What is your biggest science pet peeve in movies?

[relin]

4 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

When a gun is fired, it can miss, wound, or kill. When a knife is thrown, it always hits and is invariably fatal.

I didn't even realize how much this bothered me until someone wrote it out like that. Same goes for any thrown weapon really -- tomahawks and spears have the same rules -- but the rotating thrown items get me the most.

[adsii1970]

Any movie that's produced by the SyFy Channel...

[Superfluous J]

Mine is kinda meta. It's the insistence (by otherwise reasonable people) that bad science in science fiction is okay because "What would you rather have, good science or good fiction?"

To these people, I used to point out that that's just as dumb as saying Blazing Saddles is a romantic comedy. I mean, you can't expect a romantic comedy to have BOTH romance AND comedy, right?

Nowadays, though, I point at The Martian and tell them to stuff it.

[Kerbart]

1 hour ago, relin said:

I didn't even realize how much this bothered me until someone wrote it out like that. Same goes for any thrown weapon really -- tomahawks and spears have the same rules -- but the rotating thrown items get me the most.

Along the same lines -- whacking somebody in the back of their head with a blunt object (baseball bat, hockey stick, golf club, metal pipe, etc) will invariably render them unconscious. It was explained to me by somebody who I could reasonably assume knew what they were talking about, that if you "knock somebody out like that," it's because they are DEAD, not unconscious.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Kerbart

[WestAir]

Another fantasy pet peeve has been people "bulking up" or transforming into stronger bodies - like the Hulk.

Just where does the extra mass come from? Unless it's plant-man with the ability to rapidly absorb calories directly from sunlight, I don't get it.

[FungusForge]

-Cars exploding from car bombs, grenades, rockets, etc. They wouldn't be fireballs and the car would more than likely not be recognizable. (Thanks Mythbusters!)

-Enhance the image!

-Orbital mechanics and maneuvers almost as a whole.

-How nebulas and asteroid fields are somehow more dangerous than the cruiser exploding 20 feet behind you.

-Hacking. (Worst example: an episode of NCIS where their computer was hacked through the power cable.)

-Time travel. Always a pain in the butt to do (there's always that one logic flaw that squeezes through), but there are some examples (Comic books and their shows) where the rules of the time travel are whatever fits the plot most conveniently.

-"The atmosphere is breathable" *takes off helmet* (I don't want to inhale a toxin of some kind because I stepped on a bug or plant and liquided it off. Or get bugs in my suit.)

-We detected this stealth craft

-Running down a narrow hall and not being hit with a single bullet.

[razark]

7 minutes ago, FungusForge said:

-We detected this stealth craft

What's wrong with that?

[cubinator]

36 minutes ago, WestAir said:

Another fantasy pet peeve has been people "bulking up" or transforming into stronger bodies - like the Hulk.

Just where does the extra mass come from? Unless it's plant-man with the ability to rapidly absorb calories directly from sunlight, I don't get it.

The Hulk is a giant cancer monster. That much is certain.

And I think the amount of energy needed to grow that fast would be something on the order of a nuclear weapon, but that's just an arbitrary guess based on me reading too many What Ifs lately. Also, if it's actually mitosis happening there then the speed would totally destroy all the enzymes, polymers, lipids, proteins, sugars, and everything else needed for a cell to be a cell and not a clump of broken molecules.

Also, Iron Man's OP hand-rockets. Seriously, he could have just named them Turbo-encabulators.

[FungusForge]

Just now, razark said:

What's wrong with that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLxmkSbSOk

Seen it in more than just that. And, as Tom Clancy points out, that's the point of stealth, to not be detected.

[razark]

2 minutes ago, FungusForge said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLxmkSbSOk

Seen it in more than just that. And, as Tom Clancy points out, that's the point of stealth, to not be detected.

Stealth does not mean cloaking device, just harder to find than usual.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown

[FungusForge]

16 minutes ago, razark said:

Stealth does not mean cloaking device, just harder to find than usual.

