Technology in the 'verse
POSTED BY: zeke023
UPDATED: Friday, October 31, 2003 03:24
VIEWED: 21912
PAGE 13 of 14
Quote:
Originally posted by Archer:
One thing that strikes me is the incredible stability of the ship. I mean, they pound that thing through atmo, and everybody just stands around like nothing's going on.
So not only do we have some fierce artificial gravity, but we got some massive intertial compensation going on.
Not that I'm asking for any Star Trek TOS camera-tilting effects while everyone grabs something and pretends like they're being rocked or anything.
Minor "The Message" Spoilers:
Select to view spoiler:
In the Message, Kaylee mentions a 'gravity drive': "all this hard bankin'...when the gravity drive and actual gravity start working against each other, it tosses the lunch about a bit"; also in that scene (and earlier, with the warning shots) they are definitely being rocked about and Mal even specifically orders everyone to sit down and 'hold on' as they enter atmo...true they didn't seem to highlight that in the pilot, though.
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I just watched Train Job again and on the alliance cruiser the com officer says the message is from Paridiso in the Georgia System. Up to you as to what you want to belive though.
As for the pnumatic sound I think that is from the guns being equiped to fire in vacume.
"Get a life?!" I am a gamer. I have LOTS of lives!
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An excellent explanation for "70 worlds" in only one system (needed if
there is no Faster Than Light Travel) can be found at the yahoo
groups GURPS-Firefly group. To wit that Fireflt could be taking place
on planets (and their moons) that orbit a Blue Giant star. From a
message posted there:
"habitable zone (HZ): An imaginary spherical shell surrounding a star
throughout which the surface temperatures of any planets present might
be conducive to the origin and development of life as we know it. Also
referred to as the ecosphere.[Comment: Also called the "Life-zone"]
The HZ of a highly luminous star would in principle be very wide, its
inner margin beginning perhaps several hundred million km out
[Comment: Let's say the orbit of Mars] and stretching to a distance of
a billion km or more [Comment: Way past the orbit of Pluto]. However,
this promising scenario is spoiled by the fact that massive, bright
stars are much more short-lived than their smaller, dimmer cousins. In
the case of the giant O stars and B stars, these very massive objects
race through their life-cycles in only a few tens of millions of
years-too quickly to allow even primitive life-forms to emerge."
For Firely that is perfect since all of the planets/moons are supposed
to be terraformed anyway, and none seem to have had any life of their
own before.
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that's a good explination justme. i also remember hearing in an ep. can't remember which one, but some guy says that, "the planets are as close to earth as they can make them" or something like that. so i take that to mean that some of the moons and planets don't have the exact amount of gravity. some may be lighter then others. also in "the message" the planet they go to is all frozen and cold. so that would could be much further from the sun then most of the others.
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do you know what the chain of command is? it's the chain i go get and beat you with till you understand who's in rutten command here
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In one of the Mal voice-overs in the intro he says they colonized/terraformed a whole galaxy of earths. I forget which one, but I'm sure we could find it. Sort of undercuts the "only one solar system" theory.
-maguinan
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Maguinan,
Who are you going to trust for your facts; a barely educated (albeit cool and heroic) former sergeant, or an educated Shepard? I always assumed the 'whole new galaxy of earths' was hyperbole or simple misunderstanding of the terms, on Mal's part.
Besides, watch the show, do you see any evidence of Faster than Light drive? Any references to 'warp drive', 'hyperdrive', etc? I assume its one big star system, chosen by their ancestors in their huge slower than light colony ships precisely because of its plethora of worlds.
Or maybe a 'hard burn' IS a 'jump to lightspeed'? I prefer they stick as much to real physics as possible.
JustMe
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Quote:
Originally posted by justme:
I prefer they stick as much to real physics as possible.
JustMe
I don't think Joss intended there to be physics behind the show - and he made no effort in or outside of the show to explain any of it.
I think it's supposed to be a story. Internally consistent (as Joss in known for) but not necessarily ahearing to any physics that we know of.
Can you name a single other Sci-Fi show that adhears completely to the laws of physics (please don't say Star Trek)?
Even B-5 came close - but it still used bizarre radio active isotopes to explain things that just didn't exist (like jump gates).
I think we need to figure out what is actually happening in the show through the merit of what is said in the show and by Joss.
I think it is a mistake to try to get this show to be scientifically acurate. I don't think that was a concern of the writers.
