TV shows, movies, and books that are ruined for you by physics

[hsdrop]

What were some of your favorites tv shows, movies, and books what we all loved as a child that got ruined as an adult by learning physics??
Some of my favorites were Stargate, Star Trek the Next Gen, and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
But all throws dreams were killed off by physics as I got older.
I would love to hear about some of yours.

 

[Helios]

I'd say that shows and movies with space-ships that have internal gravity are a disappointment, such as Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. I just don't believe that magic gravity floors are possible, yet it seems like a ubiquitous technology in the sci-fi genre.

 

[Jobrag]

Providing that the "science" is consistent I willingly suspend disbelief, when someone suddenly invents "impossibilium" I get annoyed.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Shows like star trek/stargate were never ruined for me by learning some science. I'm kind of surprised it's true for anyone given that these shows were explicitly set in worlds with different rules. Vastly more non-science fiction/fantasy show have become difficult for me to watch because of the sheer number of mistakes they rely on to work. The whole "zoom and enhance" nonsense that fills crime/spy shows for instance.

 

[DennisN]

What were some of your favorites tv shows, movies, and books what we all loved as a child that got ruined as an adult by learning physics??

Actually I can't think of any at the moment... I guess I put off my science hat when I watch movies. After all, they are fiction and entertainment. I am more concerned with books and movies that don't flow fell, i.e. bad story/characters/acting than how scientifically accurate they are. But I will really try to think hard to see if I could come up with an example that fits what you are asking for...

EDIT: By the way,

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy..

surprise me a bit as an example, since I consider it a comedy. And a very fun one too, in my opinion.

 

[hsdrop]

Don't get me wrong, I love the creativeness of the storeys and can laff along with the jokes. Sometimes I get annoyed when my teenager asks me if you can really do the things in shows like Macgyver does (old and new). Or when false science is holding up the story line like Angels and Demons with the hole making anuf antimatter to see after one clischen in an lhc like ring and then have it glow, really?

 

[GTOM]

Expanse pretends to be very hard, but stealth in space is far from its biggest error...

 

[Daniel Travis]

Expanse pretends to be very hard, but stealth in space is far from its biggest error...

I like the Expanse, but there are some errors I agree...honestly(speaking sci-fi-tifically) the hole stealth thing is pretty hard unless your able to mask EVERY particle escaping from your vessel...

...But my favorite exploitation of physics in Hollywood to jerk about is probably gravity. Mostly because antigravity(or artificial gravity) in most situations is basically not as they portray it, they miss crucial elements and in some instances just don't care about physics.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I like the Expanse, but there are some errors I agree...honestly(speaking sci-fi-tifically) the hole stealth thing is pretty hard unless your able to mask EVERY particle escaping from your vessel...

Not only is that impossible it would result in your vessel heating up incredibly quickly, especially given that the Expanse vessels run on fusion reactors. Strangely the book didn't include any of that, there were ships with better stealth but it didn't hide them so much as obscure their IR profile so they were harder to identify.

 

[Daniel Travis]

Yes! exactly my point Staff:Mentor Ryan_m_b! that's why i added the "..." lol, so many things they forgot to have account for , which they "forgot" to mention in the book.lol

 

[Comeback City]

Star Wars is definitely my favorite sci-fi saga.

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."
Maybe physics was different back then and in that place?

Just kidding. But in all seriousness, if anything would "ruin" Star Wars for me, it's definitely watching Hayden Christensen's attempt at acting

 

[XZ923]

I was never a fan of any of the superhero stuff, but one of the very few things in the genre I ever enjoyed was the scene where Superman catches Lois Lane. Sheldon Cooper ruined that:



I'm assuming the same logic applies to Neo catching Trinity in the Matrix Reloaded

 

[GTOM]

I'd say that shows and movies with space-ships that have internal gravity are a disappointment, such as Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. I just don't believe that magic gravity floors are possible, yet it seems like a ubiquitous technology in the sci-fi genre.

