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[Sheb]

IIRC, the ISS crew could go down, but decided to stay up to maintain some of the more important satellites, and there was no one to get them after splashdown anyway. They scavenged supply from a chinese space station too.

And as for the US army... Well, the zeds are awfulyy hard to kill. They DID manage to stop the zeds at the rockies though.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

I want a sequel to that book for if they take back Asia because China realy f'd up by throwing millions of untrained idiots against the horde just making it so much larger

[Neonivek]

I want a sequel to that book for if they take back Asia because China realy f'd up by throwing millions of untrained idiots against the horde just making it so much larger

Wouldn't an untrained idiot STILL take out more zombies? Like, at least two...

Though almost all zombie apocalypses usually have to make their zombies magical to work.

The only one that didn't was 48 (or 42, or 28 days... whatever number it was) where the zombies did eventually die off of natural causes...

Bonus points for Resident Evil, the games, where once again the undead actually will eventually die off all on their own or become inert.

[10ebbor10]

IIRC, the ISS crew could go down, but decided to stay up to maintain some of the more important satellites, and there was no one to get them after splashdown anyway. They scavenged supply from a chinese space station too.

And as for the US army... Well, the zeds are awfulyy hard to kill. They DID manage to stop the zeds at the rockies though.

The Soyuz lands on land (And the survival kit has a pistol, so). There have been no spacecraft doing splashdowns after the Apollo project IIRC.

And the ISS isn't exactly well placed to repair satellites (completely wrong orbit). Speaking about the wrong orbit, the ISS might not even last the entire time. Depends on when the novel is set, of course. Orbital decay is heavily dependent on the solar cycle.

[miauw62]

People who enable their brains while watching Pacific Rim are pretty dumb imo
The plot is sort of shitty but holy shit that movie was tense and exciting.

[Neonivek]

People who enable their brains while watching Pacific Rim are pretty dumb imo
The plot is sort of shitty but holy shit that movie was tense and exciting.

To me it doesn't matter how dumb or silly a plot is so long as it is internally consistent.

It is why weird things almost never bug me no matter how odd it gets. Yet anything that refers to a process in real life, but gets it entirely wrong suddenly offputs me.

It is why the part of Jem that actually bugs me isn't the scene where Jem, in a children's cartoon, is in the middle of a room when jagged pieces of glass are flung at her at high speeds ready to kill her... but rather the fact that she is perpetually poor... in spite selling hundreds of millions of albums and singles in a single year and selling out concerts.

In fact the show goes to such lengths to make Jem successful it is ridiculous! Like when she sold a million copies of an album in a single chain... in what amounts to 3 weeks... and this album? Created in a single week, complete with clothes, and a matching car.

Seriously how is someone who can pull of a double platinum hit with a weeks worth of work have any financial problems? Sure she does a LOT of benefit concerts and charity work but they never take that much time or are that lucrative. I even had to calculate

The most expensive charities she runs is
A) A Orphanage, which is about $200,000 dollars a year to run at best.
B) A Radio show... which would cost about $12,000 a year.

Even in the 80s, and I am using modern numbers for that. And she has several gold albums and like 2 platinums.

[bahihs]

Also all giant robot movies, because such things simply cannot exist. They would either collapse on their own weight, or if their piloted, the pilot would faint from motion sickness

Anything with dragons annoys me. A lizard with wings that can breathe fire? Who would fall for that?

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic here, but there is a difference between my statement and yours. Giant robots are presumably man-made, usually in a sci-fi context, thus they should to some extent obey the laws of physics. The types of robots I'm talking about are the humanoid looking ones, which really would not be possible (or pilotable).

Dragons are mythical creatures usually found in a fantasy setting/context. Such creatures can actually exist (flight and flame can both be explained with the storage of flammable, lighter-than-air gases, like methane, in a special organ), but more than that the setting can usually justify their existence one way or another. It is usually the opposite for giant mecha movies.

[Parsely]

Really, my main problem with that book is

Spoiler: If you want to keep reading World War Z without being slightly annoyed by it, don't open this (click to show/hide)

How did the US Army fuck up the initial defense so much? You can say that the leadership was too gung ho and dressed their soldiers up in overly restrictive gasmask gear for a better photo opportunity, but even one of the biggest military fuck-ups, Vietnam, was screwed up because the US was unable to directly assault a guerilla force that knew the area well enough to hide within it. The target in this case was a huge zombie horde which doesn't even have the instinct of hiding. Even the Northern Vietnamese had AA guns and an air force. They could just napalm the horde and be done with it, while making a neat 'shock and awe' photo. Also, the French are much more professional then they're portrayed in the book.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They did bomb the horde before they reached Yonkers (I'm assuming you're talking about Yonkers) and it didn't work.