Yes, I am aware. I never said it made them invisible. But being harder to detect is the point. I have seen many a fiction where a stealth craft was detected far beyond the land of reason, almost as if instead of stealth, they were actively broadcasting their location. Once, even, when the stealth in question was invisibility.

Its not a common thing by any means, but I've seen it.

Edited April 27, 2016 by FungusForge

[RainDreamer]

3 hours ago, WestAir said:

 

Just where does the extra mass come from? 

Also...where does it go later when they go back to normal? I don't see a ton of mass get shedded off, just seeing them compressed back to human size. Maybe hulk is just a really inflated human balloon. 

[Hary R]

Here is something that make me go "that doesn't make sense" a bit, in the last Impossible Mission (rogue nation), at some point a British agent is meeting with her boss, she gave him an USB flash drive with valuable and he tricked her by literal sucking all the data into his phone thought wireless connection. My problem was not if a flash drive is equipped with a wireless connection (why not), my problem is why did a spy put some very valuable data on such a vulnerable device?

[Red Fang]

There is a fart joke in there, I'm sure. 

[Superfluous J]

8 minutes ago, Hary R said:

Here is something that make me go "that doesn't make sense" a bit, in the last Impossible Mission (rogue nation), at some point a British agent is meeting with her boss, she gave him an USB flash drive with valuable and he tricked her by literal sucking all the data into his phone thought wireless connection. My problem was not if a flash drive is equipped with a wireless connection (why not), my problem is why did a spy put some very valuable data on such a vulnerable device?

I don't remember that part 100% but I thought he didn't steal the data, but instead wiped it. I don't know how easy that is to do with a flash drive but hey spy stuff.

[Hary R]

15 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

I don't remember that part 100% but I thought he didn't steal the data, but instead wiped it. I don't know how easy that is to do with a flash drive but hey spy stuff.

I don't remember fully to, maybe you are right but still he did it through wireless connection... on a flash drive. Spy don't put your data on that device it can be remotely wiped.

[sevenperforce]

4 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

I don't remember that part 100% but I thought he didn't steal the data, but instead wiped it. I don't know how easy that is to do with a flash drive but hey spy stuff.

 

4 hours ago, Hary R said:

I don't remember fully to, maybe you are right but still he did it through wireless connection... on a flash drive. Spy don't put your data on that device it can be remotely wiped.

My assumption when I watched it was that he used a high-intensity magnetic field or somesuch to wipe it. It's not too terribly unrealistic to think that would be possible; hardening against a bunch of teslas isn't easy. 

Then again, I'm probably inclined to automatically explain things to a degree that most script writers couldn't even begin to conceive, so....

The MI series has a great deal of sciencelessness in general. 

9 hours ago, razark said:

Stealth does not mean cloaking device, just harder to find than usual.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown

I find it very amusing that the American pilot who got shot down and the Serbian colonel who shot him down are now great friends. 

10 hours ago, WestAir said:

Another fantasy pet peeve has been people "bulking up" or transforming into stronger bodies - like the Hulk.

Just where does the extra mass come from? Unless it's plant-man with the ability to rapidly absorb calories directly from sunlight, I don't get it.

It would take a long time to absorb enough energy from sunlight to do that. Like...for an average adult male to double his body mass, that means adding about 100 kg. 100 kg x (300,000,000 m/s)^2 = 9e18 J, which is 400+ Tsar Bombas or about 8 months of average United States energy consumption. With direct conversion of solar energy into matter and a fully-insolated body surface area of 3 square meters, it would take 79 billion years to absorb that much energy. 

Maybe Banner is just already really really dense in his normal human state.

Edited April 27, 2016 by sevenperforce

[Basto]

14 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

Any movie that's produced by the SyFy Channel...

They definitely are heavy on the "Fy". 

[adsii1970]

11 minutes ago, Basto said:

They definitely are heavy on the "Fy". 

