Things you've always wondered about in sci-fi movies

[p51]

We all have a few things about movies we've wondered, within the confines of the plot (not errors). Here's a few I've had:

• In Dune, if most (if not all) of the Duke's army is nowhere near Calladan, why didn't another house take that planet over during the whole Dune thing?
• In The Matrix, why aren't there crazy people who are not bound by concepts of reality (which clearly exist in real life), who can just do anything they want within the Matrix?
• In any movie where there's a bad guy who snuffs a henchman for something trivial, why doesn't any other say, "You know, I don't need this job that bad..."?

I'm sure you all have a few?

 

[Halliwax]

How long the body can survive in space with out any protection

 

[tcsmit29]

We all have a few things about movies we've wondered, within the confines of the plot (not errors). Here's a few I've had:

• In Dune, if most (if not all) of the Duke's army is nowhere near Calladan, why didn't another house take that planet over during the whole Dune thing?
• In The Matrix, why aren't there crazy people who are not bound by concepts of reality (which clearly exist in real life), who can just do anything they want within the Matrix?
• In any movie where there's a bad guy who snuffs a henchman for something trivial, why doesn't any other say, "You know, I don't need this job that bad..."?

I'm sure you all have a few?

In regards to the Dune question, Caladan reverted to the control of the Emperor when the Atreides went to Arrakis. The Emperor appointed Count Fenring to govern over Caladan. When Paul becomes Emperor at the end of the book, Caladan is once again under Atreides control. No one attacked because it would be a direct attack on the Emperor. Just realized that your question was about the movie. My answer may still apply.

 

[Galactican]

Why do 99% of all Star Trek aliens look human? (OK, TNG offered an explanation, but you should expect something like the Alien or the Predator from time to time. Horta was a step into that direction.)

 

[Funky]

Not exactly sci-fi, but…

In the 50’s Superman with Chris Reeves, a bad guy would empty his gun with bullets bouncing off of Supe‘s chest. When the gun is empty, bad guy throws the gun and Supes and he DUCKS!

1030’s King Kong (btw, this was my son’s observation…seven at the time) the native build their village inside a compound with walls tall enough so that Kong can’t come in. So how does he get in? He walks through the front doors that they built tall enough for him to walk through!!! The idiots deserved what they got!

 

[batguy]

Where do they find all these planets suitable for humans?

Why does the future always change so quickly? They have major modern cities looking unrecognizeable after 30-40 years. That's not gonna happen unless there was a nuclear war in the interim.

 

[Mottrex]

I dont recall any toilets in any future or SciFi movies and going by the costumes in TNG it looked like Picard and crew were stitched into theirs and couldn't if they wanted too..

 

[DesertDan]

Air ducts are always big enough (and sturdy enough) to crawl through (and really clean too).
Maintenace performed solely by robots/droids.
Why don't alien invaders decimate earth from orbit first, then land and subjugate any survivors?
How can something be hot enough to vaporize a human body but leave the clothes undamaged? Also, if that thing you're hiding behind gets disintegrated, wouldn't you at least be severely burned?
Where are all the post apocalypse barbarian hordes getting their gasoline (and tires)?
Why would any sentient machine culture produce cyborgs or for that matter anything humanoid shaped?
In Star Trek especially, no trigger guards on weapons (sure hope you don't lean up against something wrong while wearing that phaser 1, JIm)

 

[Mottrex]

Where are all the post apocalypse barbarian hordes getting their gasoline (and tires)?

Yeah I thought gas went off if not used or is that a myth..
Bit like Cans of food that last decades when in fact a month after sell by it tastes rank..
Like potato chips...soft
Alcohol....flat!

 

[DesertDan]

Yeah I thought gas went off if not used or is that a myth..

Definitely NOT a myth, and tires deteriorate over time as well.

 

[Cephus]

The answer to virtually all of these questions is "so the story can happen". It's not a good answer but it is the actual answer.

 

[Cephus]

Definitely NOT a myth, and tires deteriorate over time as well.

Which is why they had to put the 50s white walls on the Delorian in BTTF3.

 

[batguy]

Which is why they had to put the 50s white walls on the Delorian in BTTF3.

Yep.

In real life that car would have bigger problems. By the 3rd movie it was about 75 years old. Everything rubber (read: gaskets/seals and fluid lines) decays. 1980s plastic & vinyl would be getting more brittle too.

There are many things in cars to cause trouble. The layers of the windshield glass start to separate at the edges. Shock absorber oil seeps out of the seals. Suspension springs sag down. Engines lock themselves up. Valvesprings get uneven. Etc.

 

[OzReturner]

Given that space battles would be soundless due to no way to propagate the noise, are there any movies that do, in fact, feature silent laser battles?

 

[Treadwell]

Speaking of Dune: the Fremen goal of terraforming the planet with saved water.
It's a closed system. Barring any water visitors and immigrants bring (which would be counteracted by the water in their ships and bodies they take with them when they leave), what water Arrakis has is the water Arrakis has. Redistributing it from the atmosphere (and people's bodies) to cisterns and then, someday, back into the atmosphere is a zero-sum game. If there was already enough water in the ecology to transform the planet, then it would have done it already all by itself (or IS already doing it, in its own time).

 

[Cephus]

Given that space battles would be soundless due to no way to propagate the noise, are there any movies that do, in fact, feature silent laser battles?

Serenity, while it doesn't much care about scientific accuracy, their space battles are silent.

 

[Darth Lars]

Speaking of Dune: the Fremen goal of terraforming the planet with saved water.
It's a closed system.

I think that the rain at the end of the Lynch movie didn't exist in the books. The terraforming was much later, and could have used imported water.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

This is primarily ST, but happens in other scifi. How do all humans immediately know how to operate alien technology/ships? Obviously the story says so, but still... At least in Stargate, you have Daniel and Carter who have expertise in Ancient/Goa'uld cultures and technology so it makes sense.

 

[Mottrex]

This is primarily ST, but happens in other scifi. How do all humans immediately know how to operate alien technology/ships? Obviously the story says so, but still... At least in Stargate, you have Daniel and Carter who have expertise in Ancient/Goa'uld cultures and technology so it makes sense.

In ID1 they had to learn the hard way and was it District 9 where you had to submerge your hand in a gel like control but yeah...maybe they just All have Turn Key driving lol

 

[Krel]

In "Forbidden Planet", Dr. Morbius states that there are no records of the Krell's appearance. But he also says that the Krell library terminal also has all the entire knowledge of the Krell race. Wouldn't that also mean that the library has all the art and medical knowledge?

David.