[nenjin]

Really, my main problem with that book is

Spoiler: If you want to keep reading World War Z without being slightly annoyed by it, don't open this (click to show/hide)

How did the US Army fuck up the initial defense so much? You can say that the leadership was too gung ho and dressed their soldiers up in overly restrictive gasmask gear for a better photo opportunity, but even one of the biggest military fuck-ups, Vietnam, was screwed up because the US was unable to directly assault a guerilla force that knew the area well enough to hide within it. The target in this case was a huge zombie horde which doesn't even have the instinct of hiding. Even the Northern Vietnamese had AA guns and an air force. They could just napalm the horde and be done with it, while making a neat 'shock and awe' photo. Also, the French are much more professional then they're portrayed in the book.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They did bomb the horde before they reached Yonkers (I'm assuming you're talking about Yonkers) and it didn't work.

After reading the book, here's my understanding:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The army fucked it up so badly because the entire way we conduct warfare is based on human psychology and necessities. Shoot 1,000 guys in one volley and chances are, the remaining soldiers will put their lives first and an advance will slow. No such luck against zombies. Bombing large human forces works for the same reason on multiple levels: the psychological shock, the pressure waves rupturing internal organs, shrapnel killing hundreds more...no such luck with zombies. Fighting against a dug in opponent? Nightmare for living people. Assaults take time, soldiers need rest, ammunition, supply lines, communications...zombies need none of that. They have no morale. They have no breaking point. Defeating them involves destroying 90 to 95% of them, vs. 30 to 50% of human forces.

Our whole way of making war is based on the realities of being human, and very few of those apply to the walking dead. All our fancy weapons and technologies and strategic thinking don't apply to a massive hoard of mindless things that can only truly be taken out of the fight 1 or 2 ways. At the battle of Yonkers, I recall they had the soldiers dig fox holes. For what, exactly? That kind of thinking goes to show how unprepared strategically humans were to deal with this threat. We simply didn't think it through. Now adays, with zombies so lodged in our collective consciousness? I'm guessing there is for real a department of the DoD tasked with war planning around non-human enemies.

[Xantalos]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They actually won at Yonkers, though - the narrator of that chapter was just suffering PTSD. Think about it - they put up a big impressive front for panicking refugee people who were causing more damage than the actual zombies so they'd calm the fuck down and let the government deal with it. Their weapons work fine against the zombies, but a supply fuckup happens somehow - probably due to the massive amount of different ammunition types being used - and the fire slows for a moment, letting the zombies push forward. Some zombies left inside houses behind the lines break out and kill a few people, causing panic among the soldiers, so command has them retreat and bombs the entire horde to dust. Tactical victory, the horde's destroyed, but Americans everywhere are panicking because the military didn't win 100%.

[Vattic]

In the third starship troopers movie they have planet killers. As in, full on Alderaan on their asses. But then the next (animated) movie shows the bugs got some new tricks, so no happy ending just yet.

I found it jarring how pretty much nobody dies in the animated films. I suppose they were aimed at children, but the contrast with the films made it seem really surreal.

[USEC_OFFICER]

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic here, but there is a difference between my statement and yours. Giant robots are presumably man-made, usually in a sci-fi context, thus they should to some extent obey the laws of physics. The types of robots I'm talking about are the humanoid looking ones, which really would not be possible (or pilotable).

Dragons are mythical creatures usually found in a fantasy setting/context. Such creatures can actually exist (flight and flame can both be explained with the storage of flammable, lighter-than-air gases, like methane, in a special organ), but more than that the setting can usually justify their existence one way or another. It is usually the opposite for giant mecha movies.

Which is obviously why you won't watch any movies or shows with FTL travel, telepathy, slower than light lasers, dogfighting spaceships or anything else that is entirely unrealistic and implausable. As opposed to dragons which could totally exist.

Scifi shows don't have to follow the laws of physics, especially if they're soft scifi like the ones giant robot shows usually fall into. They can bend or play with physics using 'science' in pretty much the same way that fantasy does it with magic. How many fantasy shows actually go in-depth into how dragons can exist? They generally violate the square-cube law, and several other things, just as bad as giant robots do. Yet people still accept them without batting an eye or demanding a reason on why they work. So why can't we do the same for mecha? It's just a different set of base assumptions after all. As long as your audience's suspension of disbelief remains intact then you can do pretty much whatever you want, and throw whatever made-up junk you want at them.

In conclusion: Soft scifi is a thing and nobody minds if you don't like giant robot shows because of it. But saying that you don't like them on grounds of realism without clarifying anything beyond that statement will probably earn you many sarcastic replies on the internet. Especially if you turn around and say that dragons could exist.

[Radio Controlled]

In the third starship troopers movie they have planet killers. As in, full on Alderaan on their asses. But then the next (animated) movie shows the bugs got some new tricks, so no happy ending just yet.

