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Old 01-09-2012, 07:59 AM   #1
kennyc
The Dank Side of the Moon
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Overused Silly Sci-Fi Science.

These are hilarious:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...FiSillyScience

A few examples:

Super-intelligent computers blow up when the hero confuses them.
Super-intelligent computers get confused when the hero says to them "everything I say is a lie" or some other paradoxical statement.
Space vessels lack fuses, circuit breakers, and surge suppressors, so that the control panels explode when some distant portion of the ship is damaged.
Computers get reprogrammed by someone who has no knowledge of the computer's operating system.
Computer terminals display the current operation (e.g., "UPLOADING VIRUS") in huge, flashing letters.
The patently obvious design flaws in a vehicle or weapon system go uncorrected during the entire life cycle of the system in question.
A vehicles and/or weapons system is deployed in an entirely impractical environment.
Spacecraft features have been pointlessly carried over from water-borne designs.
An untested medical treatment is used. It's 100% effective and has no side effects.
Someone acquires a medical condition that will be fatal in an amount of time expressed to the tenth significant digit; the cure is found and applied in the nick of time, enabling a 100% recovery.
A robot is shot and bleeds oil.

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Old 01-09-2012, 11:02 AM   #2
dadioflex
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Spacecraft features have been pointlessly carried over from water-borne designs.
Virtually all SF space battles in movies are analogous to WWII naval battles. And that's how I like it.

You should warn people that visiting tvtropes is severely dangerous if they had any other plans for the day. It's like quick sand.
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Old 01-09-2012, 11:20 AM   #3
mr ploppy
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Quote:
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Someone acquires a medical condition that will be fatal in an amount of time expressed to the tenth significant digit; the cure is found and applied in the nick of time, enabling a 100% recovery.
:
And if it is contagious, someone will hide their infection from the other characters long enough to infect them all.
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Old 01-09-2012, 05:22 PM   #4
anamardoll
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I like the Perfectly Accurate Progress Bars trope.
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Old 01-09-2012, 05:39 PM   #5
Penforhire
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"... carried over from water-borne designs." You mean like how super-genious Khan only thinks in two dimensions?

Actually many nautical traditions do make sense to me, that they might be retained in space ship use.
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Old 01-09-2012, 06:44 PM   #6
altworld
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Looks like you plotted an entire season of Star Trek there... And there is nothing wrong is confusing a super computer and blowing it up, that is pure Kirk and something he specialized in. Amazed he never blew up Spock's brain.

You forgot plucky brilliant kid saves the day and is allowed access to all the restricted areas of the ship.
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Old 01-09-2012, 06:47 PM   #7
kennyc
The Dank Side of the Moon
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Oh but he did, didn't you ever see the episode - Spock's Brain! Sheesh!
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Old 01-09-2012, 07:19 PM   #8
Shiromi
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Also, I should add that having recently started watching Farscape, I'm thrilled to see the writers aren't afraid of dragging just about every scifi cliche there is.
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Old 01-09-2012, 11:38 PM   #9
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Quote:
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Also, I should add that having recently started watching Farscape, I'm thrilled to see the writers aren't afraid of dragging just about every scifi cliche there is.
You will love the offbeat episode that every season of Farscape has, and of course the Crichton/Scorpius headcase conversations.
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Old 01-10-2012, 02:03 AM   #10
jehane
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The patently obvious design flaws in a vehicle or weapon system go uncorrected during the entire life cycle of the system in question.
A vehicles and/or weapons system is deployed in an entirely impractical environment.
Spacecraft features have been pointlessly carried over from water-borne designs.
Surely the first two are examples of realism! And the third I could well believe. </cynic>
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Old 01-10-2012, 03:04 AM   #11
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You will love the offbeat episode that every season of Farscape has, and of course the Crichton/Scorpius headcase conversations.


Especially the roadrunner/loony tunes scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuFNZJe6PSM

Last edited by sabredog; 01-10-2012 at 03:13 AM.
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Old 01-10-2012, 06:19 AM   #12
Iphinome
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Tvtropes will ruin your life....
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Old 01-10-2012, 09:24 AM   #13
Ninjalawyer
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I roll my eyes every time a spaceship comes to a dead stop, or is able to turn on a dime.
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Old 01-10-2012, 10:10 AM   #14
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Of course it's not just SF that has clichés; there's the good old "every bomb must have a large digital countdown timer" one that's so beloved of - well, anything in which bombs appear .
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Old 01-10-2012, 10:49 AM   #15
Iphinome
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I roll my eyes every time a spaceship comes to a dead stop, or is able to turn on a dime.
A spaceship should be able to change its orientation on a dime, so in that wide banking turns annoy me. But changing its momentum on a dime... not so much
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