The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club's topics - tribe.net

The REAL ice moon of Jupiter

2008-06-09T14:36:26Z

There was an episode of American Dad where Steve referred to Io being the ice moon of Jupiter. but as you may know, Europa is the ice moon of Jupiter.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Science myths in science fiction, etc

2008-05-29T13:57:26Z

How about compiling a list of science myths in science fiction and other genres. The first think that comes to mind her for me are ICBM that travel all the way to their targets without releasing their warheads. For example, one episode of CBS's new Twilight Zone had a woman with a stop watch that could stop time encounter a full nuclear missile hovering inches from the ground soon after she stops time.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 14 replies

Laser weapons for real!

2008-05-13T14:20:42Z

I was watching a show on the History Channel recently that claimed that the U.S. military is really working on real laser weapons for aircraft and other military vehicles. They even mentioned that a laser-equiped aircraft is expected to make real-world tests of its laser system as early as next year. Plus, they also plan to equip spacecraft with lasers. Since lasers have no recoil, they can't disturb the position of a spacecraft when fired. Now doesn't that make certain science fiction movies and TV shows look "outdated"? You know years back lasers and phasers and other beam weapons were all over the place in SF. In more recent times, few SF shows and movies portray beam weapons. It's as if these science fiction screenwriters are thinking, " If they were going to make laser weapons in real life, they'd be here by now. Since there are no laser weapons now, then there won't be any in the future." Looks like they were wrong. Lasers weapons look to be possible in real life and in the near future. And I always knew that would be the case.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Could...

2008-03-02T00:57:13Z

a Star Trek movie ....sell...make it....be accepted....if it were made in the computer generated style of the movie Beowolf ?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

I wish they would get the time travel theory right

2007-11-12T14:46:29Z

It seems like all time travel movies and TV shows get the time travel theory wrong. The writers always assume that travel back in time leads to the past of one's original universe when in real life (assuming time travel is possible), travel to the past ALWAYS leads to parallel universes. That, of course, means the grandfather paradox is impossible, and the time travel will continue to exist even if they prevent their grandparents from meeting. But the problem of the incorrect time travel theory persists, and it does irritate me slightly. When are they going to get the time travel theory right? Never? Well, if that's the case, then I oughta create a time travel series that does get the time travel theory right. Wait! I already have created a time travel series that does get the time travel theory right. It's called "Timeliketoon's Trouble in Paradox", and It's totally into the parallel universe theory of time travel . More on that later.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

The Time Machine 2002

2007-10-01T14:25:07Z

I think the 2002 movie The Time Machine has some good nitpicks to nitpick on. For example, a 20 megaton explosion is far too small to fracture the moon. It's a lot like Space: 1999 where they have a massive nuclear explosion blowing the moon out of orbit. But at least in Space: 1999 they explain that impossiblity through something called the Mysterious Unknown Force (or something like it). And of course over 800,000 year later, the moon is still fractured. You know that in real life, a fractured moon would reintegrate itself due to the combined gravitational pull of the various fragments. Gravity is, of course,. the main force that holds the moon (and other celestial objects) together. More nitpicks coming soon.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

"Your training is complete..."

2007-08-27T04:47:07Z

This has puzzled me.

I mean, there are LOTS of cranky things wrong with Star Wars, sure, but somehow this one seemed pretty bad to me (well, until Midichlorians came along, but I'm just trying to basically ignore the awful fan films that came after RotJ anyway).

Vader strokes Luke's lightsaber affectionately and purrs something like "You have built your own lightsaber. Your training is complete."

What?

What kind of perspective IS this, where building a lightsaber is the END of training for a Jedi? I mean, in this Universe, they build friggin DEATHSTARS (the power of which is dwarfed by the awesome power of the Force, remember?), yet building a lightsaber is somehow the finishing touch on the training of a Jedi. Jedis can make things fly around the room, they can hover, they can see in the dark, they can raise X-Wing fighters out of the mud, they can do things that make planet-destruction a fiddly bit. And yet the pinnacle of their achievement...

...the final test, as it were...

...without which they are NOT Jedi Knights...

...is to build a flashlight.

Surely in a Universe THIS powerful and varied, you can just BUY the friggin' things via mail order. I mean, we're primitive humans, but we can buy Kalishnokovs via mail order, and we can find people on the Internet who are willing to be eaten, so how hard can it be to buy a freakin' lightsaber. Wouldn't there be antique dealers who have those things? Can you see 'em on the Alderaan Antiques Roadshow: "Ah, an elegant weapon from an elegant time. This lightsaber appears nearly perfect and *whzzzz* it still works!"

Yeah.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Caveman talk?

2007-08-27T04:42:39Z

Here's a pressing question about Valley of the Dinosaurs: How could those cave dwellers be speaking English? They're cave dwellers for crying out load! Well here's my theory. The cave dwellers aren't speaking English. The Bulters just spent some time learning their primitive language. Or it could be a Robinson Crusoe thing where the Butlers and the cave dwellers learned each other's languages. It could happen.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 3 replies

THAT'S the way it works! Right on!

2007-07-16T21:46:01Z

So, what TV shows or movies got it right. And I don't mean lack-of-evidence-against, but who clearly know what the hell they're talking about -- even if it's only one aspect -- and DO IT RIGHT?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 7 replies

Too much artificial gravity

2007-07-16T21:35:06Z

As we all know, simulating weightlessness on TV shows and movies is expensive. As such, the artificial gravity on most SF spaceships works perfectly -- even if all other system on the ship are damaged, the artificial gravity works perfectly. (Hey! If you want your spaceship to survive a crash, maybe you should make the whole thing out of an artificial gravity generator!) Of course it would be more realistic if the artificial gravity didn't alway work. And I often think, "Why can't they film the actors from the waist up and have tem bob up and down like they're weightless? That shuld be way cheaper than simulating weightlessness the regular way." It's just a thought.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 8 replies

Space missiles with contrails?

2007-07-16T21:31:25Z

About that Battlestar Galactica remake, what's up with those space missiles with contrails? I thought liquid water couldn't exist in a vacuum, so how can they have contrails?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 7 replies

Disembodied Brains

2007-06-30T16:52:14Z

In books & movies there are often brains in canisters throbbing with activity. For instance, I was reading DUNE: Battle of Corrin and there were scenes with Cymeks (brains in canisters attached to mechanical walkers / flyers / whatever) and the brains "quivered" with activity when threatened. Isn't the brain a non-muscular part of the body? Meaning: Can a "canned" brain quiver with activity?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

What about the incredible premise of Mimic?!

