At SF Signal:
(Please follow the link for the complete column.)
MIND MELD
Suspension of disbelief can make or break a story. In science fiction, it
usually centers on believable applications of science. We asked this week's
panelists:
Q: Which SciFi films and/or television shows do the best job in adhering to
realistic science? Which ones do the worst?
Peggy Kolm
Peggy Kolm is a science fiction fan who can be found, blogging, at the Biology
in Science Fiction website.
... Alien-human hybrids.
Hybrids are a staple of Star Trek: ToS had the human-Vulcan (Spock), Voyager had the human-Klingon (B'Elanna Torres) and TNG had the human-Betazoid (Deanna Troi), among many other minor characters. Babylon 5 did it a bit better: the ability of the human Sheridan and Minbari Delenn to have a son was due to Delenn's unusual heritage and almost-magical transformation a human-Minbari hybrid herself. And Stargate avoids that particular issue by making the human-appearing aliens actually human (there are problems with the biology of that too, but at least the baby-making would work).
... Stephen Cass
Stephen Cass, formerly senior editor at Discover, is now senior editor at
Technology Review.
... Within the bounds of dramatic license that any interesting TV show must have, I also like the Stargate franchise -- they've done a really good job of staying internally consistent within the rules of their science fiction technology, without violating much of our real world knowledge about space. Battlestar Galactica made a strong effort, with special kudos for their "being exposed to space without a space suit" scene. Eureka can stretch the bounds at times, but in general stays on the side of light. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been doing some interesting and well thought out things with both time travel and machine intelligence.
(Please follow the link for the complete column.)
MIND MELD
Suspension of disbelief can make or break a story. In science fiction, it
usually centers on believable applications of science. We asked this week's
panelists:
Q: Which SciFi films and/or television shows do the best job in adhering to
realistic science? Which ones do the worst?
Peggy Kolm
Peggy Kolm is a science fiction fan who can be found, blogging, at the Biology
in Science Fiction website.
... Alien-human hybrids.
Hybrids are a staple of Star Trek: ToS had the human-Vulcan (Spock), Voyager had the human-Klingon (B'Elanna Torres) and TNG had the human-Betazoid (Deanna Troi), among many other minor characters. Babylon 5 did it a bit better: the ability of the human Sheridan and Minbari Delenn to have a son was due to Delenn's unusual heritage and almost-magical transformation a human-Minbari hybrid herself. And Stargate avoids that particular issue by making the human-appearing aliens actually human (there are problems with the biology of that too, but at least the baby-making would work).
... Stephen Cass
Stephen Cass, formerly senior editor at Discover, is now senior editor at
Technology Review.
... Within the bounds of dramatic license that any interesting TV show must have, I also like the Stargate franchise -- they've done a really good job of staying internally consistent within the rules of their science fiction technology, without violating much of our real world knowledge about space. Battlestar Galactica made a strong effort, with special kudos for their "being exposed to space without a space suit" scene. Eureka can stretch the bounds at times, but in general stays on the side of light. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been doing some interesting and well thought out things with both time travel and machine intelligence.