ok...FTL discussion by KayleeRulesAll

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

ok...FTL discussion

POSTED BY: KAYLEERULESALL
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 08:35
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Tuesday, August 23, 2005 5:55 PM

alrighty; yeah so im new here, hi and all that crap.

now on to the important stuff...

what does everybody think about the presence of some kind of FTL in the 'verse? i mean, i personally believe that they MUST have one, cuz u just cant have an entire alliance and an association of independent border worlds in just one solar system...just dosent make sense. you can only really probably ever find about 3 or 4 habitable worlds (be they planets or moons) in any one system, or so i would think. unless everything science tells us is way off base, theres just no way you can have that many worlds in one system. ive also heard that they are in multiple star systems, but use cryogenic systems coupled with STL drives to get around. that makes sense to a point; if that were true, then the alliance would be pretty darn small; any bigger and communication and even getting troops and trade goods from one side to the other would cause its fragmentation. any government the size the alliance is supposed to be simply cant be held together without FTL. Thoughts?

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 1:57 AM

CITIZEN

Its looking more and more like Cannon FireFly sets the 'verse in one system, so no need for FTL.
Refrence comments made by Joss and the trailers, one of which shows a map of the habitable planets I believe. In fact theres a link to a image of one somewhere around here.

I agree, setting it in one system makes less sense than any imaginary FTL device, but Joss probably has his reasons...

Personally I think some sort of Jump-Gate system like out of B5 would have been great, but oh-well...

Q: What do you have when you are holding two little green balls in your hand.
A: Kermit's undivided attention.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 2:22 AM

UNCHARTEDOUTLAW

I've heard it in many relatively reliable sources, there's no FTL in the 'verse.

-Taylor

http://norcalriviera.blogspot.com
http://www.cafepress.com/norcalriviera

**Winner of That Other Shiny Caption Game #2**

River: "So we'll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God's creation of Eden. Eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one. Noah's ark is a problem."

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 2:37 AM

POG

If you look at the where's firefly set (or something like that) thread then there is plenty of discussion on how single system with lots of planets can work, even if it is considered very unlikely it is possible.

Also I think it's quite cool that Firefly doesn't use FTL as it sets it apart from most of the other SciFi I've seen, along with the sheer quality of the series of course!

Pog

We may experience some slight turbulence and then explode...

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 4:06 AM

THEREALME

There have been a couple threads that discuss this. A great argument that was raging here on this site was "one system vs many" and the related "FTL or not".

There are clues scattered throughout the series that point both ways, which suggests to me that Joss never decided (or at least didn't tell all his writers).

But...

Select to view spoiler:

The movie clearly states that Firefly/Serenity takes place in one system.

The Real Me, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 4:14 AM

BROWNCOAT1

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

Welcome to the site KayleeRulesAll. Glad to have you w/ us.

I can answer with all certainty that there is in fact no FTL in the 'verse. Joss has said there is no FTL & having worked on the RPG we kept rules as canon as we could. FTL was one of the first things determined that did not exist & that the show takes place in one system.

__________________________________________

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

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/richmondbrowncoats/

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 4:21 AM

SPINLAND

There's a cut scene (forget the episode) where it's stated there are about seventy inhabitable worlds; that'd be a combination of actual planets and moons. The underlying "magic tech" in this 'verse is some wickedly effective terraforming tech that includes gravity and the illusion of the sun being close by. Opinions vary on whether that's more or less far-fetched than FTL tech, but it's Joss's 'verse and that's the road he chose.

----
I can see you.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 4:28 AM

THEREALME

Well...

There was one interview where Joss was asked if there was FTL in his 'verse and he said, "I don't think so."

Then he went on to say that if he got asked another science question, he would cry.

At the time, I reasoned that Joss did not know or care, and did not take this as a definitive statement.

You might have had information from another interview/consultation, though.

The Real Me, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 6:07 AM

KAYLEERULESALL

thanks for your help, everybody. i recently got ahold of a map, and seems there were a helluva lot less planets than i had initially thought. this no FTL buisness seems practical now, though a system with that many planets is a little odd. Still, thanks all.

"There are two infinate things in our world. The universe, and Human stupidity. I'm not too sure about the first one." Albert Einstien

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 6:55 AM

R1Z

Kinda depends on your definition of Terraforming, doesn't it.

I think Joss postulates a system where enough planets can be terraformed to sustain human life.

Probably won't work for our sytem, but what if you had three planets spaced equidistantly on the same orbit?

To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks. --Robt. Heinlein

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:09 AM

KAYLEERULESALL

interesting idea...but i dont really think that would be possible. according to the current theory, anyway. the ring of dust that wouldve circled the star as the system was forming would certianly clump into different little clusters of dirt and such, but eventually they would all meander on together to form one planet; the most massive clump becoming the core of the planet, and all other floating space crap latching on to that. anyway, i find it kinda hard to believe that so many of the planets in the system would be terraformable at all, especially by a society with reletively low tech. but who knows? we havent been there, and this is SciFi after all.

"There are two infinate things in our world. The universe, and Human stupidity. I'm not too sure about the first one." Albert Einstien

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:18 AM

R1Z

The society is not low-tech, viz: the holo-imager at St. Lucy's, the security forces' sonic guns, and private floaty islands with trash removal drones.

The FRONTIER is low tech.

Terraforming is funded by the Alliance and has access to all the bells and whistles.

Then they dump settlers on them with blanket, hatchets and maybe a herd. Some of them make it.

To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks. --Robt. Heinlein

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:22 AM

SPINLAND

One bit of data, quote from Zoe in the pilot episode:

"All those moons --
just like the central planets,
they're as close to Earth-That-Was as
we could make 'em: atmosphere,
gravity and such, but..."

----
I can see you.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:37 AM

RIVERNOT

To add to everything already said here, the Serenity comics have this to say on the iside front over.

"After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system and hundreds of new Earths were terra-formed and colonized..."

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 8:31 AM

KAYLEERULESALL

'Tis true that the allaince is quite high tech. however, i was thinking about how, for instance, they managed to make the heat and light from the sun be the same no matter what planet your on...pretty damn advanced, if you ask me. not to mention the fact that planets and moons seem to have the same gravity, regardless of the fact that moons are much less massive than planets. that kind of thing is so far advanced, i daresay, that if they had that ability, then they should at least have FTL.

And yes, i know they have artificial gravity aboard thier ships, but suely they cannot do that for an entire planet? they must have somehow altered the whole gravitiatinal field of the planet, or perhaps even injected some kind of high density substance into the planet itself.

My point is, all these things seem to be outside the realm of possibilty for the alliance. but of course, we all know the real reason why these incongruities appear; this is a TV show, filmed on only one planet. kinda hard to change the gravity in a television studio.

"There are two infinate things in our world. The universe, and Human stupidity. I'm not too sure about the first one." Albert Einstien

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 8:35 AM

SPINLAND

Well, the above quote from Zoe makes it pretty clear they do have the tech to alter the gravity of planets and moons, and use it as a matter of course. As to how that kind of tech compares to a postulated FTL one, only your technobabble rationalizer circuit can know for sure.

----
I can see you.

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