Most Misused Word in Science Fiction

[Silver Moon]

Don't people realize that you DIE when you'e teleported?

Well, if you want to discuss conceptual ideas that Trek promoted and others copied you have to include explosions and fire in space. Looks great, can't happen.

 

[Umbran]

Well, if you want to discuss conceptual ideas that Trek promoted and others copied you have to include explosions and fire in space. Looks great, can't happen.

Can happen, if the exploding thing is (like most spaceships) full of oxygen. In addition, fission and fusion reactions don't require air to look all glowy and hot. If you don't believe me, look up on a bright sunny day...

 

[Silver Moon]

And the sound that usually accompanies the explosion?

 

[Templetroll]

Well, I don't know about words, but the concept of teleportation is moderatly popular in sci-fi... I love the explanations for it. A machine rips you apart atom by atom, digitizes the info (somehow) and sends it to another machine the reconstructs you, atom by atom.

Don't people realize that you DIE when you'e teleported?

Science fiction sees life as a form of energy and anything like matter and energy can be dealt with scientifically. Anything not matter or energy must not be important. Correct?

 

[Temprus]

I still occasionally run across people (and writers, though they aren't usually true sci-fi writers) who think "lightyear" is a unit of time, rather than of distance.

(Of course, there's one certain movie writer out there, whose initials are GL, who at one point seemed to think that a "parsec" was also a measure of time, rather than distance. And no, I don't buy the scrabbling for corrections they did in the later novels. )

Someone pointed out to me that because you need a navicomputer to do hyperjumps, the MF could be the only ship to make the trip by traveling under 12 parsecs from start to finish without hitting a moon or such.

 

[mojo1701]

Well, if you want to discuss conceptual ideas that Trek promoted and others copied you have to include explosions and fire in space. Looks great, can't happen.

Let's not forget sound. No sound in a vacuum.






...but it really does sound cool!

 

[Captain Tagon]

Someone pointed out to me that because you need a navicomputer to do hyperjumps, the MF could be the only ship to make the trip by traveling under 12 parsecs from start to finish without hitting a moon or such.

Which is the scrambled explanation he's talking about not buying. But I'm perfectly fine with it. Then again I'm pretty indifferent to how scientifically correct "sci-fi" is, I'd rather it be entertaining first.

 

[Captain Tagon]

...but it really does sound cool!

Which is the whole point.

 

[mojo1701]

Which is the whole point.

I was watching an interview with Ben Burtt (Star Wars Sound Engineer), and he pointed that out to Lucas, and finally he asked Lucas, "Do you want it to sound right, or do you want it to sound epic?"

 

[Captain Tagon]

Yeah, it is interesting to think how those scenes would feel if it sounded right. In my opinion at least it'd lose a good bit of the spine tingling feel, but who can really say?