Overused Silly Sci-Fi Science.

[Freeshadow]

I once read about things really having happened for wich every editor or reader would have laughed one to dead for being too cheap, dumb or cliché As sending oneself as cargo via plane, surviving parachute-less jet exit. And some people even met their sandbox-love again, married and were happy together.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Steve, ye gods has that one been overdone! If they have golden skin, look out! And is it the corollary trope to say you should always trust the uglier more disgusting alien?

Absolutely! Unless, of course, the alien is actually VERY attractive, as in a sexy but very humanoid alien (I'm talking Catherine Schell--look her up--Roxanne Dawson, Terry Farrell, etc)... but they have to look alien as well as sexy.

If they're aliens that look completely human (think Lara Flynn Boyle in Men In Black II), hide the family jewels!

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

I once read about things really having happened for wich every editor or reader would have laughed one to dead for being too cheap, dumb or cliché As sending oneself as cargo via plane, surviving parachute-less jet exit. And some people even met their sandbox-love again, married and were happy together.

Unlikely events do occur. But if someone told me that they had a friend of a friend who survived jumping out of an airplane without a parachute, I'd be sketpical. It isn't impossible, but it is highly unlikely. Someone surviving without a parachute is a whole lot more likely to take place in fiction than it ever is to happen in real life, and that is what makes it cliche.

[Freeshadow]

But since they do occur, avoiding writing such in any case and at all costs is IMHO not right.
Better then - let it happen and let the character(s) not be blind about its cliché or stereotype characteristics.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

But since they do occur, avoiding writing such in any case and at all costs is IMHO not right.
Better then - let it happen and let the character(s) not be blind about its cliché or stereotype characteristics.

I actually have a scene like that in one of my books where the main character in the scene does not want to believe what just happened because of it... but it was perfectly fitting the story line and the players involved so that it would happen.

[QuantumIguana]

I didn't suggest they should be avoided at all cost. But if you have a story involving surviving a fall from an airplane, the freakishly unlikely nature of the event should be dealt with. If the characters treat it as routine, that's probably a problem. An on the other hand, there's nothing wrong with the parachute operating normally either.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

(Hmm... maybe if Catherine Schell, Roxanne Dawson or Terry Farrell were here, we could get everyone else past the cliche discussion...)

[andyh2000]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

(Hmm... maybe if Catherine Schell, Roxanne Dawson or Terry Farrell were here, we could get everyone else past the cliche discussion...)

What's an architect got to do with anything? http://www.terryfarrell.co.uk/

Anyway, I'll see your Terry Farrell and raise you Lexa Doig... But we might be drifting off topic again...

Andrew

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

An on the other hand, there's nothing wrong with the parachute operating normally either.

Wouldn't that be cliche.. I mean COME ON, a pilot that has a parachute, just in case? So stereotypical!!

[altworld]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Wouldn't that be cliche.. I mean COME ON, a pilot that has a parachute, just in case? So stereotypical!!

There have been several cases of people falling from planes and surviving over the years. A number of factors have to come into play, the biggest being what they fall into... Pine trees and deep snow among the big two you really want to fall into should you find yourself in free fall.

Take it from me, water after a certain height hurts when you hit it, let alone if you hit it wrong.

[Freeshadow]

vydorscope&quantumiguana: exactly what I meant.

the parahuteless jet exit: yes said test-pilot landed in needle trees and broke arm and leg. during freefall he lost the tip of his nose too.

p.s. Steven you're damn right
freckle fan eh?

[Xanthe]

Random observations that I've garnered from reading and watching science fiction:

• When in doubt, blame that tachyon cloud.

• In order to generate gravity on a ship, it has to rotate, and the further you are from the core of the ship, the less the gravity will be. For some reason, parks will be located on the inside of the outer walls of huge spaceships, but the dirt and plants will never float off.

• If you want to get around that pesky speed of light limitation when traveling in space, add an "imaginary number" to your calculations like Catherine Asaro does in her Skolian books.

• If you're many thousands of kilometers away from your enemy and they've fired off their full load of whatever type of laser/xray/whatever torpedoes they have, bend over and kiss your @ss goodbye. One of the best scenes regarding this was in one of David Weber's Honor Harrington books, when all they could do was wait for what was launched at them to hit them, and vice versa.

• Moons are in the sky to look pretty. They don't affect the environment on the planet

• Cockroaches and rats haven't figured out how to get onto space ships, unless they are full-sized representatives of an alien species.

• Interstellar communication is either instantaneous or else takes months. There is no happy medium.

• Forget about fancy-shmancy weapons - just bombard a planet with meteors.

• Most writers forget that air is a commodity in space, just like water or food.

• Universal translators make your lips move the proper way for the language you're supposed to be speaking

• Everyone understands and can read any alien alphabet - unless it's an ancient one, then they are totally baffled.

• Children on a spaceship should be neither seen nor heard. Unless it's a generational ship, they have no business being on a military vessel.

• No matter how far away or how alien a spaceport is, clamps, docking rings and utility hookups are universal.

• Earth colonies, even if they are millions of miles away and hundreds or thousands of years in the future, still use today's common names and surnames.

• Spaceports, for some reason, have lower levels that have been forgotten by the authorities or are in disuse for some reason, and disreputable people can live there unobserved and free of charge.

• No terrorist ever seems to think of taking out "space elevators".

• The command bridge is always in the most vulnerable spot; the battle bridge is always in the most protected spot on the ship; yet the battle bridge is always the one that is taken out first.

• If two crew members are planning to get married, one of them will die suddenly and tragically.

• No one ever inadvertently trips over a maintenance robot.

• Anything can be fixed if you can access the Jeffries tube.

• Sonic showers somehow clean you thoroughly without ever causing any long-term aural damage.

• There's always some idiot who wants to rule the world/planet/system/universe.

[andyh2000]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

...

• In order to generate gravity on a ship, it has to rotate, and the further you are from the core of the ship, the less the gravity will be. For some reason, parks will be located on the inside of the outer walls of huge spaceships, but the dirt and plants will never float off.

...

Well I hate to be that person, but the further away from the centre of rotation you are the stronger the "gravity". And most SF I read seems to get it right. Coincidentally just re-reading Bio of a Space Tyrant now...

Andrew

[Xanthe]

Tells you the kind of stuff I've been reading....

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by andyh2000

What's an architect got to do with anything? http://www.terryfarrell.co.uk/

Anyway, I'll see your Terry Farrell and raise you Lexa Doig... But we might be drifting off topic again...

Sexy android/holograms? Never off-topic.