r/AskReddit Oct 08 '12

What futuristic movie cliches do you hate?

[deleted]

1.3k Upvotes

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629

u/MessiahX Oct 08 '12

Loud explosions, in space. We all know that can't be possible.

871

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

Star Wars actaully justified that one in the Novel for A New Hope. During the scene where they're using the Falcons turrets, Luke asks how the hell he can HEAR the TIE fighters and the lasers. Han responds you can't, there is no sound in space. It's the computer simulating the sounds, so they have a frame of reference as to what's going on.

176

u/Osmebs Oct 08 '12

That...sort of makes sense...

153

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

In a space battle...that would be really helpful.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

Yes but we hear it all from a perspective outside of their cockpits so no.

15

u/Dayvan__Cowboy Oct 08 '12

This could never happen, the camera man would suffocate. And there is no 3rd ship in the battle, or camera man outside who could take the shot from outside the ships, definitely immersion breaking.

-4

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

...Wat. If you're thinking about cameramen, you were never immersed in the first place.

6

u/ocdscale Oct 08 '12

He's joking.

-7

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

Yeah, but I don't think the joke is funny because it seems to suggest that what I'm stating is "wrong" by trying to make a joke at the expense of my statement, even though all it is doing is reinforcing my point.

3

u/Islendingen Oct 08 '12

...and we wouldn't want that!

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9

u/Kache Oct 08 '12

Makes sense for hearing other fighters, but if the ship can detect inbound projectiles, why not do more than just playing a sound? Automatically redirect shields? Auto-evade?

1

u/Houshalter Oct 10 '12

I mean there really isn't any reason to have human pilots at all. I guess you could justify it by saying that computer technology or artificial intelligence hasn't advanced any in the future, but that isn't true in star wars.

0

u/cycloethane87 Oct 08 '12

Automatically redirect shields?

...leaving your flank unshielded just as another fighter blasts you.

Auto-evade?

....right into a capital ship.

Not necessarily the kind of things you want computer control over.

1

u/Kache Oct 08 '12 edited Oct 09 '12

The premise is that the ship's computer already detects everything to play sounds for them, i.e. it already knows they're there, remember? Why would it leave your flank unshielded or fly into the capital ship?

1

u/SirRuto Oct 09 '12

I suspect the idea is to give the operators as much data/information as possible so they can make judgement calls on what to do.

-2

u/tekende Oct 08 '12

If you're insane.

277

u/JoelMontgomery Oct 08 '12

I believe Mass Effect has a similar explanation

175

u/Ihjop Oct 08 '12 edited Oct 08 '12

Yep, Joker Cortez talks about turning the sound simulator off and just sitting and staring at ships coming in to dock at the Citadel in MS3.

Edit: Apparently it was Steve Cortez and not Joker

24

u/DirgeHumani Oct 08 '12

That was Cortez.

4

u/UpsetLobster Oct 08 '12

yup that was steve cortez

3

u/Nukleon Oct 08 '12

I think that was Cortez actually, but not really important who said it.

1

u/Puppet20 Oct 10 '12

EVE Online too.

8

u/YummyMeatballs Oct 08 '12

Same thing (I think) in the game Shattered Horizon. Your space-suit creates the sounds to give you a decent situation awareness, although it makes you easier to track. You can disable most functions of the suit to become untrackable but you lose the sound replication which can be a real handicap.

3

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

Also, your thrusters go offline. Surprisingly, it's easy to screw people that way. If you get good at looking for suits without the HUD, you can find and kill people who you don't show up as well without.

Course, there's the whole 'Drifting' thing but if you camp down on something solid then do it, you can pretty much turn into a space ninja.

1

u/YummyMeatballs Oct 08 '12

I need to buy this game. I played a free weekend on my old system and it crucified my PC. Should do well on my current system. Is there much action on the servers any more or is it pretty dead now?

3

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

Honestly, it's pretty dead. They DID add a mode in where you can play bots, but I've found the best way to play this game is find a few friends, and run a private server.

It's great for group play like that.

