Sci-Fi Movies and 'Bad Science'

Roland Piquepaille writes "Science fiction movies can be fun, and sometimes boring, when Hollywood producers want to show us a 2 1/2 hour film when 90 minutes would be enough. But what about the 'science' behind them? BBC News says it's pretty bad in 'When sci-fi forgets the science.' For example, the metamorphosis of Bruce Banner into The Hulk, based on work of marine biologist Greg Szulgit from Hiram College, Ohio, about sea cucumbers, is qualified by himself as "really awful"." The Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics website, which we've previously mentioned, is referenced in this article, and is now freshly updated to deal with movies like The Hulk.

wait a minute...

[kaan]

does this mean the flux capacitor isn't real?

Wierd Science

[scumbucket]

Wierd Science was my favorite movie of all time. Does this mean the chick wasn't real?

In other news...

[OneIsNotPrime]

Radioactive spiders do not actually change you into a buff moviestar who swings around fighting hobgoblins.

Re:Gee

[calebtucker]

Geeks have a special gene that won't let us keep quiet during a movie when something isn't technically correct.

How about that moon landing movie

[Anonymous Coward]

That NASA made? That was pretty bad! The lighting, ack, and the dialouge? Ouch.

Riiihiiihiiiight!

[zoloto]

There's hardly a nerd who wouldn't like, at least once, to morph into a huge green guy and panic his tormentors. So, how is it that Hollywood can take this delicious daydream and puree it into pure broccoli juice? Let's start with a simple principle that Hollywood has failed to grasp. Bigger is not always better

pfft.. that's not what she said!

What about making a man?

[i.r.id10t]

Apparently to make a man, complete with 6 pack abs and a nice gold lame speedo, you just need a big ass empty aquarium and some funky colored fluids... but you do need to be wearing some really trashy lingerie...

(rocky horror picture show for those who are too young to remember, or maybe humor impaired)

Well...

[OneIsNotPrime]

I hope I am not too presumptive too think I speak for the entire Slashdot community in saying...

OBVIOUSLY

...and, while I have this chance to speak for everyone

SHOW A LITTLE EFFORT IN YOUR WORK, EDITORS!

and

ICE CREAM IS A SUMPTOUS TREAT.

Re:In other news...

[jmays]

Maybe for you it didn't ...

*swings away*

Re:Wierd Science

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course she was. I've created hundreds of beautiful women using my computer and various magazines.

Hulk mad!

[cK-Gunslinger]

Hulk smash puny web server!

Re:wait a minute...

[bennomatic]

Hell, I'm not even sure I believe in the deLorean!

Re:#1 law violated (by occurance)

[Anonymous Coward]

At least some of them attempt to use matter->energy & energy->matter conversion in order to preserve a portion of physics. Others on the otherhand ...

Re:wait a minute...

[iggymanz]

they had to be removed from the stock 1982 DeLoreans because the resulting fire trails violated emissions standards

Re:In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

[Anonymous Coward]

But in space, sounds should actually be louder because there's no air to get in the way!

This just in

[whorfin]

The Incredible Hulk: Not Real

Also Not Real:
The Tooth Fairy
Santa Claus
Porn
The New York Times

Ang Lee is no scientician

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think The Hulk has bad physics check out Lee's monstrosity Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. People can fly without any visible rocket packs and there are no dragons or tigers to be seen at any point in the movie.

In fact, the last scientifically accurate Ang Lee movie was The Ice Storm which actually included a storm that appeared to be made of ice and appeared to accurately portray a death by electrocution. Although I did see the actor in a subsequent movie, so it may not have been real.

Re:#1 law violated (by occurance)

[Krapangor]

Their argument is that rubbish can be created out of nowhere thus the first law of thermo-dynamics is wrong.
And indeed they prove that their argument is true.

Re:Well...

[Jerf]

Sumptuous [m-w.com].

You flunk your Slashdot Editor application.

On second thought, you pass.

(Message kept short to minimize potential errors. ;-) )

Actually, what's more disturbing...

[Gudlyf]

Is the accuracy of "social science". Like "American Wedding", for example. Here we have some nutcases from the previous two movies, who had huge house-destroying parties, and that bachelor party was the best they could do? Please!

Re:#1 law violated (by occurance)

[Anonymous Coward]

Movies are just a bunch of photons. They do not confure up matter.

Gigli conjured up some matter out of my stomach and onto the theater floor.

Re:Not just limited to bad science.

[Anonymous Coward]

Talking about "different areas of expertise", my brother once told me about that horrible scene in T2... Where arnie jumps (or rather drops) with his bike into the empty channel or whatnot... You know the slow-motion scene where sparks fly just before he begins chasing the T1000?

