Lack of resources is the likely cause of this trope, and it's not just Mass Effect, but Star Trek and other scifi as well. I'm currently watching reruns of Star Trek TNG, more specifically the first season, and each episode the aliens are either white people, black people, or ferengi.Grach said:
Common Sci-Fi tropes that annoy you!
- Thread starter wulf3n
- Start date
Sometimes I get annoyed when there are laser weapons, but the exact nature of them changes depending on the situation. Sometimes they're incredibly accurate, sometimes they travel at the speed of light, other times they might as well be bullets because they exhibit none of the traits of a laser. It's not even really that I don't like lasers that aren't laser-like, but I don't like it when they can't decide.
Also, getting a little tired of strategists who are so clever they can predict the future. That just doesn't fucking happen. In Code Geass for example, Lelouche is generally just a really clever guy, but at one point, he predicts the exact course of a conversation and tapes his responses, timed perfectly. In contrast, I watched Mobile Suit Gundam 00, and the strategists there were done really well, visibly at the limits of their intellect all the time. You never felt like they were just completely in control or were doing things no human could possibly do.
Also technobabble, especially in Doctor Who, which really doesn't even try. I like my media to at least have some concrete idea of how things work, not just do whatever it wants and go "Oh, the time streams are out of sync and the chronological polarity was switched when they merged" or some shit.
Also, getting a little tired of strategists who are so clever they can predict the future. That just doesn't fucking happen. In Code Geass for example, Lelouche is generally just a really clever guy, but at one point, he predicts the exact course of a conversation and tapes his responses, timed perfectly. In contrast, I watched Mobile Suit Gundam 00, and the strategists there were done really well, visibly at the limits of their intellect all the time. You never felt like they were just completely in control or were doing things no human could possibly do.
Also technobabble, especially in Doctor Who, which really doesn't even try. I like my media to at least have some concrete idea of how things work, not just do whatever it wants and go "Oh, the time streams are out of sync and the chronological polarity was switched when they merged" or some shit.
Deflector Arrays (I think they are) from any Star Trek. Apparently they can shoot, provide thrust, communicate very long distances, stop hacking, stop any electrical being, stop any normal being, a battery charger, be used as a transporter and probably pay your taxes. All from changing its polarity. What are these god like devices and why are they just the ship. You may need to add some replicators and a med bay and that's about it. Half the problems to issues in Star Trek are cured by these things.
Universe resetting. Most of TNG and a lot of Voyager was like this. It didn't matter what happened, everything reset for the next episode. Yes Voyager does the occasion needs resupply or traverse dangerous area eps but that's about it. Which leads to..
What Ifs. Whether its from time travel or multidimensions they are pointless unless they affect the actual characters somehow. Its just writers getting their rocks off "killing" the main cast without any permanent affect to the series. Even heavily serialised shows like BSG had this. Why did Starbuck come back? Her return and the rest of that season was weighed down from her having to interact with the crew and prove her importance. Killing off duplicate main cast members doesn't increase the threat to the actual main cast, in fact it decreases it. You absolutely know there will be no consequences. Take Year of Hell from Voyager. Nothing happened for 2 eps! Stop wasting my time. I can sort of accept There But The Grace of God from Stargate because it affected the storyline (and my fav from the series is Windows of Opportunity even though the first 20 mins is ridiculously boring - in fact some of the most boring in the history of Stargate including the ep with the white mushrooms and the naked guys)
Universe resetting. Most of TNG and a lot of Voyager was like this. It didn't matter what happened, everything reset for the next episode. Yes Voyager does the occasion needs resupply or traverse dangerous area eps but that's about it. Which leads to..
