Common Sci-Fi tropes that annoy you!

[wulf3n]

I recently started watching Defiance, an ok sci-fi series but nothing special, and I've noticed there are 2 things modern sci-fi series do that really bug me.

1) Make up new curse words. I understand this is a ratings thing, but it still comes off as incredibly lame. In Defiance the word is "shtako" as the alien version of shit. Now if it was only used when the character in question is speaking the alien language I wouldn't really have a problem, but not when the character is speaking english.

2) Using new titles for existing jobs/roles when the existing word works fine. In defiance they use the term "Law Keeper" instead of say sheriff. Why? Why does this one job get a new name and not others?

So my fellow Escapists, what sci-fi Tropes annoy you?

 

[Queen Michael]

When certain things really show their age when it comes to diversity. Like in old SF especialy, where there are way more male scientists and leaders than female ones. This isn't a social justice thing; it's the lack of realism in the idea that people hundreds or thousands of years in the future still wouldn't have decreased racial and gender discrimination a bit since the book was written, even though it was written in a time when that kind of discrimination was steadily decreasing.

 

[Zontar]

A related rant- the way English and Chinese integration worked in Firefly. Yes, I thought it was monumentally cool to see a future where the two languages were integrating, because that makes a profound statement about where our world is heading. But Whedon handled it ineptly. In real cases I know of where two languages have merged, adoption of swears comes from the language with the lower social status, not the higher. And yet, in Firefly we see all these space cowboys and petty thieves drinking wood alcohol spouting Chinese swears, and only a couple of glimpses of high-class people speaking Chinese for high-class purposes. And yet, it seems that in general in their society, the higher-class a person is, the more of Chinese culture in general they adopt. So why is there a disconnect between cultural behavior and language use?

As someone who lives in a society which has two very integrated but still distinct cultures, I can tell you this depiction is actually very normal for a mixing society. Swear words are the first thing that are adopted by the "lower" culture (or, if neither is dominant, the opposing one), with the other parts of the society taking longer to mix (if they do at all) with higher classes of society being the faster ones to change and adapt.

OT: When laser weapons of perfect accuracy are only accurate when the good guys use them. I don't care that the bad guys are shooting with the accuracy of real weapons, if you can hit a bulls eye on the first shot from a hundred yards, it better be a sniper riffle or the only guy in the show who can pull it off.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Pinocchio Robots. Fuck you, I am fucking sick of your "I wanna be a real human!" bullshit. Mass Effect 3, you're one of the biggest culprits of this. The Geth and EDI were perfectly happy living as bits and bytes, why did you have to go and ruin that in favor of this played out junk?

 

[Erttheking]

Pinocchio Robots. Fuck you, I am fucking sick of your "I wanna be a real human!" bullshit. Mass Effect 3, you're one of the biggest culprits of this. The Geth and EDI were perfectly happy living as bits and bytes, why did you have to go and ruin that in favor of this played out junk?

I'm torn on this. On the one hand it can be used well (See Data from Star Trek) but I agree with you that Mass Effect 3 took synthetic characters that were interesting the way that they were and make it so that them being like Humans was ideal in the sake of fulfilling a cliche when it really didn't work. (For fuck's sake, Legion was SCARED by the concept of individuality.)

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Pinocchio Robots. Fuck you, I am fucking sick of your "I wanna be a real human!" bullshit. Mass Effect 3, you're one of the biggest culprits of this. The Geth and EDI were perfectly happy living as bits and bytes, why did you have to go and ruin that in favor of this played out junk?

I'm torn on this. On the one hand it can be used well (See Data from Star Trek) but I agree with you that Mass Effect 3 took synthetic characters that were interesting the way that they were and make it so that them being like Humans was ideal in the sake of fulfilling a cliche when it really didn't work. (For fuck's sake, Legion was SCARED by the concept of individuality.)

The difference is that becoming more human was part of Data's programming by doctor Soong. Data had several dormant programs, as well as his emotion chip that soong had left for him to discover as he developed.

The Geth were created by the Quarians as machines. They developed their own consciousness and culture, rather than having it implanted in some dormant program by the Quarians. The Geth are a self made people, not the result of one scientist's tinkering with the nature of humanity explored through a machine.

