What tropes in science fiction annoy you?

[Kraig]

The panic that sets in when it is stated in a movie that the "reactor is critical!"

Which means the number of neutrons produced by chain reaction is constant, self sufficient and stable.

Prompt criticality is what you want to worry about in a nuclear reactor.

 

[Set Harth]

"we're the only ship in range"

then someone in starfleet is not at all good at their job, that's just stupid

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

"we're the only ship in range"

then someone in starfleet is not at all good at their job, that's just stupid

Every single Trek has done that it's a bit too convenient but we know why it has been done. It only is a bother when people mention it in discussion because frankly it's bloody stupid and shows a real lack of organization on the part of Starfleet.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Every single Trek has done that it's a bit too convenient but we know why it has been done. It only is a bother when people mention it in discussion because frankly it's bloody stupid and shows a real lack of organization on the part of Starfleet.

If there was nothing wrong with Star Fleet there would long since have been peace throughout the galaxy.

I don't need my heroes, or my entertainment, to be perfect. Just interesting. And occasionally sexy.

 

[dupersuper]

"we're the only ship in range"

then someone in starfleet is not at all good at their job, that's just stupid

It's fine when it's during one of their exploratory missions (5 year or ongoing), but the times it has happened
around Earth...

 

[Captain pl1ngpl0ng]

A rebel group or the entire humanity are about to go down, and there is one dude who is
trying to fix some device or something so that we all can survive and then some leader figure comes along:

-How much time do you need to fix this so that we can save the earth?
-i think three hours
-you got 1
- oh ok....

and then one hour later it's fixed....


--

 

[Shazam!]

"we're the only ship in range"

Generations was the worst for that when they were a stone's throw from Earth and all the various shipyards.

 

[Forbin]

Getting a bit tired of the "Robots/androids developing humanity" trope, which has, of course, been around since, like, Astro Boy, but it's all over the place these days - Data himself, Picard, Humans, Westworld, Raised by Wolves...

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Raised By Wolves? Robots? Sorry haven't seen it or heard of it.

 

[JD]

I can't remember if this has been mentioned, but sound in space has always been a pet peeve of mine.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I can't remember if this has been mentioned, but sound in space has always been a pet peeve of mine.

Oh come on JD.. You know it's just done for dramatic effect. It shouldn't really bother you.

 

[fireproof78]

I can't remember if this has been mentioned, but sound in space has always been a pet peeve of mine.

Yup. Always drives me crazy and it gets treated as being "cool" when it is anything but.

 

[Aragorn]

This season of Obi-Wan Kenobi had the "I won't kill someone I'm supposed to kill even though I'll try to kill that person next time" maneuver three times.

 

[JD]

Oh come on JD.. You know it's just done for dramatic effect. It shouldn't really bother you.

Oh, I know, but it still bugs me.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Oh, I know, but it still bugs me.

Fair enough.
Ooh one that gets me. Leaking spacesuit but the hero or heroine is always saved in the very, very nick of time.

 

[MacLeod]

"we're the only ship in range"

then someone in starfleet is not at all good at their job, that's just stupid

”Space,” it says, ”is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mind-boggingly big it is. I mean you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space.

So it is fesabile for there to be only one ship in range, that being said if you are dealing with your capital world i.e. Earth it begins to stretch credibility that there is only one ship in rabge. ST V: TFF was even worse there was more than one ship that could hav dealt with the situation and if you wanted Kirk just give him command of the othert ship for the duration of the mission.

 

[Enterprise1701]

"we're the only ship in range"

then someone in starfleet is not at all good at their job, that's just stupid

It was believable once for a frontier research station housing a top-secret project away from the prying eyes of enemies, but the Kelvin movies were just stupid at it.

Vulcan a Federation founder world has no local ships or even a Starfleet garrison of their own?

After an apparent Starfleet renegade bombed HQ, nobody is left on Earth with guns to help the Enterprise? And if you argue that Marcus the militant sent everyone on a wild goose chase while he surreptitiously cleaned up his Khan mess, why didn't the Enterprise pick up any warp signatures or comm chatter from capital ships departing the Sol system?

Yorktown Station was a little better in getting shots off from gun emplacements and drones against Krall's swarm fleet.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I thought all the people with guns did arrive at HQ but after everything had all but happened. So they are tardy at being on time

 

[diankra]

Star Trek used scanners to evaluate a planet's environment first. Enterprise had a decontamination chamber for away teams and the transportation acted as a filter to remove any contaminants from an organism before it rematerialized.

In the TOS writer's guide there's a quote from Kirk's orders telling him to restrict his landings to planets with Earth-like conditions. Doesn't explain the oxygen on often plant less worlds, but the point is at least addressed.

 

[diankra]

Referencing stuff way back in the thread:
Primeval had a time travel plot where the change stuck: at the end of season one things changed, and never changed back (Lester never had a knighthood, Claudia survived an attempt on her life as a baby that killed her parents, leading to her being adopted as a baby and raised under a different name, the team had moved to a specialist facility ages ago, and one of the cast took the opportunity to make his character more serious, after overplaying the comic relief in season one).
Outside SF, The Interceptor was a bad example of the villainous gloat: the whole concept is that crime boss Trevor Eve never says anything incriminating on the phone in case it's being tapped, but at the end he has a good old gloat to the captured hero without checking if he's wearing a wire...