SerenityMovie.net

[Companion Kate]

It's here
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[Bountyhunter]

great! i can put away my steel toes for another day.

[Fourskys]

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to applaud you for your research for the "Science of Firefly" section. Being a Graduate student in Astrophysics with an MS Physics (and a huge fan of the show, of course), I really appreciate the work. I certainly recognize the theories and such and was glad to hear you made it much more than just a fluff piece! Good work!

[Guest]

I really love the Podcast, thanks for doing it guys. Also thanks for the tips on hosting a Shindig, I had one this weekend and it was very successful!

[Hasufel]

It is wonderful to hear Greg Edmonson! Thanks for that interview. And I am really, really impressed with how well the Message music came out. You had to put a huge effort into that, and it is very appreciated.

Thanks!
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Let's be bad guys.

[Bountyhunter]

Excellent show, guys and gals.

when the RPG comes out, will you be doing a segment on the game?

[kbachelder]

[cholten99]

Hey guys,

Thanks for another great show. The intreview with Greg was great. I'd love to hear more from people like the clothes or set designers - the people behind the camera are often real interesting.

Thanks for putting out my advert - what with this and ending up on Whedonesque it's been a big week!

I tried to do an interview with Andy Peregrine (one of the co-writers of the FF RPG) but I'm not sure it turned out so good. My suggestion if you really want to make a good one would be to phone him and record it like you've done for your other guests.

Keep up the good work and stay shiny!

Dave D.

[Lushy]

Dave we were just talking about this yesterday... I will email him and see if we can't get something together
Miranda
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Miranda
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www.serenityfirefly.com - Serenity is worth fighting for!
www.fireflytalk.com - For Fans, By Fans, Starring Fans

[Companion Kate]

[Gelf13]

Hi guys.

I wanted to drop a line and let you know that I really enjoyed #7. The Greg Edmonson interview was one of the best I've heard on your show. I really loved hearing his passion for the show, which so closely reflects ours as fans. Kudos for a great segment. Keep 'em coming!

I was not so pleased however with the science of Firefly section. It was well produced and well thought out, but I have to disagree with the conclusions. Of course there has to be FTL speeds on Serenity. There is no way around it. Unless all the planets in the verse are in the same solar system, you have to have FTL or you are talking extreme travel times. Our closest neighbor, Alpha Centauri, is 4.35 light years away. This would make it about 4.35 years travel time if the vessel were traveling at the speed of light, and that's not counting acceleration and deceleration time. I am not an astrophysicist, nor a rocket scientist (Although I do work at NASA*) but anything exceeding the speed of light has to be considered FTL and so... well you get the point. Since they obviously don’t spend 3-4 years going between planets, they must have FTL... QED.

Thanks for the podcast, I've been listening since show #4 and you guys are getting better and better! Thanks and keep it shiny!

Yours
Andrew Gelfman
Special Projects Editor
NASA TV
Brown coat.


* quick biographical note:(you guys should have an "Introduce yourself" thread in here somewhere) I'm putting this here since every time I tell people I work for NASA they always assume I'm a rocket scientist. I'm totally not (But I play on on TV! HEY! lol JK). I am a 41 year old TV editor, specializing in high end post-production. I have been at NASA TV, HQ for 4 years and I do most of the big glitzy stuff that can be seen mostly as filler between other programs on NTV. I'm also a big geek who loves space, sci-fi, comic books and gaming. I'm also an amateur musician, which might explain why I liked the Greg Edmunson interview so much.
Thanks again... and they cant take the sky from me...
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No power in the verse can stop us!

[kbachelder]

Hey Andrew,

You can learn a little bit about the podcast crew on our webpage...

http://crew.serenityfirefly.com


Kevin
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Fan of SciFi or Fantasy?

The Seeker Cast
http://www.theseekercast.com

Tuning Into Scifi TV
http://www.tuningintoscifitv.com

The Signal
http://www.serenityfirefly.com

The ScapeCast
http://www.scapecast.org

[lhoward]

[Gelf13]

Not to get too geeky (Too late!) but a single solar system would be incapable of containing hundreds of (habitable) planets. If nothing else, gravitational forces would tear many of the planets to peices through sheer force of tides (read Neutron Star by Larry Niven) The problem would be that there is a fairly narrow band of space where planets must reside to be habitable, and if so many gravitational wells were in such close proximity ie. close to or exactly the same orbits, they wouuld tear each other to pieces. 5-10 planets I might buy. hundreds? not a chance.
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No power in the verse can stop us!

