement was great, but so was the whole trip 
to the asteroid very plausible and the consequences of the half-failure.


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 14:11:40
Message: <4adb5a5c$1@news.povray.org>
> we can control gravity without using a
> centrifuge. I think this is more unlikely than FTL travel 

Given these are both based on relativity, why would one be more likely than 
the other?

> .... apart from growing to full human-size from cat-size within days without
> apparently ingesting any organic matter? 

Surely the people on the ship had to eat. Maybe it found the food stores?

> Event Horizon has some great SF in it, 

I have no idea why everyone liked that movie. I thought it was awful.

Also: Equilibrium.
Also: Mission to Mars (altho the movie itself was not that great)


> it makes absolutely
> zero sense to me to be sending a *manned* craft for such a mission.

Except that when the fate of the entire world hangs in balance, having 
people there who can make decisions rapidly might be the difference between 
8 people dying and extinction of the race.  Assuming they even were supposed 
to die.


There's lots of good books like this, including Niven's Known Space series 
(of course, there's FTL and teleportation there and such, but it follows 
rules), lots of the stuff by Robert Forward, Vernor Vinge, Robert Sawyer, etc.

I mind less having things like FTL than I do that they follow rules that are 
well spelled-out, as if they're actually scientific principles. Otherwise, 
it's just magic mcguffins in disguise.  Indeed, excellent science fiction is 
that which you could say the plot is driven by the rules the extreme science 
fiction follows.


-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   I ordered stamps from Zazzle that read "Place Stamp Here".


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From: somebody
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 14:30:38
Message: <4adb5ece@news.povray.org>
"Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message
news:4adb5a5c$1@news.povray.org...

> > it makes absolutely
> > zero sense to me to be sending a *manned* craft for such a mission.

> Except that when the fate of the entire world hangs in balance, having
> people there who can make decisions rapidly might be the difference
between
> 8 people dying and extinction of the race.

Except that, even in these movies, the only purpose those on board serve is
to screw things up. How hard would it be for NASA to crash an unmanned craft
into the sun? All you need is 1960's dumb technology for that, scaled up
accordingly for the payload. The complexity and the number of fatal fail
points go drastically up when you need life support for such long term
missions, even if when you have emotionally, intellectually and physically
rock solid astronauts. I haven't seen the movie - do the space cowboys in
this movie do anything that truly requires human presence, or is it the same
old "turn two switches simultaneously on in slow motion to start the timer
that detonates the bomb and run for your life" ritual? (Well, I gather they
all die, so maybe not the last part).


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 15:11:58
Message: <4adb687e@news.povray.org>
somebody <x### [at] ycom> wrote:
> "Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message
> news:4ada43b1@news.povray.org...

> >   It's based on theoretical science, not handwaving:
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ball

> In that case, I'm surprised you exclude FTL travel, which is typically based
> on as just as solid (or shaky) theorizing.

  Exactly which part of theoretical physics is the FTL travel eg. in Star
Trek or Star Wars based on? Care to give references to some scientifical
papers discussing the subject?

  While are it, also give some references to theoretical physics which
explains FTL communication in Star Trek and Star Wars (which badly breaks
GR principles).

  (I don't need to give you references to the Q-ball theory because the
wikipedia article has plenty at the bottom.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 15:14:29
Message: <4adb6915@news.povray.org>
somebody <x### [at] ycom> wrote:
> Reading up a little bit more about the movie, manking will apparently have
> artificial gravity (!?) in a couple of decades, on top of the other
> nonsense. Even if we can ignore all the bad physics, it makes absolutely
> zero sense to me to be sending a *manned* craft for such a mission. What do
> you need astronauts for, to steer the ship in the right direction so it
> doesn't miss (!) the sun? Maybe it's explained somewhere in ironclad logic,
> but I highly doubt it. All in all, it sounds like a really bad rehash of
> last-minute-space-heroics-to-save-the-world genre. I don't understand the
> relatively high IMDB score - maybe there's some terrific acting and
> supremely zany dialogue to make up for plot deficiencies and bad science.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlexxpmjrh25rbg?from=Main.ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch

  So now that you have "proven" that the movie I mentioned sucks, what next?
What was your point and goal?

-- 
                                                          - Warp


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Bad science fiction
Date: 18 Oct 2009 15:17:01
Message: <4adb69ad@news.povray.org>
Chambers <Ben### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> >   Besides Alien (and Aliens), this one is a perfect example of what I'm
> > looking for: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/

> Why do people like this movie so much?  It was one of the most 
> disappointing denouements I've ever seen.  Really great beginning half, 
> but totally let down in the end.

  Why do people like movies which other people detest?

  Why are you asking unanwserable questions?

-- 
                                                          - Warp


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