Rotational gravity were definitally harder, but more troublesome for the studio.

 

[GTOM]

Not only is that impossible it would result in your vessel heating up incredibly quickly, especially given that the Expanse vessels run on fusion reactors. Strangely the book didn't include any of that, there were ships with better stealth but it didn't hide them so much as obscure their IR profile so they were harder to identify.

Somebody on Isaac Arthur's science channel wrote me :

"I agree that no matter what clever tricks are done with the radiator design of a rocket (or lack therof), it will eventually heat up and emit, at the very least, black body radiation in all directions which would make it detectable also in any direction.

I am saying that the main problem for stealth in spacecraft is the emission of waste heat is omni-directional and that the heat spreads to everywhere in the craft. But it doesn't have to be that way. Very recent research shows that by periodically doping substances like graphene, heat flow, via phonon transport, is forced to follow particular paths in the material. It is a particularly hot topic for CPU research (no pun intended, lol). This means that in theory at least, waste heat flow can be preferentially directed to a collimating radiator if the material through which is flows is carefully controlled.

Picture a parabolic shaped radiator surrounded by this heat flow controlling material, except at the diameter of the collimated output. And all the controlled heat flow channels directed at the radiator's collector."

Theoretically a ship can be much more stealthy if it could effectively control heat emission to a narrow cone.
Anyway i think disappear so easily when they even knew where to search Rocinante is far from Expanse bigger error, i think world building also seriously flawed (they had magitech rockets, but couldn't even produce centrifugal gravity for people that went to belt) the idiocracy of the third book ruined it completely for me.

 

[SlowThinker]

Very recent research shows that by periodically doping substances like graphene, heat flow, via phonon transport, is forced to follow particular paths in the material. It is a particularly hot topic for CPU research (no pun intended, lol). This means that in theory at least, waste heat flow can be preferentially directed to a collimating radiator if the material through which is flows is carefully controlled.

Does that mean it's possible to make an insulating layer with zero thermal conductivity? That would be pretty important news. In particular, we wouldn't need high-temp superconductors any more.

Anyway, you don't need exotic materials, every fridge transfers heat from one place to another. If the ship has an internal heat reservoir, it can cool its surface to 3 Kelvins for as long as needed. Opening a hole in the surface, exposing the reservoir to open space, creates directed heat emission.

 

[GTOM]

Does that mean it's possible to make an insulating layer with zero thermal conductivity? That would be pretty important news. In particular, we wouldn't need high-temp superconductors any more.

Anyway, you don't need exotic materials, every fridge transfers heat from one place to another. If the ship has an internal heat reservoir, it can cool its surface to 3 Kelvins for as long as needed. Opening a hole in the surface, exposing the reservoir to open space, creates directed heat emission.

I don't think it has zero conductivity just very efficient. The bottleneck of stealth in space IMHO the thrusters and speed needed to arrive in reasonable time, they can direct a huge telescope to every possible place where a ship could start.

 

[hsdrop]

I just thought of another one from Disney it was a fun family movie franchise/ turned theme park that we all grew up with called, "Honey I shrunk the kids." In the late 80-90 the movies hole story line (3 movies in all) was based on an inventer that made a machine that would shrink the space between the nucleus of an atom and the surrounding electrons. Thair for making whatever the machine was aimed at smaller or bigger. Unfortunately the pore physics in the movies was that on this bases any thing that got bigger or smaller would adjust the weight for the size. When in the real world if we had a machine that could do such a thing the weight would not change. Making it quite problematic for a 100-150 pound kid and or adult to put all their weight in a space no bigger than a millimeter or smaller.

 

[hsdrop]

ok guys, I'm sorry for my bad taste in humor toward God for anyone that has a steadfast belief. I would like to keep this thread refined to main stream media and entertainment excluding any religious or spiritual beliefs please. I do not wish to offend anyone and I do so wish that no one else would either.

