posted
One of the reoccuring questions I have concerning Firely is how are they travelling from system to system?
In "Out of Gas" we have the ship adrift in space far off the well-traveled spacelanes. The shuttles are launced as escape vehicles. They may not make it to civilization but they are the only hope of survival for a little while.
But how do they accomplish all this? Do the shuttles have FTL capability? Obviously Serenity does or else they wouldn't get from system to system. Still, the FTL aspect isn't covered. What's it like? How does it work?
Similarly it's obvious they have artifical gravity. Of course, what SciFi civilization doesn't? (Yes, B-5 tried to explain theirs away with rotating sections of the ship but this falls a little flat upon closer inspection)
You listen to some of the dialogue of Firefly and you almost get the sense that everything takes place in the same star system. The introductory monologues mention people moving farther and father out. Book's opening monlogue even implies it's all one system with lots of moons.
Found an interesting discussion that is centered on the topic of Firefly taking place in one star system as opposed to many.
posted
Nope. I think they HAVE FTL tech, and that Firefly happens in a multitude of star systems. It's just that FTL is so commonplace and refined, that it really doesn't matter what it is or how it works. No one on the ship really cares about the physics of the engines (hell, not even Kaylee - she just KNOWS), and nor should the audience. That's not what Firefly is about.
...But now having read the thread and seeing that Joss has concluded in the movie that everything is in one system after all, well... Whatever.
posted
Personally, I would prefer them to be scattered amongst many star systems, but after watching the entire DVD set, there's no evidence of any FTL at all. So I guess I have to accept the "one HUGE system" theory.
quote:Originally posted by HerbShrump: (Yes, B-5 tried to explain theirs away with rotating sections of the ship but this falls a little flat upon closer inspection)
I'm curious as to why you say this? I don't remember seeing any problems with the way they showed it.
"...Joss has concluded in the movie that everything is in one system..."
Suspension of disbelief : shattered.
Ug.
We just talked about this a week or so ago- the whole notion of "hundreds of worlds" being in one system is just.....
Bad.
But, I did find a nice Firefly poster while looking for more info on the whole "one system" thing and if anyone had noted how many planets were actually shown during the series.
[ September 18, 2005, 01:52 AM: Message edited by: Jason Abbadon ]
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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quote:Originally posted by HerbShrump: (Yes, B-5 tried to explain theirs away with rotating sections of the ship but this falls a little flat upon closer inspection)
I'm curious as to why you say this? I don't remember seeing any problems with the way they showed it.
B.J.
It was made clear in the series that the Earth Alliance didn't have advanced artifical gravity and relied on spin and centrifugal force to create artifical gravity. Only after the alliance with the Minbara and the fusion of Minbari and Vorlon tech to create the White Stars did humans gain access to other forms of artifical gravity.
As an object spins it creates gravity. The amount of gravity lessens toward the center (with 0 gravity at the center) and increases toward the rim. Cylindrical objects work best for this type of gravidty because of the even distribution of gravity all around.
B-5 the station worked pretty good. I don't know how many decks exist away from the center toward the outer rim. However, these decks should have reflected changes in gravity. Maybe the station was big enough that the difference in gravity was negligable. I'm sure the stats for the staion are out there somewhere and someone could do the math to find out.
My impression of ops, however, is one of the flaws. Ops seemed to be right above the entrance to the landing bay. Ops didn't rotate with the rest of the station. Where did the gravity come from?
The same holds for the Earth Alliance ships. There were rotating portions of the ships, but it didn't look like the entire crew and all the ship systems were in that rotating portion. Where was the bridge located? If not in the rotating section, where did the gravity come from?
The Hyperion Class ships don't appear to have a rotating section at all. Where did the gravity come from?
It's little things like that. On the surface I never thought about it. Earth Alliance ships were shown with rotating portions and B-5 obviously rotated to create artifical gravity. But when I started to try to match up the inside with the outside I got a little confused...
It's no big deal for me though. Would cost way to much to have the ships be 0g, therefore science fiction ships have artifical gravity. People don't watch TV to read subtitles all day, so most everyone speaks English all the time. These factors don't ruin my suspension of disbelief.
But they do provide fodder to dwell on.
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Cartman
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posted
"Ops didn't rotate with the rest of the station."
Yes, it did.
"Where was the [Omega-class destroyer's] bridge located?"
In the rotating section.
"Where did the [Hyperion-class cruiser's] gravity come from?"
From nowhere, Hyperion crews were strapped in.
(Now, you could argue that the gyroscopic precession caused by rotating such a large mass around the longitudinal axis of the ship would make maneuvering an Omega a bit hairy, but that's really neither here nor there. (Helicopters manage it too, after all.))
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"We just talked about this a week or so ago- the whole notion of 'hundreds of worlds' being in one system is just.....
"Bad."
Yeah, but I didn't see anyone say in there that it would actually be established in the movie. As long as it isn't established, one can continue believing everything makes sense.
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quote:Originally posted by HerbShrump: Ops seemed to be right above the entrance to the landing bay. Ops didn't rotate with the rest of the station. Where did the gravity come from?
Ops wasn't above the entrance, it was below (*and* above - that'll confuse you). There were two ops stations, one on either side of the bay entrance, and only one was operating at any one time. From the perspective of the ops personnell, the ships were entering the bay above their heads. As Cartman said, the whole section was rotating, even the bay entrance, so yes, they did have gravity.
"We just talked about this a week or so ago- the whole notion of 'hundreds of worlds' being in one system is just.....
"Bad."
Yeah, but I didn't see anyone say in there that it would actually be established in the movie. As long as it isn't established, one can continue believing everything makes sense.
(sigh)...I guess so.
It's amazing how picky we can be about minor crap in Trek but let so much slide in other shows. I recall back in Enterprise's first season, a bunch of people were really pissed about the physics (gravity mainly) displayed on that comet they visited....that was pretty minor by comparison.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
The external shots made it look like Ops was stationary and located right under those two huge non-rotating mandibles that stretched out in front of B-5.
Regardless, that close to the central hub, Ops should have had less gravity than at the rim.
As for the other ships, I stand corrected.
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posted
So... What should it look like when people seasoned to changes in gravity walk in 1/3 gee conditions?
I mean, this question should arise fairly often in visual science fiction, what with Mars being a frequent flier destination and all. Under lunar gravity (1/6 gee or so), there's no point in trying to walk "normally", at least not when you are outside and not at risk of bumping your head onto the ceiling. But under 1/3 gee (which is what B5 Ops would also have), would it be impossible to just walk very tenderly?
Alternate means of motion would probably be difficult to find. Kangaroo jumps would be too tiresome; using hands to assist movement might be great, but not all corridors can be narrow enough for that to work. Velcro on your soles wouldn't be practical, but perhaps a little bit of magnetic attraction..?
posted
Well, you'd expect rounded corners and padding.
Mabye a magnetic moving strip along the coridors (like Asimov's "expressways" from The Caves of Steel) to facilitate moving in a emergency.
There should probably be handholds and railings along the ceiling in case of gravitty loss (or just so crewmen in low grav areas can move more efficently in a crisis- heck, I could see them lowering the gravity during battle conditions and increasing it tenfold if the sation is boarded or to quell their all-too-frequent riots).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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