Insultingly stupid movie physics

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Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Lighthawk »

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A rather interesting site for those of us who enjoy considering the science behind the things we see in movies, whether done well or poorly.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Captain Picard's Hair »

One of the less obvious examples comes from Independence Day; the mother ship wouldn't need to expend any effort to eradicate the human infestation from Earth since the output from her engines which would have been needed to slow such a massive ship would have by itself devastated the Earth's surface!

Some things, particularly the well-known issue of sound in space, is just a necessary 'error' for the sake of movie drama; try to imagine Star Wars without the space "sounds" and it simply doesn't work.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by kostmayer »

Sound in space is just one of those things you accept in a movie, like humanoid aliens who speak English. Though BSG did a pretty good job of showing battles in space without sound.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Mikey »

nBSG was also one of the only shows/movies to show a more accurate (if not entirely accurate) conception of maneuverability in space.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by stitch626 »

One reason I loved Firefly from the beginning was the lack of sound in the first episode. It made the nerd in me smile.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Sionnach Glic »

kostmayer wrote:Sound in space is just one of those things you accept in a movie, like humanoid aliens who speak English. Though BSG did a pretty good job of showing battles in space without sound.
nBSG did have sound in space. It was just muffled as though it was taking place underwater. Which I thought was a nice compromise.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Sonic Glitch »

Sionnach Glic wrote:
kostmayer wrote:Sound in space is just one of those things you accept in a movie, like humanoid aliens who speak English. Though BSG did a pretty good job of showing battles in space without sound.
nBSG did have sound in space. It was just muffled as though it was taking place underwater. Which I thought was a nice compromise.
I suspect test audiences didn't like the lack of sound. And wouldn't you still here things in the cockpit due to: 1. The cockpit being pressurized, and 2. Sound being transmitted by vibrations through the viper/ship frame itself?
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Lazar »

Well, you would only hear sounds coming from within your own ship.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Sonic Glitch »

Lazar wrote:Well, you would only hear sounds coming from within your own ship.
That's what I meant. Guess I didn't make that clear.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Sionnach Glic »

Aye, but you wouldn't hear things like ships exploding, or rocketing past you.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Tsukiyumi »

You'd hear it if something impacted your hull.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by IanKennedy »

It was B5 that first showed silent space battles. Any noises you heard there where part of the music.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Reliant121 »

In its early series it did, but the SFX later developed to show weapon sounds. I've spent god knows how long watching them since christmas :lol:
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by kostmayer »

IanKennedy wrote:It was B5 that first showed silent space battles. Any noises you heard there where part of the music.
The ships behaved a little more like ships in space would as well, rather then flying round like aircraft.
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Re: Insultingly stupid movie physics

Post by Reliant121 »

I've always been fond of starfury dogfights because of that.
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