Well, my brother told me "that's impossible, the shock absorbers would be totally trashed from such a stunt."

Which proves your point: as soon as you know something, Hollywood is gonna blew it and make it fake!

Heck, I don't remember ever seeing M&M's being able to walk or talk! (damn lying TV)

Slightly off topic but...

[coffee_admin]

one day working the hell known as OEM tech support, I had a customer call me claiming that AOL told him he needed to have his "modem flux capacitor" reset in order for him to get connected to the internet.

Re:In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

[josh crawley]

Consider this: perhaps owing to the ubiquity of space combat in the Star Wars universe, every starship contains a synthesizer system combined with radar which senses ships in the vicinity, explosions, and blaster trails, and generates a surround-sound representation of all within the cockpit, to aid the pilot in dodging and maneuvering.

This explanation makes about as much sense as any other.

Alien warships use AppleTalk!

[UsonianAutomatic]

Yes, 'Independence Day' was pretty much mindless enjoyment... I got as far with the 'willing suspension of disbelief thing' as

'Ok, so these aliens are invading earth pretty much for the sheer hell of it, the Fresh Prince is an ace fighter pilot, Lone Starr is the president, and they've just given Cousin Eddie control of a multi-million dollar fighter jet'

But when Jeff Goldblum plugs his Macintosh in the mothership network (good thing those aliens have compatible jacks in their spaceship control panels) and "uploads a virus" to an completely alien operating system written by a species advanced enough to have mastered interstellar travel, I'm not buying it anymore. He must have had a copy of O'Reilly's "Giger-derived Alien Scripting Language In a Nutshell" with him when he went to Area 51.

Kudos to Futurama...

[ivanmarsh]

Esp:

The episode where Bender gets fired out the torpedo tube while the ship is moving at full speed making it impossible for the ship to catch up to him.

Frye (as Captain Yesterday) jumping over a railing after a falling gemenoid and Lela says "Frye, you can't fall fast enough"

Re:Gee

[gpinzone]

My major complaint about Star Trek was that in all that time, they still can't come up with a uniform that has to be adjusted every fucking time Picard gets up from his chair.

Re:It's called "suspension of disbelief"

[SLot]

I know the whole movie is a setup for the payoff moment at the end, where Gibson's character rediscovers his faith. But I can think of ten different substances besides water that could be poisonous to the aliens and give the same payoff. E.g. chocolate, caffiene, alcohol, aspartame, non-dairy creamer, etc. etc. etc.

/Mars Attacks/
Or Slim Whitman!!
/Mars Attacks/

Re:Capricorn one - bad science or good science ?

[TerryAtWork]

The real fiction in Capricorn One is that it has OJ Simpson as a good guy....

Re:The Matrix

[Anonymous Coward]

Whenever Neo ran into a computer program, it sounded just like, "Hello, I've been waiting for you. I am the plot device."

And that's what we call...

[Rorgg]

a big honkin' retcon job.

What I learned by watching Sci-fi

[QuackQuack]

Things I learned by watching SCI-FI

1) When hacking into any computer system, the system will tell you that you are in by flashing "ACCESS GRANTED" or something similar in HUGE letters across your screen.

2) Any technical problem can be solved by reversing the polarity of the neutron flow (Dr. Who)

3) Any humanoid or machine that is devoid of emotion will always somehow develop emotion.

4) If you travel to a distant planet that you've never been to, (IE Dagobah) to see someone you've never met (Yoda), you will manage to land in just the right place. (Star Wars and others)

5) All planets other then Earth have just one climate type (Hoth - Ice, Tatooine - Desert, Dagobah - Swamp) (Star Wars)

6) Even if you don't have a protocol droid, you can communicate with an Alien slimeball in English, and he will understand you, and likewise you will understand his language. (Star Wars)

7) Space Ships can travel planet to planet and can easily escape gravity, and never have to worry about burning up upon reentry.

8) No matter unhumanlike your species, you will find Earth women attractive.

Re:Let's Face It...

[foqn1bo]

There's more truth to what you're saying than I think you realize. Perhaps the reason that people don't seem to care that explosions in space make loud boomy sounds, and that computer hackers navigate networks in ridiculous VR suits, is that they've already suspended their disbilief for what is often an extremely unreal story with fantastic premises.

Like a number of people, I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, usually with large groups of friends. Most of them are in physics, and I don't think I've watched one show all the way through without somebody making a snide comment about the dubiousness of some bit of physics, chemistry or what have you.