2007-06-27T16:03:22Z

As you may recall, the movie Mimic deals with giant bugs that can mimic the human form. When one character explained that it would take millions of years for a species to evolve the ability to mimic humans, Mira Sorvino explains that it's not the number of years that matters, but the number of generations or some such thing. Well, I feel compelled to disagree with her (or more accurately, the writer of the movie). If it would normally take, say, 10 million years for a bug species to evolve the ability to mimic humans, how many genreations of the bugs would be born during that 10 million years? 100 million generations? So if the Mimic bugs can acquire their mimic ability in six months time, are we to believe that 100 million generations of the bugs were born in six month's time?! That's over 500,000 generations a day! Does that mean the bugs lived in some kind of accelerated time scale? That does not compute!

And of course Mimic has more scientifically implausible (or impossible) notions like insects the size of humans and what have you. Yes, the movie's science may suck, but at least it gives us something to nitpick.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Futuristic clothing

2007-05-29T13:08:06Z

How come folks in the futurte don't wear futuristic clothing anymore? You have movies and TV shows taking place in the far, far future and yet they have folks walking around in modern-day clothing. When I look at pictures of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, I don't see them weriang t-shirts and jeans. So why should folks 200 years in the future be wearing the same? I suspect that part of the reason for this is that it's the 21st century and todays clothing doesn't like what you'd see in The Jetson or other old school futuristic shows. Thus, costume designers may have concluded that the folks of the future would wear what we're wearing today. But then what about Back to the Future -- the original Back to the Future? There, Marty McFly was walking around in the year 1955 wearing 1985 clothing. That's only a difference of 30 years which isn't really that much time. Yet his clothing was different enough that folks noticed how out of place he looked.

So to conlcude, I will say I want to see more futuristic clothing from folks in futuristic movies and TV shows. But of course costume designers are unlikely to do that, so whatever.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 19 replies

Sci-Fi Appologetics - urggh!

2007-05-10T04:24:43Z

We all here know that the science in Science Fiction is often warped by budgets, network producers, etc. So while we might nit-pick at various shows we all know the reasons behind the slip-ups.

However one thing that bugs me are the Sci-Fi appologetics. Rather than admiting that a show either slipped up, was just being lazy, or had another type of an agenda to push, there are fans who go out of their way to explain why what's percieved as a mistake is really what's supposed to happen. I don't mean to say that it's wrong to make up a quick excuse for something, I like that one comment about why Kirk's butt didn't get thrown out of the his chair without seatbeats. However these fanboys will attack any criticisms of a commerically produced TV or Movie as if what the writers came up were prophesey's directly from God.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 18 replies

Jet planes, not prop planes

2007-05-02T15:09:52Z

I remember reading a Weird Science comic book episode that took place in the "future" year of 1991. In the episode, an FAA investigator (or whoever he was) was investigating the increasing number of passenger plane crashes. But the thing about the passenger planes that were shown in the episode is that none of them were jets. I find it ironic that the writers of Weird Science -- who often create stories featuring high-tech wonders -- would fail to realize that by 1991 most passagner planes would be jet planes and not prop planes.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

Allergies cured in 10 years? Then why does Kirk need glasses?

2007-04-16T20:49:25Z

I recently heard on a news show that some scientists believe that allergies may be cured in 10 years thanks to gene therapy treatments. Yet in the movie Star Trek II, Kirk needed to wear glasses since he's allergic to the 23rd century vision correction drug (whatever that is). Of course you can't blame the producers of Star Trek II for that since there's no way they could've predicted an allergy cure in the forseeable future.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 4 replies

Super-power solar scale (or some such thing)

2007-03-28T22:08:15Z

As we all know, Superman was originally from a planet that orbitted a red sun. But on Earth, exposure to the Earth's yellow sun gives Superman super powers. So what is the difference between a red sun and a yellow sun? Well one of the differences is that a yellow sun has a higher surface temperture than a red sun. With that being the case, would a person from Earth gain super powers if they landed on a planet orbiting a blue sun? (Blue suns have a higher surface temperature than yellow suns.) Or would someone from a blue sun planet gain super powers if they landed on a white sun plant? Or would someone from a white sun planet gain super powers if they landed on a neutron star planet? Or would someone from a neutron star plant gain super powers if they landed on a black hole planet? Would Superman's already super powers increase if he landed on a blue sun planet, white sun planet, neutron star planet or black whole planet? Would that sort of super power increase apply to all others in the examples I gave (except maybe the black hole planet people)? Just something to think or LOL about.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 36 replies

SRBs and ET: They did it again!

2007-03-21T14:55:10Z

I saw some of the Sci Fi Channel movie Earthstorm. And just like in Armageddon, they showed a space shuttle launch where the solid rocket boosters and external take were ejected simultaneously. What's up with that stuff? Do they do that for dramatic effect or don't the screenwriters know that the ET is ejected about half an hour after the SRBs are?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 4 replies

The Day after Tomorrow

2007-03-14T20:35:25Z

I just saw The Day After Tomorrow, and I noticed that they had the International Space Station orbiting in the wrong direrction! It also looks like they put it at too high an orbital altitude.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 3 replies

Digital Trek

2007-03-11T10:53:59Z

Who else has seen the updated FX for the original Trek series? Well, he's my view on that:

* In "The Paradise Syndrome" I noticed that they made the asteroid look WORSE than in the orginal series -- at least as far as scientific accuracy goes. The asteroid in the episode is said to be almost the size of the Earth's moon. If so, it shoud be spherical because of the mass involved. Unfortuntely, the remade version made the asteroid look like an irregularly-shaped rock only a few kilometers in diameter.

* They seemed to have reduced the size of the shuttle bay in the remade TOS episodes. Plus, I'm of the mind that the original shuttle craft/shuttle bay FX were already well-crafted.

* I found the updated FX for "The Doomsday Machine" to be kick-ass in some areas while merely OK in others. I was toatally freaked out by the scenes of the Enterprise flying extremely close to the Doomsday machine while firing full phasers at it.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 4 replies

Science doesn't belong in science fiction?!?!?