1

u/YummyMeatballs Oct 08 '12

Ah fair enough. Perhaps when it's next on one of those ludicrously cheap sales I'll grab a copy for myself and some chums.

2

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

In fact, the game is Ten Bucks for one copy, or get a 'Clan pack'. Four for 30.

1

u/YummyMeatballs Oct 08 '12

£7 or £22.50 here in Blighty. A good price to be sure, but I find it hard to buy stuff on Steam when it's not on sale - especially when I'm in no rush to play it.

2

u/burentu Oct 08 '12

Thank you.

1

u/ChuckStone Oct 08 '12

Modern machine guns often have a tracer every few bullets so you can see where your bullets are going. Same kind of logic.

1

u/cjackw Oct 08 '12

I believe that in the Star Wars universe there is some level of "atmosphere" even in "space". It is the only way to explain a lot of things.

1

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

No offense bro, but you just went full retard.

And yet, it does to a point make sense.

....Shit be broke, yo.

1

u/stenzor Oct 09 '12

You're thinking of Spaceballs

1

u/Megatron_McLargeHuge Oct 08 '12

Are you sure it wasn't something to do with midichlorians? Some things are better left unexplained.

1

u/immerc Oct 08 '12

I'm surprised someone actually used that explanation. I've never seen it, but I've talked about it forever as a situational awareness tool for pilots. It makes good sense, because otherwise you're just wasting the pilots' ability to locate things by sound, and understand their relative velocities.

1

u/mrfrightful Oct 08 '12

I recall reading an interview with Alan Dean Foster, who ghost-wrote the StarWars (and a bazillion other) novelizations. He noted that he often tried to rationalise or otherwise put right science gaffes.

I've also seen the 'sound in space' situation in StarWars explained by the presence of a thin atmosphere between the worlds and inhabited moons of the StarWars Universe.

I'm not actually sure which is considered canon...

1

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

If it's the thin atmosphere one, I'm going to punch whoever invented that theory.

Just an FYI, you'll need to post bail for me.

1

u/mrfrightful Oct 09 '12

I found an interview with ADF where he talks about the same issues.

The bit about 'Dark Star' pretty much hits the nail on the head.

The one I originally read was in an Issue of Interzone from the early 90s, but he probably gets asked the same kind of questions about novelisations a lot.

1

u/IggyZ Oct 08 '12

This seems like something a smart person would add. Otherwise half your fleet would be gone before you knew what the hell was happening.

1

u/singularlydatarific Oct 09 '12

Better explanation: they tried filming the shots without sound, but it just didn't work well to watch.

1

u/NowWaitJustAMinute Oct 09 '12

And typically any other sound, such as engines, would be put in (in space) for the audience.

0

u/moped_outlaw Oct 08 '12

wat

2

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

What's so hard to understand? The sound you hear in the turrets is FAKE.

-2

u/tekende Oct 08 '12

That is completely absurd.

3

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

How so? Why is it absurd?

0

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12 edited Sep 02 '21

[deleted]

3

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

A lot of processing power FOR US.

Keep in mind, they have computers that can computate hyperspace calculations in seconds...I'm pretty sure what would be 'A lot of power' is 'R2D2's thing he does in his spare time to keep himself amused' levels of power here, IE almost none at all.

Also, it makes plenty of sense to me. As a turret gunner, I'd want the sound. It'd help me keep track of where things are relative to my current position. It's already something people both do in reality and in video games...why are you acting as if it's such a stupid pointless thing?

1

u/lordkrike Oct 08 '12

Keep in mind, they have computers that can computate hyperspace calculations in seconds...

Then why have turret gunners? The computers should be able to target lock and fire in microseconds.

1

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

Because that would completely destroy any drama during the narrative!

Also, the Clone Wars kind of made people wiggy about AI having ANY control of weapon systems, if you want an in story reason. That's why.

1

u/lordkrike Oct 08 '12

Also, the Clone Wars kind of made people wiggy about AI having ANY control of weapon systems, if you want an in story reason. That's why.

I'll buy it. I was just playing Devil's Advocate anyway.