Physics Nerd: "That shouldn't have made such a big explosion"
Me: "You're watching a tv series about that assumes the existance of vampires, demons, magic, hell dimensions, the appearance and reappearance of souls, spirits, mystic births, oracles, and a teenage-college age rich girl who has been imbued with the sacred and confusing powers to conveniently save the universe during sweeps, who's died and come back 3 times for some reason. I think your claim to the position of 'evangelist of science and reason' is hereby null and void."
*silence*
Physics Nerd: "That shouldn't have made such a big explosion"

Not to insult those who find fault with movies that are actually trying to present a realistic world to us, but most of the time it seems you guys are just trying to prove your intellect. Or something.

Radio Shack...

[Cyno01]

Seriously, go call radioshack right now and ask if they have flux capacitors in stock. They'll pause for a moment, then tell you they're out but should have more in stock in about two weeks.

Beettam & Geigen Miller's 10 Laws of bad sci-f

[TragicLad]

www.xenosarrow.com/10laws.htm [xenosarrow.com]

1. Make no distinction between science and technology.
2. Do not discern between hardware and software
3. Appearance supersedes function and reality. Or in simple terms, if it looks or sounds funky, it makes sense.
4. Brilliant scientists are universally knowledgeable in all fields of scientific study.
5. Trump out "well-known facts", that no one in existence has in fact ever heard of before this story, which may be presented for the sake of plot explication.
6. Any device improvised or jury-rigged, out of available materials on short notice, will work at least as well as or better than the actual device whose function it is meant to emulate or replace. This principle is also known as "MacGyver's Law", or "The Doohan Principle."
7. Alien races will virtually mirror humankind, in appearance and culture, with only one or two notable exceptions to set them apart.
8. Any form of mysterious or unknown form of energy (like, oh say, nuclear radiation) has the power to give previously-existing lifeforms bizarre powers, increase their size, or bring them back from the dead.
9. Technology introduced at the start of the story always causes everyone's problems, while technology introduced in the middle or at the end of the story always solves everyone's problems.
10. All previously-known scientific laws and principles are open to reinterpretation, revision, or just being ignored, for the sake of the story or the above-mentioned laws.

Re:In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

[Anonvmous Coward]

"What gets me every time is when there is, say, an explosion (ala Star Wars) in space, and it goes "Boom!"."

What gets me is when somebody walks into a shot, and you can hear music. I've watched my boss get that look in her eyes and start walking towards my cube. I never once heard the Darth Vader march.

Stupid movies shouldn't have incidental music. They should all be like the Blair Witch Project.

Re:In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

[doorbot.com]

Consider this: perhaps owing to the ubiquity of space combat in the Star Wars universe, every starship contains a synthesizer system combined with radar which senses ships in the vicinity, explosions, and blaster trails, and generates a surround-sound representation of all within the cockpit, to aid the pilot in dodging and maneuvering.

Well, that's cool, but how does the latest 50 Cent single sound on that system when you're cruisin' looking for space-babes?

Re:You mean like "Superman"???

[donutz]

Lois Lane falls from top of tall building, reaches terminal velocity of about 200 mph. Superman flies up from ground to meet her halfway, resulting in a 400mph relative speed. Superman catches Lois, and she's unhurt!

Super shock-absorbing arms, powered by Earth's yellow sun?

Re:Gee

[Ralph Wiggam]

I couldn't figure out what Captain Picard was doing to his uniform until I saw the movie Friday. Ice Cube does the same shirt smoothing move, but afterwards says "Do I still look high?".

-B

Re:Alien warships use AppleTalk!

[kutuz_off]

Hardware connection aside, here's a plausible scenario: he ran a windows emulator with a built-in worm du jour in it. The worm got into the alien's operating systems, manufactured by AlienSoft and clogged them. The alien pilots in the meantime were busy removing spam "increase your tentacles safely and naturally", sent from the same macintosh.

What about absurd computing practices?

[necrognome]

I don't really mind the bad science, if it allows for a decent story. What really irks me are the numerous examples of computing environments that "hackers" would never use. For instance:

The 3D Visual Virus Studio that pops up in movies such as Swordfish.

The inability of spies, whistleblowers, etc. to MINIMIZE or at least Alt-Tab away the "Copy Secret Files x% Complete" window!

The latter makes me gnash my teeth and make hissing sounds at the movies.

Chariots need to blow up

[hellfire]

My father and I were watching an old black and white movie set in the Roman empire and there was a chariot chase in it. One of the chariots barrelled over a cliff and rolled down the steep hill, leaving debris in its wake.

My father and I both simultaneously filled the last element by jumping up and making explosive noises in order to modernize the movie.

I'm currently trying to sell this idea to Mel Brooks.

Re:Gigawatts

[kin_korn_karn]

Gigawatt?
Jigga Who?
Gigawatt?
Jigga..aw, forget it

MST3K theme song

[lightspawn]

"If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
And other science facts,
Just repeat to yourself "It's just a show,
I should really just relax
For Mystery Science Theater 3000."