What Ifs. Whether its from time travel or multidimensions they are pointless unless they affect the actual characters somehow. Its just writers getting their rocks off "killing" the main cast without any permanent affect to the series. Even heavily serialised shows like BSG had this. Why did Starbuck come back? Her return and the rest of that season was weighed down from her having to interact with the crew and prove her importance. Killing off duplicate main cast members doesn't increase the threat to the actual main cast, in fact it decreases it. You absolutely know there will be no consequences. Take Year of Hell from Voyager. Nothing happened for 2 eps! Stop wasting my time. I can sort of accept There But The Grace of God from Stargate because it affected the storyline (and my fav from the series is Windows of Opportunity even though the first 20 mins is ridiculously boring - in fact some of the most boring in the history of Stargate including the ep with the white mushrooms and the naked guys)
When it comes to other species the whole idea of Hats always bugs me. An sentient, intelligent species who has gone through the ages, spread across worlds and existed for thousands of years are a single nation of practically the same person? Sure, it must be damn hard to write a convincingly diverse alien race, but I feel they might as well not be there if they can be totally encapsulated in a single sentence. It just feels bizarre when you have a bunch of apparently free thinking unique species, the race itself having one or a couple distinguishing traits (say, Proud Warrior Race, Tech Worshipers) and the members of that race all coming right under that banner. Might be more feasible to use a faction to showcase an entire people with the same traits than a whole species.
Also the idea of humanity (also other species) being completely united under one government, or at least one where they all share the same religion, cultural elements, standard of living, appearance etc. Humans have always been divided into many, many groups, why should the future be different? Especially considering the sheer vastness of space.
Also the idea of humanity (also other species) being completely united under one government, or at least one where they all share the same religion, cultural elements, standard of living, appearance etc. Humans have always been divided into many, many groups, why should the future be different? Especially considering the sheer vastness of space.
Yes...especially Proud Warrior Races...if everyone is a warrior, who makes the weapons, grows the food, programs the computers, or does anything other than fight, without which you can't have any sort of military.IBlackKiteI said:
1) Every planet has one people, one language, one government, and usually only one climate. If a "race" does have a separatist group, these will be clearly members of a different species.
2) Everyone speaks English except for maybe some convenient made-up swear words that skip the "universal translator"
3) There is sound in space; lasers make sound
4) Nobody thinks in 3D. If two starships meet, they are perfectly oriented towards each other as if they are ships sailing on the ocean, you virtually never see a ship encountering another at an angle outside of the very rare space battle scene. Starships don't even act like submarines, they act like surface vessels.
5) Every species can fuck every other species and get fertile offspring.
As for 1: even if they do have separate peoples in one "race", those will be clearly marked for the viewer's sake. The original Star Trek did this right, with Vulcans and Romulans -- the same species -- looking exactly the same, only to ruin it from TNG onwards where Romulans evolved a nose ridge because all TNG-era Star Trek aliens must have some kind of bumps on the skull. And with the last pre-reboot movie we got to see the Romulan subgroup Remans... which judging by their prothesis are an apparently completely different species from the Romulans.
2) Everyone speaks English except for maybe some convenient made-up swear words that skip the "universal translator"
3) There is sound in space; lasers make sound
4) Nobody thinks in 3D. If two starships meet, they are perfectly oriented towards each other as if they are ships sailing on the ocean, you virtually never see a ship encountering another at an angle outside of the very rare space battle scene. Starships don't even act like submarines, they act like surface vessels.
5) Every species can fuck every other species and get fertile offspring.
As for 1: even if they do have separate peoples in one "race", those will be clearly marked for the viewer's sake. The original Star Trek did this right, with Vulcans and Romulans -- the same species -- looking exactly the same, only to ruin it from TNG onwards where Romulans evolved a nose ridge because all TNG-era Star Trek aliens must have some kind of bumps on the skull. And with the last pre-reboot movie we got to see the Romulan subgroup Remans... which judging by their prothesis are an apparently completely different species from the Romulans.
Speaking of cultural references, here's another: everyone in the 24th or whatever century is a huge geek for 20th/21st century history and popular culture and references it at every opportunity.Smilomaniac said:
Wasn't the pilot form Voyager like that? I mean he had a "thing" for like the 19th-20th century.szaleniec1000 said:
Well psychopathic personality disorder is a thing in humans, but it's not going to spreed though the whole race. They call the thing rare. And it's said to be a huge social stigma as well. So in answer to your question likely the same reason psychopathic's haven't wiped out the whole human race.(or if we really want to go down that whole "inbreeding" route then all of Idaho.)6_Qubed said:
I mean there is some stupid stuff in Mass Effect to be sure. (I'm looking at you Species 37) But I don't get the disbelief in that one.