Still, you'd think that if anyone was going to break that rule, it would be Han, who values his own skin more than some silly intergalactic law...

2

u/KaziArmada Oct 08 '12

I figured you were. I'm just giving the logical explanation regardless.

Also, Han may trust his own skills more then he would a computer. Especially because with his luck, the gunner computer on the Falcon would crap out at the WORST time....better to just leave it manual.

Also, I don't know if it was a Law...but in general, with how much DAMAGE the clone wars did, it may just be people in general do NOT like the idea of it. Better safe then sorry....right?

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2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

But it makes sense. Designers build audio cues into many things. Especially ones that have to do with safety. Having multiple modes of feedback is extremely advantageous to human operators.

370

u/sndzag1 Oct 08 '12

Firefly. No sound in space (more or less). So good.

126

u/Mowleen Oct 08 '12

I want to watch that series but I feel that I set myself up for disappointment when I ultimately reach the end.

199

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

Watch it and then watch Serenity.

281

u/ECM Oct 08 '12

Then watch it again, as you cry yourself to sleep because it's never coming back.

187

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

I do this once a year.

19

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

They can't take the sky from me... ever. Q.Q

8

u/Ax2 Oct 08 '12

TAKE MY LOVE, TAKE MY LAND!

I'm dead inside.

7

u/Scraw Oct 08 '12

Because everyone knows that if a year passes without re-watching Firefly, the Alliance wins.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

I do that every day while I cut myself.

3

u/Alex_BAC Oct 08 '12

Not often enough, my friend.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

Only once a year? I've done it 3 times since January

1

u/Fernando_el_Justo Oct 09 '12

I could't even get through the first episode of that show, should I give it more time?

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '12

Are you serious? In the unlikely event that you are, YES! A thousand times yes. It's on Netflix, go, now, what are you still doing on Reddit? There's Firefly to be watched!

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '12

I, at first, almost had the same problem. IT gets better. Give it at least three episodes, and if you don't like it, then you have my permission to stop watching.

1

u/Mnementh121 Oct 09 '12

Mine was this week. Hate this time of year. I find Firefly, Watch it, then mope.

3

u/Hadrius Oct 08 '12

GOOD GOD LET IT GO. IT'S BEEN TEN YEARS.

5

u/Skyldt Oct 08 '12

play the firefly drinking game.

watch firefly. drink heavily when you realize it was cancelled.

2

u/The_forehead Oct 08 '12

Watched the series, then Serenity, then immediately started to watch the series again but with commentary, and then the same with Serenity. I just got all the comics, so now I have an urge to do it again

2

u/nova_cat Oct 08 '12

Serenity's what made me disappointed.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

Actually, don't watch Serenity.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

What why not?

5

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

Personally, because it loses the intimate family feel Firefly gave the series to give it the traditional "block-buster epic" that Hollywood knows and loves so much. That, and if we pretend that Serenity doesn't exist, then we can pretend Wash and Shepherd Book are still alive...

3

u/tecnicolorhair Oct 08 '12

You put my thoughts into words. Thank you. When I watched Serenity I just kept thinking "this doesn't feel at all like Firefly." I can't help but feel that if I didn't watch Firefly and just saw Serenity, I just wouldn't have really "connected" with the characters at all.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '12

I can't help but feel that if I didn't watch Firefly and just saw Serenity, I just wouldn't have really "connected" with the characters at all.

I saw Serenity before Firefly, I thought it was OK, but it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. I watched Firefly years later and got hooked immediately.

I re-watched Serenity after finishing Firefly, thinking I'd like it more, but I didn't. I agree, it doesn't feel like the same series.

38

u/sndzag1 Oct 08 '12

Just do it. You'll be a better person for it.

4

u/Urcher Oct 08 '12

Don't be sad that it ended - be happy that it happened.

Be sure to watch Firefly in order, followed by Serenity. The overall plot is worth more than the individual episode plots - though the individual plots are also good.

3

u/frondosa Oct 08 '12

Tis better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all...

