06-13-2017, 07:48 AM
(06-13-2017, 04:31 AM)rom65536 Wrote: Any time the story hinges on a psuedo-science deus ex machina, I get upset. So yes, I got upset quite a bit with ST:TNG. When the conflict of the story is resolved entirely by a character saying some sciencey-sounding words and mashing a couple of buttons it's pretty clear that the story sucks. I'd honestly rather the conflict be solved with machine gun fire (though that's a cheap shot, too) a la Stargate SG1.
The fix for this is easy: Don't explain. Trust your audience to fill in the gaps, and do your best to keep the gaps small. Need FTL in your sci-fi story? Don't explain it - let the fans explain it. That worked quite well for ST:TOS. However - you can't do this when the gaps are too big. You end up with "The Core" as was mentioned earlier, and people won't jump the gaps and move on with the story.
On a side note: I am completely worn out on the trope of "aliens mining natural resources" as a backdrop for an alien invasion. We are already contemplating asteroid mining as a cheaper alternative to terrestrial mining. If you are already in space AND can travel interstellar distances, why go planetside to mine ANYTHING? Now - this opinion doesn't completely negate alien invasion stories. What if the resource they want is something biological? The goofy 80s Dolph Lundgren movie "I Come In Peace" (apparently titled "Dark Angel" for those not in North America) stepped around this. Another viable "alien invasion" story that doesn't fall into this is the aliens invading earth simply because they WANT the fight. "Predator" does this on the small scale and (I can't believe I'm going to actually praise this skidmark of a movie) "Pixels" had an interesting take on it.
All that said, in defense of Independence Day and the power of an Apple laptop - I've never had trouble with that and frankly don't understand everyone's quickness to take exception to it. It's not overtly stated, but it's implied that most of our modern technology is reverse engineered from the alien ship they have had at Area 51 since 1947. With that being the case, it's not a great big leap to assume that the bulk of our computer technology came from their computer technology, and maybe even our programming and networking technology came from the same source. But evidently this is too big a gap for the audience to jump, and could maybe used some explanatory dialog thrown at it.
Ancient aliens man. Its all about them aliens.