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With most science fiction films, the more science you
understand, the {\em less} you admire the film or respect
its makers. An evil interstellar spaceship careens across
the screen. The hero's ship fires off a laser blast,
demolishing the enemy ship---the audience cheers at the
explosion. But why is the laser beam visible? There is
nothing in space to scatter the light back to the viewer.
And what slowed the beam a billionfold to render its advance
toward the enemy ship perceptible? Why, after the moment of
the explosion, does the debris remain centered in the screen
instead of continuing forward as dictated by the laws of
inertia? What could possibly drag and slow down the
expanding debris (and cause the smoke to billow) in the
vacuum of outer space? Note too the graceful, falling curve
of the debris. Have the cinematographers forgotten that
there is no gravity---no \quote {downward}--- in outer
space? Of course the scene is accompanied by the obligatory
deafening boom. But isn't outer space eternally silent? And
even if there were some magical way to hear the explosion,
doesn't light travel faster than sound? Shouldn't we {\em
see} the explosion long before we {\em hear} it, just as we
do with lightning and thunder? Finally, isn't all this moot?
Shouldn't the enemy ship be invisible anyway, as there are
no nearby stars to provide illumination?
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