>>209>>210I find that – more the story is grounded in reality, the more I can suspend my disbelief.
One recent example of getting most of the science bit of “science fiction” would be “Prometheus”.
We can all accept that they have some futuristic technology that allows faster than light travel; we can all look between the fingers that LV-223 due to the closeness to the gas giant in the system should be like Io in our own Sol-system; mapping balls that levitate and move without any apparent means of propulsion etc.,
What we shouldn't accept so readily, is when they get even the most basics of science wrong:
* Evolution on Earth seeded by the “Engineers” would not happen like it did in the film – assuming, of course, that the planet at the beginning is Tellus. While we don't know how life originated on Earth, and that is possible that it came here from somewhere else in space (panspermia), it could not happen like it did in the opening. Also, referring to evolution as “Darwinism” is not something a scientist (who believes) in evolution would do.
* The scientists taking their helmets off after just arriving on an alien world simply because there is air there.
* Shaw's caesarian. Removing the umbilical cord like she did would cause her to quickly bleed to death. Simply stitching herself back together, would not suffice – she would need to do several layers of that, and she would not be able to run around & jump shortly afterwards.
I'd give Star Wars a free pass since it combines science fiction & fantasy, and doesn't pretend to be anything but that.
Projectile weapons in space (recently seen in “Alien: Isolation”) or even on an alien world with a hostile environment / atmosphere also makes me roll my eyes. Surely a civilization capable of travelling through the vast cosmos would know better than to use antiquated projectile weapons in such a setting.
I agree about “Avatar”, but I also enjoyed a few things in it, such as the lack of artificial gravity in the spaceship; the fact that it would be very expensive to fix Sully's spine injury; the (to us) poisonous atmosphere of Pandora.
Regarding aliens who speak English – I can accept a real-time translation device, if we have already had some time to make ourselves familiar with the alien language.
What I'd ideally like to see though, is an alien life-form who's language is so alien to us that communicating with language would be near impossible, or maybe communication through some other means than what we would consider language – something you'd find in Lovecraft's works.