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If you didn't finish watching Interstellar you missed out. It is one of the best phys-fi movies out there. The physics consultant on that movie was Kip Thorne [

If you didn't finish watching Interstellar you missed out. It is one of the best phys-fi movies out there. The physics consultant on that movie was Kip Thorne [0], a giant of gravitational physics and a Noble laureate. Phys-fi movies don't get any better than this. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip_Thorne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip_Thorne

credit_guy 6y ago
That's the thing, I was aware of all the hype about this movie, including the terrific consulting. After 20 minutes though, I gave up. What exactly did I miss? Some time travel, some worm holes? Well, I don't personally think that has anything to do with science. For my taste, The Martian is the best hard sci-fi book and sci-fi movie out there.
- growlist 6y ago
  I also thought it was pretty dreadful, even attempting to suspend my disbelief etc.
- avian 6y ago
  I completely agree with you regarding Interstellar. I think it’s all about expectations. It was advertised to be this hard sci-fi with plausible physics and it wasn’t, as you say. On the other hand, I remember enjoying watching the Core. It’s a stupid kind of sci-fi that allows you to suspend your disbelief and have fun. What else can you do with a movie that literally calls the metal the ship is made of unobtanium?
  - mcv 6y ago
    It does make me wonder how they obtain the metal to make the ship, though. I agree, though. Stupid space-fantasy can be tons of fun. Hard-SF always gets criticised for not being truly hard-SF. Even in the Martian, the adjustments needed to pick him up at the end would mean they're never going to make it back to Earth. Does it matter? It's still a fun movie. But balancing between fun and scientific accuracy can be hard, and a slip can be jarring. So how does everybody feel about The Expanse? There's some explicit super-science McGuffins in there, but most of it seems about as accurate as you could hope for, given the setting. Travel takes months. Not entire sure how their engines work, because the Rocinante does change course a lot without carrying insane amounts of fuel, so they do seem to have some sort of fantasy fuel.
    - Valgrim 6y ago
      ToughSF wrote a nice blog post trying to design a functional Epstein drive. He ended up choosing Deuterium and Helium-3 fusion reactions (which create little neutrons but lots of protons) happening far behind the ship to prevent overheating, picked up by a very strong magnetic field to provide thrust. http://toughsf.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-expanses-epstein-drive.html http://toughsf.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-expanses-epstein-dri...
- pmezard 6y ago
  If the first 20mn turned you off, I am afraid it will get worse with the rest of the movie. That said there are nice CGI of the black hole, where the consulting part really shines. BTW, there is a "Mindscape podcast" episode [1] with Kip Thorne where he explains what technically accurate parts were kept, and the others where he had to (unhappily) let go. [1] https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2018/11/26/episode-24-kip-thorne-on-gravitational-waves-time-travel-and-interstellar/ https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2018/11/26/epis...

credit_guy 6y ago

That's the thing, I was aware of all the hype about this movie, including the terrific consulting. After 20 minutes though, I gave up. What exactly did I miss? Some time travel, some worm holes? Well, I don't personally think that has anything to do with science. For my taste, The Martian is the best hard sci-fi book and sci-fi movie out there.

growlist 6y ago
I also thought it was pretty dreadful, even attempting to suspend my disbelief etc.
avian 6y ago
I completely agree with you regarding Interstellar. I think it’s all about expectations. It was advertised to be this hard sci-fi with plausible physics and it wasn’t, as you say. On the other hand, I remember enjoying watching the Core. It’s a stupid kind of sci-fi that allows you to suspend your disbelief and have fun. What else can you do with a movie that literally calls the metal the ship is made of unobtanium?
- mcv 6y ago
  It does make me wonder how they obtain the metal to make the ship, though. I agree, though. Stupid space-fantasy can be tons of fun. Hard-SF always gets criticised for not being truly hard-SF. Even in the Martian, the adjustments needed to pick him up at the end would mean they're never going to make it back to Earth. Does it matter? It's still a fun movie. But balancing between fun and scientific accuracy can be hard, and a slip can be jarring. So how does everybody feel about The Expanse? There's some explicit super-science McGuffins in there, but most of it seems about as accurate as you could hope for, given the setting. Travel takes months. Not entire sure how their engines work, because the Rocinante does change course a lot without carrying insane amounts of fuel, so they do seem to have some sort of fantasy fuel.
  - Valgrim 6y ago
    ToughSF wrote a nice blog post trying to design a functional Epstein drive. He ended up choosing Deuterium and Helium-3 fusion reactions (which create little neutrons but lots of protons) happening far behind the ship to prevent overheating, picked up by a very strong magnetic field to provide thrust. http://toughsf.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-expanses-epstein-drive.html http://toughsf.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-expanses-epstein-dri...
pmezard 6y ago
If the first 20mn turned you off, I am afraid it will get worse with the rest of the movie. That said there are nice CGI of the black hole, where the consulting part really shines. BTW, there is a "Mindscape podcast" episode [1] with Kip Thorne where he explains what technically accurate parts were kept, and the others where he had to (unhappily) let go. [1] https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2018/11/26/episode-24-kip-thorne-on-gravitational-waves-time-travel-and-interstellar/ https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2018/11/26/epis...