Annoying Recurring Themes In Sci Fi & Other Stories

[sun rise]

Well, a new virus, unknown to them, when they have no immunity...can rip through a population pretty quickly, Possibly before they have time to figure out what hit them. However that does not rule out the possibility that back at their home the scientist figure it out, come up with a vaccine and they return

I mean medically we're pretty advanced and look how long it took to come up with a vaccine for the corona virus

You consider us an advanced civilization? How generous is that.

 

[Brickjectivity]

They could be immortal, but they choose mortality. This is a recurring theme. "Oh life would be meaningless without death, so I guess I'll just die," or "Death is what gives our lives meaning!"

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

no matter how perfect the society appears to be, it is really hiding a deep evil just below the surface...

 

[Erebus]

The future everyone comes from is always the best future?

And of course alien invasion and humans are always the weakest thing going

One of my least favourite sci-fi tropes is that humans are the good guys.

Warhammer 40k fixes that.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Whole planets having a single government and people.

As much as I want to challenge and defy that, I realize for every counter example I have you have just as many examples, lol.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

One of my least favourite sci-fi tropes is that humans are the good guys.

I think that why I liked Ender's Game, because of the twist at the end.
Amd the Doctor is known for openly airing his grievances against us without shame or apology, we a human is frequently the bad guy in Dr. Who.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I hate the idea of explosions in space. There's no reason for this thing to have begun, but it did and it stuck. Why not make it realistic? Ships get hit, if the pilot doesn't die and if the ship fails it just drifts off into space or is pulled in by a planet's gravity and the ship burns upon entering orbit.
I think that would make for much better spacecraft combat, raising the stakes by introducing a risk of psychological peril. That's more interesting and pulls you in more as the there is greater peril for the pilot and desperate, daring races of rescue.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

The single most annoying thing in sci-fi to me is the bizarre idea that all "intelligent life" around the universe is, essentially, anthropomorphic. It all looks like us -- okay with pointy ears or greener skin or cro-magnon brows or an extra finger or two (though so far, no special phallic attributes).

Second most annoying is that civilizations meeting each other for the first time can so quickly learn to communicate. Even here, on our own planet, nobody has any idea what the whales are singing about!

 

[Brickjectivity]

Space princes and princesses drink wine with their pinky out, but this has no benefit in space. It is an Earth custom. Its inconsistent with reality!

 

[Wu Wei]

You consider us an advanced civilization? How generous is that.

Our medicine is fairly advanced...and so ends this line of questioning

 

[Revoltingest]

Yup. Scottish engineers are something of a stereotype

Other than Star Trek, when?
And that's just 1 Scot.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yup. One of my favorite sci-fi games your engineer is Scottish

I don't do those computer games.
Just movies & TV.

 

[Revoltingest]

You allowed for one exception not many.

Bad dog.

 

[Revoltingest]

Blade Runner, the Truman Show, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the Matrix, Planet of the Apes, Gattaca, Escape from New York, Robocop, Hunger Ganes, A Clockwork Orange, and Total Recall are my favorite Dystopian society themed sci-fi films.

Star Trek & Star Wars, for example, are generally in
English. Only occasionally is an alien language heard.

 

[The Hammer]

I don't do those computer games.
Just movies & TV.

Yeah, it's a younger generation thing. I like to think of them as interactive movies/stories.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The single most annoying thing in sci-fi to me is the bizarre idea that all "intelligent life" around the universe is, essentially, anthropomorphic. It all looks like us -- okay with pointy ears or greener skin or cro-magnon brows or an extra finger or two (though so far, no special phallic attributes).

Second most annoying is that civilizations meeting each other for the first time can so quickly learn to communicate. Even here, on our own planet, nobody has any idea what the whales are singing about!

Don't they all have a Babel Fish?

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

The single most annoying thing in sci-fi to me is the bizarre idea that all "intelligent life" around the universe is, essentially, anthropomorphic. It all looks like us -- okay with pointy ears or greener skin or cro-magnon brows or an extra finger or two (though so far, no special phallic attributes).

Second most annoying is that civilizations meeting each other for the first time can so quickly learn to communicate. Even here, on our own planet, nobody has any idea what the whales are singing about!

Or the standard alternative for monsterish aliens (like Alien), that look like a biped with a squid on top (the aliens in Independence Day)...

As for the phallic attributes, I understand that they are forked...

 

[Suave]

The single most annoying thing in sci-fi to me is the bizarre idea that all "intelligent life" around the universe is, essentially, anthropomorphic. It all looks like us -- okay with pointy ears or greener skin or cro-magnon brows or an extra finger or two (though so far, no special phallic attributes).

Second most annoying is that civilizations meeting each other for the first time can so quickly learn to communicate. Even here, on our own planet, nobody has any idea what the whales are singing about!

Perhaps because of convergent evolution, we human Earthlings and extraterrestrial species who are also space-faring beings might all very well at least look somewhat alike Math could be considered as the universal language. For example, the Wow! signal of the terrestrial genetic code mathematically depicts an Egyptian triangle revealing our cosmic ancestry.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

The future everyone comes from is always the best future?
(One exception: Terminator series)

Future Man??

Future Man (TV series) - Wikipedia

 

[Erebus]

The single most annoying thing in sci-fi to me is the bizarre idea that all "intelligent life" around the universe is, essentially, anthropomorphic. It all looks like us -- okay with pointy ears or greener skin or cro-magnon brows or an extra finger or two (though so far, no special phallic attributes).

I know what you mean. I suspect a lot of it is for budget reasons when it comes to film/television. Minor prosthetics are usually going to be cheaper and easier than going for something more... well, alien. Even CGI heavy films like Avatar tend to rely on motion capture.

It's actually one of the things I like about Lovecraft's stories. While there are certainly humanoids, he does include some properly alien beings too. The elder things and yithians are good examples of aliens that genuinely look alien. They also aren't brainless monsters despite not being humanoids.