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Originally posted by Valdron:
3) For instance, in our solar system, we've got three planet sized bodies occupying what's believed to be the habitable belt (Earth, Moon, Mars and Venus) there's one inside (Mercury), and there's a bunch of world sized bodies (Europa, Triton, Titan, Ganymede, Callisto, Io) way out in frozen territory around gas giants, and perhaps a handful way out in the Oort cloud where its really cold. But the Firefly universe has a crapload of planets.

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Originally posted by Valdron:
Bugger that. Any work of fiction has to have an underlying sense or logic. It's simply bad writing to change the rules or abandon the rules as you go along.

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Originally posted by TheRealMe:
It is my understanding that the sun is getting gradually hotter, and that we will have an uninhabitable earth in about 100 million years.

This is not to be confused with the sun's red giant phase, which will begin in a mere 5 billion years or so, when all the hydrogen has been burned out of the core.

TheRealMe, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree

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I'm not sure that's correct. 100 million years is a very very tiny sliver of time in the life cycle of the sun. It's already 5 billion years old.

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Originally posted by TheRealMe:
A good story is a good story. But good science fiction requires that science figure into it somewhere. Otherwise, it is a thinly disguised police drama or western given the trappings of science fiction.

The science should not necessarily be the point of a good SF story, but it should be inegral to the story somewhere.

So, while I think that all of Firefly to date has consisted of good stories, I don't think it has all been good SF.


TheRealMe, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree

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Originally posted by Causal:
But it's ludicrous to suggest that every little thing has to be scientifically possible. .... But regretably, I can't get on board with you because Joss is not telling the story of the technology of the 'verse. He's telling the story of the crew of Serenity. .... Stop watching the technology and the science and start watching the story!/QUOTE]

With all due respect, and I certainly respect your views and opinions, do you really have the right to tell me how to enjoy the show? What questions I'm allowed or not allowed to ask? What premises may be examined?

It seems to me that if, as part of enjoying the show, I would like to examine various premises, and explore either the underlying logic or dynamics, or the extrapolated consequences of a particular premise, then, I've probably got a right to do so.

Now, I know that you didn't intend to be rude or offensive to me. But its very difficult for me not to take your attitude in this way.

Warmest regards and best wishes.

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Originally posted by JayTee:
When it comes to suspension of disbelief in ST:TNG I always think of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Compensator, that wonderful "magic" black box (Deux Ex Machina) that allowed the Transporter to work despite the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

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Originally posted by Valdron:

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Originally posted by Causal:
But it's ludicrous to suggest that every little thing has to be scientifically possible. .... But regretably, I can't get on board with you because Joss is not telling the story of the technology of the 'verse. He's telling the story of the crew of Serenity. .... Stop watching the technology and the science and start watching the story!

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With all due respect, and I certainly respect your views and opinions, do you really have the right to tell me how to enjoy the show? What questions I'm allowed or not allowed to ask? What premises may be examined?

It seems to me that if, as part of enjoying the show, I would like to examine various premises, and explore either the underlying logic or dynamics, or the extrapolated consequences of a particular premise, then, I've probably got a right to do so.

Now, I know that you didn't intend to be rude or offensive to me. But its very difficult for me not to take your attitude in this way.

Warmest regards and best wishes.

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Originally posted by Valdron:
Now, I know that you didn't intend to be rude or offensive to me. But its very difficult for me not to take your attitude in this way.

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Originally posted by Causal:

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Originally posted by Valdron:
I certainly didn't mean any offense; I apologize if I came across that way (though I often speak without editing so this happens a lot).

________________________________________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

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No problem. I had noticed that my 'snippy' reflex was acting up, and I worried that I might get defensive and insulting. I didn't think you really meant to be a prick, but you were just responding to a discussion you saw as irrelevant.

Well, I can appreciate Firefly on literary terms, and in terms of its acting, characterization, thematic resonance and all that good stuff.

But, I've got a secret geek, and I like to explore these other areas too. No harm no foul.

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Originally posted by Stillwaters:
Just as a matter of scale our sun is a yellow dwarf. So, if you had a sun that was 10 times larger than ours you'd have a habitable zone 10 times larger.

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Also as far as the time it takes for terra forming. Once you've terra formed the first world, there would be no reason you could not work on multiple worlds at the same time. A large portion of the terra forming process is biological; seeding the body with things like algae, bacteria. Once you've gotten the temperature up to the point where you've got liquid water, the plants will do the work for you.

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Originally posted by TheRealMe:
One possible way to make this work is to have planet-sized moons orbiting superjovian planets in the habitable zone. You might get a bunch of those. Many folks have argued that "moons" are too small, but the definition of a moon is a body that orbits another non-sun body. A moon could be the size of the Earth, for example.

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Originally posted by TheRealMe:
But the jovians could be IN the habitable zone as well.

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