 

[Thaluikhain]

When certain things really show their age when it comes to diversity. Like in old SF especialy, where there are way more male scientists and leaders than female ones. This isn't a social justice thing; it's the lack of realism in the idea that people hundreds or thousands of years in the future still wouldn't have decreased racial and gender discrimination a bit since the book was written, even though it was written in a time when that kind of discrimination was steadily decreasing.

Yeah, very much that.

Also...the implication that people will accept robots and aliens and FTL, but not female scientists, cause that's outlandish. Worse when people find it easier to relate to aliens than women.

...

Oh...when they come up with an alien world, only it is exactly the same as Earth. What's the point of being alien if you aren't going to be alien?

Worse, when the entire planet is exactly the same as part of Earth. Everywhere is tropical rainforest or something.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

Aliens being very human in appearance. It's perhaps not as prevalent now as it was a few decades ago although even now most aliens are at least humanoid shaped. I just feel like there should be a lot more evolutionary diversity. Not mentioning any names but slapping a couple of pointy ears on someone's head makes for a pretty underwhelming alien (nothing against a particular character, just the idea in general). Mass Effect gave us a few cool ones (rachni, elcor, hanar) but there are still plenty of human shaped races. And Animorphs, while not the highest quality fiction, had some pretty interesting aliens too.

 

[Zontar]

Aliens being very human in appearance. It's perhaps not as prevalent now as it was a few decades ago although even now most aliens are at least humanoid shaped. I just feel like there should be a lot more evolutionary diversity. Not mentioning any names but slapping a couple of pointy ears on someone's head makes for a pretty underwhelming alien (nothing against a particular character, just the idea in general). Mass Effect gave us a few cool ones (rachni, elcor, hanar) but there are still plenty of human shaped races. And Animorphs, while not the highest quality fiction, had some pretty interesting aliens too.

This one also tends to annoy me. What I really like, though, is the occasion where a race that one would think fits this description is actually a group of people who used to be human or even still are. Though for the general humanoid shape it could be justified in that on a planet with a similar atmosphere, gravity and climate to Earth many of the traits which made us the dominant species would not be something to be surprised to find (though the ability to breed with said aliens should still be impossible, and if we're using that logic most aliens shouldn't even be carbon based given the universe we live in).

 

[HardkorSB]

1) Make up new curse words. I understand this is a ratings thing, but it still comes off as incredibly lame. In Defiance the word is "shtako" as the alien version of shit. Now if it was only used when the character in question is speaking the alien language I wouldn't really have a problem, but not when the character is speaking english.

I sometimes curse in my native language, even though I'm not living in my home country anymore.
Some of my friends and co-workers do that too.
Swear words are often said as a reactionary response and your brain usually goes for the most familiar ones.

2) Using new titles for existing jobs/roles when the existing word works fine. In defiance they use the term "Law Keeper" instead of say sheriff. Why? Why does this one job get a new name and not others?

I think that's a bad example since most countries don't use that word.
Law keeper is more universally understood and I think that's the point.

 

[Genocidicles]

I once read that sci-fi needs a straight man almost as much as a good comedy routine, and I kind of think this is boring.

There's ton of sci-fi where someone from our time (or whatever time it was made)is teleported into space or into the future, and nine times out ten they just become some boring audience stand-in, while all of the other characters seem so much more interesting.

I think the only time I liked this kind of character was Fry from Futurama, and that's partly because he stops being the "Huh, the future sure is weird" guy by around the third season and just goes with flow.

Also I'm starting to dislike how the future society is basically ours with spaceships. Other people have mentioned that the future would be more diverse which I agree with. A spaceship in the 25th century crewed by mostly white men, with the token woman and black guy seems unrealistic.

But aside from diversity there are other things. They usually don't think about what amazing technology we'd have... we're already seeing cybernetic implants pop up in real life, are you telling me there's only a couple of cyborgs in the future? Or what about genetic engineering? The few times I see either of these pop up they're usually just used to help the disabled. I'm sure that if humanity could build spaceships that go faster than the speed of light, they'd be using genetic engineering for more than just curing genetic disorders and cybernetic implants for more than helping amputees.

