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Can we finally stop having sci-fi films in which the whole outcome of the movie is solely determined on some heroic manual flying of a spaceship while simultane

Can we finally stop having sci-fi films in which the whole outcome of the movie is solely determined on some heroic manual flying of a spaceship while simultaneously using manually aimed weapons like it's World War II?

hwc 8y ago
Also, can we start seeing this kind of re-usable multi-stage rocket used for achieving orbit in fiction?
bergoid 8y ago
The Apollo 13 astronauts would like to share a couple of anecdotes with you.
- jniedrauer 8y ago
  Apollo 13 (the movie) had plenty of careful checklist readbacks and minimal explosions or shaky cameras. Most scifi is more like Michael Bay in space. See Gravity for a more egregious example of a movie that tries to play itself off as "hard scifi" but ends up just being an over the top action movie.
  - TremendousJudge 8y ago
    Yeah, The Martian is like, the hardest sci-fi book I've ever read, but I found the film adaptation... lacking
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
clarkmoody 8y ago
My favorite sci-fi anticipates increased autonomy of technology and incorporates that smoothly into the narrative.
timdiggerm 8y ago
If you're talking about Star Wars, definitely not, because it's intentionally unrealistic. Other sci-fi, maybe.
chucksmash 8y ago
Seems like it'd be tricky to do from a story telling perspective. Totally removes all agency from protagonists. Every fight becomes a deus ex machina - "welp, our targetting subroutines continue to be superior to their maneuvering systems so they died. Hooray us?" Or I guess more probably just a numbers game: "welp, our effective weapons range is larger than theirs, so that's that" with an MCRN exemption clause.
- Florin_Andrei 8y ago
  > Every fight becomes a deus ex machina Sounds like a book by Iain M. Banks.
- philipkglass 8y ago
  Isn't this how real-world warfare is trending already? A vehicle full of soldiers may die before they even know there was a threat flying overhead. But it's not very heroic-looking to just keep the laser designator on target until the bomb lands. I suppose that's why so many contemporary thrillers or even far-future science fiction movies devolve into hand to hand combat for the climactic showdown. It looks more interesting. (Though personally it makes me groan and want to throw things at the screen.)
  - Retra 8y ago
    You can't really write a compelling story where your logistics make the hero rather than... heroism.
    - philipkglass 8y ago
      I wonder what the makers of Zero Dark Thirty did to keep it compelling. I haven't seen the movie myself. The real-life mission resulted in only one light injury among the Americans and involved zero fist fights. Osama bin Laden himself was killed before he could fire a single shot or throw a punch.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Can we finally stop having sci-fi films in which the whole outcome of the movie is solely determined on some heroic manual flying of a spaceship while simultaneously using manually aimed weapons like it's World War II? Probably no, we can't stop having some of that. We can have her alternative, and, in fact, a lot of space combat in movies and TV is not resolved that way (both because it involves highly automated maneuver and targeting, and because, especially for combats that determine the outcome of the story, it is resolved by a social or technological advantage, often one provided by the quest making up the body of the plot, not by maneuvering or targeting (except to the extent that technical or social advantage impacts those abilities.)
- sandos 8y ago
  I like that about the Expanse novels, automatic systems control a lot of the lower level work in battles. Of course humans still come up with the crazy ideas and sort of execute them on a higher level.
inflatableDodo 8y ago
Maybe look closely at the landing on the Hudson river. A good sci-fi plotline for getting out of hairy situations is heroic manual flying that is only made possible due to the automated systems.

hwc 8y ago

Also, can we start seeing this kind of re-usable multi-stage rocket used for achieving orbit in fiction?

bergoid 8y ago

The Apollo 13 astronauts would like to share a couple of anecdotes with you.

jniedrauer 8y ago
Apollo 13 (the movie) had plenty of careful checklist readbacks and minimal explosions or shaky cameras. Most scifi is more like Michael Bay in space. See Gravity for a more egregious example of a movie that tries to play itself off as "hard scifi" but ends up just being an over the top action movie.
- TremendousJudge 8y ago
  Yeah, The Martian is like, the hardest sci-fi book I've ever read, but I found the film adaptation... lacking
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

clarkmoody 8y ago

My favorite sci-fi anticipates increased autonomy of technology and incorporates that smoothly into the narrative.

timdiggerm 8y ago

If you're talking about Star Wars, definitely not, because it's intentionally unrealistic. Other sci-fi, maybe.

chucksmash 8y ago

Seems like it'd be tricky to do from a story telling perspective. Totally removes all agency from protagonists. Every fight becomes a deus ex machina - "welp, our targetting subroutines continue to be superior to their maneuvering systems so they died. Hooray us?" Or I guess more probably just a numbers game: "welp, our effective weapons range is larger than theirs, so that's that" with an MCRN exemption clause.

Florin_Andrei 8y ago
> Every fight becomes a deus ex machina Sounds like a book by Iain M. Banks.
philipkglass 8y ago
Isn't this how real-world warfare is trending already? A vehicle full of soldiers may die before they even know there was a threat flying overhead. But it's not very heroic-looking to just keep the laser designator on target until the bomb lands. I suppose that's why so many contemporary thrillers or even far-future science fiction movies devolve into hand to hand combat for the climactic showdown. It looks more interesting. (Though personally it makes me groan and want to throw things at the screen.)
- Retra 8y ago
  You can't really write a compelling story where your logistics make the hero rather than... heroism.
  - philipkglass 8y ago
    I wonder what the makers of Zero Dark Thirty did to keep it compelling. I haven't seen the movie myself. The real-life mission resulted in only one light injury among the Americans and involved zero fist fights. Osama bin Laden himself was killed before he could fire a single shot or throw a punch.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Can we finally stop having sci-fi films in which the whole outcome of the movie is solely determined on some heroic manual flying of a spaceship while simultaneously using manually aimed weapons like it's World War II? Probably no, we can't stop having some of that. We can have her alternative, and, in fact, a lot of space combat in movies and TV is not resolved that way (both because it involves highly automated maneuver and targeting, and because, especially for combats that determine the outcome of the story, it is resolved by a social or technological advantage, often one provided by the quest making up the body of the plot, not by maneuvering or targeting (except to the extent that technical or social advantage impacts those abilities.)

sandos 8y ago
I like that about the Expanse novels, automatic systems control a lot of the lower level work in battles. Of course humans still come up with the crazy ideas and sort of execute them on a higher level.

inflatableDodo 8y ago

Maybe look closely at the landing on the Hudson river. A good sci-fi plotline for getting out of hairy situations is heroic manual flying that is only made possible due to the automated systems.