Secrecy is the name of my game...

POSTED BY: RaptorX
UPDATED: Thursday, February 12, 2004 16:19
VIEWED: 2584
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VETERAN

Thursday, February 12, 2004 4:22 AM

Quote:
I will definately bring that up. Maybe Serenity can be the launch ship for the next-generation of inner-planetary shuttles...

Not that I'd know anything about that

That would only be too cool.

MOMAW

Thursday, February 12, 2004 4:57 AM

What's your officially unofficial opinion regarding the scale of Firefly? Is it just a single system with several slews of planets, or multiple systems and some sort of FTL technology?

I don't think, if Serenity has an FTL drive, that we've seen it. With the amount of attention paid to the rest of its movement and operation, it's hard to believe that the "yellow plasma burst" engine would be shown as being sub-light unless it was meant to be that way.

If it's inter-stellar in scope, then the fact that we never see the ship travelling quickly (such as visible movement of stars) suggests either A) they can go Damn Fast, but only for short periods or B) they have some kind of point-to-point engine or gating system that allows them to loaf around once they've arrived at their target star.

hmm.....

RAPTORX

Thursday, February 12, 2004 2:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Momaw:
What's your officially unofficial opinion regarding the scale of Firefly? Is it just a single system with several slews of planets, or multiple systems and some sort of FTL technology?

Alright, my opinion on the universe of Firefly:

As far as I can figure, it's either a pretty damn big solar system or a group of closley clustered stars, each with their own collection of planets and moons.

Again, I don't think they have a FTL drive, and the whole thing that Star Trek does with the "smearing stars" isn't really factually based. Even at high speeds, there really won't be too much visible movement of the stars. Look at it this way: when you're driving a car at 60 MPH, the lines for the lane divisions seem to be flying by, but the single tree across the field appears to be moving slower. Think about how far away those stars are from Serenity. Just a thought.

Quote:
I don't think, if Serenity has an FTL drive, that we've seen it. With the amount of attention paid to the rest of its movement and operation, it's hard to believe that the "yellow plasma burst" engine would be shown as being sub-light unless it was meant to be that way.

If it's inter-stellar in scope, then the fact that we never see the ship travelling quickly (such as visible movement of stars) suggests either A) they can go Damn Fast, but only for short periods or B) they have some kind of point-to-point engine or gating system that allows them to loaf around once they've arrived at their target star.

hmm.....

But if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.

CHANNAIN

Thursday, February 12, 2004 3:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RaptorX:
And, to put one theory to rest, we are not all geeks out here, we just tend to enjoy the physics of aerodynamics and the idea of space travel.

Being a geek isn't a bad thing. Sometimes it's even more socially acceptable. I mean can you imagine yourself telling someone that you're a fan of a now-cancelled cult TV show?

On the other hand - "Space Geek?" WAY shinier. At the very least, they'll think you're some whacko who goes out into abandoned fields to stare up at the stars...

what?

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

BROWNCOAT1

Thursday, February 12, 2004 3:15 PM

Welcome aboard RaptorX. It is always good to have another fan sign on.

Great to hear you and you team liked the DVD set, especially since it led to them purchasing their own. Anything to further the cause of getting a quality show out to new fans is worth the effort.

We are also looking forward to the release of the movie. More exciting is the recent news that the new script is to act as a springboard into a series return.

Too bad you can't tell us a bit more about your job. I know someone else that works for NASA and he can't really talk a lot about his job either.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

JASONZZZ

Thursday, February 12, 2004 4:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RaptorX:
Quote:
Originally posted by Momaw:
What's your officially unofficial opinion regarding the scale of Firefly? Is it just a single system with several slews of planets, or multiple systems and some sort of FTL technology?

Alright, my opinion on the universe of Firefly:

As far as I can figure, it's either a pretty damn big solar system or a group of closley clustered stars, each with their own collection of planets and moons.

Again, I don't think they have a FTL drive, and the whole thing that Star Trek does with the "smearing stars" isn't really factually based. Even at high speeds, there really won't be too much visible movement of the stars. Look at it this way: when you're driving a car at 60 MPH, the lines for the lane divisions seem to be flying by, but the single tree across the field appears to be moving slower. Think about how far away those stars are from Serenity. Just a thought.

but at 60mph, you are not moving FTL. We are talking about a basic visual perception of light.
But a comparable example *might* be how sounds "sound" like when you are going at Mach 1.5...

In actuality, if it was physically possible to go faster than light (it isn't. Humans won't reach more than half the speed of light. It's not the same problem with going faster than sound barrier. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity demands that your body gains mass the faster you travel until it reaches infinity at the speed of light), the lights on the periphery will blank out and you will see the result of tunnel vision the closer you get to the speed of light .... Until it all blacks out - except for one very tiny and bright light right in the direction of your travel.

Here's a website at ANU that let's you "visualize" what faster than light travel might look like...
http://www.anu.edu.au/Physics/Searle/

Look at this, at .80c, there is visible "smearing" at the edges. Also, notice the light is doppler shifted to a different color as well.

Flying .95c towards the earth.

The visual field is intensely warped at .99c

Quote:

Quote:
I don't think, if Serenity has an FTL drive, that we've seen it. With the amount of attention paid to the rest of its movement and operation, it's hard to believe that the "yellow plasma burst" engine would be shown as being sub-light unless it was meant to be that way.

If it's inter-stellar in scope, then the fact that we never see the ship travelling quickly (such as visible movement of stars) suggests either A) they can go Damn Fast, but only for short periods or B) they have some kind of point-to-point engine or gating system that allows them to loaf around once they've arrived at their target star.

hmm.....

But if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.

Like Fireflyfans.net?
Haken needs a new development system. Donate.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=5&t=3283

RAPTORX

Thursday, February 12, 2004 4:10 PM

My thought about the "smearing stars" wasn't for an argument about FTL, but simply a response to the question about the appearance of moving stars at high speed (sub-light speed). No one has gone the speed of light, and no-one knows what sort of technology we might develop to defeat that seemingly insurmountable barrier.

But if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.

JASONZZZ

Thursday, February 12, 2004 4:16 PM

Check out the .mov's and .jpg's from that ANU website. You won't find hardly anything for pictures at FTL (there's one or two, and it's *really* interesting). Most of it discusses the visual effects as you go past .70c and approaches 1c.

Like Fireflyfans.net?
Haken needs a new development system. Donate.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=5&t=3283

RAPTORX

Thursday, February 12, 2004 4:19 PM

It's definately interesting. Who knows, maybe, (and this is me being hypothetical here) at some point in the future we do develop a FTL drive. Remember, at one time the earth was flat and the center of the universe. Who knows, maybe FTL speed is possible, we just can't see it yet.

But if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.

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