Comments on: Comic-Con: Science, Even if It's Fake, Can Make Fiction Better

By: พระเครื่อง

พระเครื่อง — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:33:53 +0000

We like this info given and that has given me several sort of inspiration to have success for some cause, so keep up the good work.

By: Rob Hamm

Rob Hamm — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 11:41:07 +0000

I’m generally in agreement that accurate science, even imaginary science if it is self-consistent, can make or break a film or series. HOWEVER… Although Firefly is one of my all-time favorite shows, Whedon seemed to pretty such say, “Science? Never heard of it.” The “science they ended up using was in some cases not even consistent within itself.

No one on Serenity knew that guns fire just fine in a vacuum, since the charge contains its own oxidant.Not even the merc or the trained assassin. And where were the gas giants that so many of those terraformed moons orbited? In one episode, the engine breaks and the ship stops, instead of obeying Newton, but in another they use the idea of inertia by aiming the ship, getting the speed they want, and shutting down the engines. I could go on…

The series still worked despite all that, but it would have been much better with better science.

Loved Farscape, too, and at least when they screwed up science (like having the crew shrunk down), they hang a lantern on it by having one character point out the science issues, than another character chides her for thinking she knows it all.

By: Good and Bad Science in Science Fiction | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:02:28 +0000

[...] fit inside. There’s a huge demand for this kind of discussion. See also reports here, here, here, here, [...]

By: Mark Kawakami

Mark Kawakami — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:58:45 +0000

Yes, Armageddon has huge flaws, but believe it or not, I think it’s the better of the two “Asteroid hits earth” movies that year (the other being “Deep Impact”). Of all the things that stretch credulity in Armageddon, none stretches it so far as a character haling a cab on the day earth is to be destroyed in Deep Impact. That’s one dedicated cabbie!

By: Amos Zeeberg (Discover Web Editor)

Amos Zeeberg (Discover Web Editor) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:50:00 +0000

@Rhacodactylus: If Whedon constantly violated the rules of the Buffyverse, doesn't that kind of cheapen the rules? Shouldn't those be special occasions, not weekly occasions?

By: magetoo

magetoo — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:37:17 +0000

“Armageddon was NOT the worst science fiction film ever made”

More evidence to the hypothesis tested then, since it really does come off as the worst. :-)

By: Rhacodactylus

Rhacodactylus — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:25:08 +0000

This is interesting, a friend of mine and I have often had discussions about the “Heisenberg Compensators,” that are referred to in Star Trek as being a necessary part of the transporter. We think the beauty of this “device” is that the writers are giving the audience some credit and throwing a bone to legitimate physics; they know that the uncertainty principle would likely cause a problem with any conceptual transporter design, so they have given us a line of dialog to “explain” this technology. Joss Whedon was brilliant with this on Buffy; he violated the rules of his universe constantly, but he would ALWAYS give us a reason the rules were able to be violated in that case, be it a ring, an amulet, a spell, the device didn’t matter, what mattered was that he was showing respect for the audience and being consistent to the internal rules of his universe. While I’m sure that isn’t the whole reason for Joss’ success, I imagine it’s a part of it.

By: Comic-Con: Fringe Producer Declares Science Must Yield to Story | Science Not Fiction | Discover Magazine

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:33:16 +0000

[...] boarding from Amos’ paper on Thursday’s Discover panel, I want to delve into some unexplored tension. The panel focused [...]

By: Eric Wolff

Eric Wolff — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:41:32 +0000

Oh come now, you gotta love Starship Troopers for the trashy B-film that it was. It was enjoyeable precisely *because* it was ludicrous.

By: Comic-Con: Iron Man and the Scientists Who Love Him (His Movie, Anyway) | Science Not Fiction | Discover Magazine

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:36:46 +0000

[...] Discover’s panel Thursday, Discover blogger Sean Carroll, who I don’t think attended the space panel, made the [...]