Yup...well, 20th century, originally later stuff, but went back to B&W movies later on.Nosferatu2 said:
Here is one I can actually live with: sound in space. Because otherwise, every battle would sound boring (and sure, some franchises handwave it by saying it's simulated sound in the cockpit, but come on).
Unless it is a plot point, I have no problem for this unrealistic trope. I like my "pew pew" laser sounds.
Probably the one I hate the most is the "spaceships on which the crew LIVES for years ar all metal inside" trope. Dead Space is a big offender, but almost any show gets in on it. I mean, come on, throw down a god damn carpet in your own room. And if you have some way to make that justified, STILL, paint your walls a different colour than dull industrial grey or put some posters up! Unless the ship has been thrown together as quickly as possible to get away from something, SOMEONE should have thought of the decor. Living in a grey hunk of metal is seriously detrimental to mental health. It's depressing. You have your own room. You have your own stuff, brought in from before. You visit space harbors. You didn't pick up any paint. Screw you.
Unless it is a plot point, I have no problem for this unrealistic trope. I like my "pew pew" laser sounds.
Probably the one I hate the most is the "spaceships on which the crew LIVES for years ar all metal inside" trope. Dead Space is a big offender, but almost any show gets in on it. I mean, come on, throw down a god damn carpet in your own room. And if you have some way to make that justified, STILL, paint your walls a different colour than dull industrial grey or put some posters up! Unless the ship has been thrown together as quickly as possible to get away from something, SOMEONE should have thought of the decor. Living in a grey hunk of metal is seriously detrimental to mental health. It's depressing. You have your own room. You have your own stuff, brought in from before. You visit space harbors. You didn't pick up any paint. Screw you.
There's also good reasons for putting colours in...when the gravity fails (ok, never does in most shows, but still), if you paint the ceiling and floor different colours, you can tell which way is down.Mersadeon said:
You'll also note in Stargate, that the pipes running along the ceiling are represented by differently coloured lines running along the floor underneath them, so you can find them, which is also a good idea.
Also not a great idea to have bare metal everywhere if you are concerned with spalling, ricochets, or just being bumped around inside.
An episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had a pretty interesting explanation for this.IBlackKiteI said:
I forget the context (or even the plot) of the episode, but it came out in conversation that most species ARE defined by a small set of common traits. Whereas humanity's diversity is their single most distinguishing characteristic because it's such an anomaly.
I thought that was a pretty clever way to cover up lazy writing.
Speaking of lazy writing...I can't stand it when aliens are presented as balls of light because they're "energy beings". This mostly happens on TV shows due to budget constraints.
But next to "people with fucked up foreheads" it's THE most unoriginal way to present a species from another world.
1. Your bullets/lasers/spears are useless against my everything-proof shield! eg. Stargate
FFS, you either absorbs kinetic projectiles, OR energy projectiles, NOT BOTH.
2. My weapons is completely ineffectual against your tech! Day two: use the same weapons again. eg. Star Wars, Stargate
If the Jedi Knights can juggle your blaster shots like a boss, it is advisable to use something else instead of, you know, blasters for round two.
3. If you are showing a gimmick, don't pull that stuff at every setup, otherwise it becomes really predictable eg. Fringe. If the shapeshifters win at every encounter and n+1 scenario occurred it is no longer a guessing game because I already guessed correctly.
FFS, you either absorbs kinetic projectiles, OR energy projectiles, NOT BOTH.
2. My weapons is completely ineffectual against your tech! Day two: use the same weapons again. eg. Star Wars, Stargate
If the Jedi Knights can juggle your blaster shots like a boss, it is advisable to use something else instead of, you know, blasters for round two.
3. If you are showing a gimmick, don't pull that stuff at every setup, otherwise it becomes really predictable eg. Fringe. If the shapeshifters win at every encounter and n+1 scenario occurred it is no longer a guessing game because I already guessed correctly.
Not really complaining about a trope here but it is sci fi.
