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I think one thing that is missing from modern Hollywood sci-fi is the feeling of the vastness and emptyness of space. Foundation certainly had that. It seems

I think one thing that is missing from modern Hollywood sci-fi is the feeling of the vastness and emptyness of space. Foundation certainly had that. It seems like everywhere they go in new sci-fi is crowded. Maybe this is because the overcrowded eco-doom dystopia trope is so deeply embedded in our culture recently or it could be because there's too much temptation to use CGI to create baroque environments.

dmitriid 9y ago
In "The Expanse" (the books) vastness of space plays crucial role (ships can't get anywhere instantly, communications take hours)
- chrisweekly 9y ago
  I was going to post the same comment, having just recently finished the 7-book series. Stoked to have discovered the handful of prequel novellas providing backstory.
- ascagnel_ 9y ago
  The books have that, but the first season or so of the TV series lacks it. It's also one of the few books that made me want to throw it across the room when I finished it.
trextrex 9y ago
Star Trek (the various series) certainly did a good job communicating the vastness of space to the viewer.
- jacobush 9y ago
  Not very consistently, but Voyager revolved around it taking a lifetime just coming back home, hurtling full speed.
  - krapp 9y ago
    Yeah, and then at the end they did some time travel nonsense and hacked into the Borg transwarp network and got back to Federation space in no time at all, and were one-shotting Borg cubes to boot. That show never really had the courage of its convictions.
rainbowmverse 9y ago
Stargate: Universe spent its brief run exploring desolate planets and bickering while hurtling through uninhabited space. It didn't work too well.
- what-the-grump 9y ago
  It was a terrible show about sad millennials who were stranded in space, without their anti-anxiety drugs and marijuana, lacking the basic survival instincts and common sense to tie their own shoes. And every episode ended in sad play out music. God I hate what they did to stargate in that show.
  - rainbowmverse 9y ago
    Did we watch the same show? The only drug-addicted person on the ship was well past millennial, and the various skills of the crew were what allowed them to survive. It wasn't what I expected of Stargate, but it was watchable.
amelius 9y ago
I'm confused. Once you develop technology to travel to a bunch of different star-systems in a lifetime, space isn't so "vast" anymore.
- garmaine 9y ago
  Responding to your own commnent only, I don't think that is necessarily true. Read some stories from the Revelation Space universe by Alistair Reynolds for a good example of how space can be as vast as it is, yet still traversed within human lifetimes and within known laws of physics.
- gambiting 9y ago
  In foundation, the "vastness" came from the fact that humanity has colonized thousands if not hundreds of thousands of planets, to a point where the location of the "origin" of humanity(Earth) and first colonies became lost to history and myths. When the plot revolves around finding this mythical and ancient "Earth" planet, one of the issues is that it would take them thousands of years to visit every inhabited solar system in our galaxy, and that's assuming that the records indicating their positions were accurate. In that way, yes, you could "warp" from one system to another in days, but the galaxy is still incredibly vast and largely unknown. It's just like right now you could hop on a plane and reach pretty much any point on this planet within say 72 hours, but it's still an incredibly vast place and if you were looking for something it's inconceivable you could visit every city on Earth to find it.
- rbanffy 9y ago
  Think, for a moment, about an empire that spans millions of planets and about 500 quadrillion people. Even if we don't count the empty space, it's pretty enormous.
justherefortart 9y ago
Trantor was friggin crowded.
- TheCoelacanth 9y ago
  Only at the very beginning of the series. Trantor is basically Rome. It is densely populated to an unsustainable extent. It needs a huge empire to supply it. Once the empire collapses, Trantor collapses too. When it is visited later in the series its population is only a tiny fraction of what it once was.

dmitriid 9y ago

In "The Expanse" (the books) vastness of space plays crucial role (ships can't get anywhere instantly, communications take hours)

chrisweekly 9y ago
I was going to post the same comment, having just recently finished the 7-book series. Stoked to have discovered the handful of prequel novellas providing backstory.
ascagnel_ 9y ago
The books have that, but the first season or so of the TV series lacks it. It's also one of the few books that made me want to throw it across the room when I finished it.

trextrex 9y ago

Star Trek (the various series) certainly did a good job communicating the vastness of space to the viewer.

jacobush 9y ago
Not very consistently, but Voyager revolved around it taking a lifetime just coming back home, hurtling full speed.
- krapp 9y ago
  Yeah, and then at the end they did some time travel nonsense and hacked into the Borg transwarp network and got back to Federation space in no time at all, and were one-shotting Borg cubes to boot. That show never really had the courage of its convictions.

rainbowmverse 9y ago

Stargate: Universe spent its brief run exploring desolate planets and bickering while hurtling through uninhabited space. It didn't work too well.

what-the-grump 9y ago
It was a terrible show about sad millennials who were stranded in space, without their anti-anxiety drugs and marijuana, lacking the basic survival instincts and common sense to tie their own shoes. And every episode ended in sad play out music. God I hate what they did to stargate in that show.
- rainbowmverse 9y ago
  Did we watch the same show? The only drug-addicted person on the ship was well past millennial, and the various skills of the crew were what allowed them to survive. It wasn't what I expected of Stargate, but it was watchable.

amelius 9y ago

I'm confused. Once you develop technology to travel to a bunch of different star-systems in a lifetime, space isn't so "vast" anymore.

garmaine 9y ago
Responding to your own commnent only, I don't think that is necessarily true. Read some stories from the Revelation Space universe by Alistair Reynolds for a good example of how space can be as vast as it is, yet still traversed within human lifetimes and within known laws of physics.
gambiting 9y ago
In foundation, the "vastness" came from the fact that humanity has colonized thousands if not hundreds of thousands of planets, to a point where the location of the "origin" of humanity(Earth) and first colonies became lost to history and myths. When the plot revolves around finding this mythical and ancient "Earth" planet, one of the issues is that it would take them thousands of years to visit every inhabited solar system in our galaxy, and that's assuming that the records indicating their positions were accurate. In that way, yes, you could "warp" from one system to another in days, but the galaxy is still incredibly vast and largely unknown. It's just like right now you could hop on a plane and reach pretty much any point on this planet within say 72 hours, but it's still an incredibly vast place and if you were looking for something it's inconceivable you could visit every city on Earth to find it.
rbanffy 9y ago
Think, for a moment, about an empire that spans millions of planets and about 500 quadrillion people. Even if we don't count the empty space, it's pretty enormous.

justherefortart 9y ago

Trantor was friggin crowded.

TheCoelacanth 9y ago
Only at the very beginning of the series. Trantor is basically Rome. It is densely populated to an unsustainable extent. It needs a huge empire to supply it. Once the empire collapses, Trantor collapses too. When it is visited later in the series its population is only a tiny fraction of what it once was.