Musings

[lierdumoa]

I have a lot of personal philosophies when it comes to shows. One of them came up yesterday. I was at morgandawn's house and someone made a comment about the bad science in SGA.

My response was, "Really? SGA's better about their pseudoscience than most shows I've seen provided Joe Flanigan isn't writing the episode. I mean their biology could use some work, but really their physics is...oh. You were talking about the anthropology. See, when you call it a science, I get all confused."

I am so Rodney McKay deep in my soul.

But that's the subject for another post.



Here's my personal philosophy. Bad science only hurts me if I let it. I don't let it. Because otherwise it would hurt me all the time and I'd stop being a sci-fi fan altogether. I've learned to call magic when I see it. I've learned to understand my show's writers.

Honestly I see pretty much all the anthropology in SGA as a giant shoutout to classic Trek. The Genii are a perfect example. Here's an alien race that's 60 years behind us technologically. And it's eeeeevil! Let's make their uniforms look just like the Germans' in WWII! I mean really, the entire show is a giant shoutout. Hey, it's like they took the title Star Trek and replaced "Trek" with "Gate" -- GET IT?!? GET IT?!?

::cough::

Take the large, chunky holes in BSG's anthropology. Interstellar space travel. Field medicine and surgical techniques circa 2006. Gene sequencing machine engineered by Gaius Baltar, Jack of all sciences, master of...all, apparently. Field medicine and surgical techniques circa 2006. I mean, that would make sense in, say, SGA if there were a planet working really hard on weapons technology but not bothering to develop their medecine because hey! Everyone dies by wraith! Trying to put equal focus on medicine would be a waste of resources. But BSG has no such circumstances. There's no good reason why they would be so advanced in one field and so stunted in another.

Unless magic is at work.

Or better yet, fate. A path of societal development foretold by the gods, SO SAY WE ALL.

See? Now I feel better. God works in mysterious ways. Magic explains all. I keep my sanity. I'm not getting mad at a show for failing to be meticulous about something that is clearly not one of the writers' priorities.



At the beginning of SGA the creators tried to get military approval for their show. The military told them they'd need to get rid of John Sheppard's hair. The creators decided John's hair was more important.

And thank goodness for that.

The next time someone holds a gun wrong or salutes wrong or whatever, I'm just going to picture John in a crew cut and count my blessings.

Comments

[crownglass39.livejournal.com]

TPTB made a good decision.
SGA just wouldn't be the same without JF's emotional hair.

[fan-this.livejournal.com]

The military told them they'd need to get rid of John Sheppard's hair. The creators decided John's hair was more important.

Truer words have ne'er been spoken.

[amireal.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, friend who's father was military said that while it might irritate some CO's, Sheppard's hair is fine as long as it doesn't brush his collar.

I think the military just likes to look extra spiffy on tv.

[chasarumba.livejournal.com]

I pretty much have the exact same philosophy about "bad science" in my beloved sci-fi shows, like Farscape. Whatevah. I got Crichton (and Aeryn) in leather pants, so you ain't gonna hear me complaining ;)

[ladyflowdi.livejournal.com]

Hah! I agree over the Trek geekgasms. In my heart of hearts, Peter Deluise and all the guys are my baby daddy.

Word on BSG. It huurrtss precious, when the perfectly logical development of a society is ignored, or worse, never addressed. Especially if there's a glaring hole the size of China smack dab in the middle of it staring at you like the biggest, pinkest elephant ever thought into existence. "It's war! We're fighting evil aliens! We don't have time to advance medicine, even though there are only like, three of us left and we're the last of our race! D'oh!"

I know scientists freak out over the bad physics/chemistry on their favorite show, but as an anthropologist, I freak out over this kind of stuff.

Thank God I suspended my disbelief and left it in the restaurant at the end of the universe.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

At the beginning of SGA the creators tried to get military approval for their show. The military told them they'd need to get rid of John Sheppard's hair. The creators decided John's hair was more important.

And thank goodness for that.

The next time someone holds a gun wrong or salutes wrong or whatever, I'm just going to picture John in a crew cut and count my blessings.

*grins*

So say we all.

[kalikahuntress.livejournal.com]

When people diss SGA about the bad science, I'm always amazed because all sci-fi shows have bad science. That is why it is science fiction.

[carta.livejournal.com]

I tend to give a LOT of leeway on shows I love, if the reason I love them is character-based and not procedure-based. I love SGA because I love Rodney, and Weir (I know, I'm one of the few), and Teyla, and Sheppard etc. I don't care if the military stuff is right or wrong, because I don't watch it for that. I don't care if the anthropology or physics or whatever is correct because, again, I don't watch for that. My disbelief is suspended so high for some shows that the Earth is a speck to it.

