Science fiction movies can be fun, and sometimes boring, when Hollywood producers want to show us a 2 1/2 hour film one when 90 minutes would be enough. But what about the "science" behind them? BBC News says it's pretty bad in "When sci-fi forgets the science."
For example, the metamorphosis of Bruce Banner into Hulk, based on work of marine biologist Greg Szulgit from Hiram College, Ohio, about sea cucumbers, is qualified by himself as "really awful". Let's take a look at him in case you already forgot him (Credit: BBC News).
Tom Rogers, one of the guys behind the Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics website, agrees.
"The metamorphosis of Bruce Banner into the Hulk is ridiculous from the standpoint of physics alone," he says.
But Hulk is not alone in appealing to nonsense to make a plot point.
The "Matrix Reloaded" sought to explain exactly how the consensual hallucination that most people in the film's universe mistake for real life is actually generated. This confused some cinemagoers, and just plain bored others.
The author also looked at "bad science" and "lazy writers" behind movies like Spiderman, and returns to the past, with "The Incredible Shrinking Man", the famous movie from Jack Arnold.
The 1957 classic "The Incredible Shrinking Man" used radiation and pesticides to start its star shrinking and got away with it thanks to the writing and uplifting ending.
"A single questionable plot device can be forgiven in the name of art," says Mr Rogers, "However, the rest of the plot should fit within the boundaries of known physical law."
Source: Mark Ward, BBC News, August 25, 2003
8:13:22 PM
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