The new series, Star-Crossed. I think I watched about 30s of the first episode before turning it off, concentration of stupid too high. My hopes weren't high with it being called Star-Crossed, (lovers) implying there'd be too much focus on lovey dovey side story for me. And with the intro scene being so awful it made me immediately give up on it.
The new series, Star-Crossed. I think I watched about 30s of the first episode before turning it off, concentration of stupid too high. My hopes weren't high with it being called Star-Crossed, (lovers) implying there'd be too much focus on lovey dovey side story for me. And with the intro scene being so awful it made me immediately give up on it.
It's probably been mentioned already, but I'm generally peeved when I see something sprout in movie theaters with the general premise of "Scientist X pokes around in Biology/Tech/Newest Fad the non-tech-savvy might have heard of and unleashes something Man Was Not Meant to Know."
I'm especially sick of religion-themed movies that start a character you'd define as an atheist, who then undergoes some sort of harrowing supernatural gauntlet. In the end, said atheist is always proven to have been utterly and completely wrong about the nature and purpose of our world.
Anyone remember Stigmata? Patricia Arquette the Edgy New York Atheist starts sprouting fragrant wounds around her ankles, wrists and forehead, and it takes Gabriel Bryne the Priest to figure out that the spirit of a pissed-off and extremely devout former colleague is possessing her because he's pissed his Jesuit colleagues won't accept the Gospel of Jesus, as discovered in some cave of which I've forgotten the fictitious location.
Whew.
The movie ends with fairly unsubtle references to Arquette's character turning into a kind of gender-bent Saint Francis, because why the fuck not.
I know it's the social norm and it sells tickets, but as an atheist, I'm getting a little sick of my movie counterparts being "proven wrong" in oftentimes graphic ways. Every year, there's at least one or two demonic possession and/or Satanism-inspired movies that come out, and most of them tend to include at least *one* barb toss at the unbelievers.
We're in 2014. Honestly, I'll trust Neil DeGrasse Tyson over anything that's been translated and transliterated a dozen times over across thousands of years, losing much of its accuracy in the process. For all we know, the Bible could be the world's oldest fanfic attempt.
I'm especially sick of religion-themed movies that start a character you'd define as an atheist, who then undergoes some sort of harrowing supernatural gauntlet. In the end, said atheist is always proven to have been utterly and completely wrong about the nature and purpose of our world.
Anyone remember Stigmata? Patricia Arquette the Edgy New York Atheist starts sprouting fragrant wounds around her ankles, wrists and forehead, and it takes Gabriel Bryne the Priest to figure out that the spirit of a pissed-off and extremely devout former colleague is possessing her because he's pissed his Jesuit colleagues won't accept the Gospel of Jesus, as discovered in some cave of which I've forgotten the fictitious location.
Whew.
The movie ends with fairly unsubtle references to Arquette's character turning into a kind of gender-bent Saint Francis, because why the fuck not.
I know it's the social norm and it sells tickets, but as an atheist, I'm getting a little sick of my movie counterparts being "proven wrong" in oftentimes graphic ways. Every year, there's at least one or two demonic possession and/or Satanism-inspired movies that come out, and most of them tend to include at least *one* barb toss at the unbelievers.
We're in 2014. Honestly, I'll trust Neil DeGrasse Tyson over anything that's been translated and transliterated a dozen times over across thousands of years, losing much of its accuracy in the process. For all we know, the Bible could be the world's oldest fanfic attempt.
1) Alien races are waaaay too much humanoid. Beings made of energy are simply weird by the nature but why everything has to look like human, weird human or deformed human? Futurama does good job in this, imagination is the limit (race of Slugs, insectoids and all this weird things). But yea being cartoon it's much easier than movies.
2) Sounds in space. Why is it happening? There is no sound in space.
3) Every single movie where time travel is involved is bad. It's worse than bad. Exception given to whatever that is just so ridiculous that it wouldn't make sense anyway.
2) Sounds in space. Why is it happening? There is no sound in space.
3) Every single movie where time travel is involved is bad. It's worse than bad. Exception given to whatever that is just so ridiculous that it wouldn't make sense anyway.