2007-03-11T10:44:03Z

That question sounds Orwellian to me. But then of course, what do I know? A few years ago, a person on a Space: 1999 web group once told me that science has nothing to do with science fiction. And we do know that person does have the right to believe that even though that belief is incorrect. But I'm still freaked out that many SF fans (or is that "fans") think the same way. I'm of the mind that if you don't like science in science fiction, just don't watch science fiction. But many of these folks seem to demand that ALL science be removed from science fiction. Of course I say that if you removed ALL science from science fiction, it wouldn't be science fiction anymore. Then again, in this world without consensus, their definition of science is likely to be different from mine.

In short, I say science does belong in science fiction. If you don't like science in science fiction, stop dealing with it or just create your own science-less SF (which DOESN'T make sense to me).

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 11 replies

old 50's art deco AI film about man stuck in house due to robot?

2007-02-09T22:53:07Z

50's or early 60's AI robot film where a scientist is held captive in a house by this thing, and he has to outsmart it to get out.

But the house is super badass art deco, and frankly, I would have loved to stay.

What's the name of the film... IT IS KILLING ME???

It could have been a MST3K film, but do NOT believe it was.

help.. I am melting.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 5 replies

Meta-fi Nitpicking?

2007-01-23T22:54:07Z

Where could I go to get some geeky nitpicking, but relating more to metaphysical fiction than sci-fi?

Suggestions?

I ask because I wondered how nitpickers would explain magic wands. Assuming they serve more than a cosmetic purpose, how do they work? (No, I do not assume that they actually work in the real world.)

I thought about this and really wanted to hear from nitpickers, so I thought of you folks.

What am I to do? If I ask the wrong fantasy crowd, I'll get their doctrinal version. ("Hmm, but according to Tolkien . . .")

Where's a fool to go for some nondogmatic fantasy nitpicking?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 13 replies

New Tribe: Worldbuilding

2007-01-15T22:45:22Z

I tell you, when I saw this tribe I did a Tiger Woods fist and went "yessss!"
I'm gonna so look forward to picking nits with you lot here, so fun.

Anyway.

I hate to slap a plug into my very first post, but I figure there's some pretty nerdy-smart people here who might like this:
http://tribes.tribe.net/worldbuilding

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Godzilla's height

2006-11-25T15:56:00Z

As we all know, Godzilla's height tends to be really inconsistent. For example, I once heard some Godzilla trivia think on TV where they said Godzilla is over 900 feet tall. Then when you watch the Godzilla movies, you can see in some cases where there are building as tall or even taller than he is. I'm not an expert in this area, but I doubt that there are any cities with, say, a dozen or so buildings over 900 feet tall.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

Most SF writers don't know science

2006-11-25T15:54:20Z

I used to think that science fiction screen writers actually knew about science. Later I learned that, on the most part, that's not true. And now, years later, I'm still shocked at how little SF writers know about science. I keep saying to myself, "If you don't know science, why should you be writing science fiction?" I know, I know, I know!! That's just how things are. Even so, I think SF movies and TV shows would be better if the writers knew science.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 5 replies

Not enogh time dilation

2006-11-16T20:34:38Z

With very few exceptions, there are no SF TV shows or movies that recognize the fact that time slows down for all objects that travel near the speed of light. For example, this slapped-together show called Earth 2 from the mid 1990s had a space crew travel 22 light-years in 22 years. despite that, the crew were in cyronic suspension. If their ship was going that fast, they didn't need cryonic suspension. The resulting time dilation would've made the 22 years seem more like 22 days for them!

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 29 replies

Limits of Sci-Fi weapons

2006-11-16T17:29:34Z

Ok, this is similar to the Limits of Sci-Fi technology except that this deals with the limited scale modern scifi seems to portray.

The biggest reason why I'm into scifi is because of it's various aspects of technology- ships, propulsion, medical, gadgets, and of course- weapons.

The are some exceptions to my grip. Shields, tacylon pulses, stealth, bioskins, and the B-5 mass drivers and the planet killers are impressive. However many standard weapons are either weak, unimagiative, or inefficent. In comparison to today, simply using a nuke delivered either by motar or missile would seem more powerful and more efficient than the shipboard beam weapons or torpedoes. Even without shields, they can't even destroy a ship without a mass volley. However denonate a nuke and it would rip the ship apart, The beam weapon on ID4, while massive, could only destroy a few mile blast radius. Yet, again , a missile could do the same amount of damage.

And what about ground combat? The person to person naked (defenseless) gunbattles would most likely few and far between due to the amount weapons and technologies that would be employed. As an example, wouln't there be personal shielding, mechs, or combat drones, and sonic or other energy disablers used? Just for strategy alone, think about employing side to side transporter devices in standard combat tactics? And don't get me started on the "mutiny" scene in Crusade. There are so many ways to bring that crowd to their knees without a fist fight.

I know we scifi fans can come up with complicated reasons why one thing is not used, or why this happen, etc. That's not my point. Remember, the writers who produce scifi are employed to quickly hammer out a thrilling episode in a small amount of time. And real science is often ignored or twisted to support a plot or budget. As I said, that fistfight mutany on the Excalibur really wouldn't need to take place, but the writers thought it would make for more drama.

But the other flipside of this coin is that the future holds amazing unthought of inventions and horrific new weapons. Only time will tell.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 25 replies

Starship Bridge Design?

2006-11-16T00:10:14Z

In some universes it is necessary to have the bridge of a starship someplace where you can look outside (Star Wars, Babylon 5, Farscape) because they use windows rather than viewscreens (why??). But on Trek they use viewscreens but they still put the bridge in a tactically vulnerable position: Top, front & center of the ship.

Wouldn't it make sense to put the command center in the protected interior of a ship?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 19 replies

Reused props

2006-11-16T00:04:51Z

Hey! What about the issue of resused props in science fiction shows? You know they reused props by the megaton in the original Trek and Lost in Space. How about other shows? Similarly, anmyone ever noticed that Gary Seven's computer and the M-5 computer look very similar?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 9 replies

"Teleportation?" What does this really mean?

2006-10-29T16:16:01Z

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Beaming people in "Star Trek" fashion is still in the realms of science fiction, but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.

Until now scientists have teleported similar objects such as light or single atoms over short distances from one spot to another in a split second.

But Professor Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter.

"It is one step further because for the first time it involves teleportation between light and matter, two different objects. One is the carrier of information and the other one is the storage medium," Polzik explained in an interview on Wednesday.

