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SciFi movies and pathetic misconceptions of tech failing for the story line.

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Rick Law:
As the OP was asking: "Can anyone point me to any good SciFi series which don't make such stupid mistakes?"...

Movies are limited-episode series, so I equate movies with series.  As they are for entertainment rather than for pure education, 100% accuracy is unlikely.  One has to give them a "give-me" or two just to create a story, but the rest should be consistent and reasonably accurate.  Particularly for space-related movie as distances involved is huge.  It will take us decades to getting to our nearest neighboring star so movies will be way too slow and way too boring if we don't allow them warp-drives.  Thus, trade-offs will be made.  We just hope they did the right trade-offs (nothing too stupid), but "right" in this case will be "observer dependent".

Besides the aforementioned Interstellar, The Martian, Arrival, and 2001, try the following, I consider them good but of course my taste may not fit others:

2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, Candice Bergen, Arthur C. Clarke... :
A sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey" it followed the creative and scientific accuracy spirit of 2001 - it is scientifically strong (good accuracy).  Technology looks rather outdated since the movie was made in 1984.  Rather good movie I must say.

Deep Impact (1998)  Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Morgan Freeman, Leelee Sobieski... :
A 7-mile rock/comet headed for earth.  Discovered about 2 yrs before impact.  With little time to react, they choose the simple "blow it up" way.  The science of space part is so-so, accurate enough that you can enjoy it still.  The hit by the smaller broken up rock is presented quite well.  The large one...  I am not so sure a 7-mile rock could be "broken up into pieces no bigger than a brief case" (actual quote from the movie spoken by Robert Duvall).  You have to "give them" the Ion Drive, the comet landing, and the "blow it up" works, but the rest are good.  Overall, a "C+" in science but "A" for entertainment.

Gravity (2013) Sandra Bullock, George Clooney...:
Rather unique, while most are about space exploration or space war, this one is about Space Garbage causing accidents in space.  The time is accelerated (duration between events are too quick) but presented with adequate accuracy.  In reality, Sandra Bullock hasn't a chance to survive, but it is a movie.  The garbage problem and the domino effect it portraits is however real.  Few SciFi movies are about the garbage problem, so it is something to watch.

Contagion (2011)  Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow...:
Virus infected the world...  This came out before our recent virus event.  The depiction of the spreading, panic, profiteering...  It is a good movie and also very thought provoking.

I am sure there are others, but only these came to mind.

james_s:

--- Quote from: tggzzz on April 05, 2023, 12:15:24 pm ---(They are a bit like my old Land Rover, which had many parts from many cars (frequently Minis!), and a fuel gauge calibrated in Roentgens/hour)

--- End quote ---

What were you fueling that thing with?  :-DD

snarkysparky:
As far as the Firefly scene.  Camera shows them all stand up in the bridge.   Then the pilot yells " hold onto something"   Proceeds to perform multi G maneuvers with random acceleration directions while crew is "holding onto something"

Also the flying in the atmosphere, being chased by reavers with only rear engine thrust.   What keeps the ship from the dirt.

I know it's entertaining sci fi.   And firefly is some of the very best.   But it cut corners for the sake of the space western vibe

For the best reentry scene check the Expanse when Amos was travelling to the moon.  The sequence of landing on the moon was superb.   Sorry don't remember episode number.

HuronKing:
Primer (2004) is a pretty fun time-travel film made by engineering students where they do NOT dumb down the plot or science fiction for the sake of the audience. It's a challenging movie but very rewarding if you can follow it.

rdl:
Sadly, less than 20 minutes in they talk of "pulling volts from a battery". Maybe I'll give it another look later, but somehow the presentation didn't really work for me.


--- Quote ---Primer (2004)
--- End quote ---

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