 

[fresh_42]

ok guys, I'm sorry for my bad taste in humor toward God for anyone that has a steadfast belief. I would like to keep this thread refined to main stream media and entertainment excluding any religious or spiritual beliefs please. I do not wish to offend anyone and I do so wish that no one else would either.

Thank you.

 

[jackwhirl]

shrink the space between the nucleus of an atom and the surrounding electrons...Making it quite problematic for a 100-150 pound kid and or adult to put all their weight in a space no bigger than a millimeter or smaller.

You'd also have to find similarly shrunken O2 molecules to continue breathing. :P

Here's one. Tron: Legacy. Loved the movie, but that invading force they just had to stop would have required an enormous amount of energy to create physical bodies. Plus there's no reason for their weapons and machines to continue to function in the physical world.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

It does not bother me at all if the science in a SciFi movie, TV series, or book violates physical laws, unless in the particular story (1) the physics dominates the plot, and (2) there is too much impossible stuff.

Some examples:
(1) The impossible FTL travel is essential for almost any space opera, eg, Star Trek, Star Wars. My favorite is Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1984) (also a great time travel story). On the other hand, I did not particularly like Star Trek Generations (1994) due to the added dominating non-physics of the "strange energy ribbon".
(2) Time travel backwards in time is physically impossible. However, I have enjoyed "great" time travel stories since the "Golden Age" 1950's (age 15) - By His Bootstraps by Heinlein - 1941. My new favorite has become The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2003) - movie version (which I liked better than the book) (2009).
(3) Living in a simulated virtual reality is as far as I know does not currently contradict any physical laws, but for the present I believe it is likely to be impossible. My favorite is The 13th Floor (1999). Another excellent example, although the virtual reality is based on a different premise, is Source Code (2011). For me The Matrix (1999-2003) film series is marginally OK but seriously flawed because the basic plot premise about aliens needing human bodies as an energy source makes absolutely no sense.

 

[hsdrop]

Buzz, I do not believe that the matrix was not about aliens, but machines that we built. That took over the world and decided to use the humans at power. Yes, there were a lot of flaws with the story line but all parties involved were terrestrial in nature. Like a far flung future of the terminator storyline.

 

[GTOM]

Buzz, I do not believe that the matrix was not about aliens, but machines that we built. That took over the world and decided to use the humans at power. Yes, there were a lot of flaws with the story line but all parties involved were terrestrial in nature. Like a far flung future of the terminator storyline.

A guy had the idea, that they used humans as coprocessors, it would have made more sense.
(We could see them copy and mimic human behavior, like have wife and kid)

 

[Ryan_m_b]

A guy had the idea, that they used humans as coprocessors, it would have made more sense.
(We could see them copy and mimic human behavior, like have wife and kid)

I've heard, but can't find a source for, that the Wachowski Siblings originally wrote that the humans were being used as processors but that the studio worried people wouldn't get it. So they had to rewrite it to something "simpler".

 

[XZ923]

My biggest issue with The Matrix was why use human beings? The entire premise of the franchise is that human will and consciousness cannot be perfectly controlled by machines; sentience has some intangible element that can't be quantified/encoded so the matrix itself eventually crashes due to this anomalous free will, so they always have to reboot it or lose their energy supply, hence the function of "the one". So my question is why not just use electric eels? Your powerplants will be much smaller and you don't have the whole sentience problem to worry about. Just wipe out the humans, breed some eels, and be done with it. I think the above stated point about using them as processors fails due to the fact that throughout the series the "agents" always state things like "he's only human"; i.e. inferior to their AI. So why would they try to use humans as superior processors? Not to mention they were born from humans underestimating their sentience; seems like they wouldn't make the mistake by allowing sentient humans to exist.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

My biggest issue with The Matrix was why use human beings? The entire premise of the franchise is that human will and consciousness cannot be perfectly controlled by machines; sentience has some intangible element that can't be quantified/encoded so the matrix itself eventually crashes due to this anomalous free will, so they always have to reboot it or lose their energy supply, hence the function of "the one". So my question is why not just use electric eels? Your powerplants will be much smaller and you don't have the whole sentience problem to worry about. Just wipe out the humans, breed some eels, and be done with it. I think the above stated point about using them as processors fails due to the fact that throughout the series the "agents" always state things like "he's only human"; i.e. inferior to their AI. So why would they try to use humans as superior processors? Not to mention they were born from humans underestimating their sentience; seems like they wouldn't make the mistake by allowing sentient humans to exist.

