I use it all the time with my physics classes. Now all my students are a real pain to watch movies with…

Then, you get onto the movies themselves, which are far better than they’re suggesting. Take communication with alien races for example. In The Last Starfighter, this was achieved with a special babelfish-like communicator, which isn’t exactly implausible for a civilization capable of having starfighters. For Contact? Are you kidding – “easy communication”? The entire movie was about the struggle to intercept and decode the message and a discussion about the implications of doing so, after while it’s revealed that the aliens have been watching for centuries for the chance to communicate – hardly “easy”.

“All planets have Earth-like gravity” for Stargate? Are they talking about the TV series or movie? Because in the movie, it was made explicitly clear that the planet was chosen for its similarities to Earth.

Then the dumbest one of all – did they even watch these movies? – the Alien movies. “Interbreeding between humans and aliens”? No. The aliens were parasites who invaded suitable hosts (mainly humans but also dogs/oxen and other alien species). Not the same things at all. “All planets have Earth gravity”? No. It’s never made particularly clear what the gravity is like on the planet in the first movie, though I do recall a throwaway line that notes its similarity. After that, the second movie is on the same planet with terraformed conditions (i.e. deliberately made similar to Earth), the 3rd on a prison planet chosen for harsh but Earth-like conditions and the 4th on a space station… So one planet with previously unknown conditions in a movie where humans can traverse the galaxy – not far-fetched.

What drives me up the wall is stuff like ID4 when some random guy with a bit of electronics knowledge manages to hook his Mac up to an alien spaceship in a few hours.

Although I’m sure that many people think many absurd things about the laws of physics because of sci fi movies, IO9 should have done the gosh darn research first!!!!!!! And the fact that he was incorrect on at least two points makes the rest of his rankings highly suspect, not in the physics, but in the interpretation of what’s actually happening on screen.

Now that’s bull. Nothing moves faster than light, especially not laser beams, since they consist of nothing but light.

Explosions work just fine in space, no need for an oxidizer for a high explosive. No fireball maybe, but then most explosions on Earth don’t involve the kind of fireball shown in the movies.

Nukes in space (away from the atmosphere) are interesting. In an atmosphere the bulk of their energy is transfered to the air in a very short distance – those x-rays don’t go far. In space you don’t get the same blast damage, but you get direct radiation and nasty charged particles at a greater distance.

Dave, when exposed to vacuum without a helmet, did *not* explode or shatter. And to suggest that he should have been killed instantly is flat-out wrong.

Nor did I see anyone moving in slow motion in zero gravity other than the flight attendant aboard the Pan Am spaceliner whose Velcro(R) soled shoes would certainly slow down anyone’s steps.

I also give this chart a C.

Major silliness on their part.