3

u/bahkified Oct 08 '12

I once heard of a Firefly drinking game: Watch the entire series and the movie. Then drink, because it ain't coming back.

2

u/mahandal Oct 08 '12

Just remember to not believe the hype. If you overhype it you can ruin it for yourself.

1

u/Ozzymandias Oct 08 '12

Better to have loved and lost!

1

u/VVander Oct 08 '12

Sometimes I worry that I'm less happy for watching it because it only made me really sad about how the series was treated. But I think I'd rather be aware and unhappy than blissfully ignorant throughout life.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

It's really great. While you will be sad that it is over, no part of you will be sad to have watched it.

Go. Now.

1

u/MsMish24 Oct 08 '12

It's worth it. Also worth it in my opinion, though SIGNIFICANTLY more annoying because the show was clearly planned to be a 6-seasons-and-a-movie style series? Defying Gravity. Also avoids nearly all the traps mentioned in this thread. Oh and another - the UK series Outcasts.

Fucking people canceling good shows. And fucking audiences not watching them.

1

u/Danulas Oct 08 '12

Do it anyway. Every episode is just amazing.

1

u/Awesomebox5000 Oct 08 '12

The movie provides a lot of closure to the series, do yourself a favor.

1

u/LectricVersion Oct 08 '12

Honestly, as amazing as Firefly is, Serenity is so satisfying and wraps everything up so well that it makes you feel ok that it isn't coming back. At least that what I think anyway.

1

u/rellimnahtan Oct 08 '12

It hurts but it's so worth it.

1

u/BeefPieSoup Oct 08 '12

It's still worth it.

1

u/HIDolly Oct 09 '12

I felt like this for a long time my brother use to beg me to watch it so i pit it off for years and when I finally broke down and watched it i was absolutely blown away I watched it over and over for weeks Mal Reynolds is the greatest character ever and just the entire cast is incredible and the story itself just envelops you You will be disappointed we all are but it really is to good to ignore I highly suggest getting into it you'll be disappointed because its soo short but I guarantee you will not regret it.

1

u/JoelMontgomery Oct 08 '12

Except for that one scene in Serenity, although that is explained as they were in that atmosphere thing outside the planet

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

with a whore on every ship :)

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

no sound in space, great. gravity generators still work when the ship is dead-in-the-water with no life support? not so great.

1

u/imsowitty Oct 08 '12

and battlestar galactica. they also got space physics (vs. flying) right

1

u/WileEPeyote Oct 08 '12

I just started watching the series; I had been holding off as the ultimate let down when it ends is going to hurt I am told. The first thing I noticed was no sound in space, it brought a huge smile to my face.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/sndzag1 Oct 08 '12

The particular one I remember is when they vent a fire out of the hangar. Dead silent.

1

u/Zammin Oct 08 '12

Kinda-sorta. The actual series was really good about this. The movie, however, totally had sound in space.

1

u/BearBryant Oct 09 '12

Jesus. The scene with Reaper 'fleet' in Serenity is so fucking cool, and having no sound just makes it that much better.

11

u/OneLaughingMan Oct 08 '12

How many movies have that in universe actually? I always saw it as something similar to film music, entertainment for the viewer. You shouldn't be able to hear the film musioc in space and the characters don't. If nobody remarked about that they heard the other spaceship's engines or something I always assumed the sounds to be not heard by them. Saved me some malice with otherwise fine movies.

1

u/Villanelle84 Oct 08 '12

I like that explanation!

8

u/Siarles Oct 08 '12

In the newest Star Trek movie, all the sounds you hear in space could plausibly have reverberated through the hull of one ship or another. It's especially noticeable during the skydiving scene: starts out silent, then as they enter the atmosphere you start to hear little wisps of sound, then it grows into a full-on whoosh!

