Worse are the TNG helmets in First Contact which look like some kind of screen is behind the head
What tropes in science fiction annoy you?
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
- Start date
Worse are the TNG helmets in First Contact which look like some kind of screen is behind the head
White lights being used while showing any form of stargazing in TV shows and movies. I was just watching an episode of Heartland which featured a stargazing event, and they were all walking around with bright white lights. In reality, if you were to do this around stargazers, you'd be promptly get yelled at for using white lights, because white light can disrupt the eye's adaptation to the dark, and it typically takes the eyes 10-15 min to adapt to the dark. What you do if you need light is use either use a white flashlight covered in red cloth or tissue paper, or one that has red LEDs, as the red wavelength is less disruptive to the eye.
- Monoculture planets. One language, one religion, one stereotype for an entire planet.
- Ridiculously human aliens. I give live-action TV a pass for humanoid-looking aliens. But even that still doesn't excuse 90% of them having the same two sexes, reproducing like humans, have Earthlike marriages, and cultures that are just Earth ones with different names. This is scifi. At least try using your imaginations!
- Alien races described as literal insects or reptiles. Even here on Earth, past eons didn't have the same animal categories we do right now. Dinosaurs aren’t really reptiles, trilobites aren't insects, etc. An "insect-like" race, or "semi-reptillian" race, is fine. But taking literal Earth animals and just giving them their own planets is just lazy.
- Global organization of humans from all around the word, but they all have Western first names. Books particularly seem to do this, and I assume it's because the American author promised too many people to name a character after them. Stop letting your friends and relatives guilt you into naming characters after them. Its distracting!
- Humans are speshul! This is NOT a good attitude to encourage among space explorers. In scifi I only want to see it in human-supremacist villains.
- Naming the show after the ship, space station or portal. "Battlestar Galactica," "Andromeda," "Red Dwarf," "Lexx," "Stargate: SG1," "Babylon 5," "Firefly," "Serenity," and "Star Trek"s "Deep Space Nine," "Voyager," "Enterprise," and "Discovery." It's a bit irritating to see an intriguing title like "Andromeda" or "Lexx," only to learn it's just the name of the ship. Must every space series or movie revolve so heavily on one vehicle or location?
Last edited:
I love it when you visit alien planets, worlds that we have never seen before yet people have earth type names
Yep. Usually a given first name followed by a family surname. And if they use the Asian convention of putting the family name first, that's "alien." Because Earth is 'Murica.
Honestly, it males more sense for aliens to just choose literal human names like Clancy or Jose for contact with humans, because their real names can't be pronounced by us, or they just don't have names.
that would be awkward
Space exploration should be awkward.
I don't know if this has been covered here, but it's a good spot for something that bugs me...
And that's anyone can be a lawyer or run a court room.
Seen it in Trek, seen it in BSG, I think there's others. The law isn't something you need to be qualified in, anyone can rock up and lead a defence, create a prosecution and often even judge.
Bonus: every court room is American! Whatever the country, whatever the time period... all the terminology is the same, the etiquette is the same and there's gavels (or if we're Bajoran we'll go really out there and use a ball).
I wonder if it annoys professionals who see their career turned into a hobby anyone can do.
And that's anyone can be a lawyer or run a court room.
Seen it in Trek, seen it in BSG, I think there's others. The law isn't something you need to be qualified in, anyone can rock up and lead a defence, create a prosecution and often even judge.
Bonus: every court room is American! Whatever the country, whatever the time period... all the terminology is the same, the etiquette is the same and there's gavels (or if we're Bajoran we'll go really out there and use a ball).
I wonder if it annoys professionals who see their career turned into a hobby anyone can do.
That's why I was happy when Christopher Pike had to seek out a licensed Professional Defense Lawyer.
They didn't just randomly grab staff off the Enterprise-D.
Military Court Martials are something different. I think there is a precedent for non-Lawyers acting as defense counsel. But otherwise, yeah.
I thought there were dedicated JAG Officers for that role?
Is there any historical precedent for regular serving Officers/Enlisted to act as Prosecution/Defense?
Back when I was in the USN there was Judicial Punishment (Court Martial) for all ranks and Non-Judicial Punishment for enlisted (for non-serious less than felony offenses). If you were enlisted you could request judicial punishment instead.
Judicial Punishment had two forms, one with a JAG judge and no jury, or one with a JAG judge and a jury of other sailors. There were JAG lawyers for prosecution and defense, although the accused could retain civilian counsel. It was recommended if you were accused to not have a jury trial, the judge only, would be your best bet.
Non-Judicial punishment in the Navy was called Captain's Mast, presided over by the C.O.- maximum punishment would be any combination of loss of some pay, extra duty & restriction to the command, up to 30 days confinement in the brig and loss of rank (confinement (for those below the rank of noncommissioned officer) and loss of rank only applied to anyone below the rank of chief); or Executive Officer's (X.O.) Mast (held by the department head with limited punishment, usually extra duty, also called extra military instruction (EMI)). Since it was non-judicial, there weren't lawyers or judges, or anything like evidence.
The way it worked was if you were written up for some offense it would go through your chain-of-command. The Division Officer would handle it or give the write-up to the Department Head. The Department Head would either have XO's Mast and handle it with EMI, or give it to the Legal Department (JAG lawyer assigned to the ship). The Legal Department would decide if it should go to Captain's Mast (Enlisted only), or Court Martial (all ranks). Commissioned Officers might get a letter of reprimand, instead of a Court Martial, for less serious offenses that would get an enlisted man a Captain's Mast.
Last edited:
Oh it probably does....... A lot.
But people don't watch shows for accuracy but a little bit of entertainment and escape from the real world
Thanks for the insight.
You know, Riker's been given lawyer duties so often, a case could be made that he might have earned a law degree at Starfleet Academy.
And while that pun was not intended, once I realized what it was, I also didn't avoid it.
And while that pun was not intended, once I realized what it was, I also didn't avoid it.
Amazon's New Warning Labels (Snark)
Do Amazon's new quality control warnings go far enough?
johndopp.com
Similar threads