Did that make sense? Probably not. The point is, I totally agree with you. The show is fun! Who cares if it's not exactly correct in every detail, or any detail? Pretty people shooting guns, weirdly sexy aliens, Teyla's midriff - all incentives not to nitpick. *g*

(In contrast, I only made it about fifteen minute into First Monday. I had to stop when the US Supreme Court clerk was making an anti-death penalty argument by saying "This guy was struck by lightening and didn't die. If God can't kill him, what gives us the right?" And I laughed and laughed, closed VLC, and deleted the show from my harddrive forever. No suspension of anything for that lame bit of writing.)

[wychwood]

At the beginning of SGA the creators tried to get military approval for their show. The military told them they'd need to get rid of John Sheppard's hair. The creators decided John's hair was more important.

Which, really, tells you just about everything you need to know about the show before you even start *g*.

I tend to think of SGA's science as actually being pretty good. But that's because I pay some attention to the physics and computer science, and put my fingers in my ears and go lalalalalalala whenever they mention biology or medicine. Otherwise my brain will melt. Apart from in Allies, the computer stuff has been fairly believable.

[vange.livejournal.com]

Honestly I see pretty much all the anthropology in SGA as a giant shoutout to classic Trek.

Have you seen the Richard Dean Anderson episode of the Simpsons? "Of the four Star franchises: Wars, Trek, Gate, and Search; Stargate is by far my third favorite."

At the beginning of SGA the creators tried to get military approval for their show. The military told them they'd need to get rid of John Sheppard's hair. The creators decided John's hair was more important.

So the Air Force's fondness of SG-1 doesn't transfer over? That's disappointing. I guess the Air Force Chief of Staff won't be guest starring as himself again.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

I am so Rodney McKay deep in my soul.

Uh-huh.

Take the large, chunky holes in BSG's anthropology.

Oh, God, yes. I love the characters and the premise so much, compelling and cool and flawed, but JESUS, the science and world-building makes me weep on occasion.

The creators decided John's hair was more important.

So glad they had their priorities straight.

Or maybe not quite so straight, of course.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Yessssssss. God, there was so much leather on that show. *SO MUCH* There was that one season of all leather all the time.

::nostalgic sigh::

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Dude, OMG I am the biggest Weir fan ever. I'm making a Weir vid that's still not done after three months because it has to be *perfect.* I've written essays worth of meta on how awesome she is. I perv all over her every single episode. I...could go on, but I won't.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Ah, but not all pseudoscience is created equal.

There is a difference between the pseudoscience that is rougly based on modernday scientific knowledge and the pseudoscience that just uses catchphrases to mean whatever the hell the writers want it to mean.

The ZPM works as a fictional concept.
Theoretically (according to string theory) if you could somehow bottle subspace time and draw energy from it, the amount of energy would be huge. That part makes sense. The actual bottling of it is explained away as superior technology from an advanced race, which also makes sense.

On the other hand, saying one of the properties of a wormhole is that it only lets things through in discrete units -- that was completely pulled out of somebody's ass.

In the former example the writers are inventing technology that finds a loophole in a law of physics. In the latter, the writers are inventing a law of physics.

Or rather, it's the difference between saying, "Hey, what if we built a machine that could fly using the same principles by which birds fly!" and saying, "Hey, what if we built a machine made out of an imaginary material that was mysteriously immune to gravity!"

::reads over comment::

Oh my God, I'm such a h0r.

::posts it anyway::

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yes. People should read the disclaimer.

And yeah. Their biology really is voodoo. But, well, so is everyone else's.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Heeeeeee! Great quote.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yes, thank god they had their priorities bent.

:P

[kalikahuntress.livejournal.com]

Very true, I should of added that the show's physics is very good but their biology and genetics, like every other show, is bad. And I enjoyed this response a lot, lol. I can't tell you how many physic books I bought because of SGA.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

And I enjoyed this response a lot, lol.

Yay! Good to know I'm not the only one who overthinks things.

I got The Elegant Universe back in eleventh grade when my physics teacher recommended it. Never got more than halfway through, but it's still sitting on my bookshelf, right next to my copy of Alice in Wonderland.

I remember talking to adrienne2, or maybe it was permetaform after Conversion where John turns into a bug in a matter of days and us being like -- what on earth did Beckett make that retrovirus out of? EBOLA?!?

[permetaform]

what on earth did Beckett make that retrovirus out of? EBOLA?!?

dude, it's Beckett, of COURSE he did. o.o

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

My preferred theory is top sekrit crazy virulent government designer virus. Designed by Beckett himself.

XD