The experiment involved for the first time a macroscopic atomic object containing thousands of billions of atoms. They also teleported the information a distance of half a meter but believe it can be extended further.

"Teleportation between two single atoms had been done two years ago by two teams, but this was done at a distance of a fraction of a millimeter," Polzik, of the Danish National Research Foundation Center for Quantum Optics, explained.

"Our method allows teleportation to be taken over longer distances because it involves light as the carrier of entanglement," he added.

Quantum entanglement involves entwining two or more particles without physical contact.

Although teleportation is associated with the science-fiction series "Star Trek," no one is likely to be beamed anywhere soon.

But the achievement of Polzik's team, in collaboration with the theorist Ignacio Cirac of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, marks an advancement in the field of quantum information and computers, which could transmit and process information in a way that was impossible before.

"It is really about teleporting information from one site to another site. Quantum information is different from classical information in the sense that it cannot be measured. It has much higher information capacity and it cannot be eavesdropped on. The transmission of quantum information can be made unconditionally secure," said Polzik whose research is reported in the journal Nature.

Quantum computing requires manipulation of information contained in the quantum states, which include physical properties such as energy, motion and magnetic field, of the atoms.

"Creating entanglement is a very important step, but there are two more steps at least to perform teleportation. We have succeeded in making all three steps -- that is entanglement, quantum measurement and quantum feedback," he added.

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 6 replies

Limits of Sci-Fi technology

2006-10-18T21:28:19Z

Technology is one of the major reasons why I watch Sci-Fi. That's why I'm more critical when it comes to the Tech portrayed in these shows. Often outside of propulsion, future technology seems to be somewhat limited outside of a few major devices. Star Trek has a few extra points thanks to Transporters, Holodecks, and replicators.

One example that I've seen in all SciFi shows, including Star Trek, is flashlights. You'd think a civilization that has intersteller engines could produce a light that fills up an entire area. Instead they send their away teams with devices similar to what you could buy at a 99 cent store.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 13 replies

Gravity (apparently) travels at the speed of light

2006-10-10T22:16:47Z

Some astronomical study conducted a year or so ago indicated that the speed of gravity is equal to the speed of light. If that's true, then the premise of Star Trek Generations -- that the lack of gravity of a destroyed star would have an effect immediately felt for light-years -- would be impossible. But even so, I still like the idea of gravity traveling faster than light.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 10 replies

Hello! I'm new here

2006-10-10T02:29:00Z

Hi to all! I'm new to this tribe and to Tribe in general. I've always been interested in science fiction and physics, and I'm looking forward to hearing all your different opinions.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

The Minbari Federation meets United Federation of Planets

2006-10-04T14:26:06Z

Last night I dreamed that I saw a lost episode of the origiinal Star Trek series where they had a Minbari as one of the crew. And it's not the first SF crossover dream I've had either.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 3 replies

Starship class

2006-10-03T20:11:48Z

When you think about, having a spacecraft officially labled a "starship" is rather silly. In space, what other kind is there? It's like calling an aircraft carrier the "Seaship Abraham Lincoln", as well as every other destroyer, battleship, submarine, and patrol boat. In reality (and more entertaining), the different ship would be recognized by either their role and or class.

There have been some exceptions. In ST.ENT. the previous class has been recognized as a survey ship. In reality this is what the NX-01 would be as well since it's mission would be as using it's new W5 engines to explore deep space. The later Enterprises would probably be considered Cruisers because they are large multipurpose ships bouncing around the Federation. Although the Galaxy class were sometimes called Explorer type, it's not realistic to have a ship in unexplored space zip back tens of thousands of light years to Earth in a couple days. Thus it was a cruiser.

B5 was pretty good at making distinctions in types like having distinct warships (destroyers) and survey (explorers). However by the time B5 Crusade, they reverted back to the old habit by having the captain identify the ship as the "Starship Excaliber". Actually if anything it's a gunship, and would be rather unwieldy in close combat because the ship has to point itself to fire it's main guns.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 3 replies

Einstein time travel theory?

2006-08-27T03:01:24Z

In a recent installment of the comic strip "Non Sequitor", they claimed that Einstein asserted that time travel to the past is possible while time travel to future is not. Something about the future not existing yet. But according my knowledge of Einstein's theories, there is no mention of time travel (Unless you count time dilation. But of course that's not time travel in the sense that you can return to the time of your origin.) So the question of the moment is, what was up with that stuff?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Dark Angel Tribe

2006-08-19T03:53:45Z

Recently (a few months ago) Dark Angel started showing on Sci Fi Mondays. If anyone's interested in joining, I started a Dark Angel Tribe:

tribes.tribe.net/dark_angel

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

my new X-Files tribe

2006-07-26T03:54:24Z

Hello Sci-Fi nitpickers,

I've just started a brand new X-Files tribe for those of us who want to relive the glory days of the greatest sci-fi/paranormal TV series in the universe!

Check it out at:

http://tribes.tribe.net/iwanttobelieve

The truth is out there...the tribe is out there, too! :-)

--Alex

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Jaffa schools?

2006-04-09T23:14:15Z

Teal'c seems to know an awful lot, from ancient dialects and legends, to weapons and technology maintenance, to cultures and politics. Some would be on-the-job training. He is obviously one of the smarter ones, since he was chosen to be first prime. Still, to get his vast knowledge, he must have spent time in school, and not just with Mr. Bratak.

Unless they've been bred to be really smart, their level of education doesn't really match the mud huts they live in. They don't even seem to have paper.

Sort of odd the Goa'uld didn't improve the technology in the lives of their slaves. I'd rather be god of an educated, productive people, rather than near-savages.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 4 replies

B5 Crusade, even the characters didn't seem to care

2006-02-03T23:30:59Z

I thought the crew were really calm, and willing to gamble on wasting a lot of time, considering that the destruction of Earth's biosphere was actively underway and due to be complete within 5 years, while they were putzing around looking for greater meaning in the universe.

I also was really offended by the grammar error in the B5C title sequence. "Who do you trust?" It's WHOM, you bastards! What do they think they are, TOS? Arrogant pigs.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 3 replies

heterogenous Uplift?

2006-01-31T21:07:42Z

You know the Uplift Wars by David Brin?

