tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post1580550199889297231..comments2023-10-22T04:03:06.012-07:00Comments on Nothing About Everything: Sci-Fi Imagination FailuresGooberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07358115439453465833noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-24906144733169189752014-03-01T08:49:26.391-08:002014-03-01T08:49:26.391-08:00He IS the worlds most interesting Romulan!
All the...He IS the worlds most interesting Romulan!<br />All the other Romulans Spy on HIM!<br />"I don't always drink Ale, but when I do,<br />it isn't that ice-brewed Ty-D-Bowl stuff we<br />smuggle to the Federation."<br />"Stay thirsty my enemies!"John Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04875185117306503147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-46201803127987492032014-03-01T05:55:51.226-08:002014-03-01T05:55:51.226-08:00Tam's and your points aside, I don't think...Tam's and your points aside, I don't think its a creative failure, given that most scifi of the ilk you are referring is predicated on the premise of travel to other star-systems or planets, having mono-climate planets is a perfectly legitimate literary excuse to require travel (the story) to such planets.<br />Also, judging by most recent discoveries, poly-climate seems to be an unstable point. Mars was once poly-climate, but slipped off the local maxima. Over the course of eons, given stellar evolution, its reasonable to say that only a small fraction of planets would ever be poly climate, and even then its likely transitory.. Hell, during the last ice age, except for a quite small region near the equator, earth was pretty much Hoth.<br />And in prehistoric times, could easily have been Dagobah.<br />Anyway, don't get me wrong, I agree with your points, I just think its either more complex than that, or a convenient literary device.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04460916546842035435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-20533077447033818032014-03-01T05:45:47.806-08:002014-03-01T05:45:47.806-08:00If you clarified to say "planets that support...If you clarified to say "planets that support human life", sure.<br />But to use an apt scifi comparison, the EpI gungans would probably be just fine on Europa. But I will concede your point slightly. Since we don't know what exo life could be, I will keep my point, and clarify yours with "life similar to life on earth". <br />Which is somewhat circular, as you are basically saying "life like that on earth would likely develop on planets like earth".Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04460916546842035435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-40727520740269363222014-02-28T21:28:53.515-08:002014-02-28T21:28:53.515-08:00Planets that support life, Marc.
The thing all t...Planets that support life, Marc. <br /><br />The thing all the planets you listed have in common? <br /><br />None support life.<br /><br />The likelihood of life supporting planets to be uniform is far less likely. Gooberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07358115439453465833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-88330742224093292442014-02-28T17:56:37.403-08:002014-02-28T17:56:37.403-08:00As a note on the while bio region thing, its actua...As a note on the while bio region thing, its actually more common to have a planet that as a whole is way too hot, or way too cold, than to have a multi-climate goldilocks planet. I mean exo planets aside, look at our solar system. You have no-atmosphere hot planet, super dense atmosphere hell planet, multi-climate planet, Hoth with less ice, gas giant, gas giant, gas giant, gas giant, where the only reasonable moons are "death by radiation plus sulfur", hoth minus atmosphere but add radiation, cold no atmosphere rock, cold no atmosphere rock, hoth with hydrocarbon atmosphere and lakes, and rocks.<br />Seems to me that even with that sample, the universe is much more "desert planet, ice planet, water planet, rock" (mainly without atmospheres, but whatever. <br />Point is, mono-climate planets/moons are likely more common that ones with distinct wet/dry zones plus temperature bands.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04460916546842035435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-4434409007408143362014-02-28T14:08:23.950-08:002014-02-28T14:08:23.950-08:00There were at least two "21st century"-i...There were at least two "21st century"-ish worlds in ST:TNG. <br /><br />One was the one Rob mentioned, where Riker got injured and was in an alien hospital, and got found out by Bebe Neuwirth who wanted to seduce him.<br /><br />The second was the one shown in "The Best of Both Worlds", with the time capsule that ran Picard through an entire lifetime in ten minutes; they were able to launch rockets just before their demise.<br /><br />I thought the one in "Who Watches the Watchers" was somewhat advanced, but I've not seen it in ages.<br /><br />Regarding Dustydog's point, there was that episode where they found out that all the hominid species were descendants of a common race, now long gone - so the hypothetical cloaked Vorlons (to steal a race and concept from Babylon 5) would actually be right.<br /><br />Regarding Tatooine, well, it's a desert planet. If it's all desert, where would all those native life forms gets started? Given the Wild West characteristics of Tatooine, my bet is that all of these species were transplants; natives, if any, got wiped out. (If Tatooine were Arrakis, of course, things would be different. Spice > midichlorians.)<br /><br />Seeraknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-34064976321142351352014-02-27T20:11:12.127-08:002014-02-27T20:11:12.127-08:00I think there actually was one Star Trek TNG episo...I think there actually was one Star Trek TNG episode that took place on a pre-contact ~1960s technology level planet. I don't remember much about the episode, except that there was a bit of an X-Files vibe to it, with individuals on the planet insisting that there were aliens visiting the planet and the crew of the Enterprise was trying not to let the cat out of the bag and violate the Prime Directive...Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-39546650915403305452014-02-27T15:53:50.869-08:002014-02-27T15:53:50.869-08:00Maybe this is why Firefly was credible with its ...Maybe this is why Firefly was credible with its fans. They were all human, but diverse; even the Reivers and the "Deputy Marshall on Justified"batchainpullernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-60889523370743009112014-02-27T15:16:43.379-08:002014-02-27T15:16:43.379-08:00It's actually a good point. If you consider t...It's actually a good point. If you consider the physical dimorphism in some species, it really wouldn't be too much of a stretch for an outsider to look at humans, vulcans, klingons, ferengi, and borg and assume that they are different races or breeds of the same species. They are all humanoid, bi-pedal, with all the requisite parts in more or less the same places. Captain Kirk did a convincing job of proving that they can at least interbreed (if not proving for certain that they can all reproduce amongst themselves like humans and vulcans can do, but there is that one Green Girl in sector 5 that keeps filing child support claims, so...)