[Gelf13]

[Random]

Thanks for the promo play, y'all. Payback occurs on Sturgeon's Law #004, posted, uh, a few minutes ago.

-R

[lhoward]

[Cynewulf the Saxon]

Gelf13--

You and I are in agreement here. Although it's been sufficiently proven to me that the "Whedonsystem" of Firefly does indeed contain about 70 worlds in the same system, thus negating the need for FTL, my willing suspension is severly strained by this and some of the other science seems to break down.

However, because the story is really about people, I'm willing to overlook the science problems. I just tell myself it's really just a fantasy with some of the trappings of SF.

I wondered if there were any other NASA types running around. Ames Research here.
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Official forum Purplebelly
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Wyrd oft nereth unfaegne eorl, thonne his ellen deah.

[BP]

The major problem with your discussion about FTL is that you base it on what one man, Einstein, theorized in the 20th century.

1) Einstein is not GOD, not even related.
2) It took a couple hundred years after a man named Newton to prove that Newtonain physics was only a good approximation in certain cases, and was not accurate under all circumstances. (Newton, much closer to GOD, had to invent Calculas first in order to create Newtonian physics!)
3) After WWII it was believed that travel at speeds above the speed of sound was impossible, based on experiments and the current mathmatical understanding of aerodynamics. Drag appeared to approach infinity as we approached the speed of sound. (An army artilery officer was the first to say hogwash since artilery shells and bullets travelled faster than the speed of sound!)

Our science is always built on proving that previous theories, although having some validity, were not 100% correct.

To say Einstein's theories will hold up to the test of time is ridiculous. The fact that our limited testing of his theores have not yet found a flaw in those theories means nothing. Why would we be experimenting if we knew these theories to be fact? Give it time and you will see Einstein was no more right or wrong than Newton.

BP

[Cynewulf the Saxon]

[Gelf13]

[Matthew Fabb]

If you haven't already heard, the "Serenity: The Official Visual Companion" that is coming in September includes a breakdown of all of the planets with their names and how the solar system works. I doubt it will go too far into the science behind Firefly, but it should definitely answer a lot of questions about the solar system.

Here's links to two fan reviews (the first one has a small picture of the planet page):

http://www.cantstopthesignal.co.uk/visual/review.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/simonf/149294.html

[Gelf13]

Wow. That's a must have! Cool beans! *






*btw, I really talk this way. I'm not being synical or snarky
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No power in the verse can stop us!

[Cynewulf the Saxon]

I always thought you HQ guys were a tad strange. Heheh.
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Official forum Purplebelly
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Wyrd oft nereth unfaegne eorl, thonne his ellen deah.

[lhoward]

[bc2112]

Ya know, something to consider when discussing "The Science of Firefly" is the writers, producers, etc. aren't always science geeks like some of us. Some of the Firefly "facts" we're hanging our hat on are undoubtedly things that when mentioned to the creators, they would say "oops, didn't think about that...". I read a post a while ago that at a Q & A Joss himself said "If you ask more science questions I'm going to cry...". It's actually a little funny to think we may be debating ourselves in circles over an oversight or a science inaccuracy the budget couldn't tolerate and was blown off.
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Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings,
they did it by killing all those who opposed them.

[Companion Kate]

[manosdvd]

There were elements in the science section I refute, but that was one that I'm pretty clear was put to rest.

The one I have issue with is the necessities it would take to terraform and change the gravity of a planet. They have Artificial Gravity (which hopefully the next episode covers), and it's simple enough to remain running even when the rest of the ship has been crippled (sure that was just because it would have been impossible to do the entire episode in zero G, but still), not to mention that a ship that size could even support it. It's reasonable to believe that an entire gravitational feild can be created rather easily around almost any size object. If that's true, they can probably do a similar trick to an entire planet, which in turn could hold onto an atmosphere but not screw up the orbit - think about it, one solar system with a bunch of earth gravity planets floading around? They'd all crash into themselves! So terraforming wouldn't be that hard if you covered the gravity and air production bits (not just plants, gonna need machines that create and pump air into the newly created atmosphere). Neither of which are scientifically sound today, but neither was nuclear power even 100 years ago.

[Companion Kate]

[Companion Kate]