Hi there,
Hoo-boy ! There’s SO MUCH I almost don’t know where to start…thanks to the Mythbusters, quite a bit has been sorted out in terms of Star Wars, but I will share with you some gems that, even today, still make no sense whatsoever. And, sadly, many remain staples to this day. Many are both oldies and goodies !
(1) Shields !
As seen a lot in Star Trek in particular, but de riguer in a lot of other SF films, in various guises. Can be small, or really large.
While it is totally true that shields as seen would be enormously beneficial to a ship, there are so many questions about their capabilities which we cannot even begin to answer :
- Sometimes known as Force Shields - so what kind of force ?
- How is the shield formed ?
- What is it made of ?
- How is it projected ?
- How is it controlled ?
- Energy consumption ?
- Energy deflected / absorbed / re-radiated ?
- How can it keep air in ?
- And so on….
Shields pose a Lot of problems !
The best somewhat plausible example in Star Trek in particular is in the series Enterprise, where the NX-01 has hull-energy polarisation, which is technically believable - to make a metal hull better able to withstand concussive force, its good to try and hold it together with a magnetic force-field, put in place with superconductive magnets. As a scientist, its perhaps the only example of a shield mechanism that I would believe as being remotely plausible.
The same sort of shield-type, combined with ablative armor (as seen on battle tanks) features in the stunningly beautiful USS Pacific NCC-201 from the Fan-project Pacific 201.
this one is at least somewhat believable.
[2] Ray guns !
The stock SF weapon is the Ray gun, ever since H.G. Wells wrote the ‘War of the Worlds’ where it began life as a heat gun.
Here’s a lovely 1930’s-style example, totally raygun-gothic.
Anyway, the ray gun has as many problems as the shield. Energy is the biggest of of course - how the heck do you squeeze the energy of an Elizabethan Nuclear Weapon into something the size of a 1911 Colt ? How do you hit your target without losing the energy to the air in the process ? Why can you see it in the vacuum of space etc….
Star Trek at least tried to make ray guns plausible in the form of Phasers. The Maser was a well developed technological item in 1962, capable of big power. A Phaser was therefore a Photon Maser aka a LASER.
Since then, fans and writers have tried to distance themselves from this sound technical description with all sorts of unbelievable gobbledegook bogus nonsense a Nadion ? what the heck is that ? does not appear to be part of the standard particle zoo), and the Star Trek phaser - the most believable Raygun - is now once again akin to its other brethren in terms of totally unbelievable….sad , that.
[3] FTL - Faster Than Light.
SF FTL remains a massive problem.
Not that NASA are not working on it, but don’t hold your breath. Only in 1996 did we have an inkling of its possibility, and with sound math - the Alcubierre Metric.
But so far, Warp Drives, Hyperdrives, other FTL tech - all hopelessly impractical and unrealistic. Great plot device….but sadly (until very recently) without a shred of real science behind them at all. And past representations don;t hold water, except for the very correct assumption that it would take a MASSIVE power source to achieve superluminal flight. Otherwise - unbelievable.
[4] Breaking the laws of physics
To have a TV or Movie Starship, and a transporter beam, you have to break the laws of physics all the time.
Beam transport to the planet’s surface ? Sure, just break Quantum Mechanics with a Heisenberg Compensator !
Want 1G gravity and not to be smeared on the inside of your starship during a turn ? No worries, just install the obligatory Artificial Gravity Generator / Inertial Dampener !
[from a car, and at least of some use - not sure how it works in a Starship AG system of course !!]
Frankly, these excuses for breaking the laws of physics are just so much fantasy.
Isaac Asimov’s ships are far more believable in terms of Zero G, through he at least was realistic in terms of the FS Far Star of Golan Trevise in Foundation’s Edge, which featured Gravitic control - and this through a scientific understanding of gravitation which made that ship plausible at least.
[5] Genetic Engineering
Jeepers. Look, I’ve actually done it for real in my 3rd year biochemistry class. Its my favourite riposte to Greenpeacers when the blather about it - I ask them every time “Have you done it ? I have ! Its HARD WORK !”
So, the kind of unbelievable GE seen in movies and stories always makes me wince.
Today, of course, if we wanted to do Jurassic Park for real we can do so with CRISPR, a couple of PC’s, plus the equipment found in an undergraduate Biochem lab, for $100k per Dino.
however, most of the GE stuff of humans and animals so far seen is totally beyond belief. And I am speaking as a professional, mind you.
There’s so much more, I have picked the most glaring examples that spring to mind. I might expand this a bit later….
Hope this helps, my 2c worth
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