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Scientific Innacuracies in Sci-Fi

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Just a thread to discuss scientific WTFery in our favorite science fiction moments...

Like in Star Trek. When Roe Laren and Geordi LaForge get phased and everyone thinks they are dead, why don't they fall through the floor of the ship? How do they breath if they can't even manipulate air enough to make themselves heard?

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Or explosions going "boom" in space in Star Wars ...
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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"why don't they fall through the floor of the ship? How do they breath if they can't even manipulate air enough to make themselves heard?"

You see a lot of this in any ghost/alternatge dimension episode. I've seen it in SG-1 as well. In fact, my wife and I recently saw "Just Live Heaven" (good movie), and same thing - she walked through walls and furniture, but remained on top of the floor of a second story apartment. (And when she got in a truck, it rocked ever so slightly from her weight.)

Here's one I've wondered about. In "Innerspace", how does Dennis Quaid drink the alcohol, or the shrunken bad guys breath? The body works by elements and particles being a particular size, as so to pass through membranes or join other chemicals.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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Originally posted by: sean wookie
How does two face go from black to white!!!


Well, while it's not quite sci-fi, I guess he used the same method that Michael Jackson and the Green Lantern used.

EDIT: Except Green Lantern did the process in reverse.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
Or explosions going "boom" in space in Star Wars ...

The ship computer synthesises explosions for the benefit of the pilot.



Here's one I've wondered about. In "Innerspace", how does Dennis Quaid drink the alcohol, or the shrunken bad guys breath? The body works by elements and particles being a particular size, as so to pass through membranes or join other chemicals.


Yeah. Any time a character is shrunk there are a lot of scientific problems. WHere does the matter go? If their atoms are simply compressed, then the would retain the same weight. Matter can't be destroyed, and if it was converted into energy, there would be a big boom. So how do you shrink something without magic or other planes of reality being involved? It's impossible for science alone to explain that one.

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The ship computer synthesises explosions for the benefit of the pilot.


Yeah, because we know they're not really dead until they hear an "earth-shattering kaboom!"

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Maybe they have enough oxygen in the air to make sound but not enough to breath, as they show in Empire in that meteor scene.
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"Maybe they have enough oxygen in the air to make sound but not enough to breath"

But it requires less air to carry sound than it does to breathe.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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Oops, You're right.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
The ship computer synthesises explosions for the benefit of the pilot.


Yeah, because we know they're not really dead until they hear an "earth-shattering kaboom!"


Think how much you use sound to get by on a daily basis, or, to put it in more contextual terms, when playing a strenous video game. Think how much harder some games would be to play if you couldn't here your enemies sneaking up near you... Like Resident Evil, for instance. It's not just the explosions either; the engine sounds of the TIEs are supposedly sythesized as well to let pilots know they are near by.

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Well, actually, Chaltab, that was meant to be a joke, but you're right. However, in terms of video games, I hate first person shooters, and it's partly because I'm never able to tell where the hell somebody is if they're shooting me at close proximity. I guess the game's I've played never did let me hear the noises of someone coming up behind me.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Just a thread to discuss scientific WTFery in our favorite science fiction moments...

Like in Star Trek. When Roe Laren and Geordi LaForge get phased and everyone thinks they are dead, why don't they fall through the floor of the ship? How do they breath if they can't even manipulate air enough to make themselves heard?


I don't know about phased crew members, but I have a theory that ghosts can only walk through walls if there was a door or opening in the wall during their lifetime. For example, London was built by the Romans and there have been many sightings of the ghosts of Roman soldiers etc in the city. These ghosts are often missing their lower legs, because they are walking on THEIR streets, which were below the level of our current streets. This would explain why ghosts, and I assume Geordi and Roe, do not need to worry about falling through the floor.

War does not make one great.

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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Well, actually, Chaltab, that was meant to be a joke, but you're right. However, in terms of video games, I hate first person shooters, and it's partly because I'm never able to tell where the hell somebody is if they're shooting me at close proximity. I guess the game's I've played never did let me hear the noises of someone coming up behind me.


I have the same problem.
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Eh, you'd need really good surround sound to accurately pin point where an enemy is sneaking up from precisley.

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I thought that the whole appeal of science fiction was scientific material that couldn't possibly work in real life.
I'd like a qui-gon jinn please with an Obi-Wan to go.

Red heads ROCK. Blondes do not rock. Nuff said.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/greencapt/hansolovsindy.jpg
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what about phone booths that can bend space and time, whats up with that?
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Hey, it's not about saying things are "bad" because the science is bogus, just discussing when it is, especially when it is obviously bogus.

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how about Warp speed and Hyperspace?
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Originally posted by: segaflip
what about phone booths that can bend space and time, whats up with that?

A Tardis is not a phone booth. It just looks like one. I always thought the door of the Tardis led to another dimension that accupied the same space as the phone booth.


There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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I think he was talking about Bill and Ted's booth.

And the TARDIS actually looks like a Police Call Box, which is different to a phone booth.

And I'm just being pedantic, so sorry.

War does not make one great.