Why is each species only uplifed in one way at one time? They take away the Chimps and Gorillas, so more experienced races can form them properly, but what's to keep another group from stashing away a few other individuals and making their own attempt. It can't just be because there's a rule against it.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Global Village

2006-01-31T20:52:18Z

Have you ever noticed that in scifi shows (ST, SG,B5,and Crusade,ect) that there are a lot of planets where the entire world is offically represented by a simple village of about 20-30 people?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 13 replies

Deep Space?

2006-01-30T20:40:41Z

"Deep Space". What is that? Just anywhere out there?

I figured it means off the plane of the galaxy, or removed somewhat from the denser galactic arms. That's why I thought Dax, the astonomer, astrophysicist would want to be on DS9, because of the wonderful, unobstructed view.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Worf goes through the stargate to get to the Gamma Quadrant

2006-01-24T02:10:31Z

I recently dreamed that I saw an episode of Deep Space Nine that I'd never seen before. In this episode, Worf gets really pissed off at how the war with the Dominion is going, and so he decides to contact a mysterious alien race in the Gamma quadrant that's been rumored to have a military technology that could turn the tide of the war. Though Sisko doesn't authorize it, Worf goes ahead and seeks out that alien race by going through the stargate. (I know there's no stargates on DS9, but that's what happened in the dream.) Sisko knows that Worf is likely to disobey his orders, so he has the stargate reprogrmmed so it'll send Worf to a friendly planet where he'll later get picked up by starship and sent back to DS9. But Worf works around that and gates to the forbidden Gamma Quadrant planet anyway. Once there, he makes contact with the mysterious alien race and succesfully persuades them to fight the Dominion.

Yup! That's some weird stuff. And yes, I also know how nonsensicle the premise behind this unreal DS9 episode is. But it was a dream, therefore it doesn't have to make sense.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

The evil Trek universe on Enterprise

2005-11-18T00:53:07Z

There's so much to say about that evil universe on Enterprise. But I'll just mention this one issue first: Have you noticed that the Terran Empire insignia in The Original Series only shows the western hemisphere of Earth while the Terran Empire insignia in Enterprise shows all the continents of Earth? One could say that the evil Trek universe of Enterprise is a slightly different one than the one on The Original Series. Plus, some of those warhips in the opening sequence reminded me of Minbari fighters.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 16 replies

Serenity (Spoilers!!!)

2005-09-30T04:09:19Z

So, it makes more sense to bring along the unpredictable psychotic girl to you middle of the road bank robbery than to just frisk people?
A 30 second video and a good puke are enough to cure a lifetime of psychosis?
In the future, evidently the RIAA will have so cracked down on illegal downloading that you will have to hand deliver movie data instead of just transmitting it to someone through the same lines you were just using to communicate with them.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

Romulan warp drive in the 22nd century

2005-09-28T15:06:10Z

Here's another (possible) inconsistency between Enterprise and the rest of Trekdom: Romulan warp drive in the 22nd century. I believe I heard it menioned that the Romulans didn't get warp drive until the 23rd century during their brief alliance with the Klingon Empire. If that's truly the case, then it further confirms the view that Enterprise takes place in an alternate Trek universe. Or more to the point, Enterprise is a TV show and therefore the inconsistencies don't necessarily matter.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 17 replies

They have lousy biometrics in the Babylon 5 universe

2005-09-26T21:42:00Z

There's an episode where telepaths are able to get guns out of the armory by reading the mind of the person guarding the armory to get the code to the combination lock. After that, they force the guard to use his hand print to finally open the armory. Now that's what I call lousy biometrics. Because you'd think that in the 23rd century biometrics would be far better than what's available today. Not only that, the guns in the armory should have been programmed only to be used by authorized personal. If the guns had a DNA scanner or other biometric systems, the guns would've been inoperable by anyone not on the B5 security staff. But if that were the case, we wouldn't have had that dramatic telepath hostage-taking incident, would we?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 7 replies

No WOW nit-picks..?

2005-08-28T05:03:42Z

Come on, "World of the Worlds"... too easy or just too many nit-pickeries to bother with?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 5 replies

Earth-Minbari "Wargames"

2005-08-28T04:57:10Z

Babylon 5's Earth-Minbari war could be considered a ripoff of the Space: 1999 episode "Wargames." In both shows, we have Earth people making first contact with an alien race whereby the earth people, through a lapse in judgement, initiate an attack on the aliens which evetually leads to the aliens nearly wiping out the Earh people. Yeah, yeah, yeah! I know that sort of theme has been common in SF for decades. But Space: 1999 did it before Babylon 5 did!

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

The Baldwins were bombed at 5 AM?

2005-08-23T16:48:34Z

In the South Park movie, Bill Clinton announces that the Balwdins were bombed at 5 AM. To that I ask, why would the Baldwins be lounging around on their spacious patio so early in the morning? "Maybe they were referring to 5 AM east coast time." But 5 AM east coast time is 2 AM west cost time. And since the scene where the Baldwins were bombed was in daylight, then that's definitely not possible.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 8 replies

It's like an auditorium in there!

2005-08-17T20:15:17Z

Did anybody see that gigantic bridge on Distro's sub in the recent comic book episode of G.I. Joe called "Shocked and Awed"? It's like an auditorium in there! Even the SeaQuest -- another fictional giant sub -- didn't have a bridge that big. I mean, their ballast tanks must be tiny! How can they submerge? Or is it that their reactor core is so small (Pons-Fleischmann cold fusion????) that they can have sizable ballast tanks and a giant command center. But needless to say, creating a sub with a giant bridge and a small reactor core is currently not possible in real life. Even so, I hope the writer of that episode can come up with a half-way decent explanation for that.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Full moon and sunset

2005-08-12T20:51:32Z

How about that scene in The Truman Show that depicted a full moon and a sunset in the same part of the sky? In reality that would be impossible. But since it happened in a simulated reality, then that sort of weirdness is entirely possible. But you have to wonder what Truman will think when he discovers that in the "real" world, a full moon and a sunset could never be seen in the same part of the sky.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Bigfoot and Chewbacca

2005-08-03T03:03:14Z

Am I the first to notice a resemblance between Bigfoot and Chewbaca? Probably not.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 5 replies

Spider-man 3 = Fantastic Four 2?!?