I think an interesting plot twist would have been if, during some scene between Neo and the machines (perhaps the architect), they reveal that they don't harvest humans; they love them. It could be teased out that the machines have strong instincts to protect humans, a kind of Asmiovian three laws. But they looked at humanity and they saw they were heading for extinction (it could be hinted the world is barren not from a war but from reckless pollution). The Matrix was their answer to that. In order to best save and serve humanity they would restrict our freedoms to the point where we couldn't really hurt ourselves and keep us in a virtual world. It's already stated in the films that the first Matrix was a heaven that humanity rejected.

This would give the machines more moral ambiguity, present another side to history (which might also be propaganda) and bulk out the theme of chaos/freedom vs order/control.

 

[hsdrop]

My biggest issue with The Matrix was why use human beings? The entire premise of the franchise is that human will and consciousness cannot be perfectly controlled by machines; sentience has some intangible element that can't be quantified/encoded so the matrix itself eventually crashes due to this anomalous free will, so they always have to reboot it or lose their energy supply, hence the function of "the one". So my question is why not just use electric eels? Your powerplants will be much smaller and you don't have the whole sentience problem to worry about. Just wipe out the humans, breed some eels, and be done with it. I think the above stated point about using them as processors fails due to the fact that throughout the series the "agents" always state things like "he's only human"; i.e. inferior to their AI. So why would they try to use humans as superior processors? Not to mention they were born from humans underestimating their sentience; seems like they wouldn't make the mistake by allowing sentient humans to exist.

You know, I say, kill the lot of us, because of all the problems we make and just use the Geothermal energy. Really that already have all the hole and tunnels made for it. lol

 

[Simon Peach]

One thing that get me going is were a full moon is shown rising in the middle of the night

 

[jackwhirl]

One thing that get me going is were a full moon is shown rising in the middle of the night

I'm not sure I follow you there. What about that situation bothers you?
Moonrise doesn't happen at the same time of day everyday.
Check this tool for your area: https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/

 

[Simon Peach]

I'm not sure I follow you there. What about that situation bothers you?
Moonrise doesn't happen at the same time of day everyday.
Check this tool for your area: https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/

no of course it doesn't but the full moon only ever rises as the sun is setting at temperate and tropical latitudes

 

[Vanadium 50]

Bugs Bunny was ruined for me. Apparently objects fall as soon as they are released, and not as soon as they notice.

 

[jackwhirl]

no of course it doesn't but the full moon only ever rises as the sun is setting at temperate and tropical latitudes

I think I get it now. The full moon should be highest in the middle of the night.

Bugs Bunny was ruined for me. Apparently objects fall as soon as they are released, and not as soon as they notice.

Wile E. Coyote was the bigger offender, to my memory. Love those shows.

 

[Gigaz]

Was anyone else bothered by the science of the Life movie? I mean, it looked like it was supposed to play in the real world, but then it messed up science at an astonishing rate. They catch the capsule because it would otherwise be lost in space, when it moves with like 20 m/s relative to the ISS. They dock a rocket on the ISS to push it out of Earths orbit, which is far beyond current capabilities. And the Alien trampled senselessly over all laws of Biology and thermodynamics

 

[Dr Wu]

Away from SF novels, movies and the like, it seems to me that TV science programmes can also at whiles play fast and loose with the physics. The representation of the Main Asteroid Belt as a kind of Chesil Bank in Space is a particular favourite of mine. I even spotted this aggregate-cum-'rubble pile' effect in a recent edition of the BBC's 'The Sky at Night' - the presenters of which really should know better (Chris & Maggie, are you reading this?)