I found it jarring how pretty much nobody dies in the animated films. I suppose they were aimed at children, but the contrast with the films made it seem really surreal.

I was referring to the film, 'invasion', which was supposed to be connected to the films I think. Plenty dead there.

People did die in the animated series, but indeed not that often. That death at the end of the series hit rather hard though, and was actually dealt with afteward regarding the impact on the other characters. They do often mention things like 'heavy losses' when talking about the general state of the war, but indeed don't really show troopers get bitten in half.

Really, my main problem with that book is

Spoiler: If you want to keep reading World War Z without being slightly annoyed by it, don't open this (click to show/hide)

How did the US Army fuck up the initial defense so much? You can say that the leadership was too gung ho and dressed their soldiers up in overly restrictive gasmask gear for a better photo opportunity, but even one of the biggest military fuck-ups, Vietnam, was screwed up because the US was unable to directly assault a guerilla force that knew the area well enough to hide within it. The target in this case was a huge zombie horde which doesn't even have the instinct of hiding. Even the Northern Vietnamese had AA guns and an air force. They could just napalm the horde and be done with it, while making a neat 'shock and awe' photo. Also, the French are much more professional then they're portrayed in the book.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They did bomb the horde before they reached Yonkers (I'm assuming you're talking about Yonkers) and it didn't work.

After reading the book, here's my understanding:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The army fucked it up so badly because the entire way we conduct warfare is based on human psychology and necessities. Shoot 1,000 guys in one volley and chances are, the remaining soldiers will put their lives first and an advance will slow. No such luck against zombies. Bombing large human forces works for the same reason on multiple levels: the psychological shock, the pressure waves rupturing internal organs, shrapnel killing hundreds more...no such luck with zombies. Fighting against a dug in opponent? Nightmare for living people. Assaults take time, soldiers need rest, ammunition, supply lines, communications...zombies need none of that. They have no morale. They have no breaking point. Defeating them involves destroying 90 to 95% of them, vs. 30 to 50% of human forces.

Our whole way of making war is based on the realities of being human, and very few of those apply to the walking dead. All our fancy weapons and technologies and strategic thinking don't apply to a massive hoard of mindless things that can only truly be taken out of the fight 1 or 2 ways. At the battle of Yonkers, I recall they had the soldiers dig fox holes. For what, exactly? That kind of thinking goes to show how unprepared strategically humans were to deal with this threat. We simply didn't think it through. Now adays, with zombies so lodged in our collective consciousness? I'm guessing there is for real a department of the DoD tasked with war planning around non-human enemies.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

even then it's bullshit. The U.S. army has enough ordnance to bomb the zombie horde to hell's half acre thrice over, so the book needed some lame and ridiculous justifications to explain that away. That part was actually difficult to read for me, due to how it broke suspension of disbelief so badly.

[10ebbor10]

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic here, but there is a difference between my statement and yours. Giant robots are presumably man-made, usually in a sci-fi context, thus they should to some extent obey the laws of physics. The types of robots I'm talking about are the humanoid looking ones, which really would not be possible (or pilotable).

Dragons are mythical creatures usually found in a fantasy setting/context. Such creatures can actually exist (flight and flame can both be explained with the storage of flammable, lighter-than-air gases, like methane, in a special organ), but more than that the setting can usually justify their existence one way or another. It is usually the opposite for giant mecha movies.

Which is obviously why you won't watch any movies or shows with FTL travel, telepathy, slower than light lasers, dogfighting spaceships or anything else that is entirely unrealistic and implausable. As opposed to dragons which could totally exist.

Scifi shows don't have to follow the laws of physics, especially if they're soft scifi like the ones giant robot shows usually fall into. They can bend or play with physics using 'science' in pretty much the same way that fantasy does it with magic. How many fantasy shows actually go in-depth into how dragons can exist? They generally violate the square-cube law, and several other things, just as bad as giant robots do. Yet people still accept them without batting an eye or demanding a reason on why they work. So why can't we do the same for mecha? It's just a different set of base assumptions after all. As long as your audience's suspension of disbelief remains intact then you can do pretty much whatever you want, and throw whatever made-up junk you want at them.

In conclusion: Soft scifi is a thing and nobody minds if you don't like giant robot shows because of it. But saying that you don't like them on grounds of realism without clarifying anything beyond that statement will probably earn you many sarcastic replies on the internet. Especially if you turn around and say that dragons could exist.

The point, obviously, is internal consistency. Any development of special materials that might make mechas plausible would also make them redundant. The point is not that they can no exist, the point is that in the logic of the series, they have no reason to exist.

The only reason why you would want to have a giant mech is style points, basically.

[Bohandas]

Has anybody brought up the issue that the character Indiana Jones is not strictly essential to resolving the main conflict of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"?

He doesn't stop the Nazis. He inadvertently leads them to the Ark and he only survives to the end of the m0vie because of divine intervention.