2005-07-27T05:17:52Z

What if the next Spider-man movie also featured the Fantastic Four? It's just a question?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 6 replies

Bam-Bam is Kryptonian

2005-07-13T04:13:19Z

I'm not necessarily saying this is true, but it looks possible that Bam-Bam might be from Krypton. He does have super strength you know. Plus, that so-called shooting star that Barney and Betty saw the night before they found him was probably Bam-Bam's spaceship entering the atmosphere. Of course the ultimate proof of Bam-Bam's Kyrponian heritage would be to expose him to kryptonite and see if it weakens him.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 6 replies

"Too Serve Man"'s flying saucer

2005-07-11T14:33:38Z

In the Twilight Zone episode "Too Serve Man", the scene where Chambers is shoved on board the flying saucer clearly shows a nighttime setting. But the very next scene shows a flying saucer leaving the Earth in a daytime setting. Of course the reason why that was the case was because the Twilight Zone producers were too cheap to do their own flying saucer FX. Reminds me of that scene from the movie Pod People where they swiped a scene the image of an asteroid heading toward the moon from Space: 1999.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Xena's circulation pinch

2005-07-05T14:43:45Z

In a flashback episode of Xena, it's revealed that Xena learned how to do her circulation pinch in about five minutes. Now I'm not necessarily saying the circulation pinch is possible, but if it is possible then something of that level of complexity should take months or years to learn. I mean, if doing a circulation pinch was that easy, everybody would be doing it.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

War of Worlds talk

2005-07-05T14:30:08Z

I haven't seen the new movie yet, but I was impressed with seeing a War of the Worlds ad in the paper that showed the image of an alien hand holding the Earth-just like on the TV series! That, plus I recently bought an H.G. Wells book that includes the War of the Worlds story. And I didn't buy the book because of the movie. I've been a sci-fi nut for years.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Primer

2005-06-13T16:29:06Z

Ok, so if, as Aaron says, the "last revision" is the one that counts, then Abe's "failsafe" trip to the point before he told Aaron about the time machine would overwrite Aaron's recording of himself telling him how to run through the day again to make sure that he learned about it.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

More sci-fi look-alikes

2005-06-07T16:53:28Z

Here are some more sci-fi look-alikes for ya: Boba Fhett and the Cylon raiders from the new Galactica.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

Earth looks fake

2005-06-06T21:02:23Z

I don't get it now, and I won't get it later. Special effects are supposed to be better than ever, yet the images of Earth in science fiction shows don't look real. There's a scene in Star Trek: First Contact, for example, where the image of Earth they present looks flat and cartoony. And in Independence Day, the Earth looks like a painting. Come on! It's the Space Age here? Don't these SFX folks have the time to look at REAL images of Earth from space?!

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Star Wars Episode III - minor spoiler nitpicks

2005-06-02T01:50:00Z

As previously mentioned, Padme dies in childbirth, but I think the mother that Leia remembers is Mrs. Organa, her adopted mother.

However, the splitting of Luke and Leia is carried out by the only two surviving Jedi, Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yoda sends Leah with Senator Organa and sends Obi-Wan to take Luke to his Aunt and Uncle on Tatooine.
This being the case, why does Yoda, in "Empire" have to tell the ghost of Kenobi that "there is another" other than Luke as their last hope?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 3 replies

More of the new Dr. Who

2005-05-29T16:13:43Z

This week's episode dealt with possibly one of the oldest and definitely one of the stupidest clichés in science fiction: The "if you change history, you'll destroy the universe" cliché. I have numerous problems with that cliché. For one, if time travel is possible it would be impossible to destroy the universe when you change history. Time travel to the past always leads to parallel universes, you know. And if changing history does lead to the destruction of the universe, then that strongly suggests that all events have been predetermined. And if that's true, then it shows that life sucks far, far, far, far more than I thought it did.

That latest Dr. Who episode is what I call the worst episode ever. It's inspired me to get back to work on my own time travel series - a time travel series that follows the REAL rules of time travel.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 8 replies

Female mallard duck

2005-05-25T14:21:44Z

In that episode of Gilligan's Island where that mallard duck lands there, the Professor - along with the rest of the castaways - was surprised to discover that the duck was female. And I find that kind of surprising myself. The Professor probably has an IQ of 300, and yet he didn't figure out the duck was female. And since male and female mallard ducks look noticeably different, the ducks' gender should have been more than obvious to the Professor. But I guess they had to write it that way so the plot could work better or whatever. Oh well. Whatever.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Episode III!!! (Y'all knew SOMETHING about this was coming, right???)

2005-05-23T16:47:01Z

Ok... I have from the rumor mill that Padme dies in childbirth in this film, but in the original (the canon) trilogy, Leia says that she remembers her mother a little, that "she was beautiful"... now, know that I hold Lucas to be a masterful storyteller... the Star Wars universe is one of the most complete and complex fictional creations ever(probably equalled only by Tolkien's Middle Earth)... but I fear that this, the last of the SW movies may drop the ball in one of many arenas... I mean... this film has the greatest weight on it... it not only has to progress from the first two prequels, but seamlessly lead us into episode IV...

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

American Dad '80s flashback

2005-05-20T21:32:31Z

In one episode of American Dad, one character gets the last 20 years of her memory erased. Despite that , she didn't once mention shock over things that didn't exist in 1985 like cel phones the size of wallets or the World Wide Web? Any explanations for that?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Leprechaun question in the Twilight Zone

2005-05-18T14:29:29Z

In one episode of CBS's new Twilight Zone, some kid asked his buddies what a leprechaun is. I find this highly unlikely. I mean, how can a TV-watching kid not know what a leprechaun is when he very likely has been exposed to Lucky Charms commercials. And you know Lucky Charms commercials always features a LEPRECHAUN!

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Death of a franchise too: More Enterprise talk

2005-05-18T14:26:23Z

The scene with the comet approaching Mars looked way cool. Unfortunately, the tail of the comet wasn't pointing away from the sun. And as many astronomers like to remind us, a comet's tail always points away from the sun.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Alien ship in the new Dr. Who

2005-05-16T16:58:39Z

That alien ship flying over London in a recent episode of the new Dr. Who reminded me of a Goa'uld alkesh. Anybody else see that?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Death of a franchise...