I could have all this completely wrong, of course. If so, and should I live long enough to witness it, I look forward to the sport of asteroid hopping in the not-too-distant future.

 

[pinball1970]

Providing that the "science" is consistent I willingly suspend disbelief, when someone suddenly invents "impossibilium" I get annoyed.

Or 'unobtainium?' (The Core)

 

[member 656954]

The 100.

After a nuclear war what's left of humanity is up in space stations, which don't rotate (we see this from external views), yet they have 1G inside. Most of the survivors are science types, yet they can't ascertain the on-the-ground radioactive levels or whether life is viable from space or who/what might have survived. So, they have to send their kids down as guinea pigs to test what's going on.

And when the kids land, they have very useful tools like shovels...and they are clearly not 3D printed ones! Who takes a shovel to a space station?

It doesn't really get any better, to be honest, but I have to admit I persevered through three seasons, though I've not bothered to go back for Season 4.

 

[Michael Price]

Buzz, I do not believe that the matrix was not about aliens, but machines that we built. That took over the world and decided to use the humans at power.

The bit about using humans as batteries was a bit hard to swallow. Enjoyed the rest, though.

 

[BWV]

What about The Flash running around at relativistic speeds? Getting hit by his fist at .99c or however fast he is supposed to be moving is way more energy than Hulk or Superman could generate

 

[pinball1970]

The bit about using humans as batteries was a bit hard to swallow. Enjoyed the rest, though.

Inefficient source of energy I would have thought. Find planet get all valuable resource then move on.

 

[RPinPA]

Or 'unobtainium?' (The Core)

I believe that was also the substance that was being mined in "Avatar". I won't say that in itself ruined the movie for me. I did find it irritating, but that was only one of several things that irritated me. I still mostly liked the film.

I can't think of anything that fits the premise of this discussion. I'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief for a good story, especially a good character-driven story.

I absolutely hate the trope, seen in the most recent "Time Machine" film but other places as well, that H. G. Wells was himself a time traveler. And there is some truly ridiculous "science" in that film involving accidentally blowing up the moon by mining it.

I was extremely irritated by the premise of "Gravity", which involves one satellite blowing up and somehow sending debris carefully aimed to hit every single satellite in every orbit. That one angered me to the point of being embarrassingly vocal in the theater and I really had to talk myself down. "Can't they spend a couple bucks on a science advisor?" I muttered.

I think it's that attitude by filmmakers toward scientific accuracy that bugs me, rather than the errors themselves. It didn't even occur to anyone on the team to run some of this stuff past, say, a high-school physics teacher over a couple of beers.

Nevertheless, despite glaring errors like that, I thoroughly enjoyed both films. So no, I can't say that learning physics ruined any films or TV shows for me.

Edit: I'll add that there is stuff in the Star Wars films that kind of spoiled my enjoyment of them. But that stuff bugged me right from the first viewing. And I know I'm going to make enemies, but I didn't do my usual thing of forgiving bad science for a good story, because I thought the story lines and characters were kind of idiotic and cliched.

 

[RPinPA]

Here's kind of the opposite effect. I used to really like the Eric John Stark novels by Leigh Brackett. They were a little in the flavor of Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter" novels, involving different civilizations on the different planets of our solar system, but a lot more intelligent and better written.

Brackett stopped writing them as the space program discovered the truth of conditions on the various planets. She didn't want to describe environments that contradicted what the spacecraft were discovering, didn't want to sacrifice scientific accuracy for the sake of a good story.

And though I admired that stance, I actually thought that was kind of a shame, to be honest.

 

[pinball1970]

I believe that was also the substance that was being mined in "Avatar". I won't say that in itself ruined the movie for me. I did find it irritating, but that was only one of several things that irritated me. I still mostly liked the film.

