Most and Least Favourite Science Fiction 'Device'

[DotCommunist]

Note: I have been repeatedly made aware of the fact that some Babylon5 fans bristle at the idea that a single ISD is at least as powerful as a Shadow planet-killer. However, that's simply too bad; deal with it.

I love this site

 

[joevsimp]

I'm becoming increacingly conscious of the fact that I'm not in to sf as much as I thought I was

 

[Mr Moose]

I love this site

Brilliant. My made up stuff is cooler than your made up stuff!

 

[Bernie Gunther]

thats cause it wasn't made by puritan americans

Didn't it eat some though at one point? The guys from 'Potatohoe'?

 

[DotCommunist]

Why don't I include planet-killing capabilities that are vaguely supported by ultra-literal interpretations of dialogue but not observed in any way, such as one Voyager crewman's rhetorical question: "what does she plan to do, destroy a small planet?" If you honestly must ask this question, then you obviously don't get this page, or indeed, my entire website and/or any remotely objective methods of thought. Far too many Trekkie arguments are based solely on ultra-literal interpretations of dialogue, without a shred of observation or even technical literature to back it up. They treat Trekkie character dialogue the way religious fundamentalists treat the Bible.

ok scary internet geek is scary

 

[Brainaddict]

I liked Bussard Ramjets in Niven for their (illusion of) feasibility.

Time machines are the lowest of the low. I know they have a long and supposedly honourable history but most of the ways they are used are just shit shit shit.

 

[dylanredefined]

Power armour I can be bullet proof and carry a big gun and lots of ammo for big gun and not keel over and die from exhaustion . sweet.
Things which make weapons not work for no particulary reason.As a species
we been fighting wars with weapons made by the lowest bidder for centuries
we'd soon catch on so next time borg jammed the phasers the red shirts would have something else even if it was just a lump of metal with spikes in it .

 

[chainsaw cat]

Equally:



Is little more than a reflection of '80's/'90s corporate culture and the boom in therapists etc.

I give you Alfred Bester, 'The Demolished Man' from (IIRC) 1954, dealing with esp stuff well before your 80s/90s guesswork point.

Mr Bester also gave his name to a character in Babylon 5 (I think - can't be a coincidence can it?)

 

[chainsaw cat]

Oh and by the way, Ridley Scott is going to film The Forever War!

 

[bluestreak]

hey guys REVERSE THE POLARITIES!

 

[Melinda]

Time Travel and rebooting FTL.



On balance the Krenim were shit. As was that Sisko/ Gabriel Bell nonsense on DS9.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1305028



Psychokinetic power FTW- Lyta and Bester rocked.

Telepaths/ empaths are rightly universally reviled- Deanna Troi and that irritant from that abomination 'Charmed.'

 

[DotCommunist]

Oh and by the way, Ridley Scott is going to film The Forever War!

best. news. ever

 

[Brainaddict]

best. news. ever

Why? 'Sir' Ridley hasn't made a decent film for about 20 years.

 

[Stigmata]

Bollocks he hasn't. People just like to knock Kingdom of Heaven because they don't like Orlando Bloom. It's a great film.

 

[Combustible]

The worst has to be the series of deus ex machina in the Ender's game series.

Orson Scott Card clearly wrote himself into a corner which he resolves by revealing among other things the ability to teleport anywhere in the universe instantly and the ability to conjure anything into existence by imagining it. And a clever race of Asian people with OCD.

 

[DotCommunist]

Bollocks he hasn't. People just like to knock Kingdom of Heaven because they don't like Orlando Bloom. It's a great film.

Either that film was confusing or I was drunk. Can't remember which.

Scott has a good track record with sci fi, so I'm hopeful

 

[Melinda]

Bollocks he hasn't. People just like to knock Kingdom of Heaven because they don't like Orlando Bloom. It's a great film.

Featuring quite some of the best leprotic hand sucking ever captured on film.

 

[Azrael]

My favourite plot-device has to be hyperspace, warp drive, or whatever else you want to call faster-than-light cheats. Literally move the plot along.

My least favourite is abusing concepts like time travel for reset buttons and other deus ex machina endings.

 

[pboi]

lightsaber bitches!!!

 

[Stigmata]

Either that film was confusing or I was drunk. Can't remember which.

Scott has a good track record with sci fi, so I'm hopeful

They'd better leave in the bit with the stasis field where they have to fight the Taurans with swords and javelins.

 

[Stigmata]

Actually thinking about it, time dilation is cool plot device when well used. Especially in The Forever War and a certain Alastair Reynolds novel which I won't name because it's kind of the big plot twist. It was even cool when they did it in Stargate ffs

 

[Kaka Tim]

Oh and by the way, Ridley Scott is going to film The Forever War!

Fucking cool!

You got a link?

Pretty much my favourite sci-fi book.

Hope they don't fuck it up.

 

[Kaka Tim]

They'd better leave in the bit with the stasis field where they have to fight the Taurans with swords and javelins.

Aye - And I hope they keep all the dark and cynical stuff.

Will they keep the bit about everyone being gay in the future for reasons of population control?

 

[MikeMcc]

Matrioska Brains ftw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_brain

As Donald Moffitt points out in Second Genesis, Dyson Spheres are inherently unstable. Once they drift off centre the stars gravity will continue to force it further and further off-centre until they collide. His idea of carefully sized and positioned discs is much more sensible.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Fucking cool!

You got a link?

Pretty much my favourite sci-fi book.

Hope they don't fuck it up.

Why yes, because i got Gooooogle on my computer:


http://www.variety.com/VR1117993856.html

Came from Haldeman's website so I presume it's no duff.

 

[Iguana]

I'm not sure whether universal translators are a good thing. Obviously, they're very useful in their own way, but they're also A PRACTICAL IMPOSSIBILITY therefore somewhat distracting.

I find them most distracting on Star Trek as they never, ever translate Klingon.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

If he's on the same form he was in with Alien and Blade Runner, and especially if he does it in the context of the 'Forever' war on terra, then it'll be a winner.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Yeah, they'd have to update from Vietnam to the War on Terror, can't wait for the subtle digs.

 

[slaar]

I love that even in the Culture, a ludicrously advanced civilisation, their fastest ships' maximum speed (about 250 kilo-lights) would still take them 4 months to cross the galaxy even if they could keep up the speed (which they can't) - 100,000 light years across.

And the known universe is 93 billion light years across (despite also being only 13 billion years old; also cool)...

Anyway, back on topic. Knife missiles are wicked. Minds are amazing; I can't remember quite the description of their memory capacity but it's something like:

Imagine a piece of card, 10x10 centimetres. 1000 characters on each side. Now imagine a box that can fit 1000 cards. Then a shelf, which can fit 100 boxes. Then a room, that can fit 1000 shelves. Then a skyscraper, that contains 1000 rooms. Imagine a planet the size of earth, completely covered with skyscrapers. Then imagine 1000 planets.

I'm also reading Matter right now and I love the idea of Shellworlds with their random death patterns. Orbitals are also amazing.

 

[likesfish]

light saber not a serious weapon go up a against a bunch of storm troopers ok
shuttle craft that make helicopters look safe.
weapons that fail to function.
redshirts would be carrying ak's and pump action shotguns if phasers were that unreliable.
big bit of kinetic enrgy ftw
ove