Outline for the Second Term Paper

Introduction:

Objects in fictional space do not move or react as they would in real space.

Examples in media of interest:

Star Wars (Saga)

Star Trek (as depicted in J.J. Abram's films)

Halo

Body Paragraphs:

1. Movement in space should not be as easy as it is depicted in the films.

Star Wars is most to blame due to basing their fight sequences off of old World War II films (i.e. The Dam Busters)

Star ships and the way they move due to a frictionless environment would be very different if using real life physics.

Halo get's some redemption points for considering these facts and trying to incorporate this into its game universe

2. Sound

Because of the nature of space (no air) sound would react very different in a real world setting.

All three "suffer" immensely because of this, having sound effects everywhere

however, strangely enough while Halo has its faults, it does get some points back for seeming to put real physics into consideration (muting sounds while in space combat)

3. Fun explosions

As with sound, because of the nature of space, explosions shouldn't work the way that they are represented in all of these media forms.

Star Wars, Star Trek, and Halo all have explosions and fire at some point, although all have varying degrees of how they represent it

Star Wars and Star Trek both have very earthlike explosions, Halo also suffers from having very earthlike explosions however, with varying degrees of success the developers try to at least hint a change in the explosions (like with sound)

Conclusion

Science fiction in today's media is represented in a way that is designed to be supposedly exciting, giving us movement, sounds, and explosions to make us get into the moment. However, certain titles take their own liberties at trying to incorporate true physics in space into their media.