2005-05-16T14:20:17Z

Enterprise is being cancelled... after May 17th, it will be the first time since 1987 that there hasn't been a Star Trek series in active production... There seems to be no movies on the horizon either... is this the death of Star Trek?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 8 replies

Two ways to spell Rosie (Rosey)

2005-04-28T16:44:04Z

It seems that there are two different ways to spell Rosie (Rosey) as far as Rosie (Rosey) from the Jetsons is concerned. I wonder how they failed to notice that discrepancy before it was too late.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Leonard Namor

2005-04-18T14:19:39Z

Namor, the undersea superhero from Marvel comics, looks a lot like Mr. Spock. As such, when I was a kid, I sometimes referred to Leonard Namoy as Leonard Namor.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

"Window of Opportunity"

2005-04-08T20:45:03Z

I think I'd have to strongly disagree with Teal'c's claim that P4X 639 is "several billion miles" from Earth. The closet star outside the solar system is 25 TRILLION MILES (a one with 12 zeroes), therefore Abydos has to be much further away than that. When are they going to hire screenwriters who know basic astronomy?!?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

Fictional ancronyms

2005-03-31T17:11:18Z

As we know, Maxwell Smart is an agent with the C.O.N.T.R.O.L. organization. I don't think they ever mentioned what C.O.N.T.R.O.L. stands for, but my guess is that it's the Central Organization for the Negation of Terroristic Retribution and Oligarchic Larceny. I haven't fugure out what K.A.O.S. means though. And then there's that episode of Tazmania titled "The Man from M.A.R.S." It's the one where the Tazmanian Devil meets Marvin the Martian. If I had to give a full name for that acronym, I'd say it means Microatomic Astrophysical Research Systems. I say that partly because everytime Taz pissed off Marvin, he's threaten to blow him into a million million microatoms. Microatoms. Is he talking about string theory?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

More EVAs

2005-03-03T00:41:32Z

Can anybody confirm my suspicion that Enterprise had more EVAs (space walks and other space-suited activities) than all the other Trek shows combined including the movies?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Inaccurate explanation of how wormholes work

2005-02-24T17:52:10Z

I say the Stargate SG-1 episeode "Red Sky" was a good episode dramatically but a horrible show scientifically. The biggest problem I have with "Red Sky" is what I perceive to be its inaccurate explanation of how wormholes work. I'm under the impression that wormholes don't exist in normal space. They exist in hyperspace or some other higher-dimensional space. If that's the case, it would be IMPOSSIBLE for a wormhole to travel through the K'Tau sun because the K'tau sun is in normal space and wormholes travel through hyperspace. (Duh!)

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 5 replies

Reused alien names

2005-02-23T18:44:48Z

Yeah! There really are reused alien names. For example, on Space: 1999, the main characteres once encountered a race of aliens known as Caldorians. More than a decade later on Next Gen, one charcter there makes reference to a Caldorian eel. On Babylon 5, there's Dukhat, the sovereign leader of the Minbari Federation. While on Deep Space Nine, Dukat is the name of the autocractic ruler of the Cardassian Union. And of course Next Gen had a race of J'naii long before Stargate Atlantis introduced their Genii alien race.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 2 replies

Logan's Run Tribe

2005-02-05T02:15:46Z

Because, why not?

http://logansrun.tribe.net

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Starship Dimensions

2005-02-04T21:36:00Z

Here's a good site for sci-fi nitpickers everywhere:
http://www.merzo.net/index.html

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Cylon-occupied Caprica

2005-02-03T20:16:22Z

One recent episode of the new Galactica briefly showed what was happening on Cylon-occupied Caprica. And even though the Cylons seemingly nuked the crap out of Caprica (and several other planets), there wasn't a nuclear winter there.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 5 replies

The new Galactica

2005-01-31T15:23:55Z

Yeah! The new Galactica! When I first saw it, I didn't like it very much though it did turn out to be better than I expected. Now, I think it's a decent show despite the MEGATONS of inconsistencies it has. If I can watch Star Trek: Enterprise despite its inconsistencies, then I can definitely do the new Galactica too. Anyway, these megatons of inconsistencies do offer a butt-load of nitpicking. So let's start nitpicking the new Galactica!

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Would this be the place...

2005-01-07T15:47:08Z

if I wanted to bitch about a certain made-for-tv remake of Frank Herbert's Dune, and Children Of Dune books??

LOL

Just curious :P

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Spaceship moves the universe

2005-01-03T06:20:37Z

here's a Futurama episode where they say that the Planet Express ship's propusion is able to move the entire universe in order to get the ship from one place to another. I guess that could work if the Planet Express ship is the only spaceship in the unvierse. But presumably, there are potentially millions of ships in the Futurama universe that use the same type of propusion that the Planet express ship has. So unless all the starships in the universe are moving the universe in the same direction at the same time and at the same speed, I don't see how that "moving the universe" propulsion can work.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

How "Hush-a-Boom" works

2004-12-29T20:14:27Z

I have a theory as to how the silent explosive from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show might work. It's not that it's silent. It's that the sound of the explosion is beyond the range of human hearing. I admit that that might not be possible in real life. But if you have a better explanation for how a silent explosive might work (if it can work), buy it!

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

No sound in space

2004-12-29T15:33:35Z

The thing about sound in space in science fiction shows is that it's not really there (or at least it shouldn't be there). Sounds are put in just for the benefit of the SF viewers. For example, one episode of Stargate SG-1 has a spacesuited crew member banging on an escape pod to determine if anyone is in there. Since the atmosphere in the ship had leaked out, the spacesuited character couldn't hear the banging. So to find out if anyone was in the escape pod, he put his hand on the escape pod to feel the virbations of the person inside banging back. From the point of view of the viewers, there are banging sounds being made on the escape pod. From the point of view of (some) of the characters, there was total silence. So the next time you hear some serious scientist scream about how horrible it is to have sound in space in SF shows, I say tell them about that episode of Stargate SG-1.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Starfleet uniform changes

2004-12-23T19:50:29Z

I'm under the impression that Starfleet seems to change their uniforms too frequently as of late. And this is why:

Between the time of Star Trek II and let's say Picards graduation from Starfleet Academy is a time period of approxiately 60 years. And in that time, Starfleet unforms have changed very little. Then a few years after Picard leaves Starfleet (I'm not sure exactly when), they have the uniforms worn during the first two or three seasons of Next Gen. Presumably, these unifoms where worn by Starfleet personnel for about 25 to 30 years. After that, we have the unforms introdued on DS9. Then about three or four years later, we have yet another modification of Starfleet uniforms which were worn in Star Trek: Frist Contact and the final seasons of DS9.