It is my advice that we just stick to the scripts (and not to the physics textbooks) for our informational source on technology in the 'verse.
-Zeke
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<It is my advice that we just stick to the scripts (and not to the physics textbooks) for our informational source on technology in the 'verse.>>
Couldn't agree more: Joss couldn't care less except that he knows enough that sound doesn't propagate in a vacuum.
But I'm not sure when he started that he could distinguish a star sysetem from a galaxy.
"There are none so blind as they who will not see.
...Hey! Who turned out the lights?"
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DEAR GOD, HE'S HIJACKING THE THREAD BACK TO THE START!!!
Quote:
I'll post this in a new thread so hopefully more people will answer.
I have a few questions about technology in the 'verse.
communication
Are there becons to boost signals over long distances? I thought I heard this. We know that visual communication can only be used up close. Why?
geography
Has anyone come up with an actual citation from the show for this taking place in one solar system or many?
fuel
Anbody catch what they were using for fuel? Doesn't the dead or alive script make reference to a "fission battery"?
that's good for now.
Please respond with any insight.
-Zeke
So here are MY answers![sarcasm] MY answers are right because Fred (the Bunny) from Donnie Darko told me! [/sarcasm]
Communication:
Yes, I would guess there would be beacons along the flight paths in galaxy. Or more correctly, there was a string of beacons placed along the shortest path between two points and that became the flight path as A. it was the shortest distance and B. guaranteed communication lines if you broke down.
Geography:
This dead horse has been repeatedly flogged, but here is my wrench: What if the Earth that got used up was different from the "Earth that was?" Now for the record, I would vote for the "one solar system" theory for one simple reason.
MY REASONING: It is hidden in case you are sick of this disscusion already:
Select to view spoiler:
If there were 10's of galaxies with 100's of terraformed planets and central planets were all in 1 galaxy, then the alliance would not give a shit about uniting the other galaxies, since it would be self sufficient in its own galaxy. We have not seen a "spice planet" yet so it is safe to assume that 1 galaxy is like any other.
Take Puerto Rico, would you really care if it became independant? How about Danger Island? (Did you even know that was US property? Now if it was California, New York or Middle America, then the rest of the USA would be in serious economic trouble. American Higher-ups would definatly fight to keep them in the USA.
Same thing with the Alliance. Why would they care or support to send their sons and daughters out to secure something that does not affect them? If their own galaxy is self sufficent, then why expend all that energy for no profit? Once again, I have not seen a "spice planet" on the show so I am assuming that 1 terraformed planet is as good as the other. So we have to assume that the border planets are vital the Alliance. If it were one galaxy here is how it would be set up:
Assuming that the central planets are the industrial planets, them being rich and flush with the new technologies, then we would assume that their raw materials would come from border planets as well as being their primary consumer. (Mother/colonies trade/exploitation for those of you who remember Colonial History 101)
We could further assume that as an industrial planet, the majority of the central planet's food would be imported. (I'm talking strawberries and fresh food, not food suppliments) This would be supplied by the border planets as well. (i.e. The mormon farmer and his "rain stick")
So in order to secure its business and it edibles, the alliance would have a hearty intrest on keeping control on the border planets. A fine example of this would be Britain's control of its colonies.
(BTW, did you know that the English slashed and burned the whole island of Barbados so that thier colony there would have to import food from their American colonies?)
If I had to guess as the terraforming practices of the alliance, I would guess that they set up each "planet" for one basic need. Food, minerals, etc. and had them rely on the central planets for everything else (even though everything else was acquired from other border planets).
Fuel:
Don't have a clue. It can't be gasoline because it doesn't exist anymore. It can't be nuclear because I don't see how a nuclear reactor would propel you in space (besides
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You've revived my thread! very cool!
I agree with what you say - as for the geography - I think we just need to agree to disagree and focus on the other bits of technology in the verse.
What episode does the concept of beacons come from? Are these actually mentioned in Out of Gas?
FUEL
It's almost impossible to argue this without getting into the physics I am so deperatly trying to avoid. However, I will say that a fusion reactor or any such thing could work to propel a ship - but would not need refeuling very often. Firefly refuels at every port. ?? If it's a single system - they may be using some sort of advanced jet fuel. *shrug*
Do they ever mention what they use for fuel? How much they pay for it? Or anything about it? It comes up a lot - but I can't remember anything specific.
-Zeke
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