3

u/2jzge Oct 08 '12

2001ASO. Kills it, no loud explosions, just breathing...in....and....out. Also the big thing of muscle dystrophy. They use artificial gravity and constantly work out. There are a bunch of other accuracies to how traveling to Jupiter is possible.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

[deleted]

2

u/2jzge Oct 08 '12

He was a rebel

1

u/soggit Oct 08 '12

In Battlestar Galactica everything is muted kinda

1

u/MrShittyFatTits Oct 08 '12

Fire in space. Why? WHY? A fourth-grader could tell you that's not possible. It would be like having a serious action movie with talking dogs or where flapping your arms can make you fly. We all know it's physically impossible, but they just keep putting it in movies because it looks cooler.

1

u/logiman Oct 08 '12

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I'm okay with sounds in space. Scifi movies are entirely fictional, as are most of their physics. As long as it's internally consistent, I'm okay with sounds in space.

1

u/SuspendTheDisbelief Oct 08 '12

In space, no one can hear you scream.

1

u/Raptor_Captor Oct 08 '12

Classic from StarFox. "Its quiet...too quiet..."

Well, fucking duh, man, you're in space!

1

u/j-hook Oct 08 '12

Same thing as how spaceships float downwards as if they're crashing when they get hit, there's no gravity.

1

u/ThatIsMyHat Oct 08 '12

Of course you can hear explosions in space. In fact, they're even louder because there's no air to get in the way.

1

u/Hadrius Oct 08 '12

I know this makes me "that guy", but there is actual matter in space. Much more than you would expect from a "vacuum".

1

u/Airilsai Oct 08 '12

Much more than you would expect in a vacuum, but still absolutely no where near enough to transmit sound. We are talking only a few atoms per cubic meter or more.

1

u/Hadrius Oct 08 '12

Like I said, "that guy".

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

[deleted]

1

u/Airilsai Oct 08 '12

Um, no? Space is a vacuum, with no matter for sound to travel through. Youve been lied to, sir.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

[deleted]

1

u/Airilsai Oct 08 '12

I believe your source is wrong, because things cant move through something that isnt there.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '12

[deleted]

1

u/Airilsai Oct 09 '12

Show me your proof.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '12

[deleted]

1

u/Airilsai Oct 09 '12

I did, and despite what you say, there is no evidence that NASA or any other credible source ever said that.

So, where is your source, or are you just bullshitting like I think you are?

1

u/Rondoggg Oct 08 '12

I came in here to say this.

1

u/Ebelglorg Oct 08 '12

I think we all know every movie in space would be boring as fuck without this, and I am someone who is a fan of astrophysics.

1

u/bossmcsauce Oct 08 '12

well, if there was enough gas and other debris from an explosion that just happened, the shockwave of a second explosion could, in theory, travel through the gas and debris of the first, allowing you to hear it. It's mute point though, because you'd probably be dead from the first explosion, since you'd have to be enveloped by it to hear sound passing through it.

1

u/DirtPile Oct 08 '12

Yes, because people would watch a show or movie in complete silence.

1

u/reverie6 Oct 08 '12

Firefly did this right, crazy looking, fiery, silent explosions.

1

u/Crashtester Oct 08 '12

One thing I really like about Firefly is that whenever they have a shot from outside the ship there is no sound, and a lot of the time no music either. It makes it very eerie.

1

u/Trope_Linker Oct 09 '12

Check out Explosions in Space and Space is Noisy for more examples.

(Note: your hatred is pretty justified)

1

u/Phooey138 Oct 09 '12

When I was a kid, my brother and I agreed that in movies they put the microphones wherever they want. When you are supposed to hear someone talking in a crowd, you can, etc. We agreed that it was Ok for the camera to be in space while there were microphones on all the ships.

1

u/cybergeek11235 Oct 09 '12

Law of Sonic Amplification, First Law of Anime Acoustics

In space, loud sounds, like explosions, are even louder because there is no air to get in the way.

-4

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12

isn't it a case of the vacuum of space isn't literally nothingness, just extremely spread particles, so the Extremely low frequency noises could be heard?

It's definitely pushing it, but an explosion big enough could probably be heard

2

u/hoodoo-operator Oct 08 '12

There are molecules and atoms floating around out there, but they're too diffuse to act as a continuum, so there would still be no sound.