As the OP's author, @todofwar, stated, my wife and I enjoy watching bad sci-fi, for a variety of reasons. When it comes to the Sy-Fy Channel produced movies, we have a lot of fun critiquing the horrible CGI, bad character developments, bad story lines with so many plot holes you could drive a crude supertanker through, and unrealistic representation of science... However, over the last four years, there is a constant set of themes in every Sy-Fy disaster movie. It has gotten so bad that we are considering ending this favorite pastime. Anyhow, here's our list:

• Nearly every Sy-Fy movie has a beautiful woman, normally either blonde or red head, that is also very smart. Many times, this woman "saves" the world and has a pocketful of academic achievements and recognition all before the age of 40 and between 24 and 35 mostly. This is unrealistic...
• Every military officer is portrayed as being a dumb knuckledragger incapable of having rational thought beyond "let's blow the crap out of it..." mentality. As a military veteran with nearly 8 years in the Army, most officers, from Colonels to Generals, are actually very smart academically or have a huge dosage of common sense. While they are trained to be effective on the battlefield, many can also come up to very good decisions based on their ability to see outcomes. I am overly tired of seeing the military portrayed as idiots and morons.
• Older women (those over 40) are portrayed as being out of touch, weak, insensitive, and if they are an academic equal and rival to the young "brilliantly smart" then you can chalk it up... she's a goner. She's going to die...
• The guy that is the romantic partner of the the "savior woman" usually falls into to broad categories with the following story line:
  • He is a loser that is not as smart as she is but is simply her puppy dog partner. He is usually the only one who believes the woman from the very start and she has to do something crap-tacular to save her.
  • From the start of the movie, it is clear they are mis-matched and he is her academic rival who brutally disagrees with her. At the same time, they have a mutual male friend who is as dumb as a box of rocks. Smart boyfriend dies and the dumb guy ends up becoming a part of the plan to save the day.
• In the last four years of Sy-Fy movies, military research is the cause of the disaster phenomenon. Whether it is an earthquake, a tidal wave, fires, freezing weather, or even dinosaurs, military weapons research always triggers the disaster...

[Kertech]

Kingsman is a fun film, but the but at the end where a girl ascends on a balloon; targets a satellite for about a minute with it appearing stationary and hitting it just annoyed me!

[peadar1987]

17 minutes ago, Kertech said:

Kingsman is a fun film, but the but at the end where a girl ascends on a balloon; targets a satellite for about a minute with it appearing stationary and hitting it just annoyed me!

In theory I suppose she could have been firing a missing with limited delta-V in a retrograde orbit, and all it needs to do is rendezvous. Head-on. Violently. I know that's not the way it was presented in the film though.

@adsii1970, Syfy is usually a bit rubbish, but I think they did well with The Expanse

[Superfluous J]

It may be worth it to note that Star Wars is not science fiction, but space fantasy. And all comic books (and their movies and TV shows) are straight-up fantasy. They don't follow our laws of nature because they don't have to.

Star Trek's somewhere on the fuzzy border. It wants to be science fiction but the fantasy stuff is just so alluring.

[sevenperforce]

I don't mind space fantasy or soft sci fi as long as they try to stay internally consistent and they don't try too hard. Or, rather, try hard and succeed. If you're going to depict something that breaks physics, either handwave it totally or come up with a good explanation; don't jack it up.

There's a decent fanfic in the DBZ universe, of all places, that seems to do a pretty good job of handwaving in the right places and explaining everything else. They even had one whole chapter (late in the series) explaining the universe's rules in-universe, in interview form. 

[RocketSquid]

So, just something to note:

THERE IS NO STEALTH IN SPACE!!!

Standard stealth tactics don't work because your ship needs radiators to not fail. Radiators radiate heat, which enemies can detect.

An actual cloaking device works except... What do you do with the heat?

If you can somehow hide that, then guess what happens when you use your engines?

[Kertech]

14 hours ago, RocketSquid said:

So, just something to note:

THERE IS NO STEALTH IN SPACE!!!

Standard stealth tactics don't work because your ship needs radiators to not fail. Radiators radiate heat, which enemies can detect.

An actual cloaking device works except... What do you do with the heat?

If you can somehow hide that, then guess what happens when you use your engines?

Loving the article!

 

To be stealthy in space, don't be in space...