I can't think of anything that fits the premise of this discussion. I'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief for a good story, especially a good character-driven story.

I absolutely hate the trope, seen in the most recent "Time Machine" film but other places as well, that H. G. Wells was himself a time traveler. And there is some truly ridiculous "science" in that film involving accidentally blowing up the moon by mining it.

I was extremely irritated by the premise of "Gravity", which involves one satellite blowing up and somehow sending debris carefully aimed to hit every single satellite in every orbit. That one angered me to the point of being embarrassingly vocal in the theater and I really had to talk myself down. "Can't they spend a couple bucks on a science advisor?" I muttered.

I think it's that attitude by filmmakers toward scientific accuracy that bugs me, rather than the errors themselves. It didn't even occur to anyone on the team to run some of this stuff past, say, a high-school physics teacher over a couple of beers.

Nevertheless, despite glaring errors like that, I thoroughly enjoyed both films. So no, I can't say that learning physics ruined any films or TV shows for me.

Edit: I'll add that there is stuff in the Star Wars films that kind of spoiled my enjoyment of them. But that stuff bugged me right from the first viewing. And I know I'm going to make enemies, but I didn't do my usual thing of forgiving bad science for a good story, because I thought the story lines and characters were kind of idiotic and cliched.

Not seen avatar so can't comment.
I liked gravity, the music was absolutely fantastic. Perfectly fit the impending collisions. As for the physics I like the fact the George Clooney character worked out when the next collision was in his head.
I also liked the lack of sound when the debris hit.

 

[Nik_2213]

There's the old rule-of-thumb that serious SciFi be allowed but one 'impossible' thing. Beyond that lies 'Fantasy', and all bets are off barring a plea for internal self-consistency...

Now, if you can convince me that ST's warp-drive, their internal gravity and transporter tech are but different facets of one such 'impossible' thing, I'll allow that series a restricted waiver.

Sadly, the only truly single-impossible that comes to mind is '2001' & Co, via its Monoliths...
D'uh...

 

[Michael Price]

I absolutely hate the trope, seen in the most recent "Time Machine" film but other places as well, that H. G. Wells was himself a time traveler.

One exception I can think of, is "Time after Time", where Wells goes after Jack the Ripper, who has stolen his time machine to escape from justice... Well, I enjoyed it, anyway.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_After_Time_(1979_film)

 

[Klystron]

Oddly enough physics education ruined watching a popular Western "The Rifleman". I liked the show as a small child. Father and Son farmers bravely surviving the Old West. Then my father -- an expert Army rifleman during WWII -- watched the show with me to ascertain gratuitous violence levels on my 6-year old mind.

Dad laughed and laughed as dead serious Chuck Connors stalked bad guys with a long heavy rifle rigged to fire every time the cocking lever was engaged; one handed! Dad and I drew diagrams indicating how difficult the Rifleman's rifle was to aim and how dangerous to bypass the trigger.

Though my parents never really approved of the violence of the show, my 7th birthday included a toy Rifleman Winchester model 92 modified with a little sear to fire normally with a trigger squeeze or to fire as the rifle is cocked. I only engaged the latter mode when facing down more than two bad guys simultaneously.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rifleman#/media/File:The_Rifleman_TV_Series-611880410-main.jpg

 

[Michael Price]

Sadly, the only truly single-impossible that comes to mind is '2001' & Co, via its Monoliths...
D'uh...

Clarke's third law: a sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
I agree about the rest being accurate, e.g. the artificial gravity for Poole and Bowman was generated by rotation.

 

[BWV]

Most SF books are just some other genre - thriller, spy novel, war story, etc set in a futuristic setting. The Expanse, for example, is a thriller plot. The older I get the more I respect pure space fantasy like Star Wars and Dune - which I would define as a plot that touches on the same sort of mythological tropes as regular fantasy