Re:Gee

[harrkev]

Please. I am not that special. However, I do have a degree in engineering. Do you really expect the people working at the supermarket to know much about physics? If themost people were THAT intelligent, the supermarket tabloids would be out of business.

As a general rule of thumb, the people who read /. are at least above average in intelligence.

And by the way: read the news. I can remember SEVERAL studies saying that the science and math education in America is nothing to brag about. I am probably going to have to help educate my children in math and science and check over the textbooks for errors (there was a /. story in the last 6 months about textbook errors).

Re:Sort of goes hand in hand.

[Anonymous Coward]

if this doesn't get mod'ed up, I'll loose what little faith I have left in /.

Re:In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

[Prior Restraint]

Everyone (yes EVERYONE) watching a movie knows sound can't travel in a vacuum!

I realized the folly of this kind of assumption when I was forced to explain to a 23-year-old that shooting stars were not, in fact, stars; and that gold-plating on the space shuttle would not permit a manned mission to the sun.

[I swear to you I'm not making this up.]

Re:It's called "suspension of disbelief"

[WNight]

Perhaps they managed to develop interstellar travel without plastics. You know, so that raincoats aren't possible...

Then there's the whole issue of the crop circles. Way to let people know that something was going on. I mean, could you perhaps spray-paint it in fifty-meter high letters on the side of a mountain just in case someone missed it?!

Not to mention the aliens being dumber than dirt. They can't get through two two-by-fours nailed across a door. They've never managed crowbars either. They do have the 'stick arms through holes in doors and grope wildly' skill down pat.

One of the worst movies I'd ever seen. Pathetic plot, characters, and implementation. I haven't seen so much staring-into-nothing since Spartacus.

Re:In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

[Anonymous Coward]

Conventions like woosh-n-boom-in-space aren't there for drama's sake

bullshit. Most sound effects designers are Physics Majors anyways. Everyone (yes EVERYONE) watching a movie knows sound can't travel in a vacuum! All movie makers know it too, and they all admit it. The sound is for dramatic effect

Bullshit yourself.

You seem to be confusing drama with excitement.

when I was 4 I woulda been bored to death with Star Wars if the Tie Fighters didnt have those cool metallic wines and the blasters have those blasty sounds

Yes, and we all know the reason that 4 year olds find movies to be exciting is because of the drama, right?

That's why movies like "Schindler's List", "The Piano", and "Love Story" were so popular with the pre-school demographic.

Re:The biggest problem...

[Guppy06]

But what about Mary Jane being able to hold on to Spider-Man while swinging along with a ~100m moment arm? Or is she a mutant too?

Hell, the folks on Takeshi's Castle have a hard enough time with a tenth of that length and nowhere near as much tangential velocity.

Re:Let's Face It...

[foqn1bo]

That's an interesting point. :)

Re:#1 law violated (by occurance)

[stwrtpj]

Gigli conjured up some matter out of my stomach and onto the theater floor.

No, no, you can't talk about Gigli. we're talking about bad science here, not bad taste, or bad acting, or bad writing, or bad directing, or bad cinematography, or ...

Re:wait a minute...

[Jeremy Erwin]

Yeah, it's probably the BTTF version. I don't think stock DeLoreans come with quite so large a rear powerplant.

Re: Let's Face It...

[Black Parrot]

Physics Nerd: "That shouldn't have made such a big explosion"
Me: "You're watching a tv series about that assumes the existance of vampires, demons, magic, hell dimensions, the appearance and reappearance of souls, spirits, mystic births, oracles, and a teenage-college age rich girl who has been imbued with the sacred and confusing powers to conveniently save the universe during sweeps, who's died and come back 3 times for some reason. I think your claim to the position of 'evangelist of science and reason' is hereby null and void."
*silence*
Physics Nerd: "That shouldn't have made such a big explosion"

Yeah, and when you watch it with a bunch of theologians they ignore the overloud explosions and say "That's a stupid name for a demon."

Units of measure

[zero_offset]

Personally, I want to hurl every time my wife is watching "Farscape" and I hear one of those idiot puppets refer to "micron" as a unit of time. I thought everybody learned their lesson after that fat clown George Lucas had his way with "parsec" in the original Star Wars. I believe Babylon 5 also had some trouble keeping distance and time units straight, although at the moment I can't recall any specific examples.

To me, these don't fall into the "suspension of disbelief" category. It's just simple ignorance. Hell, an auto mechanic occasionally works at micrometer scales, it's not like they're getting something esoteric like a particle decay sequence wrong (tau to k-muon? madness!).