 

[an annoyed writer]

Aliens being very human in appearance. It's perhaps not as prevalent now as it was a few decades ago although even now most aliens are at least humanoid shaped. I just feel like there should be a lot more evolutionary diversity. Not mentioning any names but slapping a couple of pointy ears on someone's head makes for a pretty underwhelming alien (nothing against a particular character, just the idea in general). Mass Effect gave us a few cool ones (rachni, elcor, hanar) but there are still plenty of human shaped races. And Animorphs, while not the highest quality fiction, had some pretty interesting aliens too.

This one also bugged me to some extent, though it's been getting solved in more recent years. I still want to design and experience tech that isn't designed with the human body in mind, however. While a lot of aliens are losing their resemblance to humanity, I've yet to see spaceships that are designed exclusively for the ergonomic comfort of a large Crab-like race or something.

 

[Zipa]

Futuristic laser or energy weapons that are less effective than a normal gun like what we have on Earth today, Star Trek is a big culprit of this, especially Voyager. Meanwhile on DS9 someone takes a shot in to the leg and loses the leg.

 

[wickedmonkey]

The problem I have with "shtako" in particular is that it sounds so forced when it's used, something like "shto" would have fit better for me. The language in Farscape, for me, is a good example of this - "frell" - "f*ck", "arn" - "hour", "trelk" - "whore/tramp/tart" etc., the words fit into the sentence comfortably and the language flows.

As to the topic - aliens that are humans with stick-on bit to make their face look weird, granted a lot of this is because of technology and budgeting for sci-fi shows, but it has been done right occasionally - sticking with Farscape, Pilot was pretty cool and Rygel was different too.

 

[Megalodon]

Other people have mentioned that the future would be more diverse which I agree with.

Not necessarily, it really depends on what happens in the future, irl we may continue down the path of diversity, or we may regress thanks to unforeseen circumstance (as has happened before). One slant on this I did enjoy for its novelty was in Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy, where they've found that ethnically segregated colonisation has a better success rate and produce more peaceful prosperous colonies. So that future is substantially more homogeneous than the present day.

But aside from diversity there are other things. They usually don't think about what amazing technology we'd have... we're already seeing cybernetic implants pop up in real life, are you telling me there's only a couple of cyborgs in the future? Or what about genetic engineering? The few times I see either of these pop up they're usually just used to help the disabled. I'm sure that if humanity could build spaceships that go faster than the speed of light, they'd be using genetic engineering for more than just curing genetic disorders and cybernetic implants for more than helping amputees.

I sort of agree and disagree with you here. While a bit more of that sort of tech would be nice (and does exist, in ME for example they state that Alliance troops undergo genetic enhancements), it also requires tact and skill to pull of well. Thanks to most writers not being scientists, far too often their attempts at explaining or utilising that sort of thing fall hideously flat. While this isn't enough to sink a work on its own, it never fails to make me cringe (although it's not only sci fi that does this). Which is actually one trope that does annoy me, biological technobabble, because it being so wrong kicks me right out of the experience (but a good piece will draw me back in quickly). Physics stuff can get away with it because I don't know enough physics to pick it apart, chemistry can go either way.

 

[Thaluikhain]

But aside from diversity there are other things. They usually don't think about what amazing technology we'd have... we're already seeing cybernetic implants pop up in real life, are you telling me there's only a couple of cyborgs in the future? Or what about genetic engineering? The few times I see either of these pop up they're usually just used to help the disabled. I'm sure that if humanity could build spaceships that go faster than the speed of light, they'd be using genetic engineering for more than just curing genetic disorders and cybernetic implants for more than helping amputees.

Not sure if that necessarily follows, but if you can build one cyborg, you can build zillions, and the technology can be applied to lots of other things. Star Trek style transporters could very, very easily get weaponised...this is mentioned in an episode of Voyager, when it turns out that that you can teleport photon torpedoes into enemy ships, only they'd never bothered doing it before. For that matter, you could not bother converting the energy back from matter...one kilogram of matter have the same energy when it's converted by a transporter as a 22 MT nuclear device. Likewise, replicators need that much energy to make one kilogram.

...

Another thing that really bugs me is when people get "vapourised" by heat rays or whatever. This generally means they disappear, all of them disappears and nothing else is affected. They aren't turned into superheated vapour which then cooks everything else in the room.

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

Single Biome Planets. This just annoys me so. I can believe if a planet is going through an Ice Age, but to have a planet that is entirely desert or forest or ocean, it's not only boring but kind of lazy on the creator's part.