So what I'm getting at is why would Starfleet have virtually the same unform design for 60 years, but have four unform design changes during a 30-or-so year period? Of course the answer to that question is that the Start Trek producers wanted to change the uniforms. But if Starfleet were real, I think it would be more likely that they'd change their uniform designs less frequently. After all, they are a space exploration group and not a fashion show.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 6 replies

The Sideways Multiverse Club tribe

2004-12-20T22:10:17Z

I just slapped together the The Sideways Multiverse Club tribe. It's a tribe where you can ceaselessly and perpetually discuss concepts dealing with alternate history/reality as well as time travel, quantum mechanics and certain other related science fact and science fiction. /go to: http://sideways-multiverse.tribe.net

"Had a dream where everybody looked like someone else
"The farthest I could get from was the closest to myself
"Tonite I'll dream tomorrow's going to be that better day
"And in the morning I'll remember you, sideways"

-- Men Without Hats

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Instant Mutants

2004-12-19T21:45:09Z

I'm stuck in the radiation/toxic waste interpretations in movies and TV. But do you ever notice how easily people and animals turn into mutants? There's no radiation sickness or cancer for their future. So here's a short list. Feel free to add....

Toxic Avenger- Toxie.....I guess the whole premise of the movie (and subsequent sequels) is based on this.

Simpsons- When Mr. Burns and Smithers are dumping toxic waste into trees in the park. There's a squirrel that emerges from the tree with glowing eyes and uses a lizard tongue to get a nut.

Family Guy - The apocalypse happens and the family is off to find the Twinkie factory. Stewie encounters some rad waste and turns into a half squid.
Another family guy has all the family getting some cool super power except Meg's power is to grow finger nails really fast.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

Cardassian uniforms

2004-12-19T21:33:29Z

In DS9 episodes that flashback to before the Cardassians withdrew from Bajor, they show Cardassians wearing the "current" uniforms. Yet in the Next Gen episode "The Wounded" which introduced the Cardassians, their uniforms where different. For whatever reason, the producers decided not to use "The Wounded" Cardassian uniforms for the flashback episodes. But if you ask me, those flashback episodes would seem more realistic if the Cardassians had the unfroms from "The Wounded." It would be a better indication that the flashbacks took place in a different era.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 1 reply

I Dream of Jeanie's NASA

2004-12-04T19:34:47Z

Have you ever noticed how I Dream of Jeanie often portrays inaccurate views of spaceships and other NASA space technology? For example, one episode showed the interior of an Apollo spacecraft which, to me, looked totally fake. It was basically a couch with a few dodads nearby. I also recall seeing a spacewalk scene where you could see Tony Nelson slowly spin around like he was being dangled from a wire. (Duh!) In constrast, I do think I saw an episode that had Tony and Roger splash down in a realistically-rendered Gemini capusle. How did that happen? Most of their space stuff looks horribly fake, then suddenly they get a spaceship prop that looks real.

Does anybody else have any memories of acurate and inaccurate space tech in I Dreram of Jeanie?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Lost in Space weightlessness

2004-12-04T19:34:28Z

For a long time, I noticed that the weightlessness scenes in Lost in Space look highly realistic yet I couldn't figure out why. And I also wondered why the weightlessness scenes in other SF shows look fake. Then one day I releaized that it's because they filmed the Lost in Space weightlessness scenes in slow motion. What a brilliant concept. It's not unlike the slow motion lunar surface walks they do in Space: 1999. Yes! Slow motion makes simulated weightlessness and low-gravity walks look real.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Fictional ICBMs

2004-12-04T19:29:34Z

Have you ever noticed that in a lot of movie and TV shows dealing with ICBMs they usually have the entire missile flying from launch site to target as opposed to just the warhead reaching the target? Or what about the notion of the missile detonating on the surface as opposed to a mile or so above the target? Isn't that also scientiically inaccurate?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Adult New Writing

2004-12-04T03:32:49Z

Hey everyone!

I'm writing some kinky sci fi and I'd love some feedback. Here's a bit - you can read the rest at wunderjahr.tribe.net.
*************
Simon ’s next move was to step to the herm ’s right side and then reach over its head with his right hand to grasp its neck and slowly, firmly lower its torso to the hobbyhorse. X smiled at the toppy interpretation of what was usually a bottom ’s game and marked the move on Simon ’s score sheet. Keeping that one hand on the back of the herm ’s neck, Simon leaned over and breathed into its hair, then made one long, slow line down its spine between its shoulderblades with his tongue. Simon ’s tongue disappeared back into his mouth for a second and then reappeared as a flicker across each of the herm ’s shoulders.

Simon moved his hand from the back of the herm ’s neck into the tidy hair at the back of its head and pulled its head back slightly. He moved to its rear and folded himself over it. Starting at its hairline and working his way down, Simon licked every centimeter of skin he could reach without letting go of its hair. When he reached its lower back, he laid a last long lick all the way up its spine. Releasing its hair, Simon stood and spoke. “Finished. ”

A bit of muted applause met this statement, and Simon grinned. After he helped the herm to stand, Simon saluted and stepped out of the arena into the dimness of the seating area. X almost lazily glanced over the anonymous judges ’scores, averaged them with its own score, and then posted the result in the holofield where Simon ’s shortname had been. It wondered whether he would choose enhanced genitalia or tool implants as the happy congratulations died slowly back down.

X restarted the shuffle algos and again stopped them with a touch. It blinked in an effort to hold back a salacious grin seeing that Willduth had drawn the anal fisting assignment. If there was anything less likely to get Willduth flunked, X couldn ’t think of it. Willduth had a real passion for the rhythms and contractions of the sphincters and rectum and her wide grin as she bounded into the arena showed how pleased she was by her luck.

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 5 replies

Joan Rivers look-alike?

2004-12-02T00:23:54Z

Is it me, or does Jimmy Neutron's mother look like Joan Rivers?
http://www.dadweb.com/carolyn/judy.htm

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 3 replies

Found: Proof of Aliens on Earth

2004-12-01T01:08:06Z

Undeniably real, and shockingly present:

http://fannieflagg.tripod.com/mg_charles2pg.html

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

Space: 1999 influences in Justice League Unlimited

2004-11-17T15:16:34Z

I just noticed that the opening sequences of Cartoon Network's Justice League Unlimited show scenes from the upcoming episode -- just like in year one of Space: 1999. Could there be 1999 fans producing the slow, or is it just another one of those coincidences?

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies

On NPR

2004-10-26T18:18:08Z

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4122442

posted in The Sci-Fi Nitpickers Club - 0 replies