<br /><br />Consider dogs, where you get everything from Chihuahuas and Bichon Frises to Newfies and Great Danes all wrapped up in the same species, and you'll see that it really isn't that much of a stretch to think that a society would make that mistake about the Crew of the Enterprise. <br /><br />That being said, I did not miss your point as fully as it seems I did in writing this. Just pointing that out. (They'd see us as the other, too). Gooberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07358115439453465833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-40046239339329631712014-02-27T14:52:17.293-08:002014-02-27T14:52:17.293-08:00You miss the unintentional genius of Star Trek. E...You miss the unintentional genius of Star Trek. Every high level species cloaks their planet. What first world civilization wants to be bothered by a poor immigrant tourist spaceship? <br />They would look at humans, vulcans, klingons, ferengi, borg, and see one species squabbling internally.dustydognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-37038290316232825072014-02-27T12:54:53.325-08:002014-02-27T12:54:53.325-08:00If you knew me you'd know that what you just s...If you knew me you'd know that what you just said is infinitely more funny to me than you could even imagine. I just finished building a tribal casino. It probably would warrant a pretty funny blog post of its own (maybe even a funny tirade) but I try to separate my professional life from my blogging life, just out of self-preservation. <br /><br />You've got a gift, Tam. Gooberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07358115439453465833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-20944943585996525552014-02-27T11:42:57.529-08:002014-02-27T11:42:57.529-08:00Now I want to see a Tuskan casino outside the gate...Now I want to see a Tuskan casino outside the gates of the Imperial starport. :DTamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-65225541442015073282014-02-27T11:27:18.536-08:002014-02-27T11:27:18.536-08:00“the presence of multiple intelligent species on a...“the presence of multiple intelligent species on a planet you run into a bit of a problem. In the star wars universe, interstellar travel has existed for Milena.”<br /><br />Understood. I probably didn’t help by mentioning the cantina, because it is basically an interstellar truck stop, so that was a bad example. But my example about the Hutts and the sand people is still valid. <br /><br /> “The Hutts did not originate on Tatooine, they came there,” <br /><br />That must be a bit of “extended universe” info that I missed along the way. I did not realize that the Hutts were transplants, but I don’t think it changes the point that I made, either way<br /><br />“Likewise on Naboo, the Gungans were likely the native intelligent species. The humans seen were likely transplants.”<br /><br />Naboo is a decent example of what I’m talking about. I don’t necessarily think it’s important that both species are native to the planet. In fact, in a case where one species is the invader, it makes it even worse. The gungans, one assumes, would be the native sentients on Naboo. They weren’t wiped out, true, but they were forced to live underwater, which it is hinted at in the movie is not their natural state of being. They are terrestrial beings that were driven under the water because the Naboo forced them there at some point in time, likely after a conflict that ensued after the newcomers and the natives got into a little tussle. Probably started by the Gungans, trying to push away these new invaders eating their food and mining their ore.<br /><br />Look at Native Americans vs. White people for a good example. Really, the only reason the Native Americans were allowed to continue existing was the hope that they would integrate into white society because they are at least the same species as us, and given that there were once 80 to 100 million Native Americans and the census says that there are now about 2 million left, and that’s up from historic lows arund the turn of the last century, they didn’t exactly profit, even though they were the same species. On Naboo, no such thing would be possible, and there would be less sympathy for a being that is a completely different species. TO be honest, I doubt the early Naboo had any qualms about literally EATING Gungans, since they aren’t human, so who cares? <br /><br />Look at what the Aussies did to the Aboriginals down under. The only reason they weren’t wiped out is due to the fact that the Aboriginals were able to withdraw into an area the Europeans didn’t want to be, and so stopped competing for resources with them. <br />Gooberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07358115439453465833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-86196025812800991692014-02-27T10:42:30.701-08:002014-02-27T10:42:30.701-08:00You raise some excellent points about biodiversity...You raise some excellent points about biodiversity, and bioregions, As well as monolithc cultures. This is something that has always bothered me about Sci-Fi, particularly Star Wars and Star Trek, but at the same time, with star wars and the presence of multiple intelligent species on a planet you run into a bit of a problem. In the star wars universe, interstellar travel has existed for Milena. The Hutts did not originate on Tatooine, they came there, although the Jawas and the Sand People do present a bit of a problem. All of the other diverse forms of sentient life were seen in the cantina in the starport. Every one of them came from somewhere else, not just as a species, but personally. <br /><br />Likewise on Naboo, the Gungans were likely the native intelligent species. The humans seen were likely transplants. <br /><br />Kenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13893172821328175709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006608480992845396.post-55151861421244958382014-02-27T10:17:39.332-08:002014-02-27T10:17:39.332-08:00" How did Romulans become, every one of them,..."<i> How did Romulans become, every one of them, spies, if all every one of them was doing was spying on another? Doesn’t that seem sort of pointless? Why spy on someone when you already know what he’s doing? “What did your target do today, Romulan?”<br /><br />“He spied on another Romulan!” <br /><br />“OHHH, that’s some news I can use to my benefit when I’m spying on my Roluman later today!” </i>"<br /><